OpenLab #4: Study Guide

Hi everyone,

This post contains the instructions for the Study Guide project.  Our goal is to create a study guide that will be useful both for the students in this class, and for future students.  This project will require an investment of time & energy on your part, and will be given a corresponding weight in your OpenLab grade (equivalent to two OpenLab assignments).

NOTE: your Study Guide should NOT be a comment in reply to this post, but instead should be a new Post that you create (see the “Resources” section below for help on this).  Creating a post means that you can save your work, and come back and edit it later.  You also have much more control over things like formatting, inserting images and videos, and so on.

Instructions.

1. To get started, create a new post (HINT: click the “plus” sign in the grey bar at the top of the screen).
2. Give your post a title that makes sense
3. Select the Category “Study Guide” (from the box on the right side)
4. Add at least 3 tags (you choose) (from the box on the right side, below “Categories”)
5. Your post should include
   1. Overview.  Explain what the topic is about.
   2. Sample problem.  Give a sample problem, and explain how to solve it.
   3. Videos or images.  Please include at least 3 videos or images in your post that you personally found helpful.  Be sure to include a brief description.
6. 500 words minimum (no maximum – write as much as is needed).
7. Don’t forget to click either “Save Draft” or “Publish” from the topmost box on the right side.  “Publish” will make your post public on the main page of the site (but you can still edit it later), “Save Draft” will save your work without making it public.

Question: What if more than one person has the same topic?

• Option 1: you can work together on a single post (this is preferred – but you will each be responsible for writing at least 500 words)
• Option 2: you can work independently (you each create your own post)

Question: When is it due?

• For topics covered BEFORE Spring Break (through Section 3.7), your Study Guide is due April 30th.
• For topics covered AFTER Spring Break, your Study Guide is due May 18th (beginning of Finals Week).

Question: I saved a draft, how can I find it so I can work on it some more?

• Saved drafts of posts can be accessed through the Dashboard:
  • Make sure you are logged into the OpenLab
  • To access the Dashboard, click the link “MAT 2680 Differential Equations” in the gray bar at the very top of the screen
  • Select “Posts” from the menu on the left side of the screen, and scroll through to find your post.  If you wish, you can show only posts that are “Drafts” by clicking the appropriate link near the top of the page (below the main title “Posts”)

Resources that may help you:

• How to create a new post.
• How to insert a video or image – look at the help topics here.
• How to use mathematical notation on the OpenLab (like ).  This is done using the (very common in professional circles) mathematical markup language LaTeX — if you ever publish professionally in math or most sciences, you will end up learning this!  Luckily, it’s not too hard to get started — take a look at this assignment from a past Calculus class, which includes an introduction to writing LaTeX on the OpenLab.

Extra Credit

For extra credit, comment on another student’s Study Guide post. Your comment must say something substantive (more than just “great post!” or “very helpful” or “I don’t understand”) – tell us why you feel that way, or add something to the post that you think is missing, or (politely) point out an error if you think you see one, or suggest another video or other resource etc.  You can earn up to 3  extra credit points by commenting on multiple posts.

Study Guide Topic Assignments

If you do NOT appear on this list, please contact me immediately!

Grading: 10 points total (equiv. to 2 OpenLab assignments)

1. Basics (one point each, 4 total):
   1. Title that makes sense
   2. Category “Study Guide”
   3. At least 3 on-topic tags
   4. 500 words minimum
2. Content (two points each, 6 total):
   1. Overview
   2. Sample problem/solution
   3. Three videos/images with brief description