Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Just a few details to start.

• I am running this class as a flipped course.  Please look at the following video to familiarize yourself with a flipped class. Flipped Class Video Introduction 
• Here is another video of a KGW news report on two instructors at PCC who are flipping their classes.  News Story on Flipped Classroom at PCC

With a flipped class, you will be working on the content before we meet as a class.  You will have a "pre-assignment" in MyLab Math which includes videos of the content we will be studying mixed with some practice problems.  When we gather as a class there will be group activities where you will reinforce the content, working with and helping others in your group will reinforce the concepts.  As an instructor, I will be going around the classroom and clarifying/answering any questions your group may have.  After the activities, you will work on the "classwork" from that section within MyLab Math.  I will be there to answer and help with any problems you may have.  You will also have your classmates to help you with your classwork.  The goal is to get your classwork completed in the last half of the class so that you can focus on the next class lecture material.  Finally, most classes will have a short (10-minute) "assessment" over the content covered that day.  This assessment will be 3 - 5 problems that will be turned in by the end of class.  The goal of these assessments is to give you a chance to see if you understand the content, which is important for you to know for upcoming exams.  As I will be grading these, it will also give you an idea of how I will be grading exams, using correct formatting, and where you may have to get extra practice/tutoring before the exam.

Plan on spending between 12 - 15 hours outside of our class time to be successful in this course.  If your schedule doesn't allow for that time, consider taking this course when you have more time available.

You will need to have good internet for the online "homework".  The homework is very hard to do on a smartphone, so if you can gain access to a tablet, laptop, or desktop, it will be easier to complete the homework.  We will work on homework for the last portion of the class, which may have computers; however, if you don't complete the homework in the allotted time, please make sure you have something other than your smartphone.

Math 70 is fast-paced.  It is the combined Math 60 & 65 curriculum in 1 term, so we have a lot of content to cover.  Math 70 is more of a review of topics.  This course is intended for students with strong foundational math skills.  Students need to have a good grasp of basic math skills and not rely on their calculators for basic computations.  Multiplication facts/skills are fundamental to your success. Feeling comfortable working with fractions is also important, without a calculator. Seems like easy things, but it's so important.

Here is a copy of an old syllabus, which you can look over to get an idea of what to expect for this course.  There will be changes for our course winter term.

You will need a 3-ring binder with dividers to organize the material, a basic calculator-not a graphing calculator, and a straightedge for the class.