CHEM201P - Prep for General College Chem

Summer 2022 with Dr. Kelli M. Gottlieb

This is the welcome letter for CHEM201P! This letter outlines some of the policies and the timeline for the course. The syllabus for the course, which fully outlines all policies and procedures for this course, will be available on the first day of the summer session. This letter is subject to change! It was last updated 4/11/2022.

Please pay special attention to the description of the workload, the pacing of the course, and the tentative quiz an exam dates before deciding to take this course!

Note: If you are planning on going on vacation during the summer session, I do not recommend taking this course over the summer. You will have about 2 weeks worth of material (lecture, homework - plus multiple quizzes) to complete every week of the summer session. If you get behind, it is incredibly difficult to get caught up. 

 

Description

CHEM201P is a preparatory course for the first of the two-semester general chemistry series at Cuesta College. This course builds the foundation for success in CHEM201A (or other 1st semester general chemistry courses). Chemistry is the study of matter and the changes it undergoes. More specifically, CHEM201P focuses on:

• The periodic table
• The International System of Units (Système Internationale), the units used internationally by all scientists (including chemists) and converting between units using dimensional analysis
• THE MOLE and quantitative analysis using chemical equations to predict amounts of reactants or products needed or formed, respectively (stoichiometry)
• an introduction to chemical reactions (the booms, the sparkles, the colors!)
• naming different classes of compounds based on their composition
• graph creation and graphical analysis of data
• and MORE!

 

 

Instructors:

Dr. Kelli Gottlieb (kelli_gottlieb@cuesta.edu) lecture instructor

Email is the best way to get in touch with me. If you email me, please allow at least 24 hours for a reply. I generally do not check my email after 8pm. I also often do not check email on Saturdays. Emails must be sent from either your CUESTA email or through Canvas. I will not send a meaningful response to any emails from non-Cuesta emails due to privacy (FERPA) concerns.

 

Note: If you are planning on going on vacation during the summer session, I do not recommend taking this course over the summer. You will have about 2 weeks worth of material (lecture, homework - plus multiple quizzes) to complete every week of the summer session. If you get behind, it is incredibly difficult to get caught up. 

 

Course Information:

CHEM201P - CRN 50912

Course website: Canvas (cuesta.instructure.com - log in with your Cuesta username)

• Canvas access tutorial.
• Click here for help with any Canvas issues

Course dates: 6/13/2021 - 7/22/2022
Full Canvas Availability: 6/13/2022
Final Exam Window : R 7/21/2022 (8am - 8pm)

This course will be fully online. We will not have any in-person class meetings.

This course is asynchronous, meaning that you will complete activities on your own (no mandatory meetings). To be clear: the course is NOT self-paced; there are specific due dates and quiz and exam dates (with specific time windows) to which you must adhere. The due dates and times will be indicated on Canvas and described in the syllabus. 

This course is extremely fast paced, especially during the summer. You will have a little over a week's worth of assignments to work on assigned 2 days a week (it's accelerated to finish the course in 6 weeks) a quiz at least twice a week, and exams.

You are expected to keep up with the material by sticking to the deadlines and guidelines provided on Canvas. There is a lot of work in-class as well as studying and work to be done out of class as well. You can count on some combination of the following most days of the week:

• Up to 2 hours worth of lecture to watch and activities to complete in a module
• Homework assignment
• a quiz or exam (released in a specific time window)

This list details the in-class time requirements. Outside of class, you'll need to study and do practice on your own to succeed in class. It is a very heavy workload. You can count on an additional least 2-3 hours/unit per week for studying, it adds up to a lot of hours (your mileage may vary, depending on your comfort with the material - some people may take longer or shorter). This is a 2-credit hour courseload with the work to match.

 

 

Instructor Availability

I have a number of live hours available for answering questions over Zoom as well as regular availability via email and Pronto (a messaging program through Canvas). 

 

 

Is online education for you?

I am very excited to have you in class for chemistry. However, I would be remiss in my duties as an instructor if I didn't tell you that online courses aren't for everyone. Before committing to this course, make sure to address the following question: Is an online class suited for you? 

• To answer this question, please access the Online Readiness Resources, and take the "self assessment survey". Answer the questions to yourself honestly. If you find that your answer to many of the questions is "no", then taking this class online is not in your best interest regarding student success and I strongly suggest you enroll in a traditional classroom section when available.
  • If you mostly answered "yes" but there are some questions to which you have answered "no", you can brush up on these skills using this Canvas tutorial. that Cuesta has prepared for online students (it's free!). You can also use these tutorials to see if online learning is for you (you'll be using a lot of the skills in the tutorial - decide if you like using those skills since you'll need them in this course!). 

Class and Electronic Device Requirements

If you believe (based on your personal knowledge and your self-assessment survey results) that you can be successful online, you will need the following:

• You must have constant access to a reliable computer (minimum specs for a reliable computer). This should be most days of the week, not just the days our class meets (you'll want regular access to our materials on Canvas).
• Your computer must have a webcam and a microphone. Certain activities and assignments will be recorded and submitted online (for instructor viewing only)
• You must have a reliable Internet connection, meaning you can be on conferencing software, Canvas, and download and upload documents. 
• A device for scanning. This can be a scanner or a phone app that scans (there are many free ones out there! I will provide some examples once we get started). 
• You must have access to your my.Cuesta.edu email account (or have successfully set up email forwarding to your third party email provider).
• You must have access to Canvas, Cuesta College's learning management system (LMS).
• You must have a backup plan in case your internet provider or computer goes down.  For issues related to accessing Cuesta's Canvas Site, email: support@my.cuesta.edu. 
• You must have a good understanding of the following online activities to succeed in this course: email, internet navigation, online communication, pdf creation (as well as other file-types), document uploading and downloading.
• Optional but highly recommended: a reliable way to print documents (like a printer). This isn't mandatory but will be really useful to you as we go through the semester. It wouldn't be considered reliable if you need to pay a lot of money to be able to print (there will be alternatives).

 

Required Materials

The following items listed below are the only course-specific materials you will need for this course.  Retailers may “suggest” or “recommend” additional items (e.g., lab coats, laminated Periodic Tables, study guides, etc.).  Those are not required for this course and you do not need to purchase them.  You will need:

• CHEM101 Online Resources (AktivChem)
  • This access can be purchased on Canvas on the first day of the semester. It is also available in the bookstore but only recommended to purchase there if you have financial aid.
• Scientific calculator