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.

Concept guide C!

Oooops... I did not realize you all could not view the concept guide. It was set for release on Friday but was still on "'hide" mode until just now. Sorry for the goof up!

Mini-quiz C is ready.

You can get working on Chapter 3 now, using mini-quiz C for a combo study guide/quiz.

I will be posting the accompanying Concept Guide C hopefully by lunchtime, maybe later this afternoon.

Week off

I have decided to make this week a week off for you guys in the online section, because you are slightly out of synch with the lecture sections.

So... if you have been looking forward to a new learning module this week, I am officially delaying it til next week.

But there is plenty of work in concept guides A and B, so make sure you get them squared away. Pepper up the discussions areas with questions about motion!

Learning module for chapter 2

You can now try the outline in the Chapter 2 concept guide. It has concepts, vocabulary, homework exercises to try and various comments. We will be pacing two or three chapters per week. With the chapter 2 mini-quiz, it makes up a bundle known as the Ch. 2 Learning Module.

More later on. Stay tuned.

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!

Chapters 12 and 13 UP

If you view the Week 3a learning module, you will see the concept guides for chapters 12 and 13 now available.

Chapter 12 is one of my favorite chapters, because I love the Bernoulli Effect!!

Chapter 7, energy... plus readings

Your readings about the gravitational tractor are now up in the Week 2a learning module, though you have actually had links for two weeks or so. I will be asking questions about the concepts of asteroid diversion on Exam 2. To help you break down the articles, I also slapped a tip sheet on the readings into the Learning Module.

Chapter 7's concept guide and mini-quiz are now available, too. GO FOR IT!

Chapter 6 concept guide and mini-quiz

You can go for the chapter 6 concept guide now. Also the chapter 6 mini-quiz is ready.

I have two more chapters to update, and I will set them up asap.

Deluxe dynamical quantities in chapters 6, 7 and 8

You can start reading and studying about momentum, energy and angular momentum in chapters 6, 7 and 8. I will have concept guides available in a learning module by supper time today. Exam 2 will cover these three chapters.

Exam 1, and concept guides for this week's learning module.

The set of chapters we will cover for Exam next week is:

2. Chapter 2: Basic concepts concerning position, velocity and acceleration. These are MUST UNDERSTAND concepts.
3. Chapter 3: Sir Isaac Newton's three laws of motion. We will use these concepts every inch of the way this semester.
4. Chapter 4: Two special kinds of accelerated paths, uniform circular motion and the path of a baseball heading for the outfield. These are the simplest applications of Newton's three laws.
5. Chapter 5: Newton's great victory, the Law of Universal gravitation, a model of the scientific enterprise at full maturity.

The concept guides for the chapters 3-5 are now available in the Week 1 learning module, as promised. Plus, there are mini-quizzes that you can use for practice.

Remember to post questions in Discussions if the homework exercises throw you for a loop. You must crush Exam 1.

Working

I am working on some more concept guides for you today. They have to be updated for the 7th edition of the textbook. I hope to have them ready later in the day, and they will constitute the remainder of the work for you leading into Exam 1 one week from today.

Mini-assignment

You can start working on the chapter 2 concept guide. It is in the Learning Module folder on the Webcourses home page, with the blinking light bulb icon.

Along with the concept guide is a mini-quiz where you can test yourself on basic concepts and calculations.

Last major learning module is now UP.

Your week 15 learning module is now UP in Webcourses. It is the last major learning module for the semester. Post your questions about it in the Discussions area.

Next week, I think I will put together a mini-review quiz to get you back into the flow of all the topics from Exams 1, 2 and 3. Remember: the final exam covers EVERYTHING this semester!!!!!

Concept guide with extra instructional blurb

Your week 8 learning module is now UP. It contains the primary item, the concept guide, plus an extra two-page blurb about rotation and angles. Make sure to read the blurb before you grapple the mini-quiz.

