In this video I'll talk about the course logistics.
I'll tell you about the different components of the class, video, quizzes, homework and tests
and I'll also point out the different features of the Complexity Explorer website.
If you've taken a class on the Complexity Explorer site before, you can probably skip this video,
since this class is structured similarly to previous ones.
But if this is your first class with us, I suggest you watch the rest of this video
so you'll understand how the course works and are aware of all the features on
the Complexity Explorer website.
Let's go look at that site now.
Here is the Complexity Explorer website.
This is the page for this course:
Dynamical Systems and Chaos.
The description page has basic class information,
a brief bio of me, and also a little bit about the two teaching assistants for the course,
Paul and Mackenzie.
They'll both be available to answer questions in the discussion forums and also via email.
Below that is the syllabus.
This course will consist of eight units.
I'll post one unit roughly every week.
The videos will stay online, though, so you can watch them anytime you want.
Let's go back up to the top and click on Lectures.
This is where the course material is.
There's a navigation bar on the right.
You can expand or collapse each unit.
Later on, there'll be additional units here
and each unit consists of several sub-units.
And in the sub-units will be videos and then quizzes.
A little bit about the videos.
The videos are streamed via YouTube.
You can speed up the playback time in YouTube
if you switch to the HTML5 option.
There's a discussion of how to do this in the FAQ.
If you don't want to watch the videos on YouTube
or you live someplace where YouTube isn't available,
you can download the videos here and watch them on your own computer anytime.
As I said before, the videos will remain online
and you can watch the videos as often as you like.
For most sub-units, there'll be several quizzes.
These quizzes are not graded.
We don't see the scores at all
and they're not part of your final evaluation.
They're a chance for you to practise
and try out some of the ideas that I discuss
in the videos.
At the end of each unit,
there'll be a homework assignment.
These homework problems are optional.
You don't need to do them,
but I suggest you give them a try
as I think you'll get more out of the course that way.
There'll be three different levels of problems.
Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced.
It's entirely up to you which level problems you try.
Do what you wish.
You're strongly encouraged to work together on the homework
and post questions on the forum
and discuss problems with each other.
The end of each unit is a test.
Your final grade is the average
of all of your test scores.
Students who complete the course with a test average of 70% or higher
will receive a certificate of completion from the Santa Fe Institute.
The tests are open-notes and open-book
in that you can consult other resources
and go back and look at the lectures, if you want.
However, you should do the tests on your own.
You should not get any help when you do them.
Of course, we are relying on the honour system
to enforce this.
Let's again go back up to the top.
Now click on Course Materials.
There's no textbook for the course.
I will, however, post some suggestions
for additional reading, books and papers
under the Course Materials section of the site.
There's not much here now, but I'll add more as the course goes along.
Let's check out the discussion forum for the class.
Here is the discussion forum for the course.
There are a number of different categories.
Here in the forum Introduce Yourself
should be a place for you to send an introductory message
so other people in the class can learn more about you and your interests.
In Announcements, I'll be posting, well, announcements about the course.
Another way you can get announcements about the course
is by following us on Twitter.
There's a link to the course's Twitter page
on the main description page for the course.
If you're not already on Twitter, there's no need to get an account.
I'll post the same information on the Twitter feed and on Announcements.
But if you are on Twitter, it might be a convenient
way to stay up to date about the course.
Here in Unit 1, Iterated Functions,
the unit that we're in right now,
this would be a good place to post questions about course homework, quizzes
and any of the material from this unit.
In general, if you have questions about any aspect
of the course, you can check the FAQ,
the list of Frequently Asked Questions;
you can check the forum to see if anybody has asked
a question similar to yours;
and you can also post a question yourself
here on the forum.
If you prefer, you can send us email
by clicking on this Email icon
up by my name.
This will go to the address chaos@complexityexplorer.org
and this is an account that's monitored
by the entire course team,
so one of us should be able to get back to you quickly.
So, that's a quick overview of the main features of the Complexity Explorer site.
In the next sub-unit, we'll get started with the material of the course.