PCM-Internet based Distance Learning Section
|
Instructor: |
KRISTYN BROWN |
|
1205 Round Rock Campus |
|
Messages: Voice mail: 223-1790 box
22645#
E-mail: kbrown@austincc.edu
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, Blackboard has its own email system. Be sure you have entered your correct email address into your Personal Information on Blackboard, or I will not be able to respond to emails you send me.
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.
DON’T HAVE A USERNAME AND PASSWORD YET?
If you have not created your new ACC Username or Password through ACCeID Manager, then please go to this link: https://acceid.austincc.edu/idm/user/login.jsp.
Do not fill in your Username and Password on this page, since you do not have either yet. DO CLICK on “First-Time Login.”
Your ACCeID will be the first letter of your legal, given, first name and your seven digit ACC ID number. For example, fictional student Adam Smith might have this Username a0067701.
Once you submit this Username, just follow the instructions.
Please make sure that your
correct email address is listed on Blackboard.
The first
day students can access Blackboard is typically the day after regular
registration ends.
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. 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
Course Description:
The purpose of this course is to familiarize you with the generally accepted principles of microeconomics. Microeconomics deals with the interactions between and among households and business firms; it deals with the process by which we make our living under conditions of free market capitalism. In studying this process, the concepts of supply and demand are introduced. You will learn what these concepts mean, how they operate, how prices are determined, and how scarce resources are allocated.
Departmental Course Description, Rationale, Common Course Objectives/Student Outcomes, and Departmental Quiz
Students who complete this course will be able to understand:
|
Required: |
Economics Today: The Micro View plus PearsonMyLab newest edition, by Roger LeRoy Miller (Pearson/Addison-Wesley). |
This is a traditional introduction to macroeconomics college textbook. If you buy this text new, an access kit granting students access to the on-line homework site, PearsonMyLab, and the associated eBook have been added.
Some version of the textbook, new, used, or eBook, is required. So is access to the course's PearsonMyLab site.
You can buy the eBook and PearsonMyLab together as a package without the hardcopy of the textbook if you so desire. Instructions on how to do so can be found below.
You can buy used copies of this
text also. However, you need to be careful here, because in all probability you
will not receive an access kit that has not been used. So, if you do buy used,
you will most likely still need to buy access to PearsonMyLab.
Instructions on how to do this can also be found below.
WHERE TO PURCHASE:
Whichever option