June 20 PHY231C Exam Notice supplement for online video proctored students - move critical messages to inbox
Dear PHY 231C online exam student,
Prior to starting the midterm exam, please move all critical messages(like this
one) to your inbox. You can do this by clicking on the 'move to inbox button'
just below this and any other unmoved critical messages. You will need to do
this for each critical message.
If you do not, these messages will continually pop up while you are taking the
exam -- eating up valuable exam time.
This is the fifth notice sent to you on this subject. Previous notices were sent
in messages on 5/19, 5/31, 6/8 and earlier this morning in the exam announcement.
Best wishes on the exam,
Richard Hallstein
June 20 PHY231C Exam Notice (2 of 2) Coverage, practice problems and studying
Dear PHY 231C student,
The final exam is cumulative and covers everything in the course(exceptions
below). It will be based on the assigned readings, the online lectures and the
homework. Some of the problems will be conceptual in nature and some will have
numerical answers. There are 100 possible points on the exam and a total of 30
responses on this exam.
To further assist you in focusing your studies, last week I sent out a rough
breakdown of what will be on the exam and am copying it here for ease of reference:
1D motion: 5 points
2D motion: 4 points
Force and Newton's Laws: 10 points
Work and Energy: 6 points
Momentum: 8 points
Oscillations: 12 points
Rotation: 11 points
Gravity and Orbits: 0 points (will not be on final exam)
Solids and Fluids: 10 points
Waves and Sound: 0 points (will not be on final exam)
Temperature and Ideal Gases: 12 points
Heat: 13 points
Thermodynamics: 9 points
In general, and across all topics you are responsible for knowing units.
A copy of the exam's cover page is visible in the exam folder in Lon-Capa. Some
useful information is included on the cover page. Note: the exam cover page
contains information for all exams and not all of the useful information listed
here is applicable to this exam.
Here are some study suggestions: review the readings, online lectures and the
homework problems; make a good sheet of notes for the exam.
There are practice exam problems available in the Practice Exams folder. There
are two sub-folders with problems and solutions.
The first is the old practice exam folder. This folder contains practice exams
I made over five years ago and they are in the form of a static pdf. The
solutions are in the form of online lectures. All problems, except those
covering CH 9(gravitation and orbits) and CH 11(waves and sound) are applicable
to this exam. Even if you correctly solve these problems, it is worthwhile
going through the solutions, as there is often additional information contained
therein.
The second, contains every exam problem I gave on a midterm exams for this
course during the Fall 2016 and Spring 2017 semesters. The problems themselves
are coded in lon-capa in exam mode with no due date and correct/incorrect
feedback disabled. All problems, except those covering CH 9(gravitation and
orbits) and CH 11(waves and sound) are applicable to this exam. The solutions
to these problems take on one of three forms:
1. A new online lecture if a very similar problem is not already present in the
course material.
2. A reference of where to find the solution to a very similar problem in the
online material.
3. A reference of where to find the solution to a very similar problem in the
required text.
When attempting these problems, use a draft of your exam note sheet and then
modify it as needed.
As always, click on the move button to inbox button below to keep this critical
message from continuing to pop up as you work on the course.
Richard Hallstein
June 20 PHY231C Exam Notice (1 of 2) is at 5PM on Wednesday, 6/28 in CEM 138
Dear PHY 231C on campus exam student,
The final exam will be on Wednesday, June 28th at 5:00PM in room 138 Chemistry.
Some streets in and around the campus are closed for construction, so you should
allow extra time to get to the exam location.
The exam will be handed out promptly at 5:00PM; students arriving after 5:00PM
will not be permitted to enter the room until after the students who arrived
promptly have started the exam.
The exam is closed book, but you may use two 8-1/2 inch x 11 inch or smaller
sheets of original HAND-WRITTEN notes and equations; your note sheet will be
checked at least once during the exam. You may use both sides of your note
sheets. If you show up to the exam with a set of notes that are not original
and handwritten, you will have to take the exam without notes. In general, on
this exam and the final exam, the questions will be in the order material was
covered in the course; this should help you organize your note sheet.
You should bring a few sharpened number 2 pencils, your student ID (or driver's
license) and a calculator (graphing calculators are OK). However, the use of
cell phones, PDAs, apple watches, tablets, computers or any similar devices for
any reason is NOT permitted. If you have any of these devices out, you will
receive a penalty grade of zero on the exam.
Pencils and calculators will NOT be provided. Also as a courtesy to your fellow
students, you should turn off your stored away cell phone before entering the room.
When taking the exam, all baseball caps or brimmed hats must be removed or
turned backwards. Furthermore, all caps or hats covering the ears must be removed.
When you enter the room, sit in the row assigned to you based on your last name
(seating assignments will be displayed on the screen at the front of the room).
Leave a single empty seat between you and the next closest student on either
side, unless you are on an aisle, then the aisle counts as an empty seat. The
exam and scantron sheets will be handed out once all students arriving promptly
are in their assigned rows. DO NOT open the exam until you are told to do so by
an instructor. You can however, complete the student information section of your
answer sheet. Make sure you include your student ID number and your name on the
answer sheet. Make certain that your exam has your name and picture on the cover
sheet. If it does not, you have the wrong exam. When you are finished with the
exam return both your answer sheet and your exam to an instructor.
You will have two hours to complete the exam.
Richard Hallstein
June 20 PHY231C Exam Notice (1 of 2)video proctor time will be for the 2 hour time slot you signed up for between 7PM on 6/28 and 5PM on 6/29
Dear PHY 231C section 731 online video proctored exam student,
You are receiving this message because you are in the online exam section and
you WILL take your final online via video proctor.
