SusanAR Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 I've e-mailed Thinkwell with a few questions about their courses, but I have yet to hear from them. Has anyone corresponded with them? Was their response timely? I hesitate to purchase anything if the support is nonexistent. susan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon in MD Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 my experience was that they were not very fast to respond to my general questions. When we had technical issues directly related to using the materials the response was better. But, in case you don't know....there is not any tutorial type support, only technical support for the products. At least that was the way it was when we used it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusanAR Posted May 7, 2009 Author Share Posted May 7, 2009 my experience was that they were not very fast to respond to my general questions. When we had technical issues directly related to using the materials the response was better. But, in case you don't know....there is not any tutorial type support, only technical support for the products. At least that was the way it was when we used it. All I want to know is: Is a solutions guide included in the printed materials? and Does my "year" begin on the date of purchase or when my ds begins the program? i would like to purchase early and preview lessons, but not if it counts as part of my year. We have completed the first 10 chapters of Foerster algebra and trig- I want to know if Thinkwell precal will contain more rigorous problems susan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon in MD Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 (edited) All I want to know is:Is a solutions guide included in the printed materials? and Does my "year" begin on the date of purchase or when my ds begins the program? i would like to purchase early and preview lessons, but not if it counts as part of my year. We have completed the first 10 chapters of Foerster algebra and trig- I want to know if Thinkwell precal will contain more rigorous problems susan Hi Susan, The book that we got with Thinkwell's College Algebra (which is part of their precalculus course) has answers to the problems in it in the back. But there are not many problems. The book is really just a regurgitation of the video lecture slides and notes. There are a few sample problems in it. The bulk of the problems are done on line. I believe the solutions were worked out there. As for your year....It begins when you enter the codes as far as I know. However, I think I can still get into all our stuff with them and we've had that account for 2 years at least now? So I don't know how carefully they monitor it. I haven't tried recently; it's been a couple months since we went to look something up, but it still worked then. However, I would really discourage you from purchasing Thinkwell in the hopes that it will be more rigorous than Foerster. Foerster is considered by most folks to be a rigorous program. His Precalculus book is definitely top notch. I have used both the Al II/trig book and his Precalculus with Trigonometry book. I only used the Al II portion of the former because the trig is covered in the newer Precalculus book. I tried to use Thinkwell's College Algebra alongside the Foerster Al II and was not successful. The sequence is too different to marry them up, IMO. I also tried switching to Thinkwell alone for a while to compare the two products and I didn't find it to be as good or thorough of a course. The thing that Thinkwell has that is great is Ed Burger. But their problem sets are very basic and repetitive. Very few application/word problems and these are all grouped together rather than spread throughout a chapter. If it is Ed Burger you want, then I think you can subscribe to the video through hotmath.com If, on the other hand, you are looking for video lectures, rigorous texts and tutorial support...then you might want to look at Chalkdust. We switched to Chalkdust this year for Calculus. It was an excellent choice for us. I knew that I could not continue to fully support ds in Calculus as I had in previous years with Al II and Precalc. I found that I was at the end of myself in Precalc. The student had really surpassed the teacher, KWIM? I couldn't keep pace anymore. Chalkdust was the answer for us. Hope this is helpful in clarifying some things....feel free to ask more. Edited May 8, 2009 by Sharon in MD forgot something....sigh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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