Math 2090 Course OutlineSpring 2019

Subsection 3.1 Course activities

There are several different activities that can be completed to earn your grade in this course. Some activities, like quizzes, will have a fixed number. Others, like forum posts, can be done as often as you want. Each activity will have a maximum allowed contribution towards your total. We'll review class progress at the break to determine if any of the maximums should be changed.

Subsection 3.2 How are letter grades calculated?

Each time you complete one of the activities above, you earn points toward your final grade. (Points are indicated in the second column.) Items will be assigned a score between 0 and the value of that contribution. (For example, a journal entry will receive a grade out of 10.) In most cases, work can be revised.

Your final grade will be based on the number of points accumulated by the end of the semester. Note that this means none of the activities are mandatory, including the final exam. Your job is simply to make sure you earn enough points to get your desired letter grade.

Subsection 3.3 Description of course components

• There will be two discussion forums. One for sharing and commenting on articles and material of relevance to the course, and one for getting help on the mathematical content of the course. Sharing a link to content, together with a summary of the content and its relevance, can earn up to 10 points. Asking a good question in the help forum is worth up to 5 points, and good answers are worth up to 10.
• The journal will be a blog entry on Moodle where you summarize on what you've learned. This could be a reflection on a class activity, your thoughts on mathematical content you found challenging, commentary where you see something fitting (or not) into your teaching, etc. Each entry earns up to 10 points.
• An in-class presentation is worth up to 20 points. This does not mean you have to give a lecture. It can be as simple as telling the class about some particularly interesting article you came across. In some cases I might suggest topics for you to investigate in groups.
• An assignment will consist of several problems related to the mathematical content in the course. I'll provide some time for you to work on these with others in class, but you will probably need to finish them at home.
• Quizzes will be weekly, and short. There may be a group component.
• The paper can be on any topic related to the class. Expected length is somewhere in the 6-10 page range. I do not have a preference on citation format, but I do expect there to be references. The usual guidelines on plagiarism apply.