The final exam will be next week with your two hour exam starting between 7PM
EDT Wednesday, June 28th and 5PM EDT Thursday, June 29th (the time slot in
Examity adjusts your time to your local time). You should have already signed
up for your exam time. If you have not set up your Examity profile and/or
signed up for your online exam time, you should do so immediately.
No accommodations will be made if your preferred online exam time is no longer
available, as slots fill up on a first come first serve basis, and most students
have already signed up.
In addition to a calculator and two double-sided sheets of original HAND WRITTEN
notes, you will be permitted to have a drink on your desk during the exam and a
printout of the instructions for getting started/taking your exam on exam day.
These instructions are specific to connecting to Examity(your online
proctor) via Lon-Capa. The instructions are in place and viewable now in your
exams folder in lon-capa. I suggest downloading the pdf, opening it with your
pdf reader of choice and printing it out. While taking the exam, no other notes
other than the single sheet of original handwritten notes may be used. If any
other pre-prepared notes are used, you will receive a penalty grade of zero on
the exam.
You will have two hours to complete the exam.
Richard Hallstein
June 19 PHY231C Last bonus point opportunities in course
Dear Students in PHY 231C,
This coming weekend there will be three extra credit opportunities opening up
for you to complete. All of these will become available this Friday morning,
June 23 at 12:01AM and must be completed prior to Sunday, June 25 at 11:59PM.
The opportunities are as follows:
1. A single bonus homework question identical to the question asked at the start
of the course. Specifically, now that the course is almost complete, do you
prefer it (and its second semester counterpart) in this accelerated version or
would you prefer it at a pace more comparable to the academic year? Students
choosing to answer this question receive 3 bonus homework points. Students may
participate here and receive the bonus even if they did not participate in the
pre-course version.
2. A timed conceptual diagnostic assessment consisting of 30 questions. While
not graded for correctness, choosing to make a serious attempt (yes, this will
be checked) as outlined in the syllabus will receive the 0.5% participation
bonus added to their final average. Note: once you start the timed diagnostic,
it cannot be stopped or reset. Students may participate here and receive the
bonus even if they did not participate in the pre-course version.
3. An untimed physics/science survey. Students choosing to seriously
participating in this survey will receive a 0.5% participation bonus added to
their final average. Students may participate here and receive the bonus even if
they did not participate in the pre-course version.
Richard Hallstein
June 8 PHY231C Final exam coverage
Dear PHY 231C student,
While our cumulative final is still about three weeks away, I wanted to give you
an idea of the topics on the exam. While we have homework due on all topics,
some will not be on the final exam and this advance notice should help you in
composing a good set of notes.
Here is the coverage:
1D motion: 5 points
2D motion: 4 points
Force and Newton's Laws: 10 points
Work and Energy: 6 points
Momentum: 8 points
Oscillations: 12 points
Rotation: 11 points
Gravity and Orbits: 0 points (will not be on final exam)
Solids and Fluids: 10 points
Waves and Sound: 0 points (will not be on final exam)
Temperature and Ideal Gases: 12 points
Heat: 13 points
Thermodynamics: 9 points
As always, click on the move button to inbox button below to keep this critical
message from continuing to pop up as you work on the course.
Richard Hallstein
June 6 PHY231C score summary, final average/grade projection and exam solution
Dear PHY 231C students,
At the end of this message is your personalized summary of
your scores on the work you have completed through today's
Correction exam and homework set 5. In addition, I have
used this data, along with the course syllabus to give you a
final grade projection. The projection assumes your work in
all categories is represented by what you have done so far.
Below I am including: your MIDTERM post correction score (in
percent); your homework average through set 5 including the
bonus questions and the four bonus survey questions in
percent; your projected final exam score in percent (this is
your midterm PRE-correction score); your pre-course
diagnostic participation bonus to be added to your final
average (this is either +0.5% if you chose to participate in
the pre-course diagnostic or 0% if not); your pre-course
survey participation bonus (this is 0.5% if you chose to
participate, 0% if not) your projected final average in
percent; and the corresponding projected final grade based
on the criteria outlined in the syllabus.
These projections assume ALL future homework (both regular
and bonus) and your final exam are represented by the work
you have done thus far. Clearly, if any future work in any
of these categories changes, your actual scores/grades in
some or all of these projected categories will change as well.
Thus far, we have had 130 regular homework questions and 24
bonus questions. So, there were a maximum of 154 homework
points you could have earned through set 5; but your percent
score is based on 130 points as stipulated in the syllabus.
Further, if you completed some or all of the four,
three-point survey questions offered in the first week of
class, a bonus percent is added to your homework average.
If you answered all four, 4.9% was added to your homework
%score; if you answered three of the four, 3.7% was added;
if you answered two of the four, 2.4% was added; if you
completed one of the four, 1.3% was added; and if you did
not answer any no points were added.
Here is the key to interpret my abbreviations below:
PCDSB%added: % added to final average (+0.5% if you took the
pre-course survey +0 if you did not)
PCDB%added: % added to final average (+0.5% if you took the
pre-course diagnostic +0 if you did not)
HW%: Homework percent (including bonus questions and the
bonus for the 3 survey questions offered in the first week)
MT%: Percent score on Midterm (including the correction exam)
PFE%: PROJECTED final exam score in percent (this is your
Midterm, pre-correction score)
PFA%: PROJECTED final course average in % (includes PCDB and
PCSB bonus, if applicable)
PFG: PROJECTED final grade
As an *example* of how your projections were calculated,
here is a calculated projection based on the current class
averages in each category (this calculation is based on the
class average, not your personal projection -- the bottom of
the email sent to your Lon-Capa account for your personal
projection):
The class average on the homework through set 5 is 112%.
The class average on the midterm, pre-correction is 56% The
average on the correction exam is 96%. The corrected
midterm average is 68%, the average diagnostic bonus is
0.33% and the average survey bonus 0.33%.
