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Principles of Macroeconomics

ECON 2301 PCM--Open Campus Syllabus

PCM = Internet Based

16 Week Session

August 27- December 16

Fall 2007

Synonym 06532


Professor:

Marianna Sidoryanskaya

 

 


IMPORTANT NOTICE: Blackboard will not be available to students this fall until Monday, August 27th because of updates being done to all ACC login sites.

 

  Office Hours:

M, W

9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

CYP

 

M., W

11:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m .

CYP

 

T, TH

1:15 p.m.-3:00 p.m .

CYP

 

 

Office:

CYPRESS CAMPUS (CYP)

Rm. 2204.17

CYP Phone: 223-2093

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Messages: Please feel free to leave messages on M. Sidoryanskaya's voice mail at 223-2093. She will return the calls as soon as she is in the office again. E-mail is the most preferable means of communication.

E-mail:msidorya@austincc.edu

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IMPORTANT NOTICE: Blackboard will not be available to students this fall until Monday, August 27th because of updates being done to all ACC login sites.

Blackboard: Blackboard is an on-line classroom management tool. It includes a gradebook, an announcements page, and a facility for administering on-line tests and quizzes.

Course Announcements will be posted to Blackboard; midterm exams will be administered through Blackboard; and your course grades can be accessed through Blackboard. In addition to the email address given above and the course listserv, communication will be done through the Discussion Board that is part of the course's Blackboard site.

Blackboard's URL is http://acconline.austincc.edu/. This is the URL for ACC's Blackboard site. Do not go to blackboard.com, the company's own site.

To access Blackboard, you will need your ACC Online Services User ID. If you do not know what your ACC Online Services ID is, then CLICK HERE to find out. Typically (but not always) your user name is the first letter of your first name joined to the your last name. If your name was John M. Keynes, then your user name would be jkeynes. Your user ID can not be changed.

Your password is your birthdate in MMDDYY format. For instance, if you were born on February 4, 1975, your password is 020475.

After you have entered your User ID and Password, click the Login button one time to access Blackboard.

Once you have logged into Blackboard, you will need to provide an e-mail address. A module containing instructions on how to change your e-mail address is provided on the "My ACC" page, which is displayed once you have logged into Blackboard.

Please also change your password while you are logged on for the first time. To change your password, click the "User Tools" button. When that page opens up, click on the line that says "Personal Information."  When that page opens up, click on the line that says "Change Password." The rest should be self-explanatory.

It is important to change your password so that you can be secure in the knowledge that no one besides you and your instructor can see your grade information. If you are using Blackboard for other courses, each instructor will only be able to see the grades in the course that they are teaching.

The first day students can access Blackboard is typically the day after registration ends.
That is August 23 th this semester.

Helpful Hint: Once you are logged into ACC's Blackboard site, the easiest way to navigate the this course's Blackboard content is by first clicking on the "Courses" tab in the upper left hand corner of the first Blackboard page that comes up. Then click on the name of the course: Principles of Macroeconomics Course ID: 207S16-06532. You are then taken to the course's main Blackboard page. It is much easier to find the "User Tools" button and the "Assignments" button, where the links to the on-line exams can be found, than if you try to navigate from the very first page that comes up when you log onto Blackboard.

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Class Listserv: All students with e-mail addresses will be put on a class listserv. This will facilitate communication between students and serve as a way the instructor can send out warnings about upcoming deadlines

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Course Description:

The purpose of this course is to familiarize the student with the generally accepted principles of macroeconomics. Though ultimately based on the actions of individual households and business firms, macroeconomics deals with aggregates--i.e., consumers as a whole, producers as a whole, exporters and importers as a whole, the effects of government spending and taxation, and the monetary policy of the central bank. Macroeconomics is concerned with such things as unemployment, inflation, and the business cycle.

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Departmental Course Description, Rationale, Common Course Objectives/Student Outcomes, and Departmental Quiz 

  1. Course Description- Principles of Macroeconomics deals with consumers as a whole, producers as a whole, the effects of government spending and taxation policies and the effects of the monetary policy carried out by the Federal Reserve Bank. Macroeconomics is concerned with unemployment, inflation, and the business cycle.
  2. Course Rationale- This course is meant to give students insight into the dynamics of our national economy. The knowledge gained in the course will make students better informed citizens and allow them to follow the debates over national economic policy reported in the news media. This course is also a foundation course that will prepare students to be successful in upper division finance, marketing, business administration, economics, government, and social work courses.
  3. Common Course Objectives/Student Outcomes.

Students who complete this course will be able to understand:

    • the meaning of unemployment and inflation data and how that data is collected and computed;
    • the meaning and components of the National Income Accounts, especially GDP;
    • the meaning of the business cycle and its phases;
    • and to manipulate the basic Aggregate Supply, Aggregate Demand model of the macro economy;
    • how fiscal policy operates, its tools, and its advantages and drawbacks;
    • how a fractional reserve banking system works;
    • how monetary policy operates, its tools, and its advantages and drawbacks.

Instructional Resources:

Required:

1. Macroeconomics: Explore & Apply, Enhanced Edition, Activebook Version 2.0, by Ronald M. Ayers and Robert A. Collinge (Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2005). See additional discussion about how to buy and to use this book below by clicking HERE.
 

Required:

2. Aplia, by Paul Romer (Aplia, Inc., 2006). See below for more information about this on-line resource.

 

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Learning Objectives:

The examinations in this course are based on learning objectives composed by the instructor that you can find by clicking HERE. Read these objectives carefully before you read the corresponding chapter in the textbook and do the activities on the textbook's activebook web site. The learning objectives are correlated exactly with the questions on the exams and are more detailed than the ones that can be found under "objectives" in the textbook's web site. 

In general, after studying each chapter, you should be able to:

  1. List what topics the questions on the exams will cover and what pages in the textbook those topics are covered on. (See Learning Objectives)
  2. Define all the key terms introduced in the chapter and listed in the "end-of-chapter resources" on the textbook's on-line activebook web page.
  3. Answer questions drawn from the "Explore & Apply" section in the textbook.
  4. Successfully complete all the "active exercises" and "active graphs" on the textbook's on-line activebook web page.
  5. Take the "Practice Quiz" and "Test Yourself" quizzes at the end of each chapter on the on-line activebook.

The learning objectives are there to help you focus your mind on the important concepts and theories discussed in the unit. The exams will test your knowledge of and ability to apply these learning objectives. Knowing this will help you efficiently allocate your mental energies.

 

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Macroeconomics: Explore & Apply: Activebook version 2.0:

This textbook was designed specifically  to be used with the internet. Everything in the print version of the text is mirrored in the online version of the text. However the online version is enhanced with a variety of multimedia and interactive examples that the print version does not contain.

Throughout the online activebook you will encounter rectangular boxes labeled "objectives," "gearing up," "active concept check," "active exercise," "active example," "active poll," "active graphs," or "smart graphs." When you click on one of these boxes, a pop-up window will appear on your screen giving you an opportunity to further explore the ideas you are reading about in the text. For easy reference, each of these boxes is numbered consecutively throughout the chapter.

The online activebook also has a chapter summary, a list of key term and their definitions, a practice quiz, and a practice test. The printed text does not.

The online activebook also contains small discussions of topics called "Snapshots" that do not appear in the hardcopy of the textbook. Some questions on the exams have been drawn from the "Snapshots" discussions. Since the chapter outlines on the online activebook do not indicate where these "Snapshots" appear, you will need to click HERE to see a list of titles of these "Snapshot" sections and where these sections of the textbook can be found.

Important Note: You will need the free QuickTime video player and the free Flash player to view the video and the graph animations in the online activebook.  To see if you have these free programs installed, click on the Browser Tuneup link on the activebook homepage after you have logged into the site for the first time.

WHERE TO PURCHASE:

  1. ACC Bookstores have the following textbook for sale:  Macroeconomics: Explore & Apply, Enhanced Edition, Activebook Version 2.0, by Ronald M. Ayers and Robert A. Collinge (Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2005). ISBN # 0131489712. This package will contain a hard copy of the text and an Access Code for the on-line material and the eBook. The eBook is almost identical to the material in the hard copy minus the material mention in the paragraphs above.

    I estimate the selling price will be $84.60 with a key for the on-line material; $60.90 without a key.

    If the ACC bookstore at the campus nearest you does not carry this text, it can have it sent over from the main ACC bookstore. The main ACC Bookstore is located at 817 W. 12th Street. This is near the Rio Grande Campus. Its telephone number is (512) 474-2704. You can order the text on-line through the ACC Bookstore by visiting http://austincc.bkstore.com.
     
  2. You can buy Macroeconomics: Explore & Apply, Enhanced Edition, Activebook Version 2.0, by Ronald M. Ayers and Robert A. Collinge (Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2005), ISBN # 0-13-163749-5 at the publishers web site also. They will charge you $84.60. http://vig.prenhall.com/catalog/academic/product/0,1144,0131637495,00.html
     
  3. If you wouldn't mind using just the eBook (the textbook on the Internet, no hard copy), you can buy access to the eBook only.  Access to the eBook, through my Course Compass course, costs $33.33. [Note: If you purchase a new text using #1 or #2 above, a Student Access Card will be included in your text, and you will have access to Course Compass also.]

    Here are the directions for doing this if it interest you:

    For student access code purchase only:

    Go to http://info.coursecompass.com/website/student_register.html
    / Under the section of the page entitled "Student Access Card" click on the link right above the credit card icons. That link is called "Purchase online access now with a credit card."
    / Enter the course ID: sondgeroth72098
    / On the next page you will be able to purchase
    OneeKey Grade Assist for Ayers, Collinge Macroeconomics: Explore and Apply Enhanced for $33.33, ISBN 0131503456
      ON-LINE eBook Once you have registered for Prentice Hall's Course Compass access to the eBook version of the textbook either by using the Access Code that comes with your new textbook (not available for used textbook purchasers unless the Access Code has not been used) or by buying access to the eBook only as in #3 above, then you can go directly to this page to directly log-in to the eBook: http://www.coursecompass.com/webapps/cclogin/process.do?type=ssologinpage&new_loc=%2Fwebapps%2Fportal%2Fframeset.jsp.
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APLIA:

Aplia is a website developed by Professor Paul Romer of Stanford University. The instructor of this course will be assigning homework from this site as well as conducting on-line experiments. 

The homework will consist of  multiple choice and true-false questions, but, in addition, there will be homework questions where you will be asked to shift curves on graphs and to write in answers in boxes provided. Usually there will be one or two practice assignments available to prepare you to take the graded assignments. 

There are also several "experiments" that you will be asked to participate in with the rest of the class from your internet connected computer either at home or in the library. These "experiments" are like interactive computer games in which each participant is assigned a role, say as a buyer or a seller in the market for used textbooks.

It will cost you $35 to register for this service. Instructions on how to do this will be given in the "Course Documents" section of this course's ACC Blackboard site. Aplia has the ability to manage the whole course on its site, but your course will be managed at ACC's Blackboard site. This course will only be using the homework assignments the instructor has selected from Aplia. Communication will be done through the email address given above, the course listserv, and the Discussion Board that is part of the course's Blackboard site.  Course Announcements will be posted to Blackboard; midterm exams will be administered through Blackboard; and your course grades can be accessed through Blackboard.

The number of points available on each assignment varies. Aplia will grade each assignment that you complete and record it in Aplia's gradebook. The instructor will periodically transfer the total grade recorded in Aplia's gradebook, appropriately adjusted, to the gradebook available on the course's ACC Blackboard site.

See below for the homework assignments.

