Homework: There will be HW assignments, which are to be solved following Cooperative Learning Techniques. HW should be thought of as mini projects, which include ``hand solution'' and, for certain courses, the use of Matlab. For tutorials on how to use Matlab, see Matlab matters. For the symbolic toolbox of Matlab (which is Maple), see Maple Computer Guide for Advanced Engineering Mathematics (8th edition).

Student Responsibility: Students are responsible for all material covered in the lectures, the reading assignments, and the homework. Regular class attendance is expected. Students are responsible for knowing all announcements made in class and/or on the course web site.

Class attendance: Years of experience indicate that students who attend class regularly tend to have a deeper understanding of the subject and to do better in exams than if they did not, as exams tend to cover the topics discussed in class. Students are strongly advised to keep a good set of class notes, which will become handy in reviewing for exams.

Student behavior: Upon entering the classroom, students are expected to respect the following rules of correct behavior:

• E-mail etiquette: Write all e-mails to instructor using the formal-letter style, instead of the casual conversational style. A model letter will be e-mailed out to all students and TAs.
• Be on time: Arrive on time for class to start without disrupting the attention of other classmates. If you are late to class, please enter by the back doors.
• No cell phone: Turn off cell phone.
• Keep silence when instructor is lecturing: Stop talking to each other when the instructor begins to lecture; questions to instructor related to course materials are welcomed. (Students will have opportunities to talk when requested to participate in class discussions.)
• No reading of irrelevant materials during lectures: Put other reading materials irrelevant to the course away (newspapers, etc.)
• No eating and drinking during lectures.

In-class questions and answers: It takes time to work and digest the course material. You are expected to have read the assigned sections before coming to class (this way, you would be able to ask deeper questions, if necessary). There are pre-requisites for each course. Here is how I would handle questions in class so to reserve class time on topics that most students would need my help (and thus not wasting class time on questions that students could work out the answer themselves after reviewing the necessary background material):

• All questions are welcomed in class. Please feel free to ask any questions.
• After hearing a question, I will then make a judgement on whether to provide the answer immediately or not as follows:
  • For deep questions that I think most of the class cannot answer, I will provide an answer immediately.
  • If I think that the answer or explanation could be worked out after the student honestly take time to study, think about the subject, review the necessary background material, work with their teams, and the TAs, I will ask you to do so. Most of these questions tend to be review questions (such as those related to the prerequisites for the course) that students are supposed to have mastered before taking this course.

    In this case, I will ask students to work out the answer and explanation using the above methods and resources (individual work, team, TAs). Of course, if a team cannot get a satisfactory answer or explanation to a question after exhausting the mentioned methods and resources, then the whole team can come to see me to receive my answer and explanation.

    Read carefully Cooperative Learning Techniques, and follow the spirit of these techniques.

Checklist before asking for help:
Inspiring quotation: ``If the student had no opportunity in school to familiarize himself with the varying emotions of the struggle for the solution, his mathematical (or any other intellectual) education failed at the most vital point.'' George Polya, How to solve it.

If students don't do their own thinking and work (struggling for the solution), it is unlikely that these students could be good in this course (and any other courses).

Below is the check list that you are required to go through in the listed order, as you will be asked whether you had gone through these steps when you see the TAs or me:

1. Have you read the assigned sections?
2. Have you worked through the sample problems? Are you able to redo the sample problems without peeking at the solution?
3. Have you understood the lectures and the problems solved in the lectures?
4. Have you worked with your team when you got stuck? Can they explain your questions to you?
5. Have you seen a TA about your questions? If one TA could not explain clearly, have you seen another TA (in case there are several TAs for the course).
6. If you have exhausted all the above resources, and still have questions, your whole team should come to see me. If you have a time conflict, at least two team members, not individuals, should come to see me, since at this stage, the whole team seems to be in trouble, and since I can explain to as many team members as possible, without having to repeat the explanation.

   In addition, if only one student comes to see me, it is unlikely that this student would be able to repeat well my explanation to other team members, who already encountered difficulties.

   Remember the story about a story told to one person, who is retelling it to another person, who is retelling it to yet another person, etc ... and when the story comes back to the original person, it had become a completely different story.

   So it is best to come see me with at least two team members.

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Home page: Loc Vu-Quoc E-mail: vu-quoc AT ufl.edu MAE Department