Select the following option (you have only one choice):

Submitting Assignment: Orientation Part IIIa

Your course (e.g., Mth 151, Mth 173, Phy 121, Phy 232, etc. ):

If you have one, please provide your access code.  You may leave this part blank if you do not yet have an access code. 

If you do not have an access code and have not already done so, you need to immediately go to http://vhmthphy.vhcc.edu/ > General Information, click on Request Access Code and submit the completed form. 

Remember that it is crucial to enter your access code correctly.  As instructed, you need to copy the access code from another document rather than typing it.

Access Code
Confirm Access Code

Your Name:

Your VCCS email address.  You is the address you were instructed in Step 1 to obtain.  If you were not able to obtain that address, indicate this below.

A typical assignment may consist of up to three parts:

• In most courses, at the beginning of an assignment you will run a q_a_ program which is intended to give you a gentle introduction to the main ideas of the section.  Your work on a q_a_ program will be submitted by running the appropriate assignment and submitting the resulting SEND file.
• In some courses there may be additional tasks to be submitted through web forms or by other means.  For example the lab component of a physics course consists of such assignments, and calculus courses include mathematical modeling assignments in the early part of the course. 
• In all courses you will submit the remainder of the assignment using the Query program (very similar to a q_a_ program), which is at the end of each assignment.  This program poses selected questions about the assignment, and it is expected that the program will be run with your work on the assignment in front of you so that you can answer quickly.   Submitting a Query assignment is very similar to submitting a q_a_ assignment (the only difference being that the filename of the SEND file won't include your name).

The instructor will make comments on your work, which will then be posted at your access page.

The first thing you need to do is document your thinking on each question:

• Read the question and do your best to figure out what the question is asking. 

• It is often helpful to jot down notes as you go, since the process of translating the problem into your own words and pictures helps focus your understanding. 
• Another reason to jot things down is that mathematics is generally easier to do on paper than on a computer.  In particular it is important to translate 'typewriter notation' such as x - (3 + y)^3 / (2 - z)^2 into standard notation, where it would read

. 

To do so you need to understand basic algebraic notation, which you do, and nee to be able to apply the order of operations.  Most students beginning these courses tend to make errors related to order of operations, but fortunately this is easy to remedy.  This is addressed in your very first q_a_exercise, which you will complete shortly.

• It's also a good idea to jot down notes because problems in a q_a_ are often broken down into a series of two or more questions.  When this happens you need to remember the question from one step to the next.  It is assumed you have sufficient notes to do so.

• When you answer the question be sure to include the details of your reasoning and the process you used to find your result.  Don't just write down an answer.  Write down a reasonably complete solution.

Indicate your understanding of what it means to document your work:

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One very important and efficient learning strategy emphasized in your course is self-critique.

• A self-critique consists of either a (possibly brief) statement with enough detail to convince us both that you understand the solution ('OK I've got it' isn't very convincing) or a question that specifies exactly what you do and do not understand.

For example if you answered 'how do you put the amount $400 and the rate $10/hour together to get the time required?' with the response '$400 * $10/hour = 4000 hours', you might receive a response that says

• **We are given the rate $10/hour ar which money is accumulated and the amount $400 to be accumulated. We can visualize a string of $10 bills, each representing an hour's work, and totaling $400. It is clear that 400 / 10 = 40 bills would be required. Alternatively we can divide the amount accumulated by the rate: At $10 / hour it will take $400 / ($10 / hour) = 40 hours to make $400.Note that when we divide $ by $/hour we multiply $ by hour / $, which gives us ($ / $) * hours or just hours. **

Your response should indicate just how you arrived at the idea to multiply when division is required, how you can now and in the future reason out similar situations, and how the unit calculation of dividing $ by $/hr gives you hours while the unit calculation in your solution resulted in $^2 / hours, not in hours, which should have tipped you off that you had an error.

Explain your understanding of the nature of self-critique, and how the process might be benficial to you.

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As mentioned above, in most courses you have q_a_ exercises at the beginning of most assignments.

