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Hello all,
As many of you know, I have been on a merry-go-round of mathematics trying to complete Calculus. I have tried Straighterline and BYU but have settled on taking it through Excelsior because the second course counts as both Calculus II and Differential Equations. I enjoyed the materials for Straighterline, but missed having a system like MyMathLab or Aleks to practice the homework. BYU looked like it might be a good option until I saw a prior years exam and got freaked out. The homework problems were reasonable, but the exams were proof heavy and I feel the same way about math proofs as I do about philosophy. I would rather have a root canal with a chainsaw.
I will be in TECH-201 at Excelsior for the next two months and plan to update this post about my experience. I know that many on here favor TESC, but hopefully the information will help the few Excelsior students that pass through.
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I'm looking forward to hearing about it. Have you already completed Calculus I? Where did you take it? And good luck with your studies. Power through!
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I finished all but one exam and the final at Straighterline, but I realized my understanding was weak so I decided to try a different route. The Thinkwell video lessons provided by Straighterline are great, but there isn't enough practice work involved for my comfort level. Also, the equivalent of Calculus II at Excelsior has a 4 credit Calc I pre-requisite.
Thank you for the words of encouragement.
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I have discovered my first complaint. This math class requires two posts per week to a discussion thread with apa citations. The first post requires discussing the application of derivatives in a technical setting. This would require either speculation or far too much research for a math class. I understand discussion boards as a way for online colleges to claim student interaction, but I would rather they involve information from the text. The application of Calculus should be reserved for Physics or technical courses. I am no fan of busy work.
Thankfully, the discussion are only 15% of the grade so I should be able to get away with phoning them in. I guess you could say I have discovered the maxima of tolerance and the minima of work.
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Upton, You are spot on, when it comes to discussions at Excelsior, My Wife hates them, I'm the one attending  I can't just "phone them in" Thanks for the heads up regarding maths, I won't be taking those courses at EC, in my discussions for BUS 312 sometimes they were mini essays at around 500 words. Online education is taxing but a GPA is important to me. As you mentioned the discussions are only worth about 1.5% on an eight week course with six posts being required a week at the upper level courses. They require one to prove you read and understand the concepts but I don't think I want to attempt to explain my understanding of mathematics in this way. You are blazing a trail for some of us. I'm considering attending community college to get the math requirements sorted for my degree since I need to ask questions to clarify issues and I couldn't do that in an online course in Math.
Don't forget that gaining college credit by taking exams is one of the reason's we're here. That's mainly possible through the flashcards made available by the owner of this forum : InstantCert Plus of course your hard work in learning and reviewing
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This is one of two discussion posts required in the first week.
- Give an application where instantaneous rate of change may be used to solve a problem in a technical field. Please do not provide the same applications that have already been posted by your classmates. Include the original function and a description of what it and its variables represent. Include a mathematically and verbally thorough description of the work needed to find the instantaneous rate of change. Finally, include a description of what that answer represents and how it is useful in the technical application.
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I just received a response from the instructor on my discussion posts and it looks like they are not going to be as bad as I thought. It is appears the prof is just looking for examples off the top of our heads and not a bunch of research. This may be more like a class discussion than short essay requirement. If this continues, I won't mind the discussion posts.
I know this may seem like a personal journal, but I hope someone can learn from revolving door approach to Calculus. This is probably the most intimidating subject of general education for many of us.
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Thanks for sharing, Can you at some point when you've got time detail the steps you took to get to Excelsior's Calculus class. Remind us what your degree is in and how Calculus applies. Why didn't the other resources available (if there are any) not work for you. For someone like me who'll be leaving calculus to the very last what advice would you give. Basically I'm looking for "the jungle" of Calculus education
Don't forget that gaining college credit by taking exams is one of the reason's we're here. That's mainly possible through the flashcards made available by the owner of this forum : InstantCert Plus of course your hard work in learning and reviewing
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Current Credits
Irish Education
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Spreadsheets 5 U.S credits A ,Word Processing 2.5 U.S credits A
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ECDL (European Computer Drivers License) ICS SKILLS 5 credits
Strayer University Marketing 100 (paid for by Starbucks) A 4.5 quarter hours
CLEP U.S History I 74, U.S History II 69, Western Civ II 61, Western Civ I 64, HG&D 60, Humanities 60, biz law 67,Am Gov 57.
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I have been enrolled in several degree programs. As an electrician, I have been focused on getting a technical degree that compliments my work experience but in my frustration I have turned to liberal arts a couple of times before realizing I had to turn back. I am currently enrolled in Excelsior's Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering Technology which is why I have decided to take Calculus at Excelsior. Their Calculus II course counts as both Calc II and Differential Equations toward the degree. Originally, I intended to take Calculus at Straighterline but I was afraid I wouldn't be able to meet the prerequisites to take Differential Equations at the local community college. Taking two Calculus courses sounded better than two Calculus courses and one Differential Equations.
Unfortunately, the quality of the Calculus course at Exclesior is lacking. Like many online classes, it is little more than education by Pearson. There are no video lectures with the class and instructor participation is limited to moderating the mandatory discussion posts. All of the homework, quizes, and exams are taken on MyMathLab by Pearson. It also appears that the PowerPoint presentations are those provided with the textboook. Considering I paid $1440 for this course, I expected more out of it.
I would suggest Straighterline to anyone who has the opportunity to avoid taking a traditional Calculus course. The professor that teaches on their video instruction is amazing. He brings the content down to a level that is accessible. The biggest challenge with Straighterline is the 500 point proctored exam at the end of the course.
Overall, I am disgusted with higher education. Publishers are teaching the courses and professors are little more than content proctors. I would rather get my degree from Pearson, McGraw Hill, etc... than pay thousands of dollars to a middle man.
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I just finished the mid-term for this course and thought I would update the thread. The homework for the course is nice because it uses MyMathLab which allows you to keep working the problems until you get the correct. The quizzes are different, only allowing one attempt. I had a particularly bad experience with the last quiz; scoring a 50%. The quizzes count for 5% of the course grade each, so I am not too worried. The mid-term consisted of 15 problems similar to what we have worked on the quizzes. The difference is the requirement to show your work and upload it upon completion of the exam. I am waiting on a response from my instructor to find out if I can scan my papers or if we have to transcribe them using an equation editor. The mid-term is non-proctored with a two hour limit and you can't click off of the browser. Being able to use my notes was a big help.
The discussion boards have been graded pretty generously. As long as you participate, the instructor awards full credit. This hasn't been a problem for me since I tend to post too much rather than too little.
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