<p>What kind of crazy idea is this? Teach yourself math on a computer ? Math is really not my thing, but this sounds like a terrible idea- I want a real math professor in college, not an online course. This may affect my choice of college- any current students have thoughts on how well (or badly) this works?</p>
<p>LongRoad,
I felt the same way as you when son decided to attend VT. He is a finance major and is required to take Calculus as a freshman. It has actually worked out well for him and he is doing well in course. Calc. is not an easy subject for son, so we were very unsure of this set up, but it has worked great. He puts quite a bit of time in the Empo. and each unit needs to be completed in a week. There are weekly quizzes at end of unit and a test every 4 units I believe. There are many tutors available in the Empo. and he has had no problems getting help if needed. I will again state that he puts the time in-he takes quizzes when he feels ready.<br>
I had the same reservations you have and I will say that it has worked well for son. To tell you the truth, I think he is probably doing better than he would have with regular lecture/class. Professor is available if needed and he has met with prof. a few times to go over things.
Sure some students can add more insight also.</p>
<p>My D didn't do well with it. But then again Math isn't her forte and she might have done badly even in a regular class. Since it was a requirement, she had to take Calculus but then dropped the class because she might have ended with an F. Fortunately she was able to satisfy this requirement by taking a "Philosophy and Logic" class instead, 2nd semester. Nobody had told her earlier she could do that. She is a liberal arts person and she's doing well in the class, thank god. No more math and science requirement for her after that whohoo! Other than that she loooves Vt.</p>
<p>It's just hard for me to understand how VT (with its reputation for being a great engineering school) can shortchange the math students by sticking them with an online course, and students wandering around to answer questions. Is this a money saving move? Doesn't sound like a good idea to me.</p>
<p>It has its pros and cons. Here is an article about it:
National</a> CrossTalk -- Vol. 13 / No. 1 -- Winter 2005
My daughter is not a go getter. So she was not the type to go seek help when she needed. But it would have been the same in a regular class. She would not have gone and asked the teacher.</p>
<p>longroad</p>
<p>you are absolutely right.it looks like hit or miss to me. Like you said this is not some little math thing. Imagine oneself coming from out of state with no friends in that school having to dig yourself out of a calculus problem. Now imagine how hard it is to really know someone well enough to ask for help. I think this is total crap and I am surprised that a good reputation school will run such an important course like that.</p>
<p>Are all courses soon going to be like this?</p>
<p>I don't think so. Most courses need class discussions. These are big intro classes. Even UVA has these giant intro classes and frankly they are no better than the math emporium type.</p>
<p>I am not a fan of this type class either, but as with intro classes that are taught by TA's (my other big gripe with universities), I don't think they are going to go away anytime soon. Shoot, at the high school level there are more and more classes being offered online, especially in the summers for credit, and a lot of graduate school classes are being done like this. </p>
<p>Our next door neighbor is an ChemE major and took the MathEmporium his freshman year. He said it wasn't bad and like septembermom's son, he did fine because he went to the Empo whenever he needed it. I hope my guy, who isn't strong in math, will follow through and do the same. (But I will tell him about the Philosophy and Logic Class so he can check into that- thanks guillaume)</p>
<p>Believe it or not we teach some language courses online at the State Department School of languages.
But KandKsmom, don't you need math for architecture?</p>
<p>What calculus class is taught at the Empo? I took linear algebra there but that was the only class that was really at the empo. I had a couple classes where we went there for tests but that didn't bother me at all.</p>
<p>dang. i have a d+ in calc (its not even ap). we have this thing we use called calc chat to check our answers, and it is soo stupid. i imagine the mathemporium is something like this. I need someone to explain it to me, a computer isnt the same. This makes me glad im not going to tech</p>
<p>Yeah, the empo is one of the least liked things on campus. It's a pretty good place to get a job though, from what I've heard. Anyway, there is no way they should be teaching actual calc classes in there. If they are then that's a huge problem. I can understand Linear Algebra, but thats a bit too far. I'll go ahead and say how my class was taught though.</p>
<p>We had a professor, technically. We didn't have class but we could go see her and her lectures were available online. In the end I guess it should have been about the same but it really wasn't. We had to go down there once a week for a quiz and occasionally for tests. We could do the actual lesson wherever we wanted, but we had to be there for the quiz. The ok thing about it was that you could work ahead and be done with it really early if you were so inclined.</p>
<p>Hi chuy,
Son's class in empo. is Elem. Calc. with Matrices (whatever that means!). I don't think any other math classes he will take will be at empo. Again, it has worked for him as he puts in many hours before taking quizzes. He runs through units several times and states that the quiz questions are often questions that have been in unit, so he is familiar with them. I remember my husband and I shaking ours heads over this set up last July at orientation, but for son it has worked out fine.</p>
<p>guilluame, well he is out of luck :) I thought he could maybe get by with at least one 3 hour credit of something other than math, but he looked online after I told him about your post and he found out he needs to take 6 credit hours (math 1535/1536) of geometry and mathmatics of design. </p>
<p>Oh well, at least he says he feels that geometry based math is stronger for him than calc. chuy do you by chance know if those classes (geo and math design) are taught through the mathempo?</p>
<p>September: That's the same class as linear algebra, I think. They just changed the name and some people use the old one, some use the new. That's not as bad as them teaching "real" calculus at the empo.</p>
<p>K&K, Vector Geometry is partially taught at the empo. You have one class and one recitation a week but you have to go to the empo every week or every other week to take a quiz. No idea about math design, or any other types of geometry classes.</p>
<p>The empo isn't great for people like me who are bad at math, but for people who are good at at (most of Tech), I think it's fine. People definitely put in more hours than they would for a normal class. If you're bad at math but you still need to satisfy you're math requirement, there's two philosophy classes that will do that. I'm taking the first one, Language and Logic, and I'm doing way better than i would have if i had taken math. But the empo should definetly not influence your decision if you're thinking about coming to Tech. Teaching yourself the material is not too bad because there's plenty of tutors and people to help you out at the empo.</p>
<p>Bumping this thread...</p>
<p>I have my schedule finalized for next month and I got put in MATH 1016- freshman calc. I hate math, so thankfully I only have to take it one semester.</p>
<p>Can someone tell me exactly how the emporium works? I didnt get much info at orientation. Do you just do the lessons by yourself in your dorm or whatever and then go take the quizes at the emporium? Or do you do everything on their computers, show up there like its a regular class, etc.?</p>
<p>I was surprised of how little of the math emporium was explained at the orientation, in fact I don't even think it was mentioned. In my opinion the orientation was not up to par. They told us they wanted to treat us like adults and then they send us off with orientation leaders to play 3rd grade games; but that is just my opinion. But back to the math empo, I hate math also and am in math 1015 which I think is trig and some precal, and I was wondering if the software on the computers was all we needed to learn the info. And how would it go if I needed help doing somethin on a TI, or would I need it at all?</p>
<p>Nick: It depends on the class. Some classes are entirely self taught (what you're thinking of basically) where you study using information and recorded lectures online, and then go and take the quiz every week. These classes DO have a professor that you can go to for help, but you never formally meet with them. While studying at the emporium there are students who walk around that can help you if you're having trouble,but not during tests or quizzes.</p>
<p>Other classes have a professor that you meet with once a week, and you are responsible for a little bit of stuff on your own. Others are entirely taught by a professor but you go to the Empo for tests and maybe quizzes. It'll depend on the class.</p>
<p>Kinda: Yeah, the "treat you like adults" thing roughly translates into "save us money." All you can use is the calculator on the computer, which is basically a scientific calculator called "Slide-Rule." It's not that good but you learn to live with it.</p>