Getting Started:

Every instructor is using their tools in slightly different ways which can create confusion for students. This document will walk you through how I currently imagine this class will work. I would also note that it is almost certain to change in some way during the term so stay engaged and ask questions if you're uncertain or confused.

Remember the caution from the home page for this course. Because this course in the process of being converted to a remote or online teaching/learning model you should get in the habit of refreshing any web page that has important information (like a homework page or lab page) before relying on the information there. The web pages for this course will be evolving and changing rapidly.

Textbook:

Textbooks are the traditional source for students to go back and remind themselves of what will, or did, take place in class. On the other hand if good textbooks were all that is required for most people to learn there wouldn't be schools. In our case we will build a text book from the massive number of resources out there on the interwebs. This gives us important flexibility in choosing or adapting to topics of particular interest to you and is also more aligned with the way most of us currently seek to access information in our real lives. Sometimes I will link you to web pages but generally (because web pages have a habit of changing or disappearing) I will try link to pdf or other more stable resource.

Breadcrumbs is my current effort to provide a reminder/preparation resource for you as the class progresses. The breadcrumb pages start out as my preparation notes for each class. They include exercises and examples that I plan to use in class as well as links to documents or videos that I plan to share. I intend for them to be a rough record of what we did in class and the key concepts and ideas I hope you remember. In the world of remote teaching/learning I expect that you will read through the entire breadcrumb assigned and watch any videos while noting any questions you may have.

If you find that there is something you wish were in the breadcrumbs please let me know and I will try to get it in there as soon as possible.

HW: Get Start

Find the breadcrumb for Solar System II and tell me what is the name of the asteriod described in the TED talk linked near the end of that page?

During Class:

During our class meetings we will explore questions that you have and work collaboratively on exercises and homework style problems. When the questions are answered and the exercises are done we will close up the class and go on to the next thing in our busy lives. You should expect that every class day there will be at least one, in not several, activity for you to complete and turn in to the LMS (Bb). Having many small assignments has both upsides and downsides. The upside is that everything is clear in the gradebook and each task is modest and acheivable. The downside is that the gradebook blows up with many many columns and can look pretty terrifying. The visual clutter can make it hard to keep track of what's next.

From time to time I will find tool that I think may be useful for activities in class. Software, like phone apps for scanning documents to pdf's, will be linked on the Software Resources page on the course home page. Additional potential tools will be linked on the Other Materials page.

Side Note: I will be referring regularly to the LMS (Learning Management System) rather than Bb (Blackboard). We have, as a college, been exploring moving to a different LMS and I don't want to have to edit all these pages in the future just to change the name of the LMS:)

LMS Organization:

In the LMS I have organized the materials in weekly folders. In each week's folder there will be a summary of the plan for each class day (usually labeled Day 1 and Day 2), links to the various assignments in the LMS, and an place to turn in the lab. The actual learning materials will live entirely here on the public web for this class. Let me know if you see ways in which we might organize things differently to help. The starting date of each week in the LMS was the result of a student suggestion. In general I try to collect similar activities together in the gradebook. Labs will be adjacent to each other as will homework problems and an other repeated activities. Because of the way the LMS works some tasks in the gradebook may be out of order until I have a chance to go in and rearrange them. If youy can't find something look at the end of the gradebook. If it's still not there assume I forgot to create it and send me an email.

HW: Get Start

Go find the LMS and tell me what is the breadcrumb you might read for the first day of Week 8?

Why LMS and Public Web?

It is a fair question why this class asks you to keep track of both the LMS and a public website. In my bones I am a confirmed believer in the public good, open source code development, and the sharing economy. I am an employee of the people of this state and I feel that the work that I do has no reason to be private. As a result, any work that I do in my role as a teacher lives on the public interwebs unless it would violate privacy rules. A by product of this approach to my materials that I like is that the ideas and information for this course remain available to you after you leave the class in case you wish to revisit an idea or some data in the future. This fits with my hope that the material we explore in this class is, in fact, relevant to your lives in the long term and not just for 10 weeks.

HW Get Start

Look around the public website (Physics Home) and tell me who was an original sponsor of Open Badges?

How to 'Operate' this class:

So, how do I imagine you will 'do' this class. Here is a stepwise list:

1: Visit the LMS 2-3 times a week to check for announcements. Generally any annoucement that is posted will also be sent to you an an email but it is easy for things to get lost in the many emails you get every day.

HW: Get Start

An announcement was sent out on December 30th. What was the word in the [] brackets part way through the annoucement?

2: Go to the LMS and look in the folder for the week in question. In there you will find a description of the reading assignment (which Breadcrumb) for each day. There will also be a description of any reading assignments or HW you need to do from that reading.

3: Go to the public webpages for the course, find the indicated breadcrumb, and reading it through while makings notes about concepts or processes that seem unclear. Watch any videos and work through any example problems or calculations.

4: Show up for the remote class ready to ask questions about concepts or processes that you felt unclear about. I have intentions of having practice problems or questions ready for you to explore in breakout rooms other students in the class. At certain points there will also be time set aside for questions that you may have about homework problems you are working on.

