ALC/ALM Syllabus

Hello! My name is Heiko Spoddeck, and I'll be your instructor for this course.

I started tutoring math, physics, and chemistry at PCC 20 years ago and have been teaching math for the last 18 years. I grew up in East-Germany, received my MS in Physics at the Technical University Berlin, and have lived in Portland for the last 21 years.

At PCC, I teach a variety of courses from MTH 20 up through MTH 261, as well as the self-paced ALC/ALM Math Lab courses that range from ALC 20 - ALM 111, as well as ALM 243. The self-paced classes let students review previously learned material, receive support and extra practice for their MTH classes, or learn the material at their own unique pace.

I'm excited to start this course with you, and want to be clear you know how I view my role in this course. I genuinely view myself as your instructor, and not merely a “facilitator.” Even though this is a self-paced course, I'm very much here to teach you, and I want to help you in whatever ways I can. The course is very intentionally set up so that you should have everything you need. However, I still expect to interact with you and to have you interact with your classmates and me. I'm eager to provide any further explanation/examples when necessary, and feel that being able to do this on an individual level with students is one of the greatest strengths of self-paced courses and instruction.

Your next step should be to continue going over this syllabus thoroughly and then continue to register with ALEKS.

Best wishes for this term and I look forward to working with you!