ACC Logo  

Government Department

Austin Community College

  
 
 

Unit Deadlines

UNIT 1 (Ch. 1, 2, 3): Thursday, July 15

 

UNIT 2 (Ch. 4, 5, 6, 7):  Friday, July 23


UNIT 3 (Ch. 8, 9, 10, 11):  Monday, August 2


UNIT 4 (Ch. 12, 13, 14):  Tuesday, August 10


Optional Comprehensive Final:  Friday, August 13

 

 

Incomplete Grades

Incompletes are intended to help a student who has an emergency at the end of the semester and is unable to do something like take the optional final.  You may receive a temporary grade of 'I' (Incomplete) at the end of the semester ONLY if the following conditions are met:
1. There is a valid reason for needing the delay (a valid reason is something other than "I didn't get the work submitted on time and so I'm not going to get the grade that I want ") and you have completed at least three units with a 'C' grade average (that is, you must have accumulated at least 378 points) by the end of the semester.
2. You come in person to my office to request an Incomplete and complete the necessary forms.

 

Withdrawing from this class: Please note that during the 2007 regular session of the Texas Legislature, a state law was passed that limits incoming freshmen in Fall 2007 (and incoming freshmen in all subsequent semesters) to a total of six (6) withdrawals in their undergraduate career.  "Incoming freshmen" refers to any college student enrolling in a public college or university for the first time in Fall 2007 or later.  Some exemptions for good cause could allow a student to withdraw from a course without having it count toward this limit.  Students are encouraged to carefully select courses; contact an advisor or counselor for assistance.  The "offical reporting date" for the second 5.5-week session in the Summer 2010 semester is July 13.  Drops made through this date will not appear on an official transcript and therefore will not count toward this limit of six (6) withdrawals.  Courses dropped after this date of July 13 will appear as a W (withdrawal) on a transcript.

 

 

  

GOVT 2306 PCM Summer 2010
Synonym 10464 section 026

5.5-weeks, July 8 through August 15

Welcome to the online syllabus for my Web-based U.S. Government course, GOVT 2305 PCM. This page is designed to provide information about this particular course and its requirements. For additional information click on the links to the left. If you have questions which aren't answered here, please let me know.  A printable syllabus will be available on the course Bb page (formatted as a Word document).

Once you have read through this online syllabus amd the FAQs about PCM classes, including the information to the right and left, please send me an email with the information that I ask for at the bottom of this syllabus page.  You will not be able to send me the required orientation email until the semester begins and the course Blackboard page is fully loaded with everything you will need for the course.  Please send me the required orientation email during the first week of the semester.

Course Description

This course is an introduction to Texas state and local government. The course includes an introduction to a framework for understanding state and local government and politics in Texas, the constitutional foundations for Texas state and local government and politics, the processes of Texas state and local government and politics, the institutions of state government, the institutions of local government, and the public and fiscal policies of both state and local government and politics in Texas.

Course Objectives

The basic objectives of the course are for the student to:

1.  Analyze the context of Texas politics by examining the historical legacy of Texas politics and the Texas economy and their connection to the political cultures of Texas. 
2.  Understand the constitutional foundations of Texas government by analyzing separation of powers, describing the legacy, nature, and characteristics of the current Texas Constitution, and discussing the nature of the relationship between national and state government.
3.  Analyze the political and policymaking impact of the media and political parties in the Texas, and analyze the process and impact of campaigns and elections in Texas.
4.  Evaluate how political values and behaviors are learned.
5.  Describe elections and voting in Texas.

6.  Analyze the functions and operations of the legislative branch, the executive branch, and the judicial branch in Texas, and analyze the role of each in policymaking today.

7.  Analyze the structure, functions, and operations of local government.

8.  Describe policy and its implementation in the areas of education, health and human services, environment, criminal justice, emergency management and border security.

9.  Describe fiscal policy in Texas and describe how budgets are developed and managed in Texas state and local governments.

