Spring 2016 Registration

Course offerings and registration appointments for Spring 2016 courses are posted now on MyMadison. To see your appointment, go to the Student Center. The enrollment appointment appears in a box on the right side of the screen; clicking the "Details" link will lead to specific start time information. Most students will have their appointment between November 8 and 11. Open enrollment will begin after 12:01AM on November 12.

Please chat with me about your spring courses before you enroll. You are welcome in office hours; if your schedule precludes this, send me an e-mail to schedule an appointment.

In general, the things to keep in mind for spring registration are:

      1. Reasonable next math/stat courses (see below)
      2. Math 167, the one credit student-led seminar, Thursdays, 3:30-5:30. This is a wonderful opportunity to see interesting advanced topics in a fun, stress-free environment. There is no out of class commitment. I very much recommend this course.
      3. Phil 250, Introduction to Symbolic Logic, is an excellent course that helps one learn how to write proofs.
      3. General Education and completion of Cluster One (see below).
      4. Minors or other programs in which you are involved.

Courses you should take in the spring semester if you are a mathematics major: 

**If you are currently taking Math 231: Calculus with Functions I, you should take Math 232: Calculus with Functions II in the spring.
**If you are currently taking Math 235: Calculus I, you should take Math 236: Calculus II and Math 245: Discrete Math, in the spring.
**If you are currently taking Math 236: Calculus II, you should take Math 237: Calculus III and Math 245: Discrete Math, in the spring. 
**If you are already taking Math 237 and/ or Math 245, talk with me individually about the spring.

If you are a statistics major, talk with me individually about spring courses. 


General Education courses you must take in spring semester:

Every student must take all of the Cluster One courses from the General Education Planner in the first year. (Except for the exceptions, which we will get to shortly.) So, for spring semester, you need to enroll yourself in whichever courses you have yet to complete.

The required Cluster One courses are: 

* Writing (WTRC 103), 

* Communication (one of COM 121, 122, 123), and 

* Critical Thinking (Preferably PHIL 120, or another course listed under that heading on the General Education checklist, a copy of which may be found here:  http://www.jmu.edu/gened/Checklist%202014_2015.pdf).

Exceptions: Some students have AP or transfer credit for WRTC 103. If this applies to you, it should appear on your Degree Progress page in MyMadison's Student Center. If you think the credit should be there and it is not, check with the Registrar that your test credit or transfer transcript was received. On the other side, if your academic program is so crowded with courses that you cannot take the required Cluster One courses, you may petition for delay by filling out the Cluster One Course Deferral Form:
http://www.jmu.edu/gened/genedforms.shtml

How to Reach Me, Fall 2015

Please be proactive about coming to see me. I can give advice about academic problems, and I am interested in general discussion about your academic program. One of your responsibilities at JMU is to choose courses that give you a compelling, challenging and useful education. A part of my function is to help you figure out what those might be, if you want my input.

My first preference is to see you in person, during office hours. You do not need to make an appointment for these. Just show up. I can answer brief procedural questions through e-mail, which I reply to once a day Monday through Friday. If we are going to talk about something important please come see me. The e-mail medium is not conducive to more thoughtful conversations. If you have classes that conflict with all of my office hours, we can arrange (by e-mail) an appointment at our mutual convenience.

My office is Roop 122, inside of Roop 119.
 
From August 31 forward, my regular fall 2015 office hours are current on my web site:
www.educ.jmu.edu/~brownet

 My e-mail address is brownet (at) jmu (dot) edu, or e.theta.brown (at) gmail (dot) com

Fall 2015 Start of Term

I. To Do List for the week of August 24-30:

A. If you have not already done so, walk your schedule and locate all your classrooms before classes begin on Monday the 31st.  It is very annoying to miss the first ten minutes of term because you are on the wrong floor of the right building.

B. Purchase the books and other materials you will need for your courses. Expect that there will be reading assignments starting with the first class meeting. If you do not have the book then, you will be behind.


II. Adjusting your schedule:

If you decide you need to change your schedule, do so as soon as possible. The university add/drop period for Fall 2015 extends until midnight on Tuesday September 8, but it is to your advantage to be in your right courses sooner rather than later.

You can change your enrollment via MyMadison, using the same process as in the summer. If you do change your schedule, please send me e-mail to that effect.

(If you need to change your schedule after the Add/Drop deadline, you may be able to withdraw from a course. Whether or not this is a good idea varies with circumstances. If you are considering this, please see me first.)


III. Declaring a minor or a second major:

You may declare a minor or second major starting Monday August 31. Print the Change or Declaration of Major of Minor Form off of the Registrar's  web site:
http://www.jmu.edu/registrar/students/forms.shtml

Collect the relevant signatures, and return the form to the Registrar.