5: After class verify that you know what tasks you have been assigned to complete from the material in the breadcrumb. These will be documented both in the breadcrumbs and in the weekly folder on the LMS. Ideally you will complete those tasks before the next class. The links for turning in assignments will be found in the LMS.

HW: Get Start

Because your fellow students are one of your best learning resources for your success I want you to reach out to at least one other student from this course. Find this ability to email other students in the class, without sharing personal contact information, in your inbox tab in Canvas. Here is a helpful guide. Email one other student (and copy me) to meet expectations for this exercise.

6: Prep for Lab: In the weekly folder on the LMS it will indicate the title of the lab for the week. Since you may be asked to locate and provide some tools or materials to complete the lab (timers, tape measure, hot water, etc etc) check ahead of time so you are ready for the lab. In general, when we have the lab, your instructor will review the instructions and any changes for 15-20 min. After that the 'classroom' will remain open while you go off and execute the lab including gathering data, analyzing data, plotting data, interpreting data, and reflecting on the meaning of the lab. You will typically have a week to write up the lab as coherent word processed document with embedded images, calculations, and plots, before turning it in through the LMS.

HW: Get Start

From the public web page for this course what is the name of the lab after Spectra?

7: Check for quizzes or unit tests in the LMS. Any quizzes or unit tests will be listed in the folder for the week in which they are assigned.

8: Towards the end of each week go look through all of the assigned tasks from the previous week and make a list of items you still need to complete to stay current in the class. There is a lot going on in remote and online classes and it is easy to get overwhelmed or miss tasks.

9: Rinse and repeat for the following week.

This is a first draft of the operating process for this class so please communicate with your instructor if you feel something can be improved.

HW Expectations:

There is a natural tendency to focus on getting the answer when working on practice problems and homework problems. This makes sense in the context of the many classes you have surely had where getting the 'right' answer is what you need to do to succeed in the class. That is NOT this class. While it is important to be able to get the desired answer the process by which you do that is more important to me. If you understand and execute the process the answer will happen. So here is what that means in general:

i: Start your solution for each problem by restating the problem.

ii: In many cases the terms in your problem have meaningful units. Include those units with each term in every step.

iii: Each successive step in the problem will be a new and complete line below the previous step.

iv: Next to, or between, each line note what you did if it's not truly obvious

v: When you reach the result of your calculations box or underline your answer (with units) to clearly indicate that this is your result

vi: If you want to get the most out of the learning experience take a look at your answer and consider whether it seems reasonable. Is it bigger or smaller than you expected? If you had no expectation can you compare your answer to something else you know better? Perhaps you learned some new math skill in the process of completing the problem. Make a comment or note to yourself at the end. This reflection about the problem will help cement the knowledge or skill that you were practicing.

I am aware that this takes a little more time and effort. I won't be draconian about these specific steps but remember that one of the outcomes for this class is to develop more effective communication skills about topics from science. The process outlined above is what STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) expect from each other when sharing solutions to problems and challenges.

Submitting Assignments/Taking Tests:

Tests/Quizzes and Assignments are found in the LMS. Some assignments require written responses and others will ask you to show your calculations for some task. In all cases I am less interested in the correct answer than the clarity and approprateness of your process. For assignments where you need to show your mathematical or graphical work you can either scan a picture using an app on your phone or insert a picture of your work or graph in a document. Genius Scan is an app that works on most phones and is linked on the Software Resources page accessible from the main course page. This app has been field tested in many of the math classes on campus and seems to be effective. Other apps you may have are fine as well but the output will need to a standard .pdf file to keep the LMS happy.

Tests within the LMS will usually give you multiple attempts. Mostly they will NOT be multiple choice. In the case of tests which ask for numerical answers be sure to notice the form of the answer that is requested. The LMS is often cranky about the specific format of the numerical answer because that's how computers are:) If you have tried to get the correct answer a couple of times stop and set up a chance to speak with your instructor via office hours. The issue may be with your interpretation of the question or it may be that the test has been set up erroneously.

HW: Get Start

Submit your answers to the HW questions using Genius Scan or an equivalent app to generate a pdf or answer them in a word document if that works for you.

Language:

As I'm building these documents I'm being reminded of a potential challenge you will face as students. The tools and concepts that are built into this website are used by physics teachers and scientists pretty universally. The appear on the surface to be the same language we use in daily life. A more nuanced perspective is that while the words seem familiar they can mean different things in different communities and context. This can lead to some significant confusions but that is part of the point of this class. As you participate in this class if you get a sense that maybe I mean something different with my words than you are thinking that is a great place to ask a question and start a conversation.

You might consider the connection between the different familiar sounding languages of science and this presentation of what it might mean to be differently articulate.

HW: Get Start

What are Jamila's three languages? Your choice for how you describe them.

HW: Get Start Turn in a pdf or word doc of your answers to the HW Questions in this breadcrumb to the appropriate location in week 1 in the LMS.

Reading Ahead:

Next time we will discuss the math expectations for this class. Read the Breadcrumb call Math.