Bright Optimism - Shared with Permission of Flickr User Theen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/theenmoy/5472896334/

It’s that time again…the start of the semester. Vacation is over and a new set of classes will soon be getting under way. If you are like most community college students, you are working (part or full time at one or more jobs), taking classes (part or full time) and you may have a family to care for and support as well. Also, like most students, you may have signed up for way too much this semester. In the time before semester when things looked good on paper, you may have THOUGHT that you could work three part time jobs AND take a full load getting A’s in all your classes and see your family AND still have time to exercise and catch all your favorite shows. If your thinking is along these lines, you have come down with a classic case of OPTIMISM BIAS.

As a species, human beings are inherently optimistic which, in most cases, is a great way to be. I would rather be known as an optimist than as a pessimist for sure. However, in some cases (such as the start of the semester), full-out optimism should be diluted with a little realism and logical thinking so as to avoid wearing yourself out and/or signing up for things that you end up not completing.

As you think about your schedule and your life over the next few months. here are some tips and things to think about to help you determine whether your schedule is realistic:

Tip #1: How do you know you have taken on too much? – DO THE MATH and find out. Every week has 168 hours in it. That fact cannot be changed. How do YOU spend that time?

• Weekly Schedule (pdf)
• Daily schedule (interactive)

In your schedule, be sure to include time for the following:

• Sleep
• Travel
• Relaxation (not sleep)
• Study
• Work
• Family/friends
• Exercise
• Other that is important to you

Tip #2: Build your perfect schedule

• Using one or both of the schedule tools above, build your perfect schedule.
• How does this schedule differ from the one you built under Tip #1?

Tip #3: Engage in “Future Thinking”

The goal here is to put yourself a few weeks out into the semester and try to imagine how you are going to feel.

• Pick a day of the week that is your busiest and imagine yourself studying during that day.
• Try to imagine how you might feel on that day within the schedule that you have set up for yourself.
• What adjustments might you make to your schedule now that you might not be able to make later?

Tip #4:Prioritize

Students today must accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Business is the rule rather than the exception. Busy people get things done but only because they have a clear road map of where they are headed and what is important.

• What do you feel you absolutely must accomplish in school this semester?
• What do you feel you absolutely must accomplish in the other areas of your life this semester?

Tip #5: Have a backup plan

If you know you signed up for too much but don’t really have a choice, be sure you have a backup plan.

• Are any of your courses offered in a format this is more flexible?
• Are any of your courses offered later in the semester?
• Could you take any of your courses during summer or a different semester?
• If you have to withdraw from a course this term, is there another course that you could sign up for with a late start?

Tip #6: Understand the implications of plan adjustments during the semester.

Remember, most students don’t sign up for schedules they think are truly unreasonable. As victims of OPTIMISM BIAS, things look great in early January that feel terrible in early March. Take heart in the fact that this is normal and everyone goes through it. But, you need to realize what the implications are if you have to withdraw from a course or adjust your plan during the semester. Degree plans and financial aid are both impacted if you have to withdraw. Try to give yourself the best schedule that you can at the start of term so as to lessen the chance of withdrawals.

Remember that drop/add week is there for a reason. This period of time during the first week is there for you to “try on” your schedule and see if it is going to work for you. If you find out right away that it won’t, be sure you have some time to make changes and give yourself the best chance of success this semester.

Good luck to you!

[Thank you to Maria Andersen and her blog piece on "Students and Optimism Bias". Her post got me thinking optimism bias and how it impacts student behavior/success. ]

First, check your STAT area to be sure the list is deleted. Press the following keys:

Sure enough…L2 is deleted. Follow these steps to get it back:

Now, check your LIST to be sure that the missing column has returned:

Yeah! The column has magically reappeared!

However, if you are trying to graph an equation not related to any data and you get an INVALID DIM error, follow these steps to turn your PLOT off:

First, Press the Y= button to access the equation area. If your screen looks like this, your PLOT is turned on.

Follow these keystrokes to turn your PLOT off:

Your Y= screen should now look like this:

First, Press the Y= button to access the equation area. If your screen looks like this, your PLOT is turned off.

Follow these keystrokes to turn your PLOT on:

Your Y= screen should now look like this:

Here is what your screen looks like with the error:

From THIS screen, follow these key strokes exactly to turn off your PLOT:

Your Y= area should now look like this:

Whereas before, it looked like this:

A good rule of thumb is, anytime you are using the STATPLOT, be sure to turn OFF your PLOT when you are finished. That way you will avoid the INVALID DIM Error in the future.