 

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Recommended Study Method:

As a student you should:

  1. Spend as much time studying for this non-traditional course as you would have spent if you had registered for this course in its traditional lecture format - going to lectures and doing homework. This translates into about 18 hours a week for this 5 week course.
  2. Not procrastinate, and you should not cram for exams. Set up a regular study schedule for this course and stick to it!
  3. Read the learning objectives supplied by the instructor. The learning objectives listed in activebook at the beginning of each online chapter are more general than those composed by the instructor. The instructor's learning objectives will be correlated to the examination questions.
  4. Study the assigned textbook material. This includes the "Explore & Apply " sections found at the end of most chapters.
  5. Work through the questions in the Practice Quiz and the Test Yourself found in the "end-of-chapter resources" in your activebook.
  6. Go through all the "active" examples, exercises, concept checks, and graphs. Go through the "smart graph" exercises also.
  7. Go through all of the applicable Aplia practice and graded homework problem sets for a given chapter/unit in the text.
  8. Take the four midterm exams and the final by their assigned deadline dates.

 

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Reading

Reading the textbook thoroughly is the key to doing well in this Distance Learning course. Distance Learning courses have no lectures to help you understand the material being covered. You must rely almost completely on the textbook to help you understand the material. This is why reading, and re-reading the text is so essential.

I recommend that you take these steps in reading each chapter.

Step One: Skim the chapter. Spend three to five seconds looking over each page of the chapter.

Step Two: Quickly read over the chapter again reading only the title of the chapter, the learning objectives, all the headings and sub-headings in the chapter, all the words in bold print, and all the words in the left column of each page in the chapter.

Step Three: Read the introduction of the chapter, the first paragraph of each section or subsection in the chapter and the first sentence of all of the other paragraphs in the section or subsection. Finally read the summary of the chapter.

Step Four: Without referring back to the chapter make a list of all the important concepts, terms, ideas, theories, and laws that you can remember.

Step Five:  Read the introduction, the learning objectives, and the summary of the chapter in the "end-of-chapter" section of activebook.

Step Six: Revise and improve your list and then use it to make the outline/map of the chapter.

Step Seven: Read the chapter in the text/activebook completely and thoroughly.

Step Eight: Revise and improve your outline/map once again. This time add the key terms to the appropriate places in your outline/map if they had been included before this time.

Step Nine: Answer the Practice Quiz, Test Yourself, and Questions and Problems sections in the "end-of-chapter" section of activebook.

Step Ten: Revise your outline/map one more time.

Step Eleven: Review your outline/map every four or five days until the exam and then use it to prepare for the exam.

If you read your textbook in this structured and disciplined way, you will learn much more than if you approach your reading task in an unorganized manner, and you will do much better on the exams than you would otherwise do.

 

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Mandatory Student Progress Assessment Meetings

To receive credit for this course, students must contact the instructor TWICE during the semester by e-mail. USE ONLY E-MAIL TO MAKE YOUR CONTACT. You must contact me after you have taken the first exam and after you have taken the third exam. The purpose of these consultations is to determine how the course is going for you and to find out if there are any problems with the course that the instructor can help you with. 

 

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ACTIVEBOOK CHAPTER ASSIGNMENTS/TESTING***

 

UNIT I

 

Macroeconomics: Explore & Apply

 

 

Chapter 1: The Economic Perspective and Appendix 1

 

Chapter 2: Production and Trade

 

Chapter 3: Demand and Supply

 

Chapter 5: Measuring National Output (skip Chapter 4)

Test over UNIT I due by September 25 for extra credit points.

UNIT II

 

Macroeconomics: Explore & Apply

 

 

Chapter 6: Unemployment

 

Chapter 7:  Inflation

 

Chapter 8: A Framework for Macroeconomic Analysis

 

Chapter 9: Short-Run Instability

Test over UNIT II due by October 16 for extra credit points.