First, we need to find the post-correction midterm score for
our class average (only your post correction score is shown
below):
MTcorrected = 56% + 0.3*(96%-56%)= 68.0%
Using these averages, we can project a final average and
grade in the course. In this projection and in your
personalized projection at the end of this message, we'll
make these assumptions:
1. Assume homework and bonus point performance for the
remainder of the course remains as it has been thus far.
2. Assume the average final exam percent score is the same
as the average PRE-correction midterm percent score.
Again, if the actual performance differs from these
assumptions, the actual scores will change too.
Homework is weighted at 30%, the midterm at 30% and final
exam 40%. So, this average set of scores yields:
Projected final class average: 0.30*112% + 0.3*68.0%
+0.4*56%+0.33%+.33% = 77.0%
Using the grading criteria in the syllabus, we see this
projected final average for this hypothetical average
student is 77.0% and the corresponds to a projected final
grade of 3.0 (the cut-off for a 3 is 76%). Again, the above
are all CLASS AVERAGES -- your personalized scores are at
the bottom of this message. Further, this class average is
above the long-term historical average for this course and
its traditional equivalent.
A solution to the exam is now available in Lon-Capa. The
for of the solution is one of the following:
1. A reference to a substantially similar problem worked out
in the online lectures.
2. A reference to a substantially similar problem worked out
in the required text.
3. A new solution video.
Richard Hallstein
Lastly, your summary and projections are as follows:
May 31 Midterm exam score and correction exam
Dear PHY 231C student,
Your midterm exam score and the correction exam are both now available in Lon-Capa.
You can now view your midterm exam and your score in Lon-Capa. To see your
score, select: "View current problem status and grading information" from the
main menu. Next to MIDTERM you will see your total points out of 50.
To review your version of the exam in Lon-Capa, click on Course Contents. Then
open the folder labeled for your section's exams. The midterm is inside a second
folder labeled MIDTERM. You can view an individual problem on the exam,
including your response and the correct response by clicking on the problem
(some problems you can only see your response by clicking on the "Previous
Tries" link at the bottom of the problem's page).
You can prepare a printout of your version of the exam by clicking on the
"print" icon in the upper right corner of the lon-capa window with any exam
problem displayed. This will allow you to generate a pdf of your version of the
exam and show you how many points each problem was worth.
As stated in the syllabus and in earlier emails, you may be able to improve your
exam score by completing the correction exam.
It is your overall score on both the correction exam and original exam which
determines your bonus added to your original score; so complete all problems on
the correction exam (not just the ones you answered incorrectly on the exam you
took with me or your online proctor).
If a correction exam score is higher than your original score, then 30% of the
difference between the correction exam score and your original exam score will
be added to your original score as a bonus. For example, if your original
midterm score is 40 and the correction exam score is 50, then 0.3*(50-40)=3
points will be added to Thursday's score for an exam total of 43 points. So, 43
points (or 86%) will be used as the midterm exam score for final grade
calculation purposes. If the correction exam is equal to or lower than your
original score, then the original score will be used for final grade calculation.
The correction exam is a different randomization than the original exam. So,
just like everyone receives different given values on homework problems, your
correction exam and your original exam will differ slightly.
The correction exam AND homework set 5 on momentum are due next Tuesday, June 6
at 5PM EDT.
If your exam score and/or the correction exam are not showing up, try exiting
Lon-Capa, shutting down all windows of your internet browser and then re-
logging into Lon-Capa.
On Tuesday evening, after the due dates for the correction exam and homework set
5, I will send you a personalized score summary including your work to date in
the course in all categories. This summary will also include projections of
your final average/grade in the course based on your work to date and the
grading criteria in our syllabus. This report will include, as an example class
averages in all categories.
Richard Hallstein
May 31 - section 731 (online exam section) PHY231C REMINDER: prior to exam, move all critical messages, like this one to your inbox
Dear PHY 231C online exam student,
Prior to starting the midterm exam, please move all critical messages(like this
one) to your inbox. You can do this by clicking on the 'move to inbox button'
just below this and any other unmoved critical messages. You will need to do
this for each critical message.
If you do not, these messages will continually pop up while you are taking the
exam -- eating up valuable exam time.
This is the second notice sent on this issue.
Best wishes on the exam,
May 24 - Correction exam and homework set 5 (exam notice 3 of 3)
Dear PHY 231C student,
The entire exam will be assigned again as a homework assignment as a Correction Exam. The Correction Exam is optional. If you don't touch it, you will NOT lose any points from your in-class exam or off-campus proctored exam score. If your performance is better on the Correction Exam than on the in-class exam or proctored exam, then 30 percent of this positive difference will be added to your original exam score. The best strategy is to solve the Correction Exam perfectly to maximize your gain. The Correction Exam will be available Friday, June 2 at 10AM and will be due on Tuesday, June 6th at 5:00PM EDT; homework set 5 on momentum is also due at this time.
Richard Hallstein
May 24 - Exam coverage, preparation/studying (exam notice 2 of 3)
The exam will cover everything through and including online lecture 5, Work and Energy (homework set 4). It will be based on the assigned readings, the online lectures and the homework. Some of the problems will be conceptual in nature and some will have numerical answers. There are 50 possible points on the exam. There are a total of 18 responses on this exam.
To further assist you in focusing your studies, here is a rough breakdown of what will be on the exam:
Motion in 1D (14 points)
Motion in 2D (10 points)
Force and Newton's Laws of motion(14 points)
Work and Energy(12 points)
In general, and across all topics you are responsible for knowing units.
A copy of the exam's cover page is visible in the exam folder in Lon-Capa. Some useful information is included on the cover page. Note: the exam cover page contains information for all exams and not all of the useful information listed here is applicable to this exam.
Here are some study suggestions: review the readings, online lectures and the homework problems; make a good sheet of notes for the exam.
