Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Welcome to MTH 251 Fall 2025! 

Q: When does the class start?
A: You will have access to Desire2Learn (D2L) the weekend before the first day of the term.  The course will open Saturday, September 20th at 12:01am. 

Q: How do I access the course?
A: Log into MyPCC. On the main webpage, in the Quick Links window on the left, you will see the link to access D2L. For direct access go to https://online.pcc.edu and then use your MyPCC login information.

Q: When should I start the course?
A: The first day of the term. I am expecting you to access and start the course the day I give you access or the day after. We have our first assignment due Tuesday the first week of the term. The longer you wait to access the course, the chance of succeeding in the course diminishes. When you access the D2L course and participate in the activities it is the equivalent of attending a face-to-face course. Students that do not sufficiently participate in the course by Tuesday evening will be dropped. 

Q: How I am graded?
A: You will have weekly quizzes based on assigned homework, participation in weekly discussions, weekly learning and practice assignments, Lab Assignments, and three proctored exams. The assignments take time to complete. If you are taking too many courses you may find that you cannot keep up in the long run. Typically, it is completing the homework and learning the concepts that will take the majority of your time. Please make sure your schedule allows you to spend at least 12 hours per week on this course .

Proctored Exams: Proctored exams are one of the many assessment tools used in MTH/STAT courses to assess student learning. For in-person sections, exams are proctored in-person on campus during class time. For online sections, exams are primarily proctored virtually by the instructor in Zoom during remote class time. For online sections, exams are primarily proctored virtually by the instructor in Zoom on dates/times scheduled by the instructor.  Students will be offered an option to take their exams in person at a PCC Testing Center also.

The exams for this class will be proctored virtually by me (your instructor) on the following dates and times; please make every concerted effort to attend my virtually proctored exams listed below. 

• *Proctored Midterm Exam I - Week 4 - Wednesday evening* or Thursday morning* on Zoom, or PCC Testing Center
• *Proctored Midterm Exam II - Week 8 - Wednesday evening* or Thursday morning* on Zoom, or PCC Testing Center
• *Proctored Final Exam - Finals Week - Wednesday evening* or Thursday morning* on Zoom, or PCC Testing Center

*These are subject to change and the exact times for the exam will be provided week 1 of the term.

To have your exam proctored virtually, you must fully read and understand the Student Guide to Virtually Proctored Exams in Zoom and meet the technology/environment requirements; technology support will not be provided on exam day. Virtual proctoring was designed and piloted in collaboration between Math, Online Learning, and the Testing Center. 

If you do not meet the requirements for virtually proctored exams, prefer to take your exams in-person, and/or have an unavoidable scheduling conflict, please contact me as soon as possible. Alternative testing arrangements can be made for virtual or in-person proctoring at a testing center given adequate notice and depending on testing center capacity and availability. Scheduling appointments with a testing center and communicating with the instructor is the responsibility of the student, as well as paying any associated fees with using a non-PCC testing center. 

If you have accommodations through Accessible Ed & Disability Resources at PCC, please contact me so we can discuss your specific accommodations and how I can best support you. 

If you have any questions or concerns about virtually proctored exams, please feel free to contact me.

Q: How is the material presented?
A: I will provide the student with videos that cover all of the content for the course. You also have as a resource the textbook used for this course.

Textbook: We will be using OpenStax Calculus Volumes 1; which can be found for free online at https://openstax.org/subjects/math. There is no need to buy the physical textbook(s) but you are welcome to do so. 

Online Homework: We will be using MyOpenMath for online homework and quizzes. This platform is free and all assignments will be embedded directly into D2L Brightspace so there's no need for any additional logins. 

Video Lectures: This course will feature instructor-created video lectures for learning content. These videos will be embedded directly into D2L through YouTube, so there's no need for any special software. 

Calculator: A physical graphing calculator is not required in this class. Instead, online graphing calculators (such as Desmos and/or GeoGebra) will be used and demonsterated throughout the term and will also be available to students for use during exams that allow technology.

Word Processor and Equation Editor: A word processor (such as Microsoft Word) and equation editor (such as MathType) are recommended, but are not required for the course. They can be downloaded for free and more information will be provided on the syllabus.

Scanner Hardware or Scanner Software: A scanner is not required, but there will be times when you'll need to upload your hand-written work. This can be easily done using either a scanner (hardware) or using a smartphone or tablet with a free scanner application (software) such as Adobe Scan, ScanBot, GeniusScan, etc. 

PDF Creator: All electronic documents submitted in this class are required to be in pdf format. If you have Microsoft Word, you can create a pdf using "Save As". Otherwise, you may need a PDF Creator, such as CutePDF. These are free and easy to use.