Learning module for week 3 is now UP.

Welcome back to classes after a nice weekend.

This week's learning module is now UP. Look for the coffee cup icon on the home page in Webcourses. You will find:

1. the concept guide for chapter 3
2. a mini-quiz to trot you through some of the chapter 3 essentials
3. a link to the discussions area "Questions concerning motion, from chapters 2-4" in case you get stuck.

Remember: these are not the only study activities you should work with. They are only the starting point. In an online class like this, you have the responsibility of keeping up and being an aggressive learner.

Learning Module for Week 2 is now UP.

I have just activated a "learning module" for the second week of the semester. Look for the coffee cup icon on the course home page in Webcourses. Click in there and take a look:

1. The heart of each learning module is the concept guide. Everything starts with the concept guide!
2. The concept guide is filled with study tips, like vocabulary to be familiar with, exercises to work on, diagrams, comments on the reading and even which pages to read. The concept guide for chapter 2 contains a mini-assignment from chapter 1 for those of you who are rusty with the metric system. Everything else is from chapter 2.
3. In addition to the concept guide, you will also find a mini-quiz on chapter 2 concepts. It will help you gauge your understanding, and some students print it out and use it as a study tool for reading. In fact, it is designed to highlight the reading. You can take the mini-quiz as many times as you like, up until September 21, when Exam 1 goes active. All mini-quizzes go off the air that morning before the midterm exam.
4. There is a link to the "Questions concerning motion, from chapters 2-4" discussion area, for posting questions and helping your classmates with tips. My TAs and I will also be participating in the discussion threads. Many students benefit from these discussion interactions and see their grades improve.
5. I will add extra enrichment activities and tools to the learning module occasionally, so always keep an eye open during the week.

Note: whenever I add an enrichment tool to the learning module or any other change or modification, I will announce it here first. Sometimes I make several announcements in a single day. So always keep this Blogspot in your list of things to eyeball a couple times per day. Good.

Grading your Writing Assignment 1 sentences.

I will start grading your sentences in Writing Assignment 1 today, and it will take me a few days to do so. So hold your horses about asking me for your score etc.

I will let you know when to go back in to TurnItIn.com and read my comments and grades, which you will use for completing Writing Assignment 2. You will be able to improve your writing in WA2.

For now: focus in on chapters 6 and 7 concept guides.

Questions about homework, mini-quizzes etc.

Here is my recommended work flow if you have a question about a mini-quiz item or something from a concept guide:

1. Instead of sending a course mail message to me...
2. Find the proper Discussions area for your subject.
3. Post your question in that Discussions area.
4. Make it one post for each mini-quiz item or homework problem.
5. I will coach you along in Discussions.
6. Once per day I will add to one Discussions post by branching out to Twitter for extra info.

I think this will make a good mixture of different styles of interaction.

Week 2 module is activated.

1. The Week 2 learning module is now active. Look on the home page for the cup of coffee icon for the folder of all learning modules.
2. More concept guides are in the Week 2 learning module. They are your study priority.
3. In the Week 2 learning module are some extra study tools:
   1. A spec sheet comparing Mars to Earth, which lets you see how the value of g on Earth's surface, 9.8 m/sec², compares to Mars. It's a PDF file.
   2. A prep tool to help you see what my exam questions can be like. It is a leftover mini-review from my spring 2009 lecture section. It's a set of 4 linked HTML pages.
4. Note: if you haven't noticed already, some of the textbook materials work with a rounded off value of g, 10 m/sec². Some of the text materials use a more precise value of 9.8 m/sec². I always use 9.8 m/sec² in exams!
5. I will probably release Writing Assignment 0 instructions over the weekend. To get ready for it, read and think about that article from Nature about the gravitational tractor. What do you find interesting or intriguing in that article?
6. Post substantive questions in the Discussion areas for chapters 2-4 and for chapter 5. I will coach you along there in Discussions.