Getting Started - A Checklist
Before you commit yourself to a distance learning math course, you need to ask yourself some questions and then follow the instructions below carefully. This is a check-list that will walk you through making sure you are in the right class and getting started with this class. (Keep coming back to this list until you have checked everything off.)
- Is this the right type of class for you? Some people are more successful in distance learning courses and some are more successful if they attend a class regularly. It's better to find that out before you start the course. Please take this survey and think carefully about the results. I want you to succeed in whatever class you take and there are several in-class sections available you could take if distance learning isn't a good fit for you.
Taking this course by Distance Learning requires good reading skills. If you don't feel comfortable carefully reading and following instructions without having someone remind you about things, then you probably shouldn't sign up for an online course. In this course, you will have to do a lot of work on the required computer software. If you decide you don't want to learn math this way after starting the course, you will have to drop the course and lose the money you paid for your materials and tuition, so you need to decide this beforehand.
- Is this class at the right level for you? Your ACC Assessment Test result should have told you which math course you are supposed to enroll in. If it did not recommend this course, then please contact me to discuss this before enrolling. If you enroll in a course you were not placed into, you may not be able to continue in it. Please read the information on Advising before you register to make sure you are in the right course level. Also, if you are only required to take one college-credit math course for your degree program, read through this section to see whether College Algebra is really a good idea for you or not.
- Learn about how this course works. Read the course policies (page 1 and page 2) and any informational handouts about the course very carefully so that you are sure you understand the requirements. If you have any questions, please contact me.
- Get your ACC email address. You need to use that email address to communicate with me in this course. Most communication in this course is by email.
Also, many email accounts and email programs come with "anti-spam" (or "anti-junk mail") filters. Normally, this is a very good thing. However, I have had a quite few cases where these filters have blocked my email to students in the course. There are two things you should do to try and avoid problems with this:
a. Once you have registered for the course and submitted the first Orientation Form, you should receive an email from me on or before the first day of class. If you have not received this, check and see if there is a message from me in your "junk" or "spam" or "trash" folder (in your email program). If there is, see if there is a way to add me to your filter's "white list" (see below for more details). If there isn't, call and leave me a message (go here for contact info) with a call-back phone number and we can figure out what is going on.
b. If you email program (or you email server) has something like a "white list" or "safe list" or "friends list" for email addresses that will never be marked as spam/junk mail, then add my email address (mmcguff@austinc.edu) to that list. That way, you should safely receive any messages from me.
- Enroll in the course through the usual ACC process. Go to my page on Registration for more information on this.
After you enroll for the course, you need to do some things before you are ready to actually start the class:
- Work the Prerequisite Study Sheet for College Algebra. This won't count towards your grade (except as part of your first homework assignment), but if you are able to understand
and work correctly at least 12 out of the 18 problems on this review,
then you are probably ready to take Elementary Algebra. The answers are included, but work the whole thing through first without looking at the answers.
After you finish, go back and check your answers. If you cannot
work correctly and understand at least 12 of these problems, then
you should consider enrolling in Intermediate Algebra (MATD 0390). (A kindly warning: "Fudging" your answers on this will only hurt you; if you aren't really ready for this course but sign up for it anyway, you will just waste your own time and money. Every semester, I find a very large number of students who sign up for the course even though they aren't ready for it and they wind up dropping or being dropped from the course before the semester is over. So, the next semester, they are right back where they started, without much of anything to show for it. Please treat this seriously.) If you aren't able to do at least 12 of these, you should contact me before you use the license number for your software (in case you need to return the book/software). If you are having financial aid problems (i.e., your financial aid money hasn't come in yet and you can't buy the book until that happens), you should also apply for a temporary access code. This will only give you a little bit of extra time (about a week or so for you to get things straightened out), but it will allow you to get started working right away, which is really important if you want to do well in the course. Please email me directly if you wish to requrest a temporary access code; be sure to include your name and the reason you feel you need this code.
If you find all of these problems really easy, you should consider see my Advising page, especially if you will need to take Calculus or Business Calculus at some point, and contact me.
- Complete the online orientation, part 1. Before you purchase your course materials, read through everything and fill out the Orientation Form, Part 1. Be sure to do this by the posted deadline. Go to my page on Orientation for more information.
- Buy the textbook/software license. After you unwrap it, the textbook/license is NOT RETURNABLE, so be sure you are in the right class and that you have done well on the Prerequisite Review Sheet for College Algebra.. Go to my course Policies page for complete information on this. You might also want to pick up the other required supplies for the course while you are there. This is not just a textbook course. It requires you to use the software to pass the course. You will need to take care of buying the book (or at least the software) right away. It is not acceptable to wait until the end of the first week or later to take care of this. (It is possible to just buy the software and get started, which is significantly cheaper, if you are having financial problems.) If you are unable to buy the software right away, there is a temporary way to go ahead and start on the course and then buy the book later (about a week or so later). This will only give you a little bit of extra time (about a week or so for you to get things straightened out), but it will allow you to get started working right away, which is really important if you want to do well in the course. Please email me directly if you wish to requrest a temporary access code; be sure to include your name and the reason you feel you need this code.
- Wait for information from me about how to sign in to the computer software. I will send these out on or before the first day of class to each student on my official roll sheet for whom I have a working email address from Orientation Form 1. See the course policies section for full details.
- Set up the software on your computer, log in, and learn how to use the software.
- Take the College Algebra Pretest online. See my policies page for details on how this works. You must pass this before you can start the course.
You are now ready to actually start the course:
- Work Lessons 1.1-1.3 and take Quiz 1-A. For information on how to use the software go here. To find the homework assignment, go to the Course Schedule.
- Complete the Orientation form, part 2. You must do this by the end of the first week of class, unless you enrolled very late. In that case, you must do it by the middle of the second week of school.
- Have a good semester. You are now ready to really work on the math. I realize this seems like a lot of stuff to do to get started, but if you take care of these administrative details now, you can spend the rest of the semester working on more useful things (and things should go pretty smoothly as a result). Please feel free to call or email me if you have any questions. I look forward to hearing from each of you.
- If you don't already have an ACC student photo ID cared - Go here for more information about this. (You will need this ID card when you go to take your first test.)