Online
Math 1530 - W4
Spring II 2024 - 3 Credit Hours
Ellen Smyth

***OFFICE HOURS***:  7-8:30 & 11-Noon Mondays & Wednesdays
Available anytime via Remind & text, scheduling phone or Zoom when necessary

Austin Peay Building at Fort Campbell

Assignment Due Dates

Assignments should be completed by the deadlines listed below in order to earn credit. Students will take responsibility for working out technical and directional difficulties before deadlines by contacting the Knewton Tech Support (open up the teal-colored chat window in the lower right corner of Knewton) or the Austin Peay help desk (931-221-HELP), and by contacting me before the due date if both helpdesks are unable to resolve these issues. Students may make temporary alternative arrangements such as using computers in Lab AP102 of the Austin Peay Building at Fort Campbell or at the main campus library.

Day Date Assignment Due
Wednesday Mar 13 Email smythe@apsu.edu a list of 3-5 others who've agreed to group with you
Friday Mar 15 Chapter 1 HW+ & Quiz
Tuesday Mar 19 Chapter 2 HW+ - Part 1 
Thursday Mar 21 Post Data from 10 Surveys to D2L Group Discussions
Friday Mar 22 Chapter 2 HW+ - Part 2 & Quiz & Email smythe@apsu.edu exam preferences for both exams**
Tuesday Mar 26 Chapter 3 HW+ - Part 1
Friday Mar 29 Chapter 3 HW+ - Part 2 & Quiz
Tuesday Apr 2 Chapter 4 HW+ & Quiz 
Friday Apr 5 Chapter 6 HW+ & Quiz & Group Project 1 Minitab, .mpx file  
Monday Apr 8 Proctored Midterm Exam** (Details below)
Tuesday Apr 9 Chapter 7 HW+ & Quiz 
Friday Apr 12 Chapter 8 HW+ - Part 1 & Group Project Final Draft: Project 1 (individual submissions due 48 hours before) & Peer Reviews 
Tuesday Apr 16 Chapter 8 HW+ - Part 2 & Quiz
Friday Apr 19 Chapter 9 HW+ - Part 1 & Group Project 2 Minitab, .mpx file
Monday Apr 22 Both 1st Drafts: Individual Minitab, .mpx (see "Minitab ONLY Folder" under D2L's Tasks and Assignments for instructions & starting file) & Individual Minitab Assignment, .docx
Tuesday Apr 23 Chapter 9 HW+ - Part 2 & Quiz
Friday Apr 26 Chapter 12 HW+ & Quiz & Group Project Final Draft: Project 2 (individual submissions due 48 hours before) & Peer Reviews 
Monday Apr 29 Both Final Drafts: Individual Minitab Assignment, .docx, and Minitab only file, .mpx
Wednesday  May 1 Proctored Final Exam** (Details below)

All assignments except proctored exams will be due at 11:59 PM CDT on the date listed. The proctored exams will be due as follows:

**Exams will be proctored.**  One morning (8:30 AM lunchtime) and one evening (5:15 PM) in AP102 of the Austin Peay Building at Fort Campbell proctoring session will be offered for each exam on the dates above. Midterm exams close 90 minutes after the start times listed above while final exams close 2 1/2 hours after these start times. Students are encouraged to be 15 minutes early to allow for any login difficulties and to make absolutely certain that they have the correct Knewton login information when they come.

Students must message the instructor which midterm exam and which final exam the student will attend by the exam preferences email due date above.  Be sure to include both exams.  Thanks!

**Remote Exams:  If FC exams or these dates are inconvenient, students may make other arrangements and email those arrangements to me by the exam preferences email due date on the schedule above to have one or both exams proctored through any official college or military testing facility, either on or before the exam due date above. Include the details of the dates, times, location(s), and the name(s) and email address(es) for the contact at the remote exams you'll be taking. Please note that most testing centers will charge a small fee for each proctored exam but proctoring with me at Fort Campbell is free.

**If deployed, please message me as soon as possible to make exam arrangements.

**If in-person proctoring is absolutely not possible even after discussing special arrangements with me, Honorlock with a third-party exam will be an option. Honorlock is recommended as the last possible option because students, unfortunately, will not have access to some of the privileges that are possible with proctoring in person. In Honorlock, 1) students will not be able to have physical formula cards and scratch paper to work out problems with paper and pencil during the exams, though a virtual formula card will be provided, 2) students risk not being able to access the exam at all or have the full time for the exam due to common technical difficulties such as accessing the exam or taking more than a few minutes to get through the technical aspects at the beginning or losing the strong internet connections required during the entirety of the exam, and 3) students may fail the course for possible cheating, which would not be an issue in the face-to-face environment, with scenarios such as drifting outside of the camera range, looking anywhere other than the computer screen, talking during the exam, someone else entering the exam room, and similar activities.

+To successfully pass this course, students should obtain 100% honest homework mastery by the due dates above. Message me when struggling with any homework problems! Print lecture notes and watch lecture videos, available in D2L Content for each chapter, before attempting the homework. Use lecture notes with your own notes on top along with the formula card (especially the calculator column), calculator, Knewton instructional content and videos, and textbook to answer the questions in Knewton. If you still have issues solving any of the homework problems, please message me day or night. I am eager to help!

Course Information

What Can This Course Do for Students?

This course will give students:

  1. An incredible boost to resumes or job-seeking portfolios – a comprehensive statistical research project demonstrating to employers strong work ethic and top-quality work,
  2. Opportunities for developing leadership and interpersonal skills in a team environment, winning the heart of almost any employer,
  3. Practical experience with computer-based technologies, increasingly essential to compete in today’s marketplace,
  4. Problem-solving and critical thinking abilities that employers consider among the most important skills needed to succeed in the workplace, and
  5. An understanding of statistics and research that will allow students to critically assess and understand the world of data around them.

Source for what employers want:  Are They Really Ready to Work? Employers’ Perspectives on the Basic Knowledge and Applied Skills of New Entrants to the 21st Century U.S. Workforce (September 2006), pg. 9 and 42-43, The Conference Board, Inc., the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, Corporate Voices for Working Families, and the Society for Human Resource Management.
 

Course Description:

In this class, students will learn all about data:  how to design data studies, how to collect data, and what to do with the data.  Students will learn how to represent a set of possibly thousands of data values as one single number (e.g., mean, median, mode, range, standard deviation) so that others can have an instant idea about the data.  Students will learn to create tables, charts, and graphs to give instant visual impressions of data.  Students will learn how to make estimates and guesses for data not fully known, where they will survey only a few and yet make conclusions about many.  Students will also learn to analyze two different sets of data (e.g., age and height of children) to prove whether or not these sets are associated. 

Student Learning Outcomes:

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

  1. Calculate and apply descriptive statistics to real world data.
  2. Understand and recognize misleading statistics.
  3. Calculate and analyze confidence intervals.
  4. Apply probability distribution methods.
  5. Evaluate studies using hypothesis testing methods.
  6. Calculate and apply regression models and correlation analysis.
  7. Effectively use appropriate technology in modeling and problem-solving.

Prerequisites and Co-requisites:

Algebra I, Algebra II and Geometry or the equivalent

Textbooks, Supplementary Materials, Hardware and Software Requirements

Required Textbook & Courseware:

The course software (courseware) containing all of the online homework and quiz assignments is located in KNEWTON alta, and you can either purchase directly ($10 per month!!!) or indirectly (using bookstore code) here:  https://knerd.me/hw6ty7.


Note: I recommend purchasing directly from Knewton (link above) if possible because the bookstore has a hefty overhead!

Introductory Statistics by Barbara Illowsky and Susan Dean via OpenStax is our free online textbook is available here, https://openstax.org/details/books/introductory-statistics.  

Other Required Supplementary Materials:
  • Minitab Statistical Software (Use on lab computers or download in D2L's Content, under the Minitab Module) 
  • TI-83 or TI-84 calculator (We have limited loans for these on a first-come basis!)

Hardware and Software Requirements:

For this course, students are required to have extensive access to the following:

  1. A personal computer with either Microsoft or the Apple Mac operating systems,
  2. The Knewton Lockdown browser (not available on Chromebooks or other tablets or phones but is available in select Austin Peay labs),
  3. Highspeed internet connection, and
  4. The ability to install additional software or plug-ins, which our APSU at FC Building lab already has.

If you do not have these available currently, APSU may be able to provide loans.  If requesting a laptop, please request Minitab and the Honorlock plugin be installed.

E-Section Lab Materials:

Students with uncompleted mathematical deficiencies as noted on the OneStop advising page should be in the algebra lab portion of the course. SLA leaders will provide additional materials and arrangements during the first meeting for the algebra lab, which immediately follows the statistics course.  The e-section of algebra is a separate course as a bonus for a tiny additional fee.  Students should treat the SLA lab as a separate course in terms of the hours required and studying.

Students registered for an e-section are required to attend the SLA Lab. The time and place for this lab appear in your APSU One-Stop schedule. These labs are part of the Tennessee Board of Regents approved learning support program. You will be given a list of lab requirements on the first day that you meet your lab. Failure to attend the lab or to meet the lab requirements may result in a grade of FA for the course.

Students enrolled in an e-section of a mathematics course have the opportunity to accomplish two goals: (1) complete the general education core requirement in mathematics; and (2) satisfy the TBR requirement to address mathematics deficiencies. The requirements for the removal of the mathematics deficiency will be stated in the SLA syllabus given to you on the first day that you meet your lab.
 

Instructor Information

Ellen Smyth
Instructor
Mathematics Department
Austin Peay State University at Ft Campbell
P.O. Box 4626
Clarksville, TN  37044
APSU at FC Building 203, Room 217
Phone:  (931) 221-1443
Email:  smythe@apsu.edu
Website:  ellensmyth.com
Office Hours:

 
Mondays & Wednesdays 7-8:30 & 11-Noon in AP217
Always Please message me in Remind or via text message with any homework questions.  If we need to talk over the phone or Zoom web conferencing, please let me know some good times to reach you.