UNIT III

 

Macroeconomics: Explore & Apply

 

 

Chapter 10: Aggregate Expenditures

 

Chapter 11: Fiscal Policy in Action

 

Chapter 12: Economic Growth

 

Chapter 13: Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve

Test over UNIT III due by November 13 for extra credit points.

UNIT IV

 

Macroeconomics: Explore & Apply

 

 

Chapter 14: Monetary Policy and Price Stability

 

Chapter 15: Into the International Marketplace

 

Chapter 16: Policy Toward Trade

 

Chapter 17: Economic Development

Test over UNIT IV due by December 4 for extra credit points.

 

 FINAL EXAM due by December 12 .

All midterm exams will be available on Blackboard for re-testing purposes through December 11 . All re-tests of midterm exams must be taken before December 12 . There will be absolutely no testing or re-testing over midterm exams after December 11 . There is no re-test for the final exam.

Important Note: If you take these tests on time you will receive extra credit points that will improve your grade. See "Extra Credit Points" under "Grading" for details. The total value of these extra credit points is equal to 3.5% of the course grade. You can earn additional extra credit points by doing more than the required homework on Aplia . Details about all extra credit points available can be found under "Extra Credit Points."

 

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Testing:

Exams are based on the learning objectives students are expected to master. For more information on learning objectives, please see the section on "Learning Objectives"  in this syllabus. Furthermore the exam questions will be drawn exclusively from the textbook, Macroeconomics: Explore & Apply: Active Book Version 2.0 .

The exams over each Unit assigned will include ten questions over each chapter assigned for each Unit -- forty questions in all. The questions will appear on the exams in the order in which the chapters were assigned for the Unit. For example, on the first exam the first ten questions will cover Chapter 1, the next ten will cover Chapter 2, the third ten will cover Chapter 3, and the last ten will cover Chapter 5. Indeed the questions will be numbered in exactly the same way as the learning objectives  the questions are associated with are numbered. 

The midterm/unit exams will be administered over the internet through the course's Blackboard site. You will find them in a folder under the tab for "Assignments" in Blackboard.

There will be ten learning objectives listed for each chapter. Each learning objective will have 10 or more questions connected to it by the testing program used in this course. That program will randomly choose one question from each group of ten for the exam. For example, if an exam is 40 questions long like the exams for this course, then there will be 10 ways to select the first question, ten ways to select the second question, and so on to the fortieth question. The number of different exams this program can generate for one midterm/unit exam is 1040. One billion is 1 followed by 9 zeros. 1040 is 1 followed by 40 zeros.

The online midterm/unit exams will also be timed. You will have 60 minutes to answer 40 questions. Any time over 60 minutes will result in the need to retake the exam and it will be counted as your second try.

In addition, the exams will be given on the Blackboard internet course platform used by ACC, so students will need to sign on to Blackboard in order to take the exams. Students will have three tries at each online exam. Students do not have to take it three times though. If a student is satisfied with his score after the first try, he can stop there. If a second or third try is made, the last attempt will completely overwrite (erase) previous efforts.  

So be careful, you can do worse on these re-tests. If you re-test, you will receive the grade you made on your last attempt.

The results of the last re-test will be used in determining your grade. This means there is some risk in re-taking an exam, since you could do worse. This risk is intentional. I put it there hoping that it would give you some incentive to re-study the material if you decide to re-take an exam. Of course, you could do much better on the re-test. If you do I will use that result to calculate your end of the semester grade.

You do not need the consent of the instructor to re-test an exam, but you do need to request that the instructor re-set the exam so that you can re-test on it. Blackboard does not automatically re-set exams, so do not be bashful about making these requests if you want to re-test. E-mail me at msidorya@austincc.edu

YOU SHOULD TAKE THE EXAMS NO LATER THAN THE LISTED DATE.

For all deadlines click here.  

However, all exams will be available on Blackboard for re-testing purposes through December 11 . All re-tests of midterm exams must be taken before December 12 . There will be absolutely no testing or re-testing over midterm exams after December 11 .  There is no re-testing on the final.

