Open for office hour, 9 PM tonight

OK, I just reset the start and stop time, so drop in for discussion at 9 PM.

Goof up

Sorry, online office hours was supposed to be for 9 PM tonight (not 9 AM). I am going to try to reset and restart it for 9 PM.

New learning module; office hours

Your new learning module C has been up and ready to work on for a few days. Look in the Learning modules folder in Webcourses.

ALSO: We will try out the university's Adobe Connect service for online office hour tonight. This method of online office hours uses Adobe Connect through your web browser. Here are the specs:

1. Meeting Name: Thursday evening, 2/16
2. Summary: Meet Dr. Brueckner and discuss questions about our course work.
3. Invited By: Thomas Brueckner
4. When: 02/16/2012 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
5. Time Zone: (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US and Canada)
6. 
   To join the meeting, use the link published in Webcourses with the Adobe Connect icon.

"Your Exam 1 score"

Because of the Americans with Disabilities Act, many semesters I must set up several versions of each midterm exam, all of them equivalent, to accommodate special conditions for one or more students in the section. This holds for lecture as well as this online section.

Webcourses allows me to assign the versions to specific students or groups of students, but the My Grades page does not allow me to display one version per student. For one student to see his score on his version, ALL students will see that row in My Grades, even though they have no data in that row.

As a result, on your My Grades page in Webcourses, you will see a few different rows of various versions of the first midterm exam. To resolve the ambiguity for students and to make grading easier for me, I have created one summary row for everyone, "Your Exam 1 score," in which everyone will have their version score displayed. So everyone will have two rows with a score:

1. "Your Exam 1 score" and
   
2. the score on the version of the midterm exam that you took.

Try to remember this when you look at your My Grades page. Confusing at first, but you will get used to it. I will try to make it more streamlined in later exams.

Two new podcasts

There are now two new mini-podcasts about Newton's three laws of motion, integral to Learning Module B.

You can view all the diagrams, notes and equations by following the directions in the YouTube in the iTunes U folder.

New learning module

Learning module B is now available in Webcourses. Look in the Learning Modules folder on the home page.

Also: expect at least two new mini-podcasts in iTunes U on Newton's three laws of motion.

Forces

It is interesting to see the interplay of forces relative to the trajectories of these aircraft landing in Dusseldorf, Germany.

A podcast for Ch. 2 example 2.4

We have an iTunes U podcast area that can be really helpful. I just created a new mini-podcast on how to work out Example 2.4 on acceleration and velocity.

Click on the iTunes folder on the Webcourses home page. There is an embedded YouTube there on how to view all the diagrams, equations and notes in the artwork track of each podcast.

Once you get into the iTunes U podcasting area, it looks like this.

Click the GET button and then the SUBSCRIBE button for future podcasts. I will try to create a new mini-podcast every week or so.

By the way, I will be going over the Example 2.4 on Monday with my lecture section, so you all are slightly ahead of them, by about one day. Nice.

First main learning module

I have just activated Learning Module A, concerning basic motion concepts like Sir Isaac Newton's three laws of motion. In the learning module you'll find

1. a concept guide with study outline, vocabulary, suggested questions and problems etc.
2. a mini-quiz to take and see how well you can handle the concepts
3. a few other reading links, for extra power.
   

This learning module should direct your studies for the next week or so.

Be on the alert for announcements here if I create any new learning objects for this module.

Welcome to spring semester online section of PSC1121

When Webcourses opens on Monday, you'll have a small intro module to work during this first week, whilst everyone is dropping, adding and swapping. So until Saturday, here are the things to work on:

1. 
   Obtain the textbook, of course.
   
2. Skim and look over the photos and diagrams or chapter 24 of the textbook.
   
3. Work on the Oceans 1 mini-quiz.
   
4. Familiarize yourself with the syllabus.
   
5. Take a look at the extra readings about the Floridan aquifer.
   
6. Get the exam schedule cleared at your place of employment. The exam schedule is in the syllabus.
   
7. See if you can in any way rearrange your schedule so as to swap over to my lecture section, PSC1121-0003, which meets MWF at 10:30 - 11:20 AM in BA119. There are still a few seats, and you will find it way easier to earn a good grade in the lecture section.

Welcome aboard!

News between semesters: angular momentum rules in the NFL.

Think of the angular momentum vector for Jerome Simpson making this TD.



Excellent.

Points UP

Your final exam score is up.

All pointage (regular and bonus) is now tallied up in the Semester total points row on your My Grades page.

Bonus points work

For those of you who want to earn some bonus pointage, you can work through the Chemical Bondling Learning Module H. It is meant as a synthesis study set, putting together a lot of other concepts from the semester, but I will also offer a 10 point bonus section on the final exam, based on this mini-chapter. So you could make 110/100 on the final exam this Saturday.

Periodic table learning module

Your next learning module is now up, covering the interesting sections of chapter 8.

A mini-quiz for it is under construction ready to go.

Exam 3 scores are up, and some bonus points.

Your exam 3 scores from yesterday are now viewable in Webcourses.

Also, a few of you earned bonus points by creating an acceptable question for the exam. Those bonus points are up, too.

Concept guide G, on the periodic table, is forthcoming.