MATH032 -- Introduction to Algebra:
This course provides students the critical elements of algebra for linear equations and polynomials.  Starting with a foundation of arithmetic with real numbers, the course will study the addition and multiplication rules of solving linear equations.  The course will conclude with an introduction to polynomial operations.  The goal of the course will be to ensure a solid understanding of the basic elements of algebra. (credits do not count toward graduation)
 

MATH092 and MATH102 -- Basic Algebra:
This course will provide students with the skills and analysis necessary to successfully solve a variety of basic algebra problems.  Starting with polynomials, the course will focus in on factoring skills and using technology to solve certain types of problems.  Rational expressions will be explored including the use of least common multiples and arithmetic with rational expressions.  The course will also include graphing linear equations.  Students will apply their skills to a variety of application problems to see the real world nature of algebra. (credits from MATH092 do not count toward graduation of bachelor degree students; credits from MATH102 do count toward graduation of associate degree students)
 

MATH104 and MATH114 -- Algebra for College Students:
At the conclusion of this course students will exhibit mastery of the following topics in Algebra:  basic treatment of algebraic expressions, solving linear equations, graphing linear equations, polynomial operations, positive and negative integer exponents, factoring, systems of linear equations, radical and rational expressions, quadratic equations, and various application problems.  (credits from MATH114 count toward graduation of most bachelor degree students; credits from MATH104 do not count toward graduation of students in the EET major)

DeVry University Online course content is constructed from curriculum guides developed for each course that are in alignment with specific Terminal Course Objectives. The Terminal Course Objectives, or more commonly "TCO's", define the course objectives that the student will be required to comprehend and demonstrate a clear understanding of by course completion. The TCO's that will be covered in detail each week can be found in the Objectives section for that particular week. Whenever possible, a link will be made from a particular assignment or discussion back to the TCO's that it emphasizes.  

A note about the course syllabus and general course layout...

 

• MATH032 covers TCOs 1 - 8
  
   
• MATH092 and MATH102 cover TCOs 1 - 17
  
   
• MATH104 or MATH114 cover TCOs 1 - 21 
   

The Course Schedule for your course is your road-map to success, and one of the most critical documents in this course. Depending on which course you are enrolled in, you must download the detailed course schedules for MATH032, MATH092/102, or MATH104/114 from DocSharing. The downloads are tracked and your instructor will contact you if you have not downloaded your course schedule by the end of Week 1. If you finish one course early and begin working on the next course in the sequence you will have to then download the new course schedule.

To find the Exams and HW assignments referenced in the Course Schedules and the Weekly Introduction you MUST view the Keys to Success video in Course Home and the "Ways to Get Started" and the "MyMathLab Rhythm" PowerPoint presentations in DocSharing.

The MML (MyMathLab) powered courses are self-paced: This means you may work faster than the suggested weekly course outline in your course schedule, but try not to work slower.

• You are encouraged to finish more than one course this term
   
• You are required to progress to the next course until you finish MATH114
   
• Exception: If you are an Associates Degree student and your terminal math course is MATH102, you are required to progress to the next course until you finish MATH102
   
• MML assignments from an unfinished course may be transferred to a following term, provided no major changes have occurred in the course from one term to the next. 

Note: Significant changes have been made to the courses for the Summer 2006 semester. You must read and follow your course schedules - there may be additional assignments you have to complete because of the changes if you started working on a new course in a previous term but did not finish it. If you have questions about the assignments that were transferred, contact your instructor immediately!

The categories in this course which determine your grade are listed below:

Threaded Discussions (TDAs)
The weekly discussions are a critical, required and graded component of the class. They will always close at 11:59 pm MT (Mountain Time) on Sundays. Discussion threads for Online mathematics classes are not editable. For Week 1 only, the TDA requirement is split between the TDAs and a quiz. The Week 1 TDAs count 5 points, and the Week 1 Quiz in eCollege counts 10 points. If you do not participate in the TDAs you will not pass this course!

