Communication and Participation

Communication and Participation

Forums:

Forums is located on the navigation bar at the left. It uses the system Piazza which is highly catered to getting you help quickly and efficiently from classmates and myself. You are to post all inquiries related to the course in the Forums because your question/answer is probably of interest to several of your classmates, and because you may get a reply from a classmate shortly after posting it.

At the time of posting you will be required to select a Folder. For example, if you have a question about any aspect of Part 1 of the course, then click the part1 folder, select the option Post To the Entire Class, and then post your question.

If you have a personal issue or a question regarding your grade, you should contact me privately by selecting the Post to the Instructor(s) option.

 

If you find potential errors in this course please post to the Forums and select the folder “course corrections”.

There is also a folder where you can provide feedback for improving the course. If you have suggestions, please select the folder “feedback_for_improving_course”. Your suggestions are welcome, and I thank you in advance for your assistance in making improvements for future iterations of this course.

If you have any problems or feedback for the developers of Piazza, please email team@piazza.com.

Our Google+ Community:

A private community for this class has been set up in Google+. If you do not have a Google+ account, I encourage you to get one, then join the Algebra+ Community Links to an external site..

Hangouts: Joining the community will allow you to participate in real time face-to-face discussions with the instructor and/or classmates using Google+ Hangouts. These are basically video chats. You can participate in these Hangouts with audio only, or with both audio and video. With 500 students in this class, chances are someone else is available to Hangout with you. Look for available Hangouts on the right side of the community screen, or you can start one of your own.

Where We Live: As you can tell from the screen shot above, the class participants are located throughout the world. So, after joining the Algebra+ Community on Google+, say hello and write a brief description, and post a picture or two, of where you live. (For example: your neighborhood, city, geographic area, etc.). Then select “Where We Live” from the drop down category list. Check back often to see where your classmates are located.

General Mathematics: This is the place to share the world of mathematics beyond what is being specifically studied in the course. Posts could include news articles, interesting mathematical websites, mathematical videos, etc. When posting, make sure to select “General Mathematics” from the drop down category list.

Math in the Wild: Throughout the 10-week course, I encourage you to post a minimum of 5 pictures (one per two-week period, but feel free to post more) of "Math in the Wild". These pictures should come from where you live, i.e. in your neighborhood and/or community. Examples would be items with mathematical formula; items with mathematical symbols; items with patterns, the Golden Ratio, the Fibonacci series; math errors, etc. Along with the picture, give a short explanation as to why it qualifies for Math in the Wild.

At the time of posting your picture(s) for Math in the Wild, you will be required to select the appropriate time period from the drop down category list.  Please make sure to post in the correct time period, as you and your classmates will be voting on the best pictures by using the +1 feature located at the bottom of the post. The post with the most +1’s at the end of the time period will be deemed the winner.  In case of a tie, there will be a class poll to determine the winner.

Each periods winner will be announced, and then at the end of the quarter the class will vote on the overall winner from the 5 individual period winners.

Wrap up

So that’s how we will use the Forums and the Google+ Community. Note that questions regarding the course are to be posted in the Forums, i.e. questions on problems, material, concepts, etc. They are NOT to be posted in our community on Google+. Instead, we will use Google+ to Hangout (where we will have face-to-face discussions regarding problems, material, and concepts from our course) and share mathematics beyond what is being specifically studied in the course.