QM215
Bos
This page is designed to answer questions you might have before starting QM215 online with me (Ted Bos, TedBos@UAB.edu).
If you have questions that are not answered by this page, please email me.
I have never taken an online class before, so ...
How is the class set up?
Most students get most value out of the videos, so it is best to start there.
These videos were created by me. They are normally in the Windows Media file format.
I suggest you watch these and take notes like you would in a real class.
If you ever have any technical difficulties with these videos (for example, unclear audio or video), please contact me ASAP.
Of course you can do the coursework at your own time and do it earlier than I suggest.
Throughout the semester there are written homework problems. These assignments are listed in the Coursework file.
Each homework time and day will be due on a particular time and day. If you cannot deliver it to my office on the day that it is due, you can always do so in the days preceding the due date.
No late homework will be accepted. Homework is graded on effort and will not be counted if it does not help your grade.
As such homework grades are a gift to those who put the effort into the homework.
If a student chooses not to do the homework, you will not be penalized but then such a student should not ask for lenience
later if their grade is close to a grade break.
On the other hand, if a student gets full credit for all the homework and then finds their grade close to a grade break,
then that is due to the gift of the homework scoring and no further gifts will be given.
In the second half of the semester you will be given 3 excel homeworks to do. These are compulsory.
They are simple and NOT graded on effort as the written homeworks are.
If you don't do these your grade will be 10% lower than otherwise.
There are 4 1.5 hour exams and an optional final.
Exam times are listed on the Coursework page and practice exams are given.
So you are responsible for viewing the videos and reading the text material.
At listed times exams will be held.
You must take these in person, on campus.
You will be given two choices for each exam -- perhaps one choice will be on a Friday afternoon,
and the other choice will be on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon (depending on the class tutor's schedule).
Is there a textbook for the class?
Internet access
Email
This online class is probably unlike any you may have taken before, so it does not matter if you have or have not taken an online class before.
Yet if you have taken one of mine before, this one will be very similar.
As you may have seen from the previous page, the website has several major web pages:
Syllabus/Schedule, Coursework, and Grades.
The major webpage is the Coursework page.
The coursework is split up into "weeks".
Sometimes these correspond to calendar weeks, sometimes not.
Each week contains a set of material that is covered.
It is covered by one or more of the following:
a Word document much like the pages of a textbook (so there is no textbook); one or more videos
which are like what you would see on the blackboard and/or computer in one of my classes;
and "in class" problems.
No. The online notes and video are sufficient.
As this is an online class, internet access is expected. If you do not have high speed internet access at home or work,
then you can come to the School of Business computer lab and do this work.
If you come to the lab, please be considerate and bring headphones.
No students should ever complain about lack of internet access.
If this is a problem, then you should not take this class as an internet class.
I will routinely send emails to the class via a facility provided to instructors by UAB.
Such emails will go to your UAB email. This address such email goes to can be altered and will be explained to you.
In each email you send to me, you should place the class name (QM215) in the subject line, preferably along with your name.
Emails without subjects can easily be mistaken for junk and be lost.