There are practice exam problems available in the Practice Exams folder. There are two sub-folders with problems and solutions.
The first is the old practice exam folder. This folder contains practice exams I made over five years ago and they are in the form of a static pdf. The solutions are in the form of online lectures. Only old practice exam 1 and 2 have problems applicable to this exam. Even if you correctly solve these problems, it is worthwhile going through the solutions, as there is often additional information contained therein.
The second, contains every exam problem I gave on a midterm exam for this course during the Fall 2016 and Spring 2017 semesters. The problems themselves are coded in lon-capa in exam mode with no due date and correct/incorrect feedback disabled. I do this so you can return to the problem later and give it a fresh look without having the correct answer highlighted for you. The solutions to these problems take on one of three forms:
1. A new online lecture if a very similar problem is not already present in the course material.
2. A reference of where to find the solution to a very similar problem in the online material.
3. A reference of where to find the solution to a very similar problem in the required text.
When attempting these problems, use a draft of your exam note sheet and then modify it as needed.
Richard Hallstein
May 24 - section 730 on campus exam section (exam notice 1 of 3)
Dear PHY 231C on campus exam student,
The midterm exam will be on Wednesday, May31st at 5:00PM in room 138 Chemistry.
Some streets in and around the campus are closed for construction, so you should allow extra time to get to the exam location.
The exam will be handed out promptly at 5:00PM; students arriving after 5:00PM will not be permitted to enter the room until after the students who arrived promptly have started the exam.
The exam is closed book, but you may use one 8-1/2 inch x 11 inch or smaller sheet of original HAND-WRITTEN notes and equations; your note sheet will be checked at least once during the exam. You may use both sides of your note sheet. If you show up to the exam with a set of notes that are not original and handwritten, you will have to take the exam without notes. In general, on this exam and the final exam, the questions will be in the order material was covered in the course; this should help you organize your note sheet.
You should bring a few sharpened number 2 pencils, your student ID (or driver's license) and a calculator (graphing calculators are OK). However, the use of cell phones, PDAs, apple watches, tablets, computers or any similar devices for any reason is NOT permitted. If you have any of these devices out, you will receive a penalty grade of zero on the exam.
Pencils and calculators will NOT be provided. Also as a courtesy to your fellow students, you should turn off your stored away cell phone before entering the room.
When taking the exam, all baseball caps or brimmed hats must be removed or turned backwards. Furthermore, all caps or hats covering the ears must be removed.
When you enter the room, sit in the row assigned to you based on your last name (seating assignments will be displayed on the screen at the front of the room).
Leave a single empty seat between you and the next closest student on either side, unless you are on an aisle, then the aisle counts as an empty seat. The exam and scantron sheets will be handed out once all students arriving promptly are in their assigned rows. DO NOT open the exam until you are told to do so by an instructor. You can however, complete the student information section of your answer sheet. Make sure you include your student ID number and your name on the answer sheet. Make certain that your exam has your name and picture on the cover sheet. If it does not, you have the wrong exam. When you are finished with the exam return both your answer sheet and your exam to an instructor.
You will have sixty minutes to complete the exam.
Richard Hallstein
May 24 - section 731 video proctored section (exam notice 1 of 3)
Dear PHY 231C section 731 online video proctored exam student,
You are receiving this message because you are in the online exam section and you WILL take your midterm online via video proctor.
The midterm exam will be next week with your one hour exam starting between 6PM EDT Wednesday, May 31th and 5PM EDT Thursday, June 1st (the time slot in Examity adjusts your time to your local time). You should have already signed up for your exam time. If you have not set up your Examity profile and/or signed up for your online exam time, you should do so immediately. Details how to do this are in the syllabus found by clicking on the details here link near the top of the opening page of the syllabus:
http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/2017summer/PHY231C/index.htm ; also in multiple emails sent to you earlier in this session. Copies of these can be found in the Announcement section of the syllabus here:
http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/2017summer/PHY231C/Announcements/Announcements.htm
No accommodations will be made if your preferred online exam time is no longer available, as slots fill up on a first come first serve basis, and most students have already signed up.
In addition to a calculator and a single double-sided sheet of original HAND WRITTEN notes, you will be permitted to have a drink on your desk during the exam and a printout of the instructions for getting started/taking your exam on exam day. These instructions are specific to connecting to Examity(your online proctor) via Lon-Capa. The instructions are in place and viewable now in your exams folder in lon-capa. I suggest downloading the pdf, opening it with your pdf reader of choice and printing it out. While taking the exam, no other notes other than the single sheet of original handwritten notes may be used. If any other pre-prepared notes are used, you will receive a penalty grade of zero on the exam.
You will have sixty minutes to complete the exam.
Richard Hallstein
May 24 - section 731 set up profile with image of complete ID and sign up for exam
Dear PHY 231C, section 731 student,
By now, you should have already completed setting up your examity profile and
signed up for a time slot for next week's exam. If you have not already done
so, you must do so immediately.
If you have set up a profile and your uploaded ID is just a picture, i.e. not
the complete ID, you must return to examity, edit your profile and upload an
image of your complete ID. If you do not do this, you will not be permitted to
take the exam.
Tomorrow, you will receive several emails specific to next week's midterm exam.
Richard Hallstein
May 22 - Pre course survey and diagnostic status
Dear PHY 231C student,
At the bottom of this message, you will find confirmation of
the status of both your pre-course survey bonus and your
pre-course diagnostic bonus. These bonuses will be added to
your final average.
Your pre-course survey bonus is either +0.5% if you chose to
fully participate in the survey or 0% if not. Your bonus is
shown below after 'PCSB%added'.
Your pre-course diagnostic bonus to be added to your final
average is either 0.5% if you chose to seriously participate
or 0% if not. Your bonus is shown below after 'PCSB%added'.