 


 

Final Exam:

The Final Exam must be taken in a Testing Center.

You MUST show your student ID and a photo ID in order to take an exam at a Testing Center.

The Final Exam can be taken at the Testing Centers on the Northridge, Rio Grande, Riverside, Pinnacle, Eastview, Round Rock, Fredericksburg, San Marcos, or Cypress Creek Campuses. The Final Exam will be graded by the Testing Center personnel while students wait for the results. Students will not be able to take the final exam at the San Marcos, Round Rock, Fredericksburg or any other testing center outside ACC after December 2 , since at least 10 days are needed for the instructor to receive exams from these testing centers.

The final exam will be comprehensive. Two or three questions will be drawn from each chapter covered during the semester. The questions will be arranged in the order the chapters were assigned. Questions over Chapter 1 will be the first ones encountered and questions over Chapter 17 will be the last ones encountered. You will find no questions over chapter 4, since Chapter 4 was skipped in this course.

Students will be allowed to bring with them one 8.5x11 inch piece of paper with notes written on it on both sides. This crib sheet must be hand written -- not typed, and it must not be a photocopy. This crib sheet must also be turned in with your answer sheet. You must use a crib sheet even if it has nothing on it except a note saying you didn't prepare a crib sheet with your signature. 

Please make a photocopy of your crib sheet if you want to save it. The original will be taken up with the final exam in the Testing Center and will not be returned to you.

More information about the final can be found on this course's Blackboard site.

There is no retesting on the final exam.

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Aplia Homework:  

Aplia contains highly interactive problem sets, tutorials, news analyses, readings, and experiments.

The number of points available from these problem sets, tutorials, news analyses, and readings. As you can see by reading the grading policy below, 1000 points from this source will constitute a required part of the course. However I will be assigning many more than 1000 points worth of problem sets, tutorials, news analyses, and readings. 

Every question that you answer correctly on these Aplia homework assignments will be worth one point in Aplia, but I will multiply the number you answer correctly by 2 before recording the grade to your grade sheet on ACC's Blackboard site. The number you earn on each assignment will be recorded in Aplia's gradebook. There are 739 graded questions available on Aplia. But the number I will record in the Blackboard gradebook will be two times greater; theoretically, you could earn 1478 points by doing Aplia homework.

IMPORTANT:  Every point you earn on Aplia after you have reached 1000 in the Blackboard gradebook for this part of the course will be counted as an extra credit point. For example, if a student earns 550 points on Aplia, the total points recorded in the course's ACC Blackboard site will be 1100 points. The 100 points above and beyond 1000 will be  extra credit points (see Extra Credit Type 2 below).

VERY IMPORTANT: The homework assignments do have deadlines. If an assignment is not completed by a deadline, there is absolutely no way that you can go back after the deadline to make it up. All the assignments that are correlated with a particular chapter in the Ayers and Collinge ACTIVEBOOK will have the same deadline; for example, those correlated with Chapters 1,  2,  3 and 5 are all due before 11:00 pm July 16. There are so many of them with the same deadline that it would be impossible to finish them if you started doing them only two hours before the deadline expired. That being so, it is best not to procrastinate on getting started with assignments.

It also means that you should not delay signing up for Aplia.

I have assigned a substantial number of "practice sets" to prepare you for the "graded" sets. You may go directly to the "graded" sets if you feel confident in your mastery of the material without doing the "practice sets" -- i.e., the "practice sets" are not required. Even so, I think it could only help, not hurt, to do these "practice sets." The "practice sets" will give you immediate feedback to help you learn the material; the "graded sets" will only give you feedback to help you learn the material after the deadline has passed. You can go back and change answers as often as you want on the graded assignments right up to the deadline. You will NOT earn course points by doing the practice sets.

In the table below, the table is divided into Units and weeks. The Units correspond to the chapters that have been assigned out of the ACTIVEBOOK, see ACTIVEBOOK CHAPTER ASSIGNMENTS/TESTING above. The weeks correspond to the structure set up by Aplia; Aplia does not allow an assignment to be selected without choosing a week and a day within that week to schedule an assignment's deadline.

