Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

I care about you and your success. I believe that everyone can learn math. We will work together to master the necessary concepts. Your fellow classmates will also be a resource. We will be doing quite a bit of group work in this class. This class is a face-to-face class with some traditional lecture along with group work and activities. There are videos available that are pre-recorded by a PCC math instructor that are available for every math section. If you have the time to watch the videos before coming to class, you will gain quite a bit more out of class.

Attendance is required. Your grade will be based on the following weights:

• Two exams and a final worth = 65% of the grade.
• Online homework = 20% of the grade.
• Classwork participation, quizzes, and groupwork = 15%

You will keep a notebook to neatly write out your online homework questions before entering your answer into the computer. For most quizzes, you will be able to use your notebook (but not textbook) to answer the questions. Some of the quizzes will be a group effort.

Make-up policy:

I do not allow makeups for missed class or group work nor quizzes. However, I will drop your lowest two scores to take care of any zeros you may have from being sick or otherwise not being able to make it to class. I also do not allow make ups for missed exams. If you know that you will be missing an exam, you may schedule to take it up to one week early if I am given a week’s notice. If you are sick and miss an exam, I may replace the zero with your final exam score if you score 70% or higher on the final. You must average at least a 65% on all of the exams in order to pass the class.

Why You Will Succeed

The biggest reason you will pass a math class is because you have STRONG PREREQUISITE SKILLS and you have a Growth Mindset. If it’s been more than one term since you have taken the previous math course or its equivalent in High School or you got a C in the prerequisite course you may need to get your prerequisites up. The best way to do this is to take a ALC 95.It 

You will also find it easier to succeed if you find a study buddy or two to work with outside of class or to attend my office hours or the Tutoring Center. PCC's own national award winning math instructor, Jessica Bernard, and colleague, Wendy Fresh, have created a series of ten great videos about college math study skills specifically related to math called Any One Can Be a Math Person.

Time commitment:

You should expect to spend between 10-15 hours a week in 45-minute chunks on our course and these are best done spread throughout the week. So, plan to study for our class at least 4 times a week in addition to class time. 

PCC has Math Notation Standards:

The standards for MTH 95 are: Notation Standards for MTH 95 [pdf]

You need to have access to a computer and internet at least several times per week. You will need to make sure to have the following (further details/instructions are given during the first week):

• a PDF reader (such as Adobe Acrobat Reader) to read the PDF handouts,
• be open to or familiar with file management, email, and uploading documents,
• scan written documents to PDF format using a scanner or scanner phone app such as Adobe Scan (free),
• a way to print PDF files for your written assignments or to print lecture notes

• A way to access the online textbook eText version of ORCCA
• Additional resources for ORCCA

We will be using a free online practice software called WeBWork.

A graphing calculator is not required for the course. Instead, we will use one of two free apps called Desmos (most likely) or GeoGebra for graphing when a graphing utility is appropriate.

The syllabus, schedule, and grades will be on D2L Brightspace.

Online video lectures made by a colleague are available to supplement my lectures or to use if you miss class. Pre-made lecture notes are also available to print before coming to class but are not required.