Online Calculus and Cacl based Physics

[nadinno]

Not sure how many of these classes are out there but the Colorado Community College system offers Calc based physics and Calculus  online.  They are part of Colorado's Guaranteed Transfer (GT Pathways) program.  The transfer guarantee is for Colorado Universities.  I doubt there would be any problems transfering to any other university out of state. 

http://www.ccconline.org/courses/Calendar_and_Schedule/Annual_Course_Listing/

Click on PHY for physics.  PHY 211 and 212 are the caclulus based courses.  T

Click on Mat for math.  MAT 201 202 203 are Calc I-III.   

Look for the GT-MA1 and GT-SC1 in the course description. 

You register through one of the individual community colleges and the course shows up on your transcript as taking the class through that community college. 

[S3GLMS]

How do they do the Lab online? 

Almost all Universities require a lab as part of their curriculum for Physics and Chemistry classes that are calculaus based.  It is strictly required in ABET programs also.  Just wondering if you knew how they get the lab work done.

[nadinno]

You buy a kit and do the labs at home, then submit a lab writeup:

http://www.athomescience.com/o-physics.htm

The Pk-1 is for the first semester.  The Pk-S covers 2 semesters.  The community college requires every course to have a  writing component to it.  So the lab functions as the writing component.  Mine lab write up's have been about 10 page's with description, drawings, pictures, calculations, and data charts.  For me the write up is the most time consuming part of the entire class. 

I may post the syllabus later.

[nadinno]

Syllabus

Too big to post so its in word format.

[stjohn]

nadinno, sorry to chime in so late but i was wondering what you thought overall about the course.  Also while I know its a bit personal, did you do well in it?

[nadinno]

I did okay.  Got a B. 

I wasn't as thrilled with this class as I would have liked.   I really missed the interaction you get with other students in a classroom setting.  I also was really frustrated with the lab portion of the class. The lab write ups were ridiculously long. The amount of time spent on them didn't justify the amount of learning involved.  The labs felt very much like busy work.   There were some communication issues with the instructor too.  Mainly because all communication was through webct email.  Sometimes you just need to be able to sit and talk face to face, which really wasn't an option with this class.

I did like the video lectures.  There should be a link in the syllabus posted.  They were high quality and you could watch them as many times as you wanted.

The question and answer bank could have been larger.  This was mainly an issue with the instructor though because there are plenty of online aftermarket physics Q&A sites.

The weekly tests were fairly easy.  Most of the questions were theoretical.  With 2-3 questions requiring a calculator.  We rarely/never used calculus for the calculator problems.

We really had to pay attention to the syllabus and online classroom guidelines (which were very long).  It was really easy to loose points for not following instructions.

The online discussion was hit or miss.  Some students knew what they were doing and added to the class. Others had no clue.

If I had no other choice I would take this class online again but would rather take it in a classroom setting.  This sort of course would really benefit from a hybrid format.  Online lectures, quizzes, and discussion.  But then have one day per week when the students could come in and meet with an instructor to ask questions.

[Trinian23]

And if you are just looking to brush up, there are plenty of great lessons here.

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm