Technical Mathematics
Our Technical Mathematics resource has been designed for students in technology programs. It includes an interactive e-textbook, mastery-based online lessons, algorithmic assessments powered by a testbank with over 1,500 unique questions, solution manuals, animated PowerPoint presentations, and real-time performance dashboards to view individual or class performance.
The Technical Mathematics resource has been developed in partnership with professors from Ontario Colleges.
The Technical Mathematics resource is available in an etextbook format.
The following are the details to place an order for the resource:
- eTextbook Package: $45
- The eTextbook package will provide full access to the accompanying inline resources, including lessons, assessments, PowerPoint presentation, and online solution manuals.
- Prices provided do not include taxes. Those will be extra.
The solution manuals are available online for instructors and students. They contain solutions to problems using detailed step-by-step methods as demonstrated in the solved examples present in the textbook. The manuals are in a word format and can be downloaded and modified by instructors as required.
Instructor Solution Manuals
The instructor manuals contain detailed solutions to every section exercise, review exercise, and self-test exercise problem. The manuals also contain detailed solutions to the cases.
Student Solution Manuals
The student manuals contain detailed solutions to the odd numbered section exercise and review exercise problems. The manuals also contain detailed solutions to every self-test exercise problem.
The Technical Mathematics textbook and e-textbook were developed and designed using content from several OpenStax OER math texts. OpenStax textbooks that are currently available through Vretta include:
Click here If you want to learn more about OpenStax
The interactive lessons provide students with a unique Assessment for Learning experience. Through a step-by-step, mastery-based approach, students understand core concepts. The lessons contain numerous pedagogies that break-down concepts into micro-steps that help students to visualize, conceptualize, and enjoy the learning process.
The lessons are modular in nature and can be customized to a large degree based on the learning plan of each instructor or the course. Students will be required to unlock (master) key concepts, through built-in feedback mechanisms, before they sequentially proceed to understanding higher level concepts. This mastery-based approach has not only proven to help students to review concepts before tests and exams but also to prepare them prior to attending class.
Through an intuitive administration panel, instructors have the ability to select and customize lessons. They can set start and close dates, provide date extensions for individual students or for the entire class, set, download, or override marks. They can also view their student or class performance on any concept to tailor the in-class focus on concepts with which students are experiencing difficulties. This method has successfully proven to increase student retention and success at numerous academic institutions across the country.
The assessment items are part of the platform. The items are both constructed response (written) and selected response (multiple choice) type. The former provides a more reliable estimate of student ability than the latter because guessing is eliminated and the use of a computerized format enables a range of acceptable responses to be established for each item.
The PowerPoint presentations (PPTs) are designed to teach every concept in the textbook. Steps in teaching concepts appear one by one through the creative use of animations to provide students with an inclusive learning experience. Instructors have the option of downloading and making modifications to any of the PPTs. Additionally, the PPTs are designed to be used with student response systems (clickers) to gauge the overall class comprehension of concepts.
The PPTs are available for instructors and students in the following formats:
- Instructor PPTs contain all of the solutions presented in the PPT.
- Student PPTs (also called handouts) contain only the questions. They do not contain solutions to the problems. Additionally, animations have been removed from the student PPTs so that they can be printed and distributed to students at the beginning of each class for them to be able to work through the problems during class.
- Delayered PPTs are the instructor PPTs without animations. These PPTs can be used on distance learning platforms that do not support animations.
Vretta’s dashboards provide a real-time visual understanding of individual student and overall class performance as they progress through the lessons and assessments. The dashboards are used by both students and professors to identify the areas of weakness, and to improve the in-class and self-study focus.
The assessment dashboard provides the highest mark and average mark secured on every question. This helps to identify the specific questions that an individual student or the entire class is having difficulty understanding.
The lesson dashboard provides the completion mark on every lesson. This helps to identify the specific concept that an individual student or the entire class is having difficulty understanding.
Professors can use the dashboard to export grades into their grade book.
