I believe that communicating with the class is as important as knowing the subject we are teaching. Students tend to learn best when they are in good contact with an instructor, so that they can share their concerns, not afraid to ask questions and know whom to turn to when they need help. I encourage my students to talk to me whenever they have questions, during the class, after the class, during office hours or via e-mail. Every semester I create a class e-mail distribution list and use it for class correspondence, which turns out to be an efficient way. Here are a couple of screen captures from Angel:

Another Angel feature that proved to be useful to me is the Quick Poll located in the "In Touch" tab of the website. This is how it works: I give one quick poll every 2-3 weeks and ask questions like "Which topic you found the most difficult so far?", "Do you think the class pace is appropriate so far?" or "Do you think you might need extra help with partial fractions?". In contrast with the Online Survey implemented in Angel, Quick Poll makes it possible to provide users with a short list of answers. The answers should not necessarily be multiple choice. There is a way to include multiple choice or even open-ended questions, so that students can express their opinions in writing if they feel like it. I have benefited a lot from the feedback I got in these quick polls. Due to the quick-and-easy format, I was able to detect problems right away when they started and to modify course pace according to the audience.

As it was noted in other parts of this Portfolio, most of my class preparations are in one way or another related to the use of computer software. Here are some of the ways in which various types of software help me with achieving my goals:
- I use TeX (mostly AmSTeX and MiKTeX) to create homework solution sets;
- I use Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat to make in class and online quizzes;
- I use MATLAB and Java applets to create graphs of functions and various other pictures;
- I use Adobe Photoshop to optimize graphics for the web;
- Finally as I already mentioned, I use the Course Management System (ANGEL), which is integrated in many different areas of the course.

I make use of an extensive list of web resources in any course I taught. I already mentioned some of them (e.g., Java applets) in the Digital resources section of this Portfolio. Another form of resources I utilized is the collection of online tutorials and class notes. There is a huge number of personal and professional mathematical websites, some of which are specifically dedicated to providing help to students in different areas of the subject. Although they sometimes present the material from a different perspective or use other notations, I still think these selected resources can provide useful exercises for students in my classes. Here are some of the web electronic resources I gathered to provide student for some extra help:

College Algebra Tutorial - a set of web-based tutorials from W. Texas A&M
Examples for College Algebra- nice short examples for College Algebra
Notes for College Algebra from U. Wisconsin Colleges