 Welcome to the course! I've been told it's important to be able to see your instructor, so here I am, preserved for all of time. The images behind me represent two ideas you should keep in mind throughout the course. On the left is a representation of a quote by Archimedes, give me a place to stand at a lever long enough and I can move the world. Math is one of the most important levers that exist, and the math you're learning in this and subsequent courses will help you change the world. The other figure shows an approximate construction for a seven-sided polygon. It's a reminder that a problem exists whether or not we know how to solve it, so sometimes we have to make do with approximate solutions. This video introduces important information about how the course will be run. It's important to keep in mind that learning in an online environment is different from learning in a physical environment, and learning in a synchronous environment is different from learning in a synchronous environment. Success in the course requires adjusting to both the online and asynchronous aspects, so let's take a look. So if you haven't already done so, you should set up a MyOpenMath account. Go to www.myopenmath.com and follow the instructions for registering as a new student. So all of this is pretty standard, but make absolutely sure that your first and last name are those that are listed on your student transcript, and make sure that your email address is one you check regularly. Also, in the email, I'll have sent you a course ID and an enrollment key, so you can enter those here. Now, some of you might have a MyOpenMath account from a previous course. If you do, you can log in and then add the course by clicking on Enroll in New Class. And again, you'll need to enter in the course ID and the enrollment key that you've been supplied. So now this course should show up under Courses You're Taking. And you can click on the course to enter it. Now, here's a quick note. If you accidentally click on the X, the course will disappear. And what you'll have done is you'll have hidden it. To recover it, click on View Hidden Courses. So let's enter the course. And now, welcome to the world of asynchronous learning. Well, this course has lectures like a traditional course. They are self-paced. And what this means is you can watch them when you want, where you want, and how you want. So this course is perfect for some people. And it's very important that you determine beforehand whether you're one of those people that this is perfect for. So let's talk about how to fail this course. To ensure that you'll have wasted your time and money, take the following steps. Don't watch the lecture videos. Wait until the due date to begin the activities. And wait until the due date to take the quizzes. Now, you probably don't want to fail the course and waste a lot of money. So let's talk about how to succeed in this and other online courses. To succeed, watch the lecture videos, reviewing them literally, as often as necessary. And keep trying until you get 100% on all activities and all quizzes. When you open up the course, you'll see the calendar. If you click on any date, you can scroll down to the bottom of the calendar and see a detailed listing of what's due on that date. There are three main course items. There's the activities, the quizzes, and the exams. So the activities. Well, let's click on it. So the activity has a time, a points possible, and a due date. The really important part here is the due date. In the real world, if you're going to be unavailable on the date something is due, turn it in early. The due date is an absolute. There are no extensions for any reason. Each activity consists of a lecture followed by a couple of questions. And here's where that activity time came in. This is the total length of all of the lectures. Typically, each lecture is between five and 10 minutes, and after you watch the lecture, you can answer a few questions. And once you're done answering, go on to the next page. You can leave and return to an activity anytime up to the due date. So if you only have five minutes to do math, spend five minutes doing an activity and come back later to finish. You'll need to be able to enter your answers into the MyOpenMath system. The good news is that's pretty easy. The bad news is you are the one who's responsible for making sure that the answers are entered correctly. Fortunately, MyOpenMath has a lot of built-in syntax checking, and if you enter in something it doesn't understand, it will generally ask you about it. So for example, here we want to enter in an equation. If we don't, then it will say, and if you submit your answer at this point, your answer is wrong. A syntax error is an error. Your answer will be incorrect. Fortunately, we haven't submitted our answer yet, so we can go back and fix it. And if you get 90% of an exam correct, you get an A. But would you fly an airline if 90% of their flights got to the right destination? And so the proper way to think about it is 90% isn't good enough. And with MyOpenMath, you can re-attempt problems in the activities as many times as you want. Strive for 100% in all activities and all quizzes. This course also has quizzes. So again, if you go to any date, the detailed view of what to actually do on that date will show up below the calendar, and you can open up the quiz. So you can start the quiz. And one important difference is that the quiz, in addition to having a due date, also has a time limit. So if you leave for half an hour to get lunch and come back, you will have lost half an hour on the quiz. So don't start the quiz until you're ready to complete it. So while you can redo assignments and quizzes as many times as you want, the exams can't be retaken. You have one chance to take the exam, and the grade that you get is the grade that you get. Now, since there isn't any good reason to take an exam, you're going to fail. The important thing here is that in order to be allowed to take the midterm exam, you must obtain approval. So shortly after the course starts, you'll see this midterm qualifier up here. And this consists of a couple of questions just to make sure you're ready to take the exam. So once you've completed it, I'll go over it and decide on whether you're ready to take the midterm. So you'll get a message from me, go ahead, open it, and it might be a rejection. But read what it is. And if you're trying to take the midterm exam without doing any of the assignments or the quizzes, I'm not going to let you take it. So there will be directions for what you need to do after you've completed these things. Retake the midterm qualification, and hopefully this time you'll get another message. Check it, and now you're ready to take the midterm. Once you have the approval, the midterm will unlock and be available for you to take. And when you're ready, you can open the midterm. And as with the quizzes, the midterm is timed and the timer does not stop for any reason. So make sure you have enough time to take the midterm.