View lectures on CDS on your computer at home or school. CDS can be read using RealOne Player, which can be downloaded from the internet for free. Use Google or other search engine to search for "free RealOne Player: I advise you to follow the course schedule. You will view three to four lectures per week. You may also view the lectures at a faster pace if you wish. See the syllabus for details. Exams and homework are delivered through WebAssign.
How Things Work: the Physics of Everyday Life by Louis A. Bloomfield, 2nd Edition, ISBN 0-471-38151-9. You may order it from the UVa. Bookstore 434-924-1073 or online from Amazon.com. Additional material present in the 1st edition , but not in the 2nd edition can be found on the web at http://HowThingsWork.virginia.edu/instructors.html
WebAssign is a web-based homework and exam delivery, collection, grading, and recording service available to teachers and students. You will be given a user number and ID for you to log on to the system. Once you are logged on you have access to your homework assignments and/ or exams, etc. You may also ask any questions using WebAssign. You will submit your answers to any homework or exam using WebAssign. As a example, you may visit the WebAssign site by typing http://www.webassign.net/ and type in "demo" for username, institution, and password. We recommend that you use Internet Explorer or Netscape version 4.0 or later with a 28.8 Kbps modem or better. You will be given your own username and password after signing up for the course.
You are welcome to email questions at any time via WebAssign. An electronic
chat room will also be available to communicate with your classmates.
(Chat room is not up yet)
A listserve will also be set up so you can communicate with each
other about the homework, CDS, etc.
You must contact me before homework or an exam is due if you can not make it on time. Excuses without penalty are permitted only for illness, family illness, or death, religious holidays. Late homework submissions without a valid excuse as summarized above will be allowed with a penalty. Work not turned in or tests not taken will receive a zero (0 pts), far worse than a failing grade.
You will be sent approximately 40 Lecture/Demonstrations on 5 CDS in real media format for viewing on your computer using software RealOne Player. You may keep the CDS at the end of the course. You may not reproduce the CDS under any circumstances.
Your course numerical grade is determined by summing your scores on the problem sets and the exams (weighted by the factors mentioned previously). Of course, each of the three grades in parenthesis is normalized to a 100. Course Numerical Grade = (Sum of 6 Problem Sets Grade) x 0.25 + (Sum of Exam1 & 2 Grades) x 0.30 +(Exam 3 grade x .15 + (Final Exam Grade) x 0.30