Information on this syllabus is subject to change. Any updates will be posted to this site, and the class will be notified of any major updates by email or in class announcement. In particular, any required changes in course delivery, such as transition to remote delivery only, may necessitate significant modifications to this syllabus.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Monday, Aug. 17 | First day of class |
| Friday, Aug. 21 | Last day to add a course |
| Friday, Aug. 28 | Last day to drop a course |
| Monday, Sep. 7 | Labor Day (no class) |
| Wednesday, Sep. 16 | First midterm exam–good luck! You will be allowed a non-graphing calculator and a double-sided 3 inch by 5 inch card of notes. If you would like to review calculus before the exam, here are some suggested problems. |
| Wednesday, Oct. 14 | Second midterm exam–good luck! You will be allowed a non-graphing calculator and a double-sided 3 inch by 5 inch card of notes. If you would like to review calculus before the exam, here are some suggested problems. |
| Monday, Oct. 19 | Fall break (no class) |
| Wednesday, Nov. 11 | Third midterm exam–good luck! You will be allowed a non-graphing calculator and a double-sided 3 inch by 5 inch card of notes. If you would like to review calculus before the exam, here are some suggested problems. |
| Friday, Nov. 27 | Thanksgiving break (no class) |
| Wednesday, Dec. 2 | Last day of class If you have three final exams scheduled on the same day, then under university policy you are entitled to an alternative exam date; however, to be guaranteed an alternative exam date for our course, you must inform me by email (aeb019@uark.edu) that you need a make-up exam on or before Dec. 2. |
| Thursday, Dec. 3 | Last day to withdraw from a course. |
| Date TBA | Complete the online course evaluation on or before this date. If at least 80% of the class completes the course evaluation before the deadline, I will drop your 2 lowest group project scores; otherwise, I will drop your 1 lowest group project score. |
| Date on the registrar’s website | Final exam
Good luck! You will be allowed a non-graphing calculator and two double-sided 3 inch by 5 inch cards of notes. If you would like to review calculus before the exam, here are some suggested problems. If the class as a whole does significantly worse on the final exam than I expect, then a curve will be applied. However, once the final exam has been taken, there are no further opportunities to change your grade. You may not request a grade of Incomplete or turn in make-up or extra credit work after the final exam, and I will not change your grade based on your circumstances. |
Ariel Barton (email aeb019@uark.edu, office SCEN 348)
The best way to communicate with me (beyond coming to my office hours) is by email. You can expect a reply within 24 hours, excluding weekends and holidays.
Nisa Aliyeva
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 2:00–2:50 p.m., GEAR 102
Section D021: Tuesday 11:00–11:50 a.m., GEAR 104
Section D022: Tuesday 4:30–5:20 p.m., KIMP 313
Attendance in your drill section is required, and you must attend the section in which you are enrolled. Drill sessions are led by the course assistant and meet once every week, including the first week. In drill sessions you will normally complete laboratory assignments in groups or prepare for exams.
No office hours will be held during fall break (October 19–20) or Thanksgiving break (November 26–27). Office hours with Professor Barton are currently scheduled for the following times:
The scheduled office hours above are on a drop in basis; at these times, you do not need an appointment. If the selected times do not work for you, or if you wish to speak to me privately, please email me and we will schedule an appointment at another time.
If the University is closed due to inclement weather, office hours will be held over Zoom unless the instructor is without electricity or internet access. Class will either be also held over Zoom or cancelled; you will be notified of which by email as soon as possible.
Assistance with calculus is available in the Tutoring Center at any time during their scheduled hours.
Generalized additional help may be found through the Student Success Center.
If the University is closed due to inclement weather, office hours will be held over Zoom unless the instructor is without electricity or internet access. Class will either be also held over Zoom or cancelled; you will be notified of which by email as soon as possible.
First and second order ordinary differential equations, the Laplace transform, and matrix systems of ordinary differential equations.
MATH 25004 (Calculus II) with a grade of C or better, and in particular differentiation and integration techniques as applied to polynomial, rational, exponential, and trigonometric functions. Some familiarity with matrices will be helpful; the basic operations on vectors and matrices (addition, subtraction, multiplication by a matrix, multiplication by a scalar, and finding eigenvalues) will be reviewed in class. MATH 26004 (Calculus III) and MATH 30803 (Linear Algebra), especially the concept of linear dependence and independence, are helpful but not required.
WebAssign access for Differential Equations with Boundary-Value Problems, 9th Edition, by Dennis G. Zill, Cengage Learning. This access includes an electronic version of the textbook. Registration instructions may be found here.
All students registered for this class should have automatically been charged for and provided with WebAssign access as part of the University’s Inclusive Access program. Do not opt out of WebAssign access, as this is the only way for us to grade your homework, which comprises 10% of your grade and is the best possible preparation for the exams. If you have accidentally opted out of WebAssign access, please fill out this form to request reactivation of your account.
Here is how I plan to weigh your grades:
| Category | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Homework | 10% |
| Midterm tests | 15% each |
| Group projects | 15% (12% project score, 3% attendance) |
| Final | 30% |
There will be three midterms tests and a final exam. I plan to hold midterm exams during class time on the dates indicated in the calendar above. The final exam will occur in our regular classroom at the time indicated on the registrar’s website.
Students may use non-graphing calculators, one index card of notes (two on the final), and portable timepieces on exams. All other electronic devices, including watches that do anything other than tell the time and date, are prohibited.
Make-up exam requests require written documentation as to your conflict. Except in the case of medical or other unforeseen emergencies, make-up exam requests must be made at least one week before the exam is to be held. Make-up exams are at the instructor’s discretion; if you do not provide a documented reason why you cannot take the exam at the usual time, if your reason is considered inadequate, or if your request for a make-up exam is not made in a timely fashion, I reserve the right to refuse a make-up exam or to assess a late penalty (deduction from your score). See the departmental/university policy on excusable absences below.
All make-up exams, including make-up final exams, will be taken in the testing center attached to the Mathematics Resource and Teaching Center (MRTC) in Champions Hall. Students should familiarize themselves with the testing center guidelines before taking a make-up exam.
The online homework for this class will be found at Webassign (also accessible through the WebAssign link in the sidebar in Blackboard) and comes primarily from the text Differential Equations with Boundary-Value Problems, 9th Edition, by Dennis G. Zill, Cengage Learning. All students registered for this class should automatically be charged for and provided with WebAssign access as part of the University's Inclusive Access program. This includes access to an electronic version of the textbook.
Students are expected to check WebAssign regularly for homework assignments. I expect to post one (short) homework assignment per day, not including exam days and exam review days; this means there will be a total of 37 assignments over the course of the semester. No online homework scores are dropped.
WebAssign will be configured to allow you to request extensions for two weeks after the assignment is due; extensions carry a 30% late penalty. WebAssign is an automatic grading system, and thus deadlines are very rigid (that is, an assignment turned in at 12:00 is still penalized as late). Do your homework well in advance of the deadline!
Group projects will be done in drill sections every week (except exam weeks). There will be no makeup group projects. Calculators will be allowed on group projects. Your lowest score (or two scores) will be dropped.
As homework for this course is assigned through WebAssign, exam and group project grading will stress clarity of exposition and other stylistic issues that cannot be assessed by a computer. Expect to see lots of questions that require full sentences as answers.
Students are expected to monitor their uark email address regularly and consult the course Blackboard site for important announcements.
You may request accommodations to enhance your learning. Minor accommodations are available to any student who makes the request in a timely fashion (for example, I am happy to provide large print versions of exams to any student who would find that helpful). Major accommodations (such as extra time on exams) will be granted only in the case of a documented disability and at the request of the Center for Educational Access (CEA). See the departmental/university policy on Access and Accommodations below.
The CEA has requested that accommodated math exams (including accommodated final exams) be taken in the testing center attached to the Mathematics Resource and Teaching Center (MRTC) in Champions Hall. This is considered by the CEA to be a distraction-reduced testing environment. If you want to use the CEA’s private rooms instead, you must make appropriate arrangements with the CEA and also inform me in time to meet their deadlines, and in any case at least one week before the exam.
Cell phones, tablets, laptops, and other electronic devices may be used in class. The expectation is that these devices will be used for taking notes, routine calculations (i.e., calculator apps), accessing course materials, and other course-related uses only. Please do not text or play games in class!
Students may use artificial intelligence tools and other computer-based tools as examples and to help with their writing, but not to replace their own work. Some examples of acceptable use are:
Use of generative artificial intelligence tools to produce the content of your work (rather than to refine the presentation, as above), while completing academic work that is submitted for credit, will be considered academic dishonesty in this course and reported to the Office of Academic Initiatives and Integrity. If you are uncertain as to whether a particular use of generative artificial intelligence is allowed, please consult your instructor.
The lecture will be recorded on the room’s camera and recordings will be posted to Blackboard for student reference. These recordings are provided “as is” as a hopefully-useful supplement, but their availability and quality is not guaranteed and no make-up recordings or materials will be posted in the event of technical issues (such as the room’s camera recording the wrong wall).
Students who need or particularly desire high-quality reliable recordings are allowed to record lectures with their own devices for their own use.
In addition, if the University is open but the weather is severe, a Zoom meeting will be opened during class so that students may participate remotely in real time.
By attending this class, the student understands the course may be recorded and consents to being recorded for official university educational purposes. Be aware that incidental recording may also occur before and after official class times. Recordings may include personally-identifiable comments submitted to the chat stream during class.
Students are bound by the departmental/university policies on use of recordings documented below.
The instructor is committed to keeping students informed of their standing in the class. Scores on all graded items will be posted in a timely manner. Students are expected to bring any possible errors to the attention of the instructor within one week of posting. This maintains an accurate grade record throughout the semester. All scores posted before Reading Day will be deemed accurate unless a possible error is brought to the attention of the instructor before the time scheduled by the Registrar for the final exam. No opportunities for extra credit or make-up work will be available after the final class. Course grades will not be changed after the end of the semester unless a student can provide clear documentation of an error on the instructor’s part.
Only given in extreme circumstances, and only when the student has satisfactorily completed all but a small portion of the work in the course. Students must make prior arrangements with the professor well before the end of the semester. In particular, under no circumstances will a request for an Incomplete made after the student has taken the final be granted.
The instructor is committed to following the University’s policies on inclement weather (Academic Policy 1858.10 and Fayetteville Policies and Procedures 210.0) and to ensuring that students can learn safely.
If the University is closed due to inclement weather, office hours will be held over Zoom unless the instructor is without electricity or internet access. Class will either be also held over Zoom or cancelled; you will be notified of which by email as soon as possible.
Students will not be penalized for being absent on those days when the University is open but the Fayetteville Public Schools are closed due to the weather. On such days the instructor will be present but will broadcast class to Zoom, and students off campus are encouraged to attend in real time and ask questions.
If the University or the Fayetteville Public Schools are closed on a day when a midterm exam is scheduled, the exam will be rescheduled to the next class day and a standard lecture will be given instead.
If class is held over Zoom, the instructor will record the class via Zoom as well as Echo 360 and will make the alternative recording available through Blackboard.
If attendance is severely affected by weather, deadlines and exam dates may be adjusted. Please do not call the Department of Mathematical Sciences with weather-related inquiries. You may contact me for information.
Make-up exams for all math courses are taken in the Mathematics Testing Center maintained by the MRTC. You will be allowed to take your exam on the scheduled exam date at any time when the Testing Center is open. You must finish your exam before the Testing Center closes; it is your responsibility to arrive early enough to allow this to happen.
If you have three or more final exams scheduled for the same date, then under University policy you are entitled to reschedule one of your finals. If you wish to reschedule the final for our class, please notify me by email before the registrar’s withdrawal deadline, and I will arrange for you to take a make-up final later in the week.
The University of Arkansas is prepared for a wide range of emergencies. Many types of emergencies can occur on campus; instructions for specific emergencies such as severe weather, active shooter, or fire can be found at http://emergency.uark.edu/.
The University of Arkansas has a campus-wide alert system for any hazardous conditions that may arise on campus. To learn more and to sign up, visit the RazALERT website.
(from the faculty handbook) Education at the university level requires active involvement in the learning process. Therefore students have the responsibility to attend classes and to actively engage in all learning assignments or opportunities provided in their classes. Instructors have the responsibility to provide a written policy on student attendance that is tied to course objectives and included in a course syllabus. There may be times, however, when illness, family crisis, or university-sponsored activities make full attendance or participation impossible. In these situations students are responsible for making timely arrangements with the instructor to make up work missed. Such arrangements should be made in writing and prior to the absence when possible.
Examples of absences that should be considered excusable include those resulting from the following: 1) illness of the student, 2) serious illness or death of a member of the student’s immediate family or other family crisis, 3) University-sponsored activities for which the student’s attendance is required by virtue of scholarship or leadership/participation responsibilities, 4) religious observances (see Students’ Religious Observances policy below), 5) jury duty or subpoena for court appearance, and 6) military duty. The instructor has the right to require that the student provide appropriate documentation for any absence for which the student wishes to be excused.
(from honesty.uark.edu) As a core part of its mission, the University of Arkansas provides students with the opportunity to further their educational goals through programs of study and research in an environment that promotes freedom of inquiry and academic responsibility. Accomplishing this mission is only possible when intellectual honesty and individual integrity prevail.
Each University of Arkansas student is required to be familiar with and abide by the University’s Academic Integrity Policy, which may be found at provost.uark.edu. Students with questions about how these policies apply to a particular course or assignment should immediately contact their instructor.
(from honesty.uark.edu/faculty) Third parties may attempt to connect with you to buy your notes and other course information from this class. I will consider distributing course materials to a third party without my authorization a violation of my intellectual property rights and/or copyright law as well as a violation of the U of A’s academic integrity policy. Continued enrollment in this class signifies your intent to abide by the policy. Any violation will be reported to the Office of Academic Initiatives and Integrity.
Please be aware that such class materials that may have already been given to such third parties may contain errors, which could affect your performance or grade. Recommendations for success in this course include coming to class on a routine basis, visiting me during my office hours, connecting with the Teaching Assistant (TA), and making use of CLASS+. If a third party should contact you regarding such an offer, I would appreciate your bringing this to my attention. We all play a part in creating a course climate of integrity.
(from tips.uark.edu) Recordings posted to Blackboard may be used by students only for the purposes of the class. Students may not download, store, copy, alter, post, share, or distribute in any manner all or any portion of the class recording, e.g. a 5-second clip of a class recording sent as a private message to one person is a violation of this provision. This provision may protect the following interests (as well as other interests not listed): faculty and university copyright; FERPA rights; and other privacy interests protected under state and/or federal law. Failure to comply with this provision will result in a referral to the Office of Student Standards and Conduct for potential charges under the Code of Student Life. In situations where the recordings are used to gain an academic advantage, it may also be considered a violation of the University of Arkansas’ academic integrity policy.
(from cea.uark.edu) Your experience in this class is important to me. University of Arkansas Academic Policy Series 1520.10 requires that students with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations to ensure their equal access to course content. If you have already established accommodations with the Center for Educational Access (CEA), please request your accommodations letter early in the semester and contact me privately, so that we have adequate time to arrange your approved academic accommodations.
If you have not yet established services through CEA, but have a documented disability and require accommodations (conditions include but not limited to: mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical, health or temporary impacts), contact CEA directly to set up an Access Plan. CEA facilitates the interactive process that establishes reasonable accommodations. For more information on CEA registration procedures contact 479–575–3104, ada@uark.edu or visit cea.uark.edu.
As a student, you may experience a range of issues that can cause barriers to learning such as relationship issues, anxiety, depression, alcohol/drug issues, difficulty concentrating, and lack of motivation. These mental health concerns or stressful events may lead to diminished academic performance or reduce one’s ability to participate in daily activities, and the University of Arkansas has resources to help! If you or a friend are in need of assistance, please reach out to the following resources: