How Distance Calculus Courses Work

Step 1: Complete Distance Calculus Enrollment Application

You might have many questions about the Distance Calculus courses. Many of them will be answered in the Enrollment Application.

Enrollment FAQ

After you submit the Enrollment Application, the Enrollment Process will look like this:

1. Reviewed by Course Professor for Approval
   Not all applications are approved. Some common reasons for non-approval are:
    
   
   • Unreasonable Completion Date Goal Declaration
   • Lack of Academic Prerequisites
   • Misunderstandings About Course Structure
   • Course Articulation Problems with Declared Home College/University
   • Request for Financial Aid Award Transfer (Not Allowed)
2. Roger Williams University Admissions Office Processing
   Admission to Roger Williams University as a non-degree-seeking, non-matriculating student usually takes 1-3 business days to issue a RWU Student ID.
3. Tuition Payment to Roger Williams University
   Students are sent weblinks to complete their Tuition payment to RWU. International students may make payment via international Flywire.
4. Roger Williams University Registar Course Placement
   Course Placement by the Registrar completes the enrollment process into the Distance Calculus program.

Step 2: Course Preparation

You will receive 2 Getting Started in Distance Calculus emails that list the initial tasks to complete before engaging in the course.

It is IMPORTANT to follow these Getting Started emails like a baking recipe: every ingredient is important! The basic steps will be:
 

1. Contact Course Professor via Email
2. Contact Course Professor via Skype Text Chat
3. Install Course Software onto your Mac/Windows Computer
4. Purchase Course Software & E-Textbook
5. Create a ScreenPal Account and Create First Screen Recording Movie
6. Log into Course Portal
   (Login information is sent)
7. Begin Your Course Engagement

Step 3: Engage Course

You may start your course whenever you wish - either right away, or in a few weeks, or in a month or .... You have 1 Year to complete your course from the date of enrollment.

What Does This Course Engagement Look Like?

You will be sent further instructions in email - don't worry!

In Distance Calculus, we also rely heavily upon the use of Computer Algebra and Graphing Software (CAGS) as part of the driving force of the course. Almost all of the work is completed within these computer algebra programs, and they form the basis of the communications between student and instructors. If you like, the Computer Algebra and Graph Software becomes the "new blackboard" for the course.

Assignments

In a typical Distance Calculus course, you will have approximately 70-125 assignments to turn in. Often, you will turn each of these assignments in multiple times, in a system we refer to recursive homework.

Although the e-Textbook and curriculum for each course differs in origin and author, all of the assignments share the following basic format:

• Learning
  These multimedia movies and/or notebooks in the CAGS systems offer an explanation of the basic topics in the module, with explanations and places for you to experiment with becoming familiar with the topics.
  
• Homework
  These notebooks you will turn in for instructor/teaching assistant grading and review. These notebooks contains problems you will work on, and provide the basis of communications between student and instructor. In some courses, video homework solutions are also part of the student course work.
  
• Literacy Sheets
  These problems sets are easier than the computer algebra software notebooks, and are intended to strengthen your paper-and-pencil skills. These problems are completed on paper and imaged to PDF by your smartphone for hand-in.

When ready or when stuck, the student "hands-in" the notebook to the instruction team using a webform. The instruction teams looks at, grades, and comments the notebook, usually asking more questions of the student, seeking the student to achieve the desired expertise of the module.

The "hand-in" and "get-back" of these notebooks can happen 2, 3, 4, 6, 9,... times for a single notebook. Back and forth. Back and forth. Until the student has 100% understanding of the objectives of the module.

About 50% of the communication between student and instructional team happens via these LiveMath or Mathematica notebooks. The other 50% of the communications happen via Instant Messenger/Chat in real-time.

"Hey, Professor, I have a question on notebook 1.02.G4." "Sure, send me the notebook so I can see it, and we'll chat about it here. Write your question in the notebook." "I'm having troubles with problem (c). My function does not seem to be working. " "I fixed your graph. Here is the fixed notebook. Now, you need to answer the question there: where and why is this graph increasing? Good teaching answer required." "Got it. That function f(x) is increasing because its derivative f'(x) is positive. " "Over which interval is this true? Make your graph demonstrate this relationship." "Like this? Please look at my updated notebook - here it is." "Perfecto. Now, write a teaching answer to summarize your observations." "Got it - thanks!"

Step 3.5: Recursive Interaction/Grading of HW

This is really part of the previous Step 3: Course Engagement - it is the on-going process of your homework notebook & PDF submissions graded - and likely regraded a few times - as you work your way towards 100% completion of the course curriculum.

A typical interaction might be:
 

• → 1: Student submits Assignment #32: 1.03.G4 LiveMath Notebook
• → 2: 1.03.G4 Graded by Professor/TA, returned as "In-Progress" = IP
• → 3: Student retrieves 1.03.G4 from GetBack Folder, works on more, fixes mistakes, makes improvements. Resubmits new version
• → 4: TA Grades notebook 1.03.G4, marks IP again
• → 5: Student retrieves 1.03.G4 from GetBack Folder, fixes last mistake/improvement. Resubmits new version
• → 6: Professor Grades notebook 1.03.G4. Marks "Complete" = C. This assignment is now complete.

The student may have 5-10 notebooks "in play" at any given time. In some sense, Distance Calculus is like a ping-pong game, with many players (and 1 student).

Step 4: Finish Course

Depending upon the course credits, you can expect to have dedicated some 128-210 hours of engagement to complete all 70-120+ assignments in the course. Perhaps you completed 60-90 homework notebook submissions, 10+ Literacy Sheets handwritten away-from-the-computer assignments, all recursively graded.

Phew! You are done with the coursework!

Now onto the Final Exam Sequence! Please refer to the Grade Policy for Distance Calculus. Depending upon your goal grade and the instructor on-going assessment, you will have some or all of the following as part of your Final Exam set.
 

1. [Authenticated and Graduated] Take-Home Exams
2. Screen Video Portfolio
3. Proctored Final Exam over Skype/Zoom with Course Professor by appointment
4. Honors Courses: 10+ page Course Term Paper

The Course Professor will review your submitted work and final exams, and then inform you of the earned grade for the course.

Course grades are posted to the RWU Registrar on the same day as the proctored final exam is administered.

Step 5: Order Official Academic Transcripts.

1-2 Business Days after the completion of the Proctored Final Exam, the student will receive instructions on how to order Official Academic Transcripts from Roger Williams University via Parchment (the de-facto standard for colleges/universities to transmit academic records electronically).

You may request from the Course Professor a Letter of Recommendation that describes your academic performance in the course.