Course Materials

Textbook: Maxwell, Crain, and Santos, Texas Politics Today Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, c2010.  ISBN: 0495570257. Textbooks can be purchased at an ACC bookstore or Bevo's or purchased from various online sources. 

 

You may also rent this textbook from various Web sites including Cengage.

Course Requirements

This course requires students to complete four units of study. Each unit includes an exam (100 possible points), an assignment (50 possible points), and an online discussion board (30 possible points). 

 

4 unit exams
400 points
4 unit assignments
200 points
4 unit discussion boards
120 points
Total possible points
720

 

Testing and Retesting

Required Exams: There will be FOUR unit exams and ONE comprehensive optional final, each worth 100 points. Each unit exam will consist of objective questions and essay questions covering the material in that unit of study. The objective questions will be taken through the course Blackboard web site, and the essay questions will be taken at an ACC Testing Center.

I'll repeat this part:  the objective questions will be taken through the course Bb site and will be timed.  The written portion of each exam MUST be taken at an ACC Testing Center.

The essay questions will be topical questions pulled from the general chapter subjects being studied in that unit and you will have some choice in these questions.  All objective exams that are taken through Blackboard must be completed by midnight of the unit deadline, and all essay exams must be taken at an ACC Testing Center (check their operating hours) by the same deadline for that unit of study.

A comprehensive final will consist of 100 multiple choice questions and will cover the entire course - that is, all 14 chapters. If you take all five exams, I will drop your lowest test score in this class. In other words, if you miss one of the unit exams, then you must take the comprehensive final to replace that score of zero. Alternatively, if you want to improve your point total, you can take the comprehensive final and I will substitute your score on it for your lowest unit exam score. 

If you are satisfied with your point total on your four exams and other course work, you do not have to take the optional final.  If you do take the optional final, I will only use the grade if it helps (that is, if it's higher than your lowest test score). The optional final will be available in Testing Centers and will NOT be available through Bb.

Assignments

As part of your work in this course, you will be submitting four unit assignments, each worth up to fifty points. More information about these unit assignments will be available on the course Bb page. 

Discussion Boards

For each unit of study, there will be one required discussion board ("message board") in which you will research and discuss questions with your classmates related to the topics covered in that unit. Please note that these forums will be open only while that unit of the course is currently under study (the test deadline is also the forum deadline for any unit). I will not grade discussion board postings that are dated after the unit deadline. 

Everyone is expected to participate in the forum for each unit (you may earn up to 30 points per unit, 20 points for your main research-based post and ten points for your comments on your classmates' postings).   Participation means that you've followed the instructions and done the research before posting thoughtful, thorough, and relevant information and reasoned observations, either in response to the forum question or the forum instructions or in response to something one of your classmates has posted.  You will also be expected to follow an acceptable citation style in your postings and to properly cite your sources.  More information about these discussion boards can be found on the course Blackboard page.

Information about how I grade these discussion boards can be found on the FAQs page.

Required Email

During the first week of the semester, after you have thoroughly read this syllabus and its accompanying links, please send me an email (Email: gls@austincc.edu) with your course/section number in the subject heading and include the following information (A and B below). Sending this email satisfies the online orientation requirement for this course.

A. Your name, street address, preferred phone number, ACC g-mail address.  (Note:  Blackboard allows me to send emails to the class, but it ONLY uses students' ACC g-mail addresses, so you must activate this account and check it regularly - or you can have email sent to g.austincc.edu forwarded to another account.  For more information visit www.austincc.edu/google)

B. Affirmative statements that answer the following questions.  For instance, if the question says "Have you read the syllabus thoroughly?"  Your email will say "I have read the syllabus thoroughly", and so on.  If I do not receive affirmative statements that are complete sentences, I will ask you to send me another orientation email.

1.  Have you read the syllabus thoroughly?  Have you read the "FAQs about PCM classes" thoroughly?

2. Have you located ACC's Blackboard site and successfully logged in?  Have you activated your ACC g-mail address?

3. Have you taken the Government Department's Learning Style Self-Assessment?  What was your score?

4.  Do you understand the basic course requirements, policies, and procedures?  Have you acquainted yourself with the Testing Center's procedures and operating hours at the various campuses?