I strongly encourage you to consider a minor in a subject you find interesting, and especially in the humanities. There is a growing chorus of lament in the scientific, business, and industrial communities about STEM graduates' lack of exposure to the humanities. An humanities minor would be excellent for your education and excellent for your career prospects.


IV. How to flourish at JMU:

A. Plan your time. Because you are mathematically inclined, you may be less ready for the demands of university study than other students who have always needed to work hard in their courses.

Make a weekly overview schedule that includes: your classes, two hours of dedicated study time outside of class for every hour you are in class, and at least eight hours of sleep every night.  (Seriously: the eighteen year old brain is still growing. You want your brain to grow. It needs sleep to do this. A dizzying litany of studies show that chronic sleep deprivation stunts academic performance.) Your schedule might also include dedicated time for physical recreation, and other activities that are important to you. Please note that,  unlike in high school, extra curricular activities do not correlate with increased success later on. Focus on doing well in your courses and do extras because you like them.

B. Own your education. Ask questions. Go to each professor's office hours at least once. If a class is too easy, push it forward or change classes. The work should stretch you; come see me if it does not. We can fix that.


V. Please come see me when you are in Roop.
Ask questions if you have them, or tell me everything is going well.

Planning for spring courses

Spring courses:

Spring course offerings will be available on MyMadison starting the week of October 20.
Your spring course enrollment window is posted on the Student Center of your MyMadison page. You will enroll yourself online during you individual enrollment appointment. Depending on your amount of transfer credits, your appointment will be October 29 or 31.

Before you do this, I would like to meet with you to discuss your spring courses. Look for e-mail on October 24 concerning appointments and extended office hours October 27-31.

Here are some courses that you should or must take next term:

Courses you should in the spring semester if you are a mathematics major: 

If you are currently taking Math 231: Calculus with Functions I, you should take Math 232: Calculus with Functions II in the spring.
If you are currently taking Math 235: Calculus I, you should take Math 236: Calculus II and Math 245: Discrete Math, in the spring.
If you are currently taking Math 236: Calculus II, you should take Math 237: Calculus III and Math 245: Discrete Math, in the spring. 
If you are already taking Math 237 and/ or Math 245, talk with me individually about the spring.

If you are a statistics major, talk with me individually about the spring.

General Education courses you must take in spring semester:

Every student must take all of the Cluster One courses from the General Education checklist in the first year. (Except for the exceptions, which we will get to shortly.) So, for spring semester, you need to enroll yourself in whichever courses you have yet to complete.

The required Cluster One courses are: 

* Writing (GWTRC 103), 

* Communication (one of GCOM 121, 122, 123), and 

* Critical Thinking (Preferably GPHIL 120, or another course listed under that heading on the General Education checklist, a copy of which may be found here:  http://www.jmu.edu/gened/Checklist%202014_2015.pdf).

Exceptions: Some students have AP or transfer credit for GWRTC 103. If this applies to you, it should appear on your Degree Progress page in MyMadison's Student Center. If you think the credit should be there and it is not, check with the Registrar that your test credit or transfer transcript was received. On the other side, if your academic program is so crowded with courses that you cannot take the required Cluster One courses, you may petition for delay by filling out the Cluster One Course Deferral Form:
http://www.jmu.edu/gened/genedforms.shtml

Withdrawing from Courses

What withdrawing from a course means and how it is done:

Withdrawing from a course means choosing to leave a course after the Add/Drop deadline in the second week of class, but before the withdrawal deadline, which in Fall 2014 is Thursday, October 23. Withdrawing from a course means that no grade is issued for the course. A"W" appears on the transcript instead.

One can withdraw from a course by using the Add/drop feature on MyMadison.


Possible drawbacks of withdrawing from a course: 

1. Withdrawing from a course decreases the number of credit hours in which one is enrolled. If after withdrawing from a course one is enrolled in under 12 credit hours, one is no longer officially a full-time student. This status is important for financial aid, and often for health and auto insurance. In general, it is not a good idea to withdraw from a course if that will result in fewer than 12 credit hours for the term.

2. Regardless of full-or part-time status, the number of courses one attempted at start of term is used by financial aid in calculating the "hours attempted" number, against which credits earned are measured for determining whether or not a student is making satisfactory academic progress.  The Financial Aid Office explains how the calculation is done here:
http://www.jmu.edu/finaid/sap_policy.shtml
In general, a first semester student can withdraw from one course with no adverse effects on financial aid.

