Content Update: June 2018 New Calculus Courses

Will both the new and the old be available in the iOS and Android apps?

I just had a look at the new one for Integral Calculus, and it addresses concerns I had about the old course, in which articles, videos, and even exercises contained content that hadn't been covered yet. Although I eventually mastered the missions for all four courses, I will want to go into each of them and view any new videos, read any new articles, and practice any new exercises, as well as leveling back up to 100% in the missions if necessary. So I hope that the new courses will be available to me on my iPad on day one, June 28.

Excellent news everyone, thankyou!

but noo my WOM %

I see that the new Integral Calculus course is available in the web version, so I’m guessing that the new versions of the other three courses are there, too.

But they are not yet in the iPad/iOS and Android apps! Please let us know when we can expect them there.

Update, shortly before midnight Eastern US Time, Friday, June 29 - The updated courses are on my iPad but not my Android. The old (2017) versions are also shown on the iPad but not the Android.

Thanks for this info about changes.  Could you be even more specific about content changes made?  I spent a LOT of time last year putting your  AP Calc exercise sets into my course, and I need to decide whether to use  what I did last year again, or whether I need to start over again this year using your new configuration.

For instance, when you say you added 18 exercises, does that mean 18 problems total within all the sets, or did you add 18 new SETS of problems (with many problems in each)?  I'm not sure of your definition of 'exercises'. 

If Cam could write more about the changes for AP Calc teachers who were users of last year's AP Calc AB release, it would be even more helpful.  Thanks.

@B Lenz Here's a spreadsheet with much more detail on specifically what's been added and removed. The 18 new exercises are sets of problems, each with 12-15 new questions. Please let me know if you have further questions. -Cam

Update, late afternoon in the very hot Eastern US, Wednesday, July 4 - The updated courses are still not yet in the Android app.

In the meantime, I went through the new Differential Calculus course and entered all of the modules that were shown in gray - not yet attempted. These were mostly exercises. There were several new videos, too, but I think there was only one new article. I think that the reason that I encountered a lot fewer new modules than are shown in the counts is that, after I finished both Differential Calculus and Integral Calculus, I did the two AP Calculus courses. In fact, I did some of the AP Calculus modules while I was still taking Integral Calculus because a lot of stuff needed to do the exercises was missing from the Integral course but was in one or both of the AP Calculus courses. I have started working on the new Integral Calculus modules, again finding mainly new exercises, probably for the same reason.

yes thank you soooooooooooo much

Update, early afternoon Eastern US time, Wednesday, July 11 - The updated courses are still not yet in the Android app.

I've now also been through the new Integral Calculus course and entered all of the modules that were shown in gray - not yet attempted. These were all or mostly exercises. There may have been some new videos, too, but I think there may have been no new articles. I think that the reason that I encountered a lot fewer new modules than are shown in the counts is the same one for Differential Calculus: After I finished both Differential Calculus and Integral Calculus, I did the two AP Calculus courses. After I finished the new Integral Calculus course, I went into the new AP courses and found nothing that I hadn't done yet; all new content was also in either the new Differential or Integral course.

One question I have:

Does this serve as the only Content Update post for the month of June? Earlier in June, I noticed two new exercises for Math -> 7th grade: Dividing negative numbers and Equivalent expressions with negative numbers and variables. So these two should probably be reported on somewhere. If they are the only two non-Calculus additions in June, then I can understand that you'll want to combine them with July's updates posted next month, instead of doing one with just them now.

Thanks for keeping us informed on content updates!

Cam,  thanks for the spreadsheet.  It was very helpful (I decided the updates were worth redoing my course again to take advantage of all the changes). 

Another question- since we only have the student-view of the quizzes that you added:  Do all the students get the same questions, the same questions but in a different order, or are there five possible question #1's, five possible #2's etc ?  I'm trying to figure out how I want to use the quizzes with my students but need to know more about the content.      Thanks again.

@B Lenz each student receives their own unique quiz. Some students may see some of the same questions, but for the most part, no two quizzes are the same. Of course, we try hard to ensure that each student is being quizzed on the same skills/concepts, just with different questions. The exact mechanics may change over time.

Thanks Cameron.  I believe students can take a quiz more than once for practice.  Will they typically get different questions each time they take it?

Also, when I looked at AP Stats and Algebra 2 last week there was a header saying there would be updates soon.  Do you know about when and how significant they will be?  Thanks

@B Lenz Yes, students will typically get different questions each time, but there is some chance of eventually seeing repeats.

A variety of courses are being worked on this summer. Algebra 2 updates will be minor. AP Stats updates will be generally minor except for the Study Design unit, which will be major.

Thanks, Cameron. For those of us who are classroom teachers who have gravitated to Khan and away from a textbook, any change is a significant change in lesson planning.  If you have a place where you make frequent notifications of any changes, I haven't found it, and would suggest you create one. 

For instance, one year, it seemed like someone almost mid-week went through and made MANY changes in the names of the exercises- for instance Graph linear equations became Graphing linear equations (I just made up this example.)  When you have KA exercises added to a curriculum, or you have given students a list of KA exercises covered on a quiz or test, this causes a lot of confusion.

You can't provide too much information to classroom teachers about changes in advance and at the time they are made.  Although in my experience using a textbook for exercises instead of KA is not as helpful educationally to students (or interesting), it is certainly easier for the teacher because for the life of your textbook once you work up your notes and plans the first year, the textbook content and exercises don't change for the lifetime of the book.  Using KA lately, it is almost like starting over each year which may not be a commitment that a lot of teachers want to make.    Just my two cents.  Thanks,  Bruce

@B Lenz I hear you. I'll follow up with you over email to discuss what this might look like.

Update, Saturday morning, July 28 - A new version of the Android app, whose main purpose seems to have been to use the new logo, arrived in the past day or so. It includes the new Calculus courses. So the rollout of the new Calculus courses to all platforms is now complete.