Even if you chose not to participate in one or either of
these opportunities, you can still participate and receive
the bonus for the post-course versions of each.
Richard Hallstein
Here is the status of your bonus:
(class averages shown below)
PCSB%added 0.327 PCDB%added 0.330
May 19 - 11:02AM - Move critical messages to inbox
Dear PHY 231C student,
Each message I send you is sent via Lon-Capa's mail system and I send them all
as critical messages to ensure you see them. However, unless you click on the
"move to inbox" button at the bottom of each message, the message will
continually pop up as you work in lon-capa. Moving these important course
announcements will stop the message from popping up while you are working and
you will still have access to the message in your Lon_Capa inbox. It is of
particular importance that the online exam students do this prior to an exam, as
otherwise these pop-ups will eat away at time better used to take the exam.
Richard Hallstein
May 19 - 10:54AM
Dear Students in PHY 231C,
We are trying to obtain information on the conceptual preparation of our
incoming students for this class. To this end, we have prepared a timed
pre-introductory physics course diagnostic consisting of multiple-choice
questions, which do not require any numerical calculations. In addition, we'd
like to you to participate in a survey meant to gauge students' attitudes about
physics. This second survey is untimed and there are no right/wrong responses.
You will get 0.5% extra credit counting towards your grade just for
participating for in each of these optional diagnostics/surveys (if yo do both
it is +1%). To emphasize, this is a participation bonus and is in no way linked
to your performance on the diagnostic. Please take up to 50 minutes to answer
these 30 conceptual questions this timed diagnostic, and please, complete the
entire test in one sitting without consulting any reference materials.
The survey includes a permission form in which you can either consent we use
your responses or decline it. In either case, you can take the survey and
receive the participation bonus.
This diagnostic and survey are available for you in Lon-Capa to take at anytime
between now, Friday May 19 and Sunday, May 21 at 11:59PM.
Look for a folder called "Pre-course diagnostic" in LON-CAPA inside the PHY 231C
class and a second folder called "Pre-course Survey". You can click on each
folder anytime between now and 5/21.
Please take your time and read every question carefully. You are not expected to
be able to answer every question on the diagnostic. You submit your responses
just like you do on the third homework problem entitled "How to submit answers
to bonus" in set one. When you answer a question during the diagnostic, LON-CAPA
will not give you an immediate "Correct" or "Incorrect" message. It will just
simply say "Answer Submitted...". You will not have access to your score,
however next week I will send an email to your Lon-Capa mail confirming your
participation credit. You are allowed to go back and change your answer, if you
think you picked an incorrect answer. You will have 20 tries on each question.
All your submissions will be stored, but only the last submission will be used
for each question.
We value your input and want only serious attempts at completing the diagnostic.
If you don't know the answer to a question, then guessing is allowed. However,
simple submission patterns(like AAA..., or BBB...) or rapidly clicking on any
response throughout the diagnostic will be filtered out from the diagnostic or
the survey. Lon-Capa allows me to easily check the time spent on each problem in
the diagnostic. Any students having there submissions filtered out for the
reasons described above will also forfeit the participation bonus.
At the end of the session (6/23 through 6/25), a post course diagnostic and a
post course survey will be given for another 0.5% participation extra credit for
each of them. This too, will be a participation bonus and not linked to your
performance on the post course diagnostic. Any results produced by this study
will not contain your name or any other personal information about you.
Thank you very much for taking the diagnostic and the survey!
Richard Hallstein
May 18 Section 731 - off campus webcam video proctored exam section only
You can now set up your account with Examity and schedule both your midterm and
final exam times.
The process you should follow is in the syllabus, but I am
copying it below as well for ease of access.
If the "Go to Examity Dashboard(for online exam students only)" link in Lon-Capa
is not active/available, you will need to log out and re-login to Lon-Capa.
If you need assistance with the setup/scheduling with Examity, they have 24/7
tech support via phone (1-855-EXAMITY (1-855-392-6489) select option 1; email
and live chat. The email and chat options are linked on every examity webpage.
Instructions from the syllabus for initial setup of your Examity user account
and scheduling of your exams. Once you complete the initial setup, you can
schedule both your midterm and final exam times. I suggest you do this now, as
the number of proctors is limited and slots will fill up on a first come, first
serve basis.
Online exams will be proctored by an online proctor/monitoring service called
Examity (www.examity.com). All access to Examity and your exams will be done in
Lon-Capa. In order to arrange for your online proctored exams, you will need to
do an initial set-up of the Examity Dashboard. Initial setup involves two steps
as follows:
In the "Contents" of the course in Lon-Capa, click on "Set up or access your
examity profile - section 731 (online exam students only)"
Click on the "Access Examity Dashboard" link. This will bring you to your
Examity dashboard in a new tab where you must create a profile.
Click on the "My Profile" icon to create a profile. Here you will:
Identify your time zone (this sets times as your local time in Examity only and
has no effect on times in the syllabus or in lon-capa, where all due dates are
in EDT).
Upload a scan or photo of a picture ID, such as a driver's license or student
ID. This must be the complete ID not just a picture.
Select three security questions from a given set and provide answers to them
Enter your biometric keystroke signature. All you have to do is enter your first
name (no caps), your last name (no caps) and your first and last names (no caps
or spaces)
Later, when you take your exams, your identity will be verified with your
uploaded picture of your phot ID (you will need to reshow via your webcam to
your online proctor) and one of your security questions (please remember your
responses). Finally, you will be asked for your biometric signature.
If you receive all three green check marks, you are done setting up your Examity
account. You can click logout now or schedule your exams, I strongly suggest the
latter.
