Subject: [mat2705] the official welcome message from your instructor
Dear MAT2705 Jantzen section of
DEwLinAlg
(as of this date),
Hi. This is a welcome message from your math instructor, bob jantzen.
I look forward to working with you during the coming semester here at
Villanova.
You should enter BlackBoard and register
with our e-textbook
portal before the first day of class
following these instructions (now is
better than later!):
MyLab Math access [see screenshot] [email me if you have any trouble!]
Nearly all of our homework will be managed there, together with
access to our e-textbook.
You have two weeks to pay for access after joining
the class.
[The cheapest purchase option is
direct from the publisher for $74.95, see
this explanation.]
You can learn about me from my homepage:
http://www.homepage.villanova.edu/robert.jantzen/
[or directly: dr bob, who is this guy?]
and about our class this semester from its homepage
where all of our online
class activities will be directed
http://www.homepage.villanova.edu/robert.jantzen/courses/mat2705/
This includes some of my scanned old tests and quizzes and all their answer
keys [and expanded maple worksheet answer keys to show additional
features] to give you an idea of what I expect, the syllabus, an on-line class
and homework log, which will be added to daily as assignments are given out for each class,
and general advice about the course.
During the entire semester I encourage you to communicate with me
---in class or by email or during in-person office
hours or via Zoom office hour---
about what you find difficult or confusing so that I can better help you
in your learning process. I am not your adversary but your facilitator for
learning the course materials.
You have been doing calculus until now, with different
degrees of success and stopping points. Now we are moving on to use
knowledge of derivatives and integrals in the calculus of a single
variable
in understanding how differential
equations work and what to expect from
their solutions. We would like to understand the
underlying concepts,
Some of you will like me and others will not. This is a fact of life.
Remember that teaching is my number one priority here at Villanova and I want
to help you. Let me do that by communicating to me when you feel I am not
helping you, in class or after class.
By the end of the week, reply to this welcome e-mail from your OFFICIAL Villanova e-mail account (which identifies you with your full name), telling about your last math courses, your comfort level with graphing calculators and computers and math itself, how much experience you have with Maple if any (and Mathcad if appropriate) so far, why you chose your major, etc, anything you want to let me know about yourself that will give me more of an idea about you as a person. [For example, I like to do humorous sketching. and cooking.] Tell me what your previous math course was named (if at VU: Mat1500 = Calc 1, Mat1505 = Calc 2, Mat2500 = Calc3). Please attach your class schedule grid from MyNova saved to PDF, or as an image file, or perhaps a screen shot saved to JPG, and name the file LastName-FirstName.<fileextension> so I can easily extract them to a folder on my laptop for future reference.
thanks,
bob
[You can call me "bob", "dr bob", or "dr jantzen" depending on how
formal you wish to be.]
bob jantzen