Practice and Tutorials
You have access to a large number of practice and tutorial problems within MyMathLab, generated by your personal study plan. While not included in your overall grade, these problems are required for you to help you master prerequisite and new skills and concepts, and prepare you for passing exams.

Homework
Homework is assigned for the new chapters you study in each course in MML. Your HW assignments will unlock after you have taken a Chapter Pretest once. You must score 100% on each HW assignment to progress to the next assignment within a chapter. You must complete all HW assignments for a chapter before you take the Chapter Exam. HW assignments are unlimited re-takes. Homework is a required and graded component in this course. Any HW assignments you have not completed by 11:59 pm MT (Mountain Time) on Sunday of Week 8 will receive a grade of zero.

Entrance Test, Chapter Pretests, and Practice Final Exam
These tests ensure that you have mastered all the prerequisites required to move on to a new skill set. Except for the Practice Final Exam they must be passed with a score of 80% or better before you can move on to the next exam in line. They can generally be taken an unlimited number of times, but you should review them and correct your mistakes using the resources in your Study Plan and the TDAs before a retake. A score of 80% on your Entrance Test(s) is required to unlock the first Chapter Pretest in your course, and having taken a Chapter Pretest once (irrespective of score) is required to unlock the Chapter HW for that chapter. These tests are not included in your overall grade.

Chapter Exams
You must score 80% or better on each of the four Chapter Exams to pass the course. Each Chapter Exam may be taken up to three times. Chapter Exams are graded components of the class. Only the highest grade counts for each exam.

Final Exam
The Final Exam can be taken up to two times. The Final Exam is a graded component of the class. Only the highest grade counts. You must have successfully completed all tests and HW assignments in the course before you can attempt the Final Exam. The Practice Final Exam is optional - you have to enter it before you can take the Final Exam, but you do not have to pass it with an 80% or better. Its purpose is to generate a final Study Plan for you so you can effectively review before taking the Final Exam.

The maximum score in this class is 600 points. The categories which contribute to your final grade are weighted as follows:

You must make prior arrangements for submitting late assignments and receive approval. Even then, points may be deducted depending upon the circumstances. The courses in the MML sequence are all self-paced - hence the only assignment that may officially be late is the quiz in eCollege in Week 1. All MML assignments for the course you are enrolled in, including all MML Homework Assignments, MML Chapter Exams and the MML Final Exam must be completed by Sunday, 11:59 pm MT (Mountain Time) of Week 8.

Your TDA performance each week is graded using points. The points are recorded in your eCollege GradeBook weekly. Your MML (MyMathLab) grades, consisting of your Test Average and your Homework Average, are recorded and updated automatically by MML in the MML gradebook as you complete your assignments. At the end of the course, zeros are added into MML for assignments that were not completed, and your final MML Test Average and MML Homework Average are converted to points and added into the eCollege GradeBook in Week 8. The MML category of Test Average includes both your Chapter Exam Average and your highest Final Exam Score. This combined MML Test Average score is worth at most 390 points, and recorded as one category in your eCollege Gradebook. The points are then converted to a letter grade using the scale in the table below. You must complete the Final Exam and have obtained an overall course average of 80% or above in order to pass the course .

In the Discussion areas of the course, you, as a student, can interact with your instructor and classmates to explore questions and comments related to the content of this course. Discussions will always close Sunday, 11:59 P.M. Mountain Time (MT).

A successful student in online education is one who takes an active role in the learning process. You are therefore encouraged to participate in the discussion areas to enhance your learning experience throughout each week.

The discussions will be graded for:

1. Frequency—Number and regularity of your discussion comments, and

2. Quality—Content of your contributions

Frequency—Number and regularity of your contributions. Students are expected to log into the course and post (respond) in the threaded discussion topics on a minimum of three separate days per week, beginning no later than Wednesday.

