LECTURES: M-W-F 11:15 am -12:05 pm, in PSC Room 210.

INSTRUCTOR: J. Wilson, Office: PSC 603, Phone: 777-4065, e-mail: jwilson@sc.edu

OFFICE HOURS: Any time you can find me, or by appointment.

WEB PAGE: http://barney.physics.sc.edu/~jwilson/phys211/s05/index.html

TEXT: "Fundamentals of Physics (Parts 1 and 2)", 7th Edition, Halliday, Resnick and Walker.

TESTS: 3 one hour tests and the final exam.

GRADING: Hour tests (each 25%), CAPA/LONCAPA Homework (25%), Final exam (25%).

GRADING: Top 4 scores are kept- the Final exam is OPTIONAL in this format!

DATES TO REMEMBER:
Tests: 1) XXXX, on chapters 2-6

  2) XXXX  on chapters 7-11

  3) xxxx,  on chapters 12-16

Final exam (Thursday, April 28, at 2pm.) All chapters (2-18)

The date and time for the final cannot be changed. No one will be excused. Plan accordingly

!! NOTE !!: Cheating during quizzes, tests and exams is a very serious offense to the

HONOR CODE. The consequences of such actions are quite severe.

(*): For tests and the final, graphing/programmable calculators are not allowed. You will need a cheap/simple scientific calculator such as the TI-30Xa, the Casio fx-65, or equivalent, that costs about $14 or less.

(**): Official College policy on the use of cell phones in class: “ringing and answering cell phones in class will be considered "disruptive behavior" and appropriate action will be taken in accord with University policy for such disruptive behavior, including ejection from class.”

Learning Online with Computer Assisted Personalized Approach System (LONCAPA)

This semester we will be using LONCAPA in Physics 211.

ACCESS: Every week some class material and homework assignments will be posted on: http://loncapa2.physics.sc.edu.

Your username is: The network username assigned to you by USC (in lowercase), as set through VIP.

Your password is:  Your student number (not your USC network password.)

The domain is "sc", which is already filled in for you.

NAVIGATION: Upon a successful login, you can choose to work with a main menu in the main window or request a remote control which will appear as a separate window to the browser window. It provides access to the various features of LON-CAPA. If the remote does not appear when you log in, it is either behind the browser window or you are in the single window mode with a menu. A good arrangement of the windows will be to have both the Remote Control and the content window available next to each other.

After successful login, you will get to a screen with your currently available courses. Please select your course, just click select and you will go to the welcome page of the course (which contains a copy of the syllabus, messages and other links).

With the Remote Control you can move forward and backward in the content with the respective buttons; the COM button allows one to COMmunicate by sending internal mail; NAV helps navigate quickly through the material for the course; you can change your password by clicking PREF; EXIT will log you out of the system (a requirement if you do not want someone else accessing your account).

BROWSERS

-On PCs, latest versions of Netscape and Internet Explorer should work.

-On Macs, Netscape Internet Explorer should work. Safari also seems to work.

Your browser will need to have "cookies", "Javascript" and "Java" enabled. In some browsers you should allow pop-up windows.

For some course material, you will need the Apple Quick-time plug in.

If you can see the login screen, but have problems completing the login process click on the HELP link and follow the instructions.

A common problem is that pop-up blockers, or firewall privacy settings, are not letting information about the Remote Control through to your computer.  It is possible to run loncapa in a  window-based menu mode that does not use the Remote Control.  The HELP link will let you choose that setting. 

If you still have problems logging in, the server may be down and you just have to wait.  Our servers had hardware problems this last semester. We have purchased new servers in hopes of improving the reliability of the system.

Report any technical problems as soon as possible to jwilson@sc.edu.

Homework Assignment and help sessions

Each week you will have your own personalized set of homework assignments available on the LONCAPA server. There will be about 12 sets of homework during the semester.  You will normally have at least a week to do each  set, please work on them early, and often.

You are allowed multiple attempts (Normally a MAXIMUM of 15 TRIES) to successfully solve a homework problem, with no penalty. The computer stores all attempts. When you solve a problem, LON-CAPA will give you a receipt number. Record this number if you have complaints about un-credited homework, this will be the proof that you completed the problem!

WARNING: There is a deadline for the homework answers to be entered in the computer. Don't wait till the last day. The time on the computer is NOT necessarily the time on your watch. Waiting to the last half hour to do your assignment is not recommended. Additionally, the computer load can get pretty high at due times. Do not wait until the last minute!

No answers will be accepted after the deadline because answers will be available!! You are responsible to check that the computer has all your answers in!

Mange your time adequately, the computer keeps a log file of all your logins, time spent, number of tries, etc. “I tried to get to the computer 10 minutes before the deadline and couldn’t, is not an acceptable excuse! You will usually have 7-10 days to do your problems!”  The best approach is to start problems early and come back to them often.  If you are stuck, get help!

You are strongly encouraged to go to the help sessions in the CAPA room where you can also work in groups with other students.

Printouts: To obtain a printout of your assignment, you can either:

1) visualize the assignment in the browser window and select print in the browser menu.

Or

2) Use the PRT command on the remote and follow the instructions

LONCAPA HELP SESSIONS

If you are unable to solve a problem then there are help sessions (see below). You should go to the help session corresponding to your section, you can go to other sessions if you need more help. In there, the instructor will give you hints and help you understand the problem. THEY WILL NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM FOR YOU!!.

SCHEDULE AND LOCATION

Section Day Time Location Instructor

001 M 9:05-9:55 a.m. PSC208

002 M 10:10-11:00 am PSC208

003 M 1:25-2:15 p.m. PSC208

004 T 9:30-10:45 a.m. PSC208

005 T 11:00a.m.-12:15 p.m. PSC208

You can log into LONCAPA from any computer that has Internet access. Some computer laboratories require the user to have an account. It is your responsibility to get such an account.