Grades Information. The view of your average grade in WebAssign has been closed until Test #2 is completed. The reason is as usual, i.e. to prevent the display of inaccurate information while test week is in progress. Posted by lbpage ( Mar 17 2008, 08:37:12 AM EDT ) Permalink

Special note to Section 601 students. John Pugh at DE Proctoring tells me that only 14 of you (in Section 601) have reserved a time for the test next week. Remember, next week is a short week because Friday is a holiday. Don't get caught in a pickle by sitting back while next week's slots all fill up leaving you with no way to do the test. SIGN UP NOW! Posted by lbpage ( Mar 14 2008, 04:03:54 PM EDT ) Permalink

Progress Reports. Academic Progress Reports were sent in today for all students who currently have an overall average of D+ or below at this point. This is based on the information provided under the grades tab in WebAssign. If you received a report and question why you received it, look at the grades information that WebAssign provides. If you have further questions, contact me or Jennifer. Posted by lbpage ( Feb 27 2008, 10:08:53 AM EST ) Permalink

Choose Time for Test #2. Your "Choose Time for Test #2" WebAssignment is now listed among your current WebAssignments. As usual it's a good idea to nail down your test time well in advance. Students in Section 005 should go ahead and pick one of the test times in Harrelson on March 18. Students in Section 601 should make a reservation at DE Proctoring for the period March 18 - 24 and indicate on the "Choose Time" WebAssignment that you've completed that step. Making your reservation at DE Proctoring well in advance will give you a better choice of times. So go ahead and do it. Posted by lbpage ( Feb 26 2008, 08:17:26 PM EST ) Permalink

Quiet Period. Things have been quiet lately. But remember that spring break is only 9 days away, and after spring break the next test will be here before you know it. So the best advice is the usual advice, i.e. stay ahead of the game and get your homework done before the last minute. The course changes a good bit as we move from Part 3 into Part 4. Techniques become much less computational, but more thinking is required. So you'll be using your brain more and computing tools (such as the row operations tool) much less. We won't be touching base with matrices again until Part 6. But it's certainly not a good time to be resting on your laurels. Parts 4 and 5 generally provide students with the most significant challenge that this class has to offer. Posted by lbpage ( Feb 20 2008, 10:28:53 AM EST ) Permalink

Test Results. Congratulations to everyone for a smoothly run test this week. With only a few students remaining to take the test, we have an average score of 85.2 compiled by the 114 students who have already completed it.

The grades module of WebAssign has been updated to include test grades. Presently your estimated grade in WebAssign is calculated based 50% on your homework average and 50% on Test #1. When you consult your grade in WebAssign you'll see something like the picture shown here.
The student whose info is shown has a 99.47 average on the 16 homework assignments completed so far, and a test score of 82 on Test #1. The reason for the "(3)" showing in the Test row is that 3 versions of the test were used, but obviously the student is graded on only the version completed by that student. You can click each of these numbers to get details on the calculation, but if you do that bear in mind that each student has only one test grade counted, so that makes the display a bit complicated.
Posted by lbpage ( Feb 08 2008, 09:06:29 AM EST ) Permalink

Grades. While tests are in progress, WebAssign gives misleading information about grades because some students have taken one version of the test, other students have taken a different version, and some tests are still in progress. On Friday I'll add a note to this news page explaining how to read accurate grade info after the WebAssign grading scripts have been updated to include Test #1 results. Posted by lbpage ( Feb 07 2008, 08:43:36 PM EST ) Permalink

Test Location. We have noticed that some students have indicated via the "Choose Time" WebAssignment an incorrect location for the test. Students enrolled in MA 114 005 cannot access the test at DE Proctoring Service. So setting up an appointment to take the test there is pointless. No test will be available to you because that test is restricted to the MA 114 601 roster.

Students enrolled in MA 114 601 show up in WebAssign as being in Section 005. That is irrelevant. If your registration is in Section 601, you should schedule your test at DE Proctoring this week.
Posted by lbpage ( Feb 05 2008, 04:11:41 PM EST ) Permalink

Tests for MA 114 601. Students enrolled in MA 114 601 will now see a test listed among your current WebAssignments. This is the test you will take at DE Proctoring Service this week at whatever time you schedule with them. The test can be taken ONLY at that location in Venture IV on Centennial Campus. You should go ahead and schedule your test if you haven't done so. You'll have 75 minutes for the test measured from the time you download the test.

Students in MA 114 005 will not see this test listed because you will be taking the test in Harrelson Hall on Thursday evening.
Posted by lbpage ( Feb 04 2008, 10:37:35 AM EST ) Permalink

Video Problem. A mistake by NCSU system administrators this morning caused all the movie links to be renamed. This temporarily broke the links to all the videos at the class web site. I have fixed this problem, but you may have to reload the home page at our class web site to get the new links to work. If you have further problems, please let me or Jennifer know. Posted by lbpage ( Jan 30 2008, 11:58:54 AM EST ) Permalink

Test location for students in MA 114 601. As explained on the Getting Started page, students enrolled in MA 114 601 appear in WebAssign as being in Section 005 or 006 (depending on whether it's fall or spring semester).  Nevertheless, as far as Registration and Records is concerned, you're really enrolled in Section 601 as a Distance Education student. Your test location is at DE Proctoring in Venture IV, so that's where you should schedule your tests as described on the Test Info page. Posted by lbpage ( Jan 28 2008, 08:18:35 PM EST ) Permalink

WebAssign Grades Display. The Grades tab within WebAssign can be used to view your current standing in the class. Until the first test, the only grades that you have (obviously) are homework grades. Your homework average for "past due" homework assignments is available via the Grades tab. The homework numerical average is based on total number of points in all past due assignments, and the letter grade is based on the grading scale described on the Grades Info page at the class web site. Posted by lbpage ( Jan 24 2008, 01:11:25 PM EST ) Permalink

Due Date for WebAssignment 1.3 (Part A). Because Monday is a holiday, I've reset the due date for the WebAssignment that was due that evening so that the assignment is due the next day instead (Tuesday). This is consistent with the general policy  that assignments are due on dates when NCSU classes meet.
Posted by lbpage ( Jan 20 2008, 02:15:24 PM EST ) Permalink

Form Good Habits. The work habits you form early in the semester will likely determine your long term success in this class. As the assignments begin to become harder later in the course, it will be more and more useful for you to begin work on assignments several days in advance of the due date. This is necessary to enable you to figure out approaches to problems that you can't just sit down and knock off in the first attempt. Also, viewing and re-viewing the videos will be required in more complex parts of the course. So go ahead now and form the habit of carefully watching the videos BEFORE attemping the WebAssignments, and of starting early enough to give yourself time to digest the videos and do the assignments without the due date staring you in the face. Posted by lbpage ( Jan 18 2008, 08:47:18 AM EST ) Permalink

Homework. Now that assignments have started coming due, you'll notice soon that there's an assignment due almost every day Monday through Friday most weeks. However, you'll also notice that most of these assignments are quite short. The fact that assignments appear long before they are due gives you the option of working on pretty much any schedule you choose. Suppose, for example, that you work during the week and want to do your homework on the weekends. Even though the due dates are always on weekdays, you can still do the homework on the weekends if you prefer. All it requires is that you plan ahead rather than sitting around waiting for the due date to approach before you start to work on the assignment. Posted by lbpage ( Jan 15 2008, 08:04:13 AM EST ) Permalink