Subject: [mat2705] the official welcome message from your instructor

Dear MAT2705 Jantzen sections 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.

1)

You should enter BlackBoard and register
with our  e-textbook portal before the first day of class.
Go to our class, to Course Content, click on Pearson Course Materials and create an account at Pearson if you do not already have one, which upon login leads you to our online e-portal for your e-book textbook and homework assignment system. You can do the first assignment, which helps you understand how to enter responses in the system. Email me if you have any problems with this process.

Nearly all  of  our homework will be managed there, together with access to our e-textbook.
[The cheapest purchase option is direct from the publisher if you opt out of the tuition textbook program.]

2)

Make sure you have Maple 2024 on your local computer, available by clicking here and logging into the university software server and downloading the sofrware (the Activation Code is on the entering page for Student Software: copy and paste that into Maple at the end of installation]. You may use Maple to check (not justify) any calculations you make on all quizzes and tests. There is no expectation that you have used this software in the past. We will get familiar with it as we go. Sophomores should update from Maple 2023 to Maple 2024. Freshman, don't worry that you have never used this before. I will personally show you Maple in office hours if you want a one on one introduction.

3)

You can learn about me from my homepage:
  http://www.homepage.villanova.edu/robert.jantzen/  [or with pictures: 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 all 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.
 

4)
 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 want to see how they help us in STEM applications. 

 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, and name the file LastName-FirstName.<fileextension> so I can easily extract them to a folder on my laptop for future reference. [If you forget, no problem, I can rename it on the fly.]

 thanks,
 bob
 [You can call me "bob", "dr bob", or "dr jantzen" depending on how
 formal you wish to be.]

bob jantzen

http://www.homepage.villanova.edu/robert.jantzen

http://www.drbobenterprises.com
I will give you my cell phone number in class, off web!