5.  Have you noted the due dates for each unit of the course? Do you understand that late tests, assignments, or discussion postings will not be accepted?

6.  Do you understand that deadlines should not be regarded as the only day to submit work, but rather as the last possible moment that an assignment may be submitted?

7.  Have you located the study tools, discussion boards, tutorials, chapter PowerPoint slides and other things that are available on the course Bb page and/or on the textbook Web site? Have you found the Student Tools section so that you know how to check your grades through Bb?

8.  Which Testing Center do you plan to use to take the exams in this course?  (You may end up using a different one, but this helps me know which Testing Centers will be sending me completed exams.)

9.  Do you understand that you are responsible for withdrawing from this course by the College deadline if you decide that you cannot complete the course?

10.  Do you know what the synonym and the section number is for this course (GOVT 2306)?  (You need to know this for the Testing Center, so you might as well learn it now.)

Send me this required email by the end of the first week of class. Once you have done that, you have completed the orientation process and are ready to move over to Blackboard and begin the course.

Contact Information
 

Emailing Me

The best way to communicate with me is through email.  I do my best to check email several times a day during the week, however, if you email me late on a Friday afternoon I cannot promise to respond before Monday.

When contacting me, always include your class and synonym or section number (e.g., GOVT 2306 099) in the subject heading of the email. And always include your first and last name when signing your message.  And please also note that ACC's servers automatically flag certain email addresses (yahoo, juno, etc.) as "spam", which means that those emails go straight into my "junk mail" folder.  If I'm scrolling through that folder, it's easy to spot the legitimate emails because they have a subject heading of GOVT 2306-105 rather than "get rid of extra pounds" or "our store is your cure-all".  Thanks!

 

Course Policies

Scholastic Dishonesty: As described in the ACC Student Handbook, scholastic dishonesty constitutes a violation of college rules and regulations and is punishable according to the procedures outlined in the Handbook. Scholastic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating on an exam or quiz, plagiarism, and collusion.

Plagiarism includes use of another author's words or arguments without attribution. Collusion is defined as the unauthorized collaboration with another person in preparing written work for fulfillment of course requirements.

Please do your own work in this class.  Do not share your answers or work with your classmates.  Do not copy and paste information from wikipedia or any other Web source and present it as your own work.  If your work appears too similar to that of a classmate, or too similar to what appears on a Web site, I will investigate and bring charges of academic dishonesty if warranted.  You may not work on assignments with your classmates and then submit the same answers.  That is considered collusion as described above. You may never use anyone else's words or statistics without using quotation marks and listing the source of the quote. Failing to use quotation marks and list the source is considered plagiarism as described above.

Academic work submitted by students shall be the result of their thought, research, or self-expression. Academic work includes, but is not limited to, tests, quizzes, papers or projects, classroom presentations, and homework. If a student commits any of the above actions, the instructor will impose disciplinary action in the form of an academic penalty of zero on the paper or assignment in question and, where necessary, a course grade of 'F'.

Withdrawals: You may withdraw any time during the semester until August 9 without academic penalty. To withdraw from any class, you must do it officially by filling out the required form with Admissions & Records. The responsibility of officially withdrawing rests entirely with you. I will not withdraw any student from the course, even if that student never takes a single exam. I will also not sign off on retroactive withdrawals. The withdrawal deadline can't be ignored or finessed.

Academic Freedom: Each student is encouraged to participate in the course discussion forums. Such participation means expressing your personal views or observations as they relate to the questions under discussion. Your grade will not be affected by the content of your views - in other words, I don't have to agree with you. However, in order to foster inquiry and ensure that everyone can express his or her views freely, we will all respect the views of others when expressed during such forums.

Office for Students with Disabilities: Each ACC campus offers support services for students with documented physical, cognitive, 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 contact a campus OSD office before the semester begins to better ensure that accommodations are implemented in a timely manner.