Quality—Content of your contributions. Examples of quality posts include:

• providing additional information to the discussion;
• elaborating on previous comments from others;
• presenting explanations of concepts or methods to help fellow students,
• presenting reasons for or against a topic in a persuasive fashion,
• sharing your own personal experiences that relate to the topic, and
• providing a URL and explanation for an area you researched on the Internet.

Full credit is awarded when both high quality and required frequency is met.

Participation in the threaded discussions each week is an important part of the learning process. However, sometimes unavoidable circumstances (please see list below) make that participation impossible. In those cases, DeVry University has a process to allow students to make up participation points for a week of threaded participation by writing a 4-5 page paper. This paper must summarize the discussions missed, and add material to show mastery of the topics discussed, integrating that mastery with the TCO(s) for the week. If you find that you cannot meet the class' minimum Threaded Discussion requirements due to such a circumstance, please contact your instructor as soon as possible. Your instructor will forward your request to the appropriate DeVry personnel.

The administration will review the request, and may make accommodations to students under the following circumstances:

• In the event that the area in which a student resides experiences an extended power outage due to a natural disaster (hurricane, flood, storm, etc.)
• A student is on active military duty and cannot complete coursework
• A student has a verifiable medical or other personal emergency

For DVUO policy on discussions (and all other DVUO policies), please review the information contained in "Policies" under the Course Home section of your course.

When are grades calculated, and how can I view my grades?

• You must complete any quizzes and post your written assignments (if necessary) to the weekly Dropbox by Sunday 11:59 p.m. (MT) each week.
• By Wednesday, your work should be reviewed. You should see comments and total points for each assignment in the Gradebook.
• You may check your progress at any time by going to the Gradebook, selecting the week and then your name.
• Click on the points earned for each assignment in the Gradebook to see any instructor comments.

What should I do if a discrepancy is found with my grade?

1.  Double-check the error and try to determine what caused it.

2.  Send your instructor an email explaining your findings. 

3.  Trust that any error in grading will be corrected quickly. 

What if I cannot get my work submitted on time?

• If you have an emergency that will cause your work to be late, please contact your instructor in advance of the due date so that arrangements can be made. Your instructor may reserve the right to deduct points for work turned in late based on the reason and the timeliness of notice.
• If a technical problem prevents you from meeting the scheduled due date, please contact the Help Desk at 800-594-2402 and immediately email your instructor about the situation.

How can I get extra credit?

• It is the policy of DeVry University that extra credit will not be allowed in any of its classes, online or onsite, for any reason.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a violation of the Academic Integrity code of this institution and will not be tolerated.  The plagiarism policy applies to every aspect of DVUO coursework including threaded discussions, exams, quizzes, essays, assignments, etc.  It is important that students fully cite any text they apply to their work. 

If you copy from, rely on, or paraphrase from your text or from any other source, you must include in-text citations. For any source other than your text, you must also include the proper reference material including the full URL and date accessed if the source is the web. Failure to do so is a violation of DeVry Academic Standards, and will mean a zero for your assignment and an investigation of plagiarism by Student Services.

Please take a moment to review this important tutorial. To learn more about avoiding plagiarism in your work: How to Avoid Plagiarism

To support DeVry Online's commitment to Academic Integrity your instructor now has the ability to check for plagiarism in student assignments and threaded discussion posts through the use of turnitin.com, a nationally known plagiarism prevention system. Through turnitin, assignments and threaded discussion posts submitted to turnitin by your instructor will be compared against material in three primary databases:

1. Both a current and extensively archived copy of the publicly accessible internet;  
2. Millions of commercial pages from books, newspapers, and journals;
3. Tens of millions of student papers already submitted to turnitin.

More information on turnitin can be found at www.turnitin.com

For a complete explanation of DeVry University Online's Academic Integrity Policy, please see the Policies item under the Course Home tab.  For additional information see your student handbook (available in the student services website).