Institutional Policies, Instructor Information, etiquette
Instructor Information:Associate Professor of Mathematics David A. Smith
dsmith@vhcc.edu Work Phone contact instructor by email or using forms, as instructed ** Office Location Room 102 of ISC building on VHCC campus.
Questions may be submitted using the form at the following link:
Submit Question Form.The instructor's most important activity is to clarify content to students and supplement the available information.
Instructional materials are designed to provide a structured stream of questions, activities and solutions/answers as the student engages the course content.
When you as a student have a question that isn't answered by the activity, you are encouraged to pose a question that documents what is and is not understood. This provides the instructor with the information required to focus a specific response tailored to the specific need of the student.
The instructor normally responds as promptly as possible to routine submitted work, often on the same day and nearly always by the end of the day after the work is submitted, and does so seven days a week.
Instructor's educational background:
B.S. Mathematics, Case Western Reserve University
(undergraduate minors in Physics and Philosophy; mathematics specialties Rational Mechanics, Mathematical Physics)
M.S. Mathematics, Case Western Reserve University
(standard PhD qualifier-level courses in Abstract Algebra, Topology, Real Analysis, Complex Analysis. Primary subsequent concentration in Complex Analysis)
Additional graduate work in Physics
A more extensive Instructor Introduction should have been encountered previously. That introduction is specifically linked in the Menu Frame. For your convenience the link is Instructor information / introduction.
Institutional policies are included in the VHCC Catalog and at the Blackboard link entitled Student Support Services link on the Blackboard page for your course.
Academic Policies are of particular importance.
You should click on the link to the College Calendar and carefully note the dates for the following:
Only basic technical skills are required. Students should be able to do the following:
Navigate the Web by clicking on links, or by entering URL's into the Address box of an Internet Browser.
Copy and paste content from one document to another and into web forms.
Use a text editor.
Navigate the file structure of your computer.
Download and install open-source software.
Etiquette
Common-sense etiquette is expected in written communications:
Try to keep your communication positive. You're trying to learn stuff, your instructor is trying to help.
Avoid profanity. Your instructor understands profanity and isn't particularly offended by it, but profanity in writing stigmatizes the user as unprofessional, and should always be avoided. You just don't want to put it in writing.
Whatever you do, for your own sake don't say things that can be interpreted as hostile or threatening. Your instructor understands and accepts occasional (and preferably positively focused) expressions of frustration, confusion, and the like. But there are legal limits to what you can say or write, and you just don't want to push those limits.
The instructor doesn't really mind it, but it's generally considered bad form to write in all capital letters. Capital letters indicate strong emphasis, and you don't want to wear out your readers. In a pure-text editor capitals are your only reasonable option for emphasis, but use capitalized letters appropriately and sparingly.