Assessment and Grading

Each student's overall percentage grade will be based only on the activities and percentages outlined below so that all course expectations for a final grade are utterly transparent. All opportunities for extra credit come through reviewing and studying for the exams to improve exam scores, which comprise most of the grade for the course. The final exam is final, the final grade for the course, as the name implies. 

Exam reviews can be found in Knewton attached to the actual exams. In addition to these reviews, students should spend 15 minutes or so reviewing their lecture notes with added notes on top nightly for a week leading up to each exam.

Please consult the schedule at the top of this syllabus for specific deadline dates.  

Activity

Percentage

Group Projects 

10+

Knewton Homework

5+

Knewton Quizzes

2+

Individual Minitab Assignment  

3+

Midterm Exam

30+

Final Exam

50+

Total

100+

+To successfully pass this course, students should obtain 100% honest homework mastery by the due dates. Please let me know if you have any questions over the homework problems.

Weighted Overall Percentages

Letter Grade

At least 90.0%

A

At least 80.0%

B

At least 70.0%

C

At least 60.0%

D

Anything less than 60.0%

F

A midterm grade shall be awarded for all students in this course. The grade awarded may not be based on half of the course requirements and may not be the same as the final grade. Your midterm grade will be posted on AP Self Service.  

Assignments

  1. Knewton Homework - Homework assignments covering each chapter should be completed to 100% mastery through Knewton by the due date listed in the schedule at the top of this syllabus in order to pass the course. Students should use the formula card, calculator, lecture notes with added notes from the videos, the Knewton instruction and videos, and the textbook. If these tools are not enough, please do not hesitate to message me.
  2. Knewton Quizzes - One Knewton quiz for each chapter will be given.  Quizzes are open-book and open-notes but not open-neighbor. Quizzes are expected to be the sole work of the student taking the quiz.
  3. Group Statistics Projects - Students will be acting in a group as junior statisticians by experiencing the process of a real-world statistical project from start to finish.  Each group member is not only responsible for his or her assigned portion of the project but for the entire project itself. Each group member should, at least one day before the project due date, make sure that the submitted project files in the D2L Assignment folders are complete and accurate according to the rubric for that project. Group projects not submitted to appropriate D2L Assignment folders by the due date will result in group grades of zero.
  4. Individual Minitab Assignment - We have one Minitab individual assignment that is required across all Math 1530 sections at Austin Peay.  The instructions and beginning Minitab file (with data) are located in the D2L Dropbox (under Tasks and Assignments). Individual Minitab Assignments are expected to be the sole work of the student, though clarifying questions and help with resources may be provided by the instructor.
  5. Midterm and Final Exams - Midterm exams will be covering Chapters 1 through 4 and 6, and the comprehensive final exam will be covering Chapters 1 through 4, 6 through 9, and 12. Formula cards and scratch paper will be provided, and students will be allowed their TI-83 or -84 calculators. Exams are expected to be the sole work of the student taking the exam.

Course Ground Rules
Students are responsible for learning the technical aspects of this course, including how to navigate Desire2Learn, Knewton, Minitab, and other technical aspects of online courses, asking questions and seeking help as needed 1) by contacting Knewton Tech Support (212-563-9866), 2) by contacting the Austin Peay help desk (931-221-HELP), and 3) by contacting the instructor. Students are expected to address technical problems immediately, before due dates. 
 
Due dates for all assignments can be found in this syllabus above. Students will complete and submit all graded items by the due date to earn credit. 

Statistics often challenges students more than any course taken during their college careers.  Students can best improve their grades by dedicating time and attention to the course. If a student earns an A in this course, he or she is all sorts of awesome!
Knewton quizzes, Individual Minitab assignments, and exams must be completed only by the student submitting the work for credit. If any Individual Minitab assignments, quizzes, or exams are submitted by a student that are not the sole work of that student, the student risks failing the course and being removed from the university, according to university policies.  Students may ask other students in their group or the instructor one or two questions about each Knewton homework and questions about group projects.  Questions on all exams, quizzes, and the individual assignment may only be asked of the instructor.

Expected Course Conduct

Students are expected to:

  1. Be honest,
  2. Be respectful,
  3. Work hard,
  4. Read Remind messages daily, and
  5. Follow the "Code of Student Conduct" in the Student Handbook.

Students with Disabilities

Austin Peay State University abides by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which stipulates that no student shall be denied the benefits of an education "solely by reason of a handicap." Disabilities covered by law include, but are not limited to, learning disabilities and hearing, sight, or mobility impairments. If I have a documented disability that may have some impact on my work in this class and for which I may require reasonable accommodations, I should immediately communicate with the instructor and with Disabilities Services in Morgan University Center Room 114, 221-6230 or 221-6278 (V/TTY), so that such reasonable accommodations may be arranged.

Syllabus Changes

The instructor reserves the right to make changes as necessary to this syllabus. If changes are necessitated during the term of the course, the instructor will immediately notify students of such changes in class, in D2L, or by email.

ADA Syllabus

This Microsoft Word ADA compliant syllabus can be found in D2L under Getting Started immediately after this syllabus.