|
|
Moodle
We will be using an on-line course management system called Moodle as a tool for administrative purposes and social learning purposes. On the one hand, we will use Moodle for electronic distribution of course materials, electronic submission of homework assignments, and for making course announcements. On the other hand, since Moodle also facilitates social networking, we strongly encourage you to join us in using it for discussing homework assignments, blogging on course topics, and posting links to interesting related items (e.g., current events where quantitative reasoning plays a role).
In order to get going, please do the following by the start of class on Wednesday, September 8.
-
Create a New Account
Go to http://mcs109.bu.edu/moodle and click on MA/CS-109 to create a new account using your real name. In doing so, please also upload a picture of yourself so that others can recognize you in class. Crop it to a square first; otherwise, Moodle will crop it for you and may cut off your face!
-
Tell Us About Yourself
As with most social network sites, Moodle gives you the opportunity to enter a short description about yourself. Rather than providing some generic description (e.g., "I come from Chicago and own three cats"), please use the "Description" space to tell us in a few words (a) what interests you, and (b) how you imagine that mathematics, statistics, and/or computer science would be relevant to this interest. For example, "I am interested in journalism and feel that in a world that is increasingly quantitative it is important for me to better understand how this impacts people's everyday lives'' or "I am an addict to everything Google and hope to develop an understanding of some of the magic that makes it all work."
-
Participate in a Discussion
To both "break the ice" and give you an early taste of the types of issues in your everyday life that have quantitative reasoning at their core, we will be posting four topics for discussion. Please go to the Talk Forum on Moodle, read the topics, and join the discussion of at least one of these topics by posting your own thoughts. Note that these are not black/white topics with a right or wrong answer -- the point here is to add something relevant to the discussion. Don't be shy!