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Section Course Information

This is the syllabus for Calculus 1 (MATH 221) for Fall 2026. It is a 4-credit course offered through St. Cloud State University.
Instructor
Dr. Dale Buske, CH 367A, drbuske@stcloudstate.edu.
Student Hours
Table 1. Student Support Hours
Day Times
Mondays 11:00-11:50, 1:00-2:50
Tuesdays 2:00-2:50
Wednesdays 9:00-10:50
Thursdays 1:00-2:50
Fridays 11:00-11:50
Accessibility Services
Please contact Student Accessibility Services (SAS), sas@stcloudstate.edu or 320-308-4080, Centennial Hall 202, to meet and discuss reasonable and appropriate accommodations.
Class Meetings
Attendance and active participation in class is strongly correlated to academic success. Roughly half of each class meeting will be spent in active learning activities that cannot be easily replaced by watching a video or reading a book. So you will find attending class to be quite important, useful, and (if all goes well) fun!
Course Description
Limits, continuity, differentiation, applications of derivatives, integration. 4 cr
Prerequisite
Math 113 (Trigonometry) or Math 115 (Precalculus)
Academic Integrity
There is nothing more important in this class than academic integrity. Sure, you want to master the topics in the course (and perhaps earn a good grade). Sure, you want to enjoy doing it. And, it is also important to know that your instructor intends to play his part in helping you be successful. Succeeding, as you know, will require hard work and significant effort. Cutting corners will not serve you well.
University policy is clear:
Work submitted by an individual as her/his/their own course work in connection with an application for a position, promotion, tenure, salary increase, or other academic activity must be academically honest and a product of his or her own efforts. (A.II, 2.4, SUB.d.2, Professional and Ethical Standards for Employees and Students).
Cheating cannot be tolerated. All work must be your own. Suspected incidents of academic dishonesty will be aggressively managed via the procedure found in the SCSU student handbook.
In this course, students are likely to use AI tools to enhance their learning experience. However, it is essential to use these tools ethically and responsibly. AI can be a valuable resource for understanding complex concepts and solving problems, but it should not replace your own critical thinking and problem-solving efforts. All submitted work must be your own, and any assistance from AI tools must be properly acknowledged on written work. The use of AI is forbidden on assessments of your knowledge (e.g. exams, MyOpenMath). Using AI to complete work without acknowledgment will be considered a violation of academic integrity policies. In mathematics, AI often gives incorrect responses (i.e. hallucinations) and large language models such as ChatGPT are widely deemed “unreliable” in doing mathematics. Relaying AI responses that are incorrect will earn no credit. However, not acknowledging the use of AI in a response is far worse – it is academic misconduct.
Course Materials
The course textbook can be found at https://activecalculus.org/single2e/.
  • The textbook is interactive and accessible via a laptop, phone, or many other devices.
  • The textbook is built for active learning. The activities in the text are a primary focus of your learning. If you have trouble answering questions in a given activity, know that solutions to these are found on the course website. The reading in the textbook is brief - this is intentional. The primary focus will be working through the activities to explore the content.
  • You will need to purchase an inexpensive course packet at the Husky Bookstore with notes and daily activities and bring it to class each day. If you have an electronic tablet, you may not need to purchase a course packet. A .pdf copy of this packet will be posted on D2L Brightspace if you wish to print yourself rather than purchase. Obtaining this packet during the first week of class is expected.
Course materials beyond the textbook and course packet can be found at https://drbuske.github.io/Math221/course/. There you will find items that include the course syllabus, daily prep assignments, answers to activities from the textbook, and practice exams.
D2L Brightspace will be the learning management tool used to organize the course. Grades, a calendar, and assignments as well as announcements will be posted on D2L. Visit http://myhuskynet.stcloudstate.edu and login to your account using your Huskynet ID and password.
Electronic homework will be done via the MyOpenMath platform located at http://www.myopenmath.com. A free account can be attained by using any email address and choosing a password. Please use your real name as grades need to be manually transferred to D2L.
Course ID: 332792
Enrollment key: Buske221F26

Tips for Success.

Engage your peers. Engage your instructor. Engage your Learning Assistant(s). Your success is in their best interest too! Mathematics is a discipline that benefits greatly from working together in gaining a deep understanding.
Practice. Do math. Watching others do math is a passive activity with far less value than attempting to solve problems. We learn from our mistakes and struggles. If it were easy, everyone would do it and it would have less value. Remember the rule of thumb – expect to study 2-3 hours outside of class for every hour in class. That means 8-12 hours per week of study out of class!
Daily Prep assignments have been structured to maximize your learning experience prior to (and after) our class meetings. This effort is as critical as any in your success. 95% of what you learn will be outside the classroom. Daily Prep is a significant piece of this learning.
As you have learned from previous mathematics courses, practice will make you more proficient and will help you better understand material you have read, that you have observed in videos, that you have experienced via interactive applets, and that has been discussed in class.
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