3. Having a W on the transcript. This is not as serious as most students imagine. A pattern of withdrawals over several semesters looks bad, but one withdrawal in the first semester at college is unremarkable.


Possible benefits of withdrawing from a course:

1. Avoid failing a course. The number one reason students withdraw from courses is that they are too far behind and/or too otherwise occupied to have a reasonable chance of passing the class. It is much better for one's academic record to have a W followed by a passing grade in a similar course later on, than an F (or a D in a course required for one's major).

2. Avoid failing multiple courses. Withdrawing from a course frees up more time for the remaining courses. It is better to do decently in 12 credit hours the first semester and make up the balance later, than to fail 6 hours in the first semester and spend the next three years repairing one's gpa.

3. Protecting the integrity of your education. Each course at JMU ought to enrich your intellectual landscape and advance your education. A barely-passed class is not the best way to do this. Sometimes it makes more sense from an educational point of view to withdraw from a course and re-take it later, when you are in a position to make the most of it.


A bad reason to withdraw from a course: 
--In high school I had all As, and the instructor told me the best I can hope to earn in this course is a B or C.
Withdrawal is for serious situations in which the integrity of your learning is at stake. Grade-gaming undermines the system, and cheapens the value of the degree.

If you are considering withdrawing from a course, please come talk to me.

Mid-semester Grades

 Mid-Semester Grades:

Beginning this weekend, first year students will be able to see their mid-semester grades in the Academics section of the Student Center on MyMadison. These grades are entered by faculty, only for first year students, to give students a sense of they are doing in courses.

Some important caveats: not all faculty record mid-semester grades, and they do not all use the same method of determining these grades. Mid-semester grades are clearly preliminary in that most of the graded assignments for the semester are yet to happen, so grades can change in either direction going forward for the rest of term.

Your mid-semester grades ought to match your own sense of how you are doing in your courses.


What to do if all your mid-semester grades are C or higher: Pat yourself on the back. Brag to your parents. Treat yourself to an afternoon with a novel or a bike ride. Well done. Keep up the good work!

Do all this even if a C is a new experience for you. University grading, especially in math and science, is tighter than most high school grading. Grades of C or higher across the board mean you are off to a good start at JMU.


What to do if there is a D or F or unpleasant surprise in your mid-semester grades:
1. Go talk with the course instructor. The best way to do this is to follow that person's procedure on the syllabus for how to contact him or her. In general, this means turn up at the professor's posted office hours.
By the end of the conversation, you need to be sure that you understand why the grade is what it is,  what you can do to change it going forward, and what advice the professor has for how to succeed in the course.

2. Think about what you discovered in that meeting.  What else might you change that will help your studies? What does this situation tell you about your overall pattern of living in the university? What could improve that pattern? Then ask yourself the big question: Are you able and willing to do what it will take to turn the course around?

If so, make a concrete, specific plan for how to do it. For example, if your instructor says you should plan to double the amount of time you spend on a course, make an explicit time management schedule for yourself and block out an appropriate amount of time for your studies. See next week's blog on Student Support at JMU for resources outside yourself. I am also happy to consult during office hours about effective plans for turning around troubled courses.

If, after talking with your professor and reviewing your situation in a course that is going poorly, you do not feel that you will be able to conclude the course with a passing grade, you might want to consider withdrawing from the class.  The withdrawal deadline for Fall 2014 is Thursday, October 23.  On Withdrawing from Courses, also posted here, discusses the pros and cons of this plan.) Then come see me during office hours before Thursday, October 23.

 Summary:  Mid-semester grades give you a chance to see how you are doing in your courses while it is still early enough in the semester to affect the final grades, and while you still have time to withdraw if the course is  not redeemable.

How to Reach Me

Please be proactive about coming to see me. I can give advice about academic problems, and I am interested in general discussion about your academic program. One of your responsibilities at JMU is to choose courses that give you a compelling, challenging and useful education. A part of my function is to help you figure out what those might be, if you want my input.

My first preference is to see you in person, during office hours. You do not need to make an appointment for these. Just show up. I can answer brief procedural questions through e-mail, which I reply to at least once a day Monday through Friday. The e-mail medium is not conducive to more thoughtful conversations, though, so if we are going to talk about something important please come see me. If you have classes that conflict with all of my office hours, we can arrange (by e-mail) an appointment at our mutual convenience.

My office is Roop 122, inside of Roop 119.
 
From September 5 forward, my regular fall 2012 office hours are current on my web site:
www.educ.jmu.edu/~brownet

 My e-mail address is brownet (at) jmu (dot) edu, or e.theta.brown (at) gmail (dot) com