Related Post: Turn PLOT on

• Given a particular input value, what is the corresponding output value?
• Given a particular output value, what is the corresponding input value?

As a student of this material, if you can recognize if one of these questions is being asked and which one is being asked, then are are a step closer to finding the solution.

EXAMPLE: Suppose you are iven the quadratic function d(x) = 0.044x^2 + 1.1x where x represents the velocity of a vehicle in mph and d represents the stopping distance of that vehicle in feet.

a) If the vehicle is traveling 45 miles per hour, how many feet are required for it to stop?

SOLUTION: This is a “given input find output” question. Since we know the input, we evaluate the function at the input value to directly compute the output as follows:

d(30) = 0.044(45)^2 + 1.1(45) = 138.6

Meaning: When a vehicle is traveling 45 mph, 138.6 feet  are needed for it to stop.

b) If the vehicle takes 75 feet to stop, how fast is it traveling?

SOLUTION: This is a “given output find input” question. We are given the value for the output which means we must set up and solve the following equation (note that the 75 value replaces d(x)):

75 = 0.044x^2 + 1.1x

There are many ways to solve this equation (note: I do NOT advocate guess and check as a primary method due to issues of reliability and efficiency). I am going to use the method here of graphing and finding the intersection (TI83/84 calculator).

Step 1: Pres Y= and enter y1 = 75 and y2 = 0.044x^2 + 1.1x on your calculator

Step 2: Press Window and enter xmin=0, xmax=50, ymin=0, ymax=100.

Step 3: Press GRAPH and be sure that the intersection of the two graphs above appears in your window. Your graph should look similar to the following (without the labels on your axes):

Find the intersection. The x-value of the intersection is the solution to the equation you are trying to solve.

Step 4: 2nd>Trace>5: Intersect then press Enter three times until you see Intersection in the window bottom.

Result: Intersection point is identified as (30.64, 75) rounded to two decimals. Therefore the solution to the initial equation is x = 30.64.

Meaning: When a vehicle needs 75 feet to stop, it is traveling at 30.64 mph.

Quadratic Functions – Stopping Distance and Velocity by Dr. Donna Gaudet is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Photo Attribution: Retail by Robert-Couse Baker via Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/29233640@N07/5265004159/

[Before you begin this lesson, please print the accompanying document, Unit Rates in Everyday Life].

Have you ever been at the grocery store and stood, staring, at two different sizes of the same item wondering which one is the better deal? If so, you are not alone. A UNIT RATE could help you out when this happens and make your purchasing decision an easy one.

In this lesson, you will learn what UNIT RATES are and how to apply them in everyday comparison situations. Click the links below and complete the appropriate sections of the Unit Rates handout.

[Note: The links below were created using the Livescribe Pulse Smartpen. If you have never watched Livescribe media before, take a few minutes to watch this very brief Livescribe orientation]

• What is a UNIT RATE – definition
• View some examples of Unit Rates
• See a process to compute Unit Rates

Which crunch is cheaper? Photo by D. Gaudet

• Unit Rates Application

Garbanzo or Cannellini? Photo by D. Gaudet

YOU PRACTICE: Use the photo above to make an initial response to this poll.
Take Our Poll

Then, in the comments area:

1) Compute the unit rate for each bean type and show your computations

2) Indicate which bean is the better deal and why.

Unit Rates in Everyday Life by Dr. Donna Gaudet is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

The Canyons at Sunrise

First, some background for readers that may not be familiar with the focus of this conference. OER, or Open Educational Resources, are resources created with the intent of sharing. The mantra of OER is to, “Revise, Reuse, Remix, Redistribute”. Creators of true OER license their work to be used, edited, and reused for free. Typical OER licensing is provided under the Creative Commons licensing framework.

In this conference I connected with people of like minds and like interests related to the use of resources in education. We, and many others not in attendance, are the “early adopters” of this idea and are on the front lines of content exploration, creation, and research. We are, as Jim Groom put it, “the 29%” here to #OCCUPYOPENED (ok…I must admit…I still do not know what the 29% really means).

Some themes that emerged from the conference:

OER is important, although it cannot solve all the social ills of the word. Some comments heard throughout the week related to this theme:

• OER allows for innovation and creativity and finding different ways to work together – from Martha Kanter, Under Secretary of Education, U.S. Department of Education
• A culture of sharing increases opportunities for sharing – from Connie Broughton, Assistant Director, eLearning, Washington State Board for Community & Technical Colleges
• The opposite of open is not closed…it’s broken – from Cable Green, Creative Commons

OER has challenges associated with it including:

• quality/impact, usage/distribution, sustainability – from Josh Jarrett, Senior Program Officer, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• focus on the resource aspect only and not the learning experience – from Jim Groom, Instructional Technology Specialist / Adjunct Professor, University of Mary Washington
• ability of content to be edited and reused – from Seth Gurell, Ph.D student, McKay School of Education, BYU

OER content takes on many forms but is often provided in large blocks (courses, textooks, etc…). Some of these blocks can be broken down into smaller components and edited or reused (print textbooks for example) and others prove more problematic (video for example). So, a question to the OER community…what are the grains of OER? How small do we go when talking about content that can be reused or remixed? I believe there are more questions than answers at this point.

“OER needs to be better not just free” was a statement made by Jim Shelton (Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education) and echoed by a few others at the conference. However, I heard and in fact hold a dissenting opinion on this. In my mind, OER IS better because it is free. Cost is one of the main reasons for creating OER. With states defunding education (Josh Jarrett) and student loan debt outpacing credit card debt (Nicole Allen – textbooks advocate for The Student PIRGS), the free aspect of OER may be the most important. What would have happened in the music industry if music companies charged higher and higher prices for CD’s and refused to offer more cost effective options (iTunes and single song purchases for example). I doubt that artists would have stood for it and certainly the consumers would not have bought into that model. Textbook publishers hold both students and instructors in the vice grip of convenience and access while pushing prices higher and higher. Something has to change. Publishers provide a valuable service and always have. They are just pricing themselves out of the value market.

Final thoughts:
I relate to OER in a very personal way. I create open resources for my students so they can reduce their costs to take my classes. As a mathematics educator working in the developmental education arena, I am confronted with a long list of reasons why students can’t or don’t succeed. I don’t want cost of learning to be one of them.

So, thank you to David Wiley, BYU, the volunteers, and everyone else who helped make this conference a fantastic learning experience. Already looking forward to next year.

IF CURRENTLY IN MAT082(Arithmetic) your next class is either Introductory Algebra – MAT09X (see below) or MAT102

MATH 090, 091, OR 092
(All are Introductory Algebra 09X just different numbers of credits and time in the classroom)

• MAT090 – 5 credits – offered only face2face
• MAT091 – 4 credits – offered only face2face
• MAT092 – 3 credits – offered face2face, hybrid, online

IF CURRENTLY IN A MAT09X CLASS, YOUR NEXT CLASS IS MATH 120, 121, OR 122
(All are Intermediate Algebra 12X just different numbers of credits and time in the classroom)

• MAT120 – 5 credits – offered only face2face
• MAT121 – 4 credits – offered face2face, hybrid
• MAT122 – 3 credits – offered face2face, online

The format of the course you take is up to you. If you are in an online class now but want more instructor face-to-face interaction, then you might enjoy hybrid. I do not recommend online unless you are VERY disciplined and can hold yourself to a schedule to get your work completed and the current class you are in is mostly review.

Extra Credit Assignment (worth 5 points on your next learning packet – comments due by the date and time your packets are due) follow the directions below carefully. If directions are not followed exactly, points will not be earned.

ARITHMETIC STUDENTS (MAT082) – Respond to the following in the comments area below:

1. Your first name, last initial, and the class you are in (082)
2. The linked article talks about some of the issues with accurately counting people. Name one of these issues and why it makes accurate counting difficult.
3. What does the article say about why accurate counting is important? Why do we care? List at least one reason and why it is important.

INTRODUCTORY ALGEBRA STUDENTS (MAT092) – Respond to the following in the comments area below:

1. Your first name, last initial, and the class you are in (092)
2. Using the listed data for the US Population in 1950, 2010, 2050, make a reasonable estimate for our population in 2100. Explain your process carefully.
3. How does your estimate compare to what the article says will be the US population in 2100? What might account for the difference?

INTERMEDIATE ALGEBRA STUDENTS (MAT122 or 121) – Respond to the following in the comments area below:

1. Your first name, last initial, and the class you are in (122 or 121)
2. Use LINEAR regression to write an equation for the population growth of China from 1950 to 2010. Then, use EXPONENTIAL regression to do the same thing. Include your equations here and explain your processes.
3. Use your equations above to compute the population of China in 2050 and include those numbers and calculations here. Which of your models is more accurate to the 2050 prediction?
4. What might happen to explain the predicted drop in population from 2050 to 2100? Would either model have anticipated this?