Go directly to the Aplia web site to view the assignments and their deadlines.  (Access the sign in pare at http://econ.aplia.com/, or if that does not work try going to http://www.aplia.com/ and clicking the "sign in" button.)

The coming week's assignments are always given on the your Aplia home page, and the assignments for the whole semester can be viewed by clicking on the "Assignments" tab toward the upper right of  Aplia's home page for the course.

The chapters from Ayrer's ACTIVEBOOK correspond more or less to the assignments in Aplia. I say "more or less" because they are not related in anything but their subject matter. The authors of the Aplia material often approach the same topic from a different angle than Ayers and Collinge do.

Corresponding Chapters in ACTIVEBOOK

DUE DATES for ASSIGNMENTS FROM APLIA

UNIT I

UNIT I

Chapter 1

September 2

Chapters 2

September 9

Chapter 3

September 16

Chapter 5

September 23

 

 

UNIT II

UNIT II 

Chapter 6

September 30

Chapter 7

October 7

Chapter 8

october 14

Chapter 9

None

 

 

UNIT III

UNIT III 

Chapter 10

October 21

Chapter 11

october 28

Chapter 12

November 4

Chapter 13

November 11

 

 

UNIT IV

UNIT IV 

Chapter 14

November 18

Chapter 15

November 25

Chapter 16

December 2

Chapter 17

No assignment

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Grading:

Grading is based on the total number of possible points available on the exams. There are four required Unit exams and a required final exam. Eachmidterm exam will consist of 40 questions. Each question on the Unit exams (midterms) is worth 10 points. The final exam will consist of 50 questions. Each question on the final exam is worth 28 points.

 

 

 

 

 

Exam 1

=

(40) X (10)

=                     

  400

Exam 2

=

(40) X (10)

=

  400

Exam 3

=

(40) X (10)

=

  400

Exam 4

=

(40) X (10)

=

  400

Aplia Homework

=

 

 =

1000

Final Exam

=

(50) X (28)

=

1400

Total Possible Points

 

 

 

4000

 

 

 

 

 

Number of Points needed for Final Letter Grade

4000-3600

(100-90%)

A

 

3599-3200

(89.9-80%)

B

 

3199-2600

(79.9-65%)

C

 

2599-2200

(64.9-55%)

D

 

2199-0

(54.9-0%)

F

 

 


 

Extra Credit Points:

There are two ways to for students to improve their grades by earning extra credit points. The total number of extra credit points possible is equal to 26.475% of the 4000 points upon which letter grades will be determined.


Extra Credit Type 1: Take the tests on time:

You can earn extra credit points by taking your exams on or before the initial testing deadlines.

You will earn 20 points for each Unit exam taken on or before its deadline. You will not lose these extra credit points if you take the re-test for that unit as long as you take the exam in good faith. If you take the Final on or before its deadline, you will earn 70 extra credit points.

The total number of extra credit points you can earn by taking the exams on time is 150. This is equivalent to 3.85% of the total points available (4000) from the tests, the final, and required Aplia homework.


Extra Credit Type 2: Completing more than the required number of homework assignments on Aplia:

Aplia homework assignments constitute 25% of the required total points for the course. That is 1000 out of a total of 4000 points. See the list of assignments and their due dates above under "Assignments" on the Aplia web site.

The extra credit comes from the fact that if you actually did all of the assignments from Aplia you could earn many more points than 1000. Every point beyond 1000 that you earn on this part of the course will be added to your extra credit points.

There are 739 graded questions available on Aplia. I will give you two points for each question answered correctly on the Aplia web site. If you were to answer all of them correctly, you would earn 1478 points from Aplia. Only 1000 points are needed in order to make a 100% grade on Aplia homework. So if you did earn 1478 points on Aplia homework, 478 of those points would be considered extra credit  points.

     
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Incompletes:

Incompletes are discouraged. They will be given only when extraordinary events intervene so as to make completion of the course impossible. If you want an incomplete, these events must be documented. To receive an incomplete the student must have completed two exams with a grade of C or better. The student must also come by my office to fill out an incomplete grade form. If the form is not filled out, an incomplete grade will not be given.Incompletes will not be given to students who are behind schedule when the semester nears its end. Nor will incompletes be given to students who need just a few more points to make the next higher letter grade. Plenty of opportunity exists during the semester to accomplish your goals.If you find yourself way behind or many points short toward the end of the semester, you may withdraw without a grade penalty up to three weeks before the end of the semester. Please read the following note about withdrawals.

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Withdrawals:

Students are responsible for withdrawing themselves from this course if that is what their personal situation requires. This means that if you have taken only two of the tests and the semester ends without your having withdrawn yourself, then you will receive an F in the course. The instructor makes no promise either implicit or explicit to withdraw students from the course. However, the instructor does reserve the right to withdraw students if the instructor believes the situation warrants such action. The instructor may choose to withdraw you if you have not taken the second exam by the third exam deadline.

The last day to withdraw from this course without penalty is Monday, November 26 .

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Deadlines

EXAM

Unit Covered

Chapters Covered

Exam Deadline for Extra Credit Points

Location of Exam

1

I

1, 2, 3, 5 (not 4)

 

September 25

Blackboard

2

II

 6, 7, 8, 9

October 16

Blackboard

3

III

 10, 11, 12, 13

November 13

Blackboard

4

IV

 14, 15, 16, 17

December 4

Blackboard

Final

ALL

ALL (not 4 or 18)

December 12

Testing Center

All midterm exams will be available on Blackboard for re-testing purposes throughDecember 11 . All re-tests of midterm exams must be taken before December 12 . There will be absolutely no testing or re-testing over midterm exams after December 11 . There is no re-test for the final exam.

ASSIGNMENTS FROM APLIA

Corresponding Chapters in ACTIVEBOOK

DUE DATES for ASSIGNMENTS FROM APLIA

UNIT I

UNIT I

Chapter 1

September 2

Chapters 2

September 9

Chapter 3

September 16

Chapter 5

September 23

 

 

UNIT II

UNIT II 

Chapter 6

September 30

Chapter 7

October 7

Chapter 8

october 14

Chapter 9

None

 

 

UNIT III

UNIT III 

Chapter 10

October 21

Chapter 11

october 28

Chapter 12

November 4

Chapter 13

November 11

 

 

UNIT IV

UNIT IV 

Chapter 14

November 18

Chapter 15

November 25

Chapter 16

December 2

Chapter 17

No assignment

 

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Scholastic dishonesty: Acts prohibited by the college for which discipline may be administered include scholastic dishonesty, including but not limited to cheating on an exam or quiz, plagiarizing, and unauthorized collaboration with another in preparing outside work. Academic work submitted by students shall be the result of their thought, research or self-expression. Academic work is defined as, but not limited to tests, quizzes, whether taken electronically or on paper; projects, either individual or group; classroom presentations, and homework.

Students with disabilities: Each ACC campus offers support services for students with documented physical or psychological disabilities. Students with disabilities must request reasonable accommodations through the Office for Students with Disabilities on the campus where they expect to take the majority of their classes. Students are encouraged to do this three weeks before the start of the semester.  Academic Freedom: Each student is strongly encouraged to participate in class discussions. In any classroom situation that includes discussion and critical thinking, particularly about economic and political ideas, there are bound to be many differing viewpoints. Students may not only disagree with each other at times, but the students and instructor may also find that they have opposing views on sensitive and volatile topics. It is my hope that these differences will enhance class discussion and create an atmosphere where students and instructor alike will be encouraged to think and learn. Therefore, be assured that your grades will not be adversely affected by any beliefs or ideas expressed in class or in assignments. Rather, we will all respect the views of others when expressed in classroom discussions.

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