The next step is to schedule your exams
Scheduling your exams(must have already created a profile)
In Lon-Capa, open your Examity Dashboard
Click on the "Schedule Exam" picture and select a time slot the Midterm exam is
one hour long and you can schedule your exam start time anytime between
Wednesday, May 31 at 6PM eastern time and Thursday, June 1 at 5:00PM eastern time.
Final Exam is two hours long and you can schedule your exam start time anytime
between Wednesday, June 28 at 7PM eastern time and Thursday, June 29 at 5:00PM
eastern time
The granularity is 30 minutes, meaning you can choose start times on the half
hour or the hour.
Examity has a large number of exams to proctor each day, but a finite number of
employees and a finite amount of computational resources to do so. Please be
patient and have several time slots ready on your schedule when selecting a
start time. Times slots are filled on a first come first serve basis.
If your exam is scheduled successfully, you will receive a confirmation message
from Examity.
If you scheduled your exam more than 24 hours in advance of the exam, you will
not be charged any proctoring fee. The MSU Physics department will pay this
cost. However, if you schedule it less than 24 hours in advance of the exam, you
will have to pay the cost of the exam as an on-demand proctoring fee. There is
no reason to wait this long, as the scheduling will be available to you now,
well in advance of each exam.
Richard Hallstein
May 13
Dear PHY 231C student,
In an earlier message, I incorrectly stated the 3 point bonus homework questions
are due Wednesday, May 18. The day of the week is correct, but the date is
incorrect. These bonus questions are due at 5PM on Wednesday, May 17.
Richard Hallstein
May 12 12:37PM Section 731 - off campus webcam video proctored exam section
Dear PHY 231C, section 731 summer session 1 online video proctored exam student,
You are receiving this email because you are enrolled in section 731 of PHY 231C
for the first summer session and I want to make sure you are enrolled in
the correct section. No worries if you are not, as there is plenty of room in
both sections and it is easy to switch sections if you need to via schedule
builder here: https://schedule.msu.edu/
Students in this section 731 will have their exams proctored via student
provided webcam and microphone. You will be watched/recorded via your
computer's webcam for the duration of each exam and your computer screen will
also be recorded.
If *ALL* three of the following conditions are met, you are enrolled in the
correct section and will have your exams proctored via webcam:
1. You are living greater than a 1 hour drive from MSU
2. Regardless of how far you are living, you are not enrolled in another course
meeting on the MSU campus in East Lansing (if you live close enough to come here
for class, you are close enough to come here for our two exams).
3. Your computer hardware and internet connection meets the criteria outlined in
the syllabus.
If *ALL* of these conditions are met and you wish to use online video
proctoring, you are enrolled in the correct section (731). If any of these
three conditions are not met OR you wish to take your exams at MSU even if they
are met, you must enroll section (730) and take your exams at MSU on June 1 and
June 29.
If you remain in this section, you will need to set up an account with Examity,
the online video proctoring service. This is covered in detail in the online
proctored exam section of the syllabus. Links to this part of the syllabus are
both on the opening page of the syllabus and in the exam section of the
syllabus. For convenience, here is a link to the syllabus:
http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/2017summer/PHY231C/index.htm You will be able
to set up your account later during
the first official week of the session -- after open add ends. Most likely
Friday(5/19), but possibly late Thursday(5/18). Once you have done this, you
can schedule a time for your exams; I encourage you to do this early, as time
slots will fill up on a first come first serve basis.
If you need technical support for Examity, you can contact their 24/7 support
via: phone 1-855-EXAMITY (1-855-392-6489) select option 1; email or chat -- both
of these are linked on every Examity webpage.
Lastly, there are two exam folders in Lon-Capa. Each folder currently contains
only the cover sheet for our midterm exam (useful constants and information).
However, you will only be able to access the online video proctored exam
folder.
Richard Hallstein
May 12 12:47PM Section 730 - on campus exam section
Dear PHY 231C, section 730 summer session 1 on campus exam student,
You are receiving this email because you are enrolled in section 730 of PHY 231C
for the first summer session and I want to make sure you are enrolled in
the correct section. No worries if you are not, as there is plenty of room in
both sections and it is easy to switch sections if you need to via schedule
builder here: https://schedule.msu.edu/
First off, there are two exam folders in Lon-Capa. Each folder currently
contains only the cover sheet for our midterm exam (useful constants and
information). However, you will only be able to access the on campus exam
folder.
Your exams will be given in person on the MSU campus on May 31 and June 28.
If *ALL* three of the following conditions are met, you can have your exams
proctored via webcam, but you will need to switch sections:
1. You are living greater than a 1 hour drive from MSU
2. Regardless of how far you are living, you are not enrolled in another course
meeting on the MSU campus in East Lansing (if you live close enough to come here
for class, you are close enough to come here for our two exams).
3. Your computer hardware and internet connection meets the criteria outlined in
the syllabus.
If *ALL* of these conditions are met and you wish to use online video
proctoring, you must enroll in section 731. Students using online video
proctoring will be watched/video recorded for the duration of each exam via
student provided webcam and microphone; the computer screen will also be
recorded. If any of these three conditions are not met or you wish to take your
exams at MSU even if they are met, you are enrolled in the correct section (730)
and no further action is required.
Richard Hallstein
May 12 12:37PM
Dear PHY 231C student,
Students will, at times ask at the end of the semester about doing extra work to
get a higher grade. In this class, there are plenty of extra credit
opportunities offered throughout the session and I encourage you to take
advantage of these opportunities. The time to start accumulating this extra
credit is now (not at the end of the session, as then it is too late). These
bonus opportunities have limited windows of availability and strict due dates.
Other than what is outlined below, no other extra credit will be given. Please
take advantage of each of these opportunities, as they can significantly help
your final grade in the course. Much of this is in the bonus point section of
the syllabus.
Here are all of the bonus point/extra credit opportunities available in the
course:
Bonus homework survey questions due 5PM on Wednesday, May 17 (and will add 1%
to final average if completed in full). This one, frankly should not take you
more than a minute to complete. Here are the details:
There are four bonus homework survey questions in the homework folder. These
four survey questions have no right or wrong answer and are weighted as three
regular homework points each. One of them is about the section you are enrolled
in. These are necessarily due at 5PM on Wednesday, May 18 to allow students
enrolled in the wrong section time to switch into the correct section. One of
these four, three point bonus homework questions will be re-asked for bonus
homework credit at the end of the course and will be due with the final homework
set. These bonus questions are different from the bonus questions outlined below
and embedded with the online lectures.
Diagnostics and surveys (different from the survey mentioned above) will be
available first weekend of session (5/19-22) and last weekend of semester (6/24-
25). If all four are completed will add 2% to final average. Here are the
details:
Over the first weekend of the semester, there will be an optional pre-course
diagnostic given in Lon-Capa and an optional pre-course survey. At the end of
the semester on the weekend just before the final exam, there will be a second,
optional post-course diagnostic and a second post-course survey. A 0.5%
participation bonus will be added to the final average of any student who makes
a serious effort to complete these four assessments/surveys. If you seriously
participate in all of these optional assignments, 2% will be added to your final
average; if you seriously participate in three of them, 1.5% will be added to
your final average; if you seriously participate in two of them, 1 % will be
added to your final average, if you seriously participate in one of them, 0.5%
will be added to your final average. If you don't attempt a diagnostic (or
survey) or don't give a serious effort, no bonus will be added.
Simple submission patterns (like AAA..., or BBB...) or rapidly clicking on any
response throughout the diagnostic (or survey)are not considered serious efforts
and no bonus will be given.
Available now and due with associated homework assignments throughout the
session. There are about 250 regular homework problems and about 50 additional
bonus homework problems. Homework is weighted at 30%, so attempting these bonus
problems could add 6% to your final average. Here are the details:
There are bonus questions in the online lecture folders. You should be able to
answer these after completing the assigned reading from the required text and
watching the online lectures. These bonus questions are programmed to look like
exam questions, as such, they are all multiple choice. In addition, some of
these bonus questions are questions used on previous exams for this course and
its traditional equivalent. Lon-Capa's feedback option is disabled, so unlike
regular homework problems, Lon-Capa will not tell you if you have the correct
answer until after the due date. In addition, the discussion board on these
questions has been disabled. These questions are meant for you to work out
yourself after having read the assigned reading and watched the online lectures.
All points earned here will be added to your total homework points as a homework
bonus (so, homework scores over 100% are possible). Hints and/or solutions to
the bonus questions will not be provided.
Correction assignment for the midterm exam done online as a homework assignment
can increase your midterm score and thus, you final average. It will be
available from on Friday, 6/2 and is due on Tuesday, 6/6 along with homework set
5. Here are the correction assignment details:
The midterm exam will have a correction exam assigned as a homework assignment
in Lon-Capa. 30% of the positive difference between the correction exam and the
in-class (or proctored) exam will be added to your in-class exam score as bonus.
As such, the correction exam homework assignment can only add points to your
midterm exam score. Only students taking the original exam will have access to
the correction exam. The correction exam will be available at noon two days
after the scheduled exam and will be due at the regular homework due date/time
the following week.
No other extra credit will be offered or given in this course.
Richard Hallstein
May 12 12:25PM
Dear PHY 231C student,
Welcome to the summer session of PHY 231C.
You are receiving this message because you are enrolled in PHY 231C section 730 or section 731. All online course material will be delivered using Lon-Capa. You can log in using your MSUnet ID and password (same as your email) here: https://loncapa.msu.edu/ This message will be resent today via lon-capa’s mail system and again on the official start of class, Monday, May 16 using both the Registrar’s system and Lon-Capa’s mail system. I apologize in advance for these duplicate messages, but it is necessary for me to make all reasonable attempts to contact all enrolled in the course.
I realize this message is long, but you should read it carefully and in detail as it is part of the syllabus and it is copied in the announcement section of the syllabus for your reference. You will also receive two additional emails today. One is a section specific email about our two exams. The other is an outline of all available extra credit (bonus points) available to you in this course. There are some opportunities only available in the first week, so review this promptly!
We will cover all material usually covered in a fifteen week course in a little over six weeks. This course runs only in the first summer session starting on May 15 and finishing with the final exam at the end of June. In general, there are two homework sets due each week. Every week during the session will require a significant online time commitment with a reliable high speed internet connection. Extensions of the homework due dates will not be given.
There are two exams. The midterm exam and final exam are traditional, multiple-choice paper and pencil type exams taken either here on the MSU campus (must enroll in section 730) or off-campus via your computer/web-cam for qualifying students (must enroll in section 731). Qualifying means all three of these conditions must be met:
1. You must live greater than a 1 hour drive time from where you are living to MSU.
2. You cannot be enrolled in any other course requiring you to drive to MSU during the session (if you are close enough to attend class here, you are close enough to take your two exams here).
3. Your computer and internet connection meet all of the requirements outlined in the off-campus online proctored exam part of the syllabus. Of course, if you meet all of these requirements and wish to take your exams at MSU, you can do so, but need to be in (or change to) section 730.
On the Friday following the midterm exam, a correction exam will open up in homework mode. The correction exam is completed online just like all of the regular homework assignments. This correction assignment allows you to do the same exam again with a different randomization for your assigned values. 30% of the positive difference between your correction exam score and your original exam score is added to your original score as a bonus. The correction exam can only help your score on the exam; do nothing and your original score stays as-is.
The required text book is Rex & Wolfson: Essential College Physics, Volume 1.
It is sold at the MSU bookstore and at SBS on Grand River. This class will use LON-CAPA. LON-CAPA is a computerized homework and exam management system developed right here at MSU. We will NOT use Angel, D2L or the Mastering Physics add-on to the textbook in this course. Since this is an online class, you are not required to purchase an i-clicker.
Whenever you finish using Lon-CAPA you should *ALWAYS* log out. Staying logged in for an extended period of time will prevent you from seeing any new material added to the course i.e. correction exam, exam results, practice exam problems. In addition, leaving Lon-Capa idle for a long time can cause access errors (i.e. getting a message when trying to answer a problem stating the system is not available). No extensions will be given for such preventable errors.
Please visit www.loncapa.msu.edu and log in using your MSU Net ID and password.
Select the "PHY 231C, Summer 2016" class. The first item on the top is the syllabus. You can also review the syllabus without logging in to Lon-Capa here: http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/2017summer/PHY231C/index.htm Read all sections of it carefully. This is the official syllabus of the class.
The next item is a folder containing the lectures for the course. The Online Lecture folder contains the lectures specifically designed for this online course; they are in the form of narrated PowerPoint presentations with example problems and some lecture demonstrations. A high speed internet connection (i.e. not dial-up) and a computer with the ability to view flash video are required. All of the online lectures for the course are currently available.
Embedded within the online lectures are bonus homework questions. These questions are optional and can only help your score in the course. Most of these questions, relate at least in part to the assigned reading and/or the online lecture immediately preceding the question. These questions are programmed in exam mode (multiple choice) with correct/incorrect feedback disabled; the correct answer will be available after the due date. The discussion board on these bonus questions is disabled and so. In addition, hints and/or solutions to these extra credit bonus questions will not be provided.
The next folder will contain the homework for the course. There are homework sets that are due, in general every Tuesday at 5PM and Thursday at 5PM. The first homework set is due FRIDAY, May 19th at 5PM (this is the only set due on a Friday). All homework sets are currently available, so if you know you have a conflict at some point in the semester, you can work ahead. Additionally, you should not wait until the last minute to do the assigned homework -- extensions on homework will not be granted. There are three extra credit survey questions due Wednesday, May 17 (this coming Wednesday) at 5PM – one of them addresses your enrollment in the proper section and this due date is necessary as open add ends at 8PM on 5/18; if you’re in the wrong section you can change sections. Further, each of these three bonus questions are weighted three times a regular homework question. It should not take you more than a minute to answer all three.
There is also a folder with practice exam problems. One set of these are older in the form of a static pdf, but still applicable to our course and these include video solutions. These problems were given on exams in previous versions of the course or its traditional equivalent. The other set of practice problems include every single problem from midterm exams I gave in the previous academic year (Fall 2016 and Spring 2017). These problems are coded in Lon-Capa and appear in exam mode for zero credit (no due date is set and correct/incorrect feedback is disabled to allow you to return to the problem later). The solutions to these problems take on one of three forms:
1. A refernce to a very simialr problem in the required text.
2. A reference to a similar problem worked out in the online lectures.
3. A new video solution.
You are encouraged to use these to help prepare for the exams. Try solving the problems first before watching the solutions. Even if you answer the questions correctly, as you may find some additional useful information in the solution.
You are encouraged to come to the help room (BPS 1248) with your questions. Our Teaching Assistants are more than happy to answer your questions. Starting May 15, the help room will be open for this course on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:00PM-8:00PM; Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:00AM-5:00PM. During these help room hours, there will always be at least two TAs in the help room assigned to this course. One is assigned specifically to provide online help using the course discussion board. While this TA will be in the help room, the online support TA’s first priority is to give online assistance. Only after all online questions are answered is this TA permitted to assist students in the help room.
You are also encouraged to use the discussion board inside LON-CAPA. If you don't understand a problem or you need help, just click on the "Post discussion" link and post your question. Please do not send questions about the homework via email – the discussion board should always be used for this purpose. If you are seeking electronic help on a homework problem, use the post discussion option. More likely than not, others will have the same question and unlike email, everyone can then benefit from your question and subsequent response(s). If you know the answer to a question, just post your answer. Don't forget: The best way to learn is to teach.
Working and understanding the homework problems is a very important part of understanding the material. While, you can likely find a quick, easy formula derived by someone else in the class that will yield the solution to a homework problem, going straight for this type of solution will not help you learn the material. If you are faced with a similar problem that does not use the same end formula, that quick and easy homework solution would be of little help. However, if you understand the underlying concepts and the process that went in to finding that end formula, that similar problem should not be difficult to solve. Rather than using a quick and easy formula that someone else put the work into finding, a better course to follow is attempting to work the problems yourself after completing the assigned readings and watching the online lectures. Only after an honest attempt at the problems should you seek further assistance. Yes, this is more work, but my belief in the importance of working through the homework yourself to your success in the course is both emphasized and rewarded by its relative weight in determining your final grade.
Lastly, over the weekend of May 19-21 there will be an optional pre-course diagnostic offered and a pre-course survey. If you give an honest effort a 0.5% participation bonus will be added to your final average for the diagnostic and a 0.5% participation bonus added for the survey. We value your input and want only serious attempts at completing the diagnostic. If you don't know the answer to a question, then guessing is allowed. However, simple submission patterns(like AAA..., or BBB...) or rapidly clicking on any response throughout the diagnostic will be filtered out from the diagnostic. Lon-Capa allows me to easily check the time spent on each problem in the diagnostic. Any students having there submissions filtered out for the reasons described above will also forfeit the participation bonus. A similar diagnostic and survey, each with an additional 0.5% participation bonus will be offer over the weekend preceding our final exam (June 24-25). More details on each of these will follow.
To reiterate, two additional emails will follow this one. Please read them both promptly.
Richard Hallstein
(BPS 1253, (517) 884-5509, hallstein@pa.msu.edu)
Last updated: March 10, 2017