Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Uh oh. More trouble in the North Atlantic.

The North Atlantic freight train rolls on. Danielle took off for vacation in Europe, now Earl and Fiona and mystery storm "G" are bearing down on us.

What might help us avoid getting run over? The jet stream.



When we start getting those cold fronts reliably plowing across Florida in a few weeks, then we'll be safe. But until then, hold onto your hat!

Monday, August 30, 2010

Alert, Aug. 30th

From UCF Vice President Schell:

FYI: Athletics will be conducting an emergency simulation at 11:45 a.m. on Thursday, September 2. A medical services helicopter will land on the soccer field, and ambulances and fire trucks will also be involved. Please let folks know about this training exercise to prevent any unnecessary anxiety, and also be prepared for phone calls from on and off campus during the event.

Week 2 learning module is ready.

For your study activity, you can now head in to the Week 2 Learning Module. The central study tool is the concept guide for chapter 3. From it you will branch out to
  1. the Ch. 3 mini-quiz
  2. the iTunes U podcast
  3. discussion areas
  4. etc.

Discussion areas are quite helpful, and you can look at them as virtual study partners. In fact, my two TAs and I always scan the discussions and add in some tips and coaching to help you along. Works nicely.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

See

Saturday, August 28, 2010

new podcast, exercise 2.72

There is a new visual podcast for Exercise #72 on p. 33 of our textbook, concerning the takeoff acceleration of a Cessna 172. Look in iTunes U.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Freight train, North Atlantic



National Hurricane Center is showing a set of storms lining up. I have noticed recently: every few years, we get a freight train of hurricanes and tropical storms heading our way across the Atlantic Ocean.

Have you ever wondered what it's like to live inside a shooting gallery!? ;)

iTunes U

You can now light up our visual podcast area in UCF's iTunes U service. The link is on the Webcourses home page, with the blue musical notes icon. It will light up your iTunes program, then direct it to our podcast area. When you see the 747 carrying the space shuttle, you'll be in.

Right now there are a few podcasts to help you study:
  • How to use a concept guide
  • How to correlate mini-podcasts to 7th edition.
  • Trajectories and instantaneous velocities
  • Roofer's nail
  • Granny car
  • baseball example from the problem solving manual.
If you get stuck trying to get in there, post a query in "General semester topics" in Discussions. We'll work it out. It can be a bit tricky for Windows users.

I will be loading in more mini-podcasts as we go through the semester.

Note: these are not videos. They are "enhanced audio" in .m4a format. All the diagrams and equations are in the artwork track, and you have to use the GET or SUBSCRIBE button of iTunes to actually see the visual content. Diagrams are worth a thousand words, especially in this course!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Grades

The grade scheme is available for viewing in Webcourses. Look for the grades icon on the Webcourses home page.

A bit of work to do this week.

I just activate the Week 1 Learning Module in Webcourses, with a concept guide for chapter 2 that you can use to direct your study. There is also a mini-quiz to tackle, but you should also try the questions and exercises mentioned in the concept guide.

We will have a concept guide for each chapter, and they should form the nucleus of your study activity. There are tons of ways to study, but they should all orient to the concept guide.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Get started.

There is a short blurb sheet of chores for the first day or so of fall semester. Look on the home page in Webcourses.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

About the final

I will be working on grades today, this morning for a bit and then this afternoon a bit more. So do not be surprised to see rows vanish and reappear on your My Grades page in Webcourses! It's just me mucking about with the grade book.

I decided to keep things simple and embedd the bonus activity X in the actual final exam. It is still officially a 50 point exam, but now you can score over 100%, up to 54 points on it. SWEEEET.

However, the bonus activity X being embedded in the final exam does not change the semester baseline total: that's still 200 points. So I add up all your exam points and bonus points (if any) and then look up your grade on the points table:
A185 points
A-180 points
etc.


I hope to have semester grades computed by supper time.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Final exam = GO!

Your final exam is now running, available for 90 minutes, and you must finish by 11:59 PM tonight.

WHAT A SEMESTER!!!!!!!! Now you must close out a wild and woolly Summer B by crushing my final exam.

Tomorrow morning, maybe lunch time, I will start working on your semester grades etc.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

New podcast for de Broglie waves

I just finished up a podcast concerning the de Broglie waves in exercises 67 and 68 in chapter 24.

GO!

Monday, August 2, 2010

Ch. 24 mini-quiz is ready.

You now have the Ch. 24 mini-quiz ready to go. Look in the Week 6 learning module and see if Dr. de Broglie's waves can make sense to you!

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Week 6 learning module is UP.

All three concept guides for Week 6 are now available in the Week 6 learning module. Also, the chapter 23 mini-quiz is up. Still working on chapter 24's mini-quiz... look for it by Monday night.

GO! GO! GO!