• These exercises are designed to engage you in the type of thinking necessary for the assignment and to give you practice and information.
• Engage yourself in the problem before you look at the solution.
• When your solution differs from the given solution you are to reconcile these differences, as best you can, in your response.
• Again your response should either convince us both that you now understand or it should ask a good question designed to increase your understanding. q_a_ exercises sometimes introduce new ideas in solutions and your responses should note those new ideas.

Please explain the role of q_a_ exercises and the use of self-critique.

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After reading the information in the next few paragraphs you will run one of the exercises in the q_a_initial_problems program. 

Don't worry about how well you do on this exercise. 

• Students in courses with strong algebra and analysis content and lots of prerequisites tend to answer most questions correctly and to easily understand their errors. 
• Students in courses that don't have heavy prerequisites often do well also, but on the average students in these courses have more difficulty with some of the questions. 

You need to complete this exercise, and you are expected to make your best effort, but you aren't otherwise being graded on your performance on any of the q_a_Introductory_Problems exercises.

• This specific exercise will ask you questions designed to introduce you to the way the Order of Operations is used when entering mathematical expressions from the keyboard.  It is very important in most courses to understand the Order of Operations well.  Most courses rely heavily on algebraic expressions, and these expressions must be constructed according to this order.  Liberal Arts Mathematics courses use less algebra, but for that course this exercise is a good introduction to using the rules of a mathematical system.
• You will be expected to self-critique your solutions in the manner described above.  Part of the purpose of this exercise is to introduce you to the idea of constructively critiquing your work, which will more deeply engage you in your learning process and which you will in the process develop into a powerful learning tool.

When you run the program you will be asked a standard series of three questions, which will be asked every time you run a q_a_ file:

• The first question will ask for your full name.  The SEND file created by the program will include your name, as you give it, in the filename, along with the current date.
• The next prompt, which you will ordinarily ignore, gives you the opportunity to change the location of the SEND file.  It is suggested that you simply click on OK or hit the Enter key without entering anything into the box, which will cause the program to write to the c:\vhmthphy folder as before.  However if for any reason you want to use a different folder on your computer (e.g., the desktop or some other folder of your choice), you may enter the path to that folder in this box.
• The third question will ask you for the assignment number.  Enter 1 for the assignment number.

You will then run the program just as you earlier ran the q_a_prelim.  Start by clicking on Next Question/Answer, and proceed as before. 

You will encounter two things in this program you did not encounter in the q_a_prelim: 

• After responding to the question, you will be asked to rate your confidence in your answer. 
• After then viewing the solution you will be asked to assess the need for, and if needed the quality of your self-critique.

The instructor's posted responses will then give you feedback on your responses.

You won't understand what all this means until you run the program. 

A few final words before you run the program:

• In the introductory problems exercises, the first couple of questions are usually relatively easy, questions you will either get right or will very likely understand after responding and then seeing the solution.  These exercises are designed to also include subsequent questions of intermediate difficulty, and a few very challenging questions that only a few students get right. 
• The idea is that everyone should succeed at some level, and be challenged at some level, and should learn something in the process. 
• Do your best, don't worry if some of the questions seem unreasonably difficult (again the design is to challenge everyone), and try to enjoy the challenges.

You are invited to comment before running the program, but it is not required that you do so:

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You should now run the program q a initial problems, either by clicking on this link and choosing to Run the program or by running it from your hard drive. 

When you have completed the last question, you will see End Program in the question box. 

• At this point you may if you wish click on the button entitled 'Display SEND file', which will display the SEND file in the Question box.  You can highlight and copy this file without having to browse to your hard drive.  Note that CTRL-A does not work to highlight the contents of the box; if you go to the top of the box and use the combination Shift-Ctrl-End the contents should be highlighted.  Then you can either right-click and choose Copy, or use CTRL-C to copy the contents to the clipboard.
• Alternatively you can quit the program, then locate the SEND file on your hard drive, as you did previously with the q_a_prelim.  Highlight and copy the contents.

To submit your SEND file work, click on the link

• submit work

and follow the instructions on that page to submit a copy of your file.  In the box below briefly describe the process you have followed.  Include your comments on the process of self-critique:

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&#Good work. Let me know if you have questions. &#