Michael Faraday Learning Module is ready to go.

I just set up our second main learning module, the Michael Faraday Learning Module, which covers topics from electromagnetism and molecules. You will find the icon in the upper left of the course content home page. There are two mini-quizzes ready today and, of course, the concept guides.

I have included a special new mini-concept guide on waves, covering a slice of chapter 15.

This learning module has the advantage that you can move around in it almost at random, instead of the strict sequence of the Sir Isaac Newton Learning Module. So you can study for a few days in chapter 20 on the electric field, then skip over to chapter 12 to look over the states of matter - solid, liquid and gas - and then back to chapter 20.

There will be some new visual podcasts, so keep an eye on the Uvision site.

Try to work through the mini-concept guide on waves before launching into chapter 22.

You are now GO for launch!

Mini-quizzes off the air

Just so you know, I always take the mini-quizzes off line during the midterm time window. This is by design.

Exam 1 is now ready to go.

Students, the midterm exam 1 is now ready. Look on the course content home page and you will see a little document icon with a teeny clock in the left lower corner. That is the exam. You will be able to start at 12:05 PM, and your deadline is 11:55 PM.

I will probably release your scores when I get up Friday morning, first thing. This is normal, and it allows me to double check problems. So do not worry that the score does not show up in your My Grades page right away like the mini-quizzes.

I will try to get on AIM this afternoon and tonight for last minute queries from you.

By the way, I highly recommend that for safety, you do not operate any other browser windows or AIM during the test, or it could screw up your browser and you'd be sunk. This goes double for those of you on a Windows computer; they can be really touchy. So talk to me on course mail or AIM before the test but not during the test.

Have a good exam!!!!

Midterm exam 1 tomorrow, 12:05 PM til 11:55 PM.

Tomorrow is midterm examination 1. I see you guys are working really hard. That is good.

Your exam in Webcourses will be 50 questions, one point per question. They will be multiple choice, true/false with maybe a matching or scrambled sentence question or so in there. There will be a few basic calculations, maybe one or two brain-burner calculations, but mostly it will be concepts questions. It will look a lot like the mini-quizzes for the chapters.

You will have 60 minutes. Once you start, 60 minutes later, you have to be done.

Availability is from 12:05 PM lunchtime until 11:55 PM. So block out one hour in your schedule for the exam.

You can take it from anywhere, but make sure that your internet connection is rock solid and that your computer is super reliable. If your gear flakes out on you in the middle of the exam, you are going to be high and dry. I can do nothing about your computer, and UCF tells us instructors not to troubleshoot your internet service. Instead, UCF expects you to be responsible for that. So be semi-paranoid about your computer.

Take the exam early as possible. Sometimes students who wait until 10 PM will have troubles - no one is sure why, but most exam troubles occur later in the evening.

Study hard. Be ready to read carefully and to think!

Podcast update

I just published some more exercise podcasts at Uvision. There are exercises up to and including chapter 6, even numbered exercises. I will be creating a few strategic podcasts for exercises in chapter 7 and 8.

There is also a lecture on projectile motion and gravitation on the lecture side of Uvision.

Podcasting of lectures and exercise helps

I have set up a visual podcasting site for my lecture classes that you online students might find helpful. It is called Uvision.

Uvision

Take a look at it, subscribe to the two visual podcasts (lectures and exercises) with iTunes, and see how you like it. There are basic instructions for new users on the welcome page.

A few parts of the lecture podcasts might not make sense to you, like mentions of CPS, but the main part: yes, it ought to help you learn. Give it a shot.

e-chapters look nice

Some of you are working with e-chapters instead of the hardcover textbook. I just bought the Chapter 5 e-chapter, $3.99, and it downloads nicely.

However, it is a "sealed" PDF file, so it requires a special viewer that integrates with Acrobat Reader. I am on a Macintosh Powerbook, Tiger 10.4.10, Adobe Reader 8.10, and it took me a few minutes to figure out I needed a special viewer. But I downloaded the special "Sealed Media" viewer and it now lets Adobe Reader handle the e-chapter just fine. You have to sign-in to the e-chapter, with a username and password.

To work through this process, there is an eChapters FAQ that explains the special viewer. Look at FAQ #6. They also have instructions for you if you have a Windows computer.

The chapter 5 e-chapter looks righteous. Good substitute for the actual textbook.

Grading and patience

Please be patient with the grading process for mini-case study questions. It takes time. I have over 300 questions to read!!! They will be getting graded, a few dozen at a time, but not instantaneously, like the chapter mini-quizzes. So the fewer course mail messages about when will my questions be graded? - the sooner they WILL be graded!

In the meantime, concentrate on the learning module, using the three concept guides to guide your way.

e-chapters work nicely, according to ...

According to one of the students in our section, the e-chapters work fairly nicely:

About Thomson online ordering

Yes, purchasing the e-chapters is fairly straightforward. I do think it's easier to print out each e-chapter for studying vs. trying to read the the whole chapter on your computer, though. Overall it's a great alternative to have if you're having problems acquiring the text book in a timely manner. - J.

There you have it. The Thomson online ordering link is in the home page.

Course mail only

Please remember to contact me only with course mail in Webcourses. I do not respond to conventional email.

Two new mini-quizzes UP

I just activated mini-quizzes for chapters 5 and 6. Chapter 5 is the big one about gravitation.

TurnItIn bonus UP; mini-case study in process.

I just put up the bonus point for registering at TurnItIn.com, and you can see it in your My Grades page.

Also, I am in the process of grading mini-case study questions, and everyone who has posted their two questions as of 8 AM Saturday has a score. This is just me getting a head start. Those who post later on will be graded later; deadline is still Tuesday, Sept. 4, 11:55 PM.

Grades so far: mostly 6 points, a few 5s and 4s. I also inserted a comment area about your mini-case study questions, like if I really like it or if it had some problems. Not everybody got a comment though, if the question looked good.

I will also start grading the Oceans/Visbeck question today.

Continue digging in on the Sir Isaac Newton Learning Module, especially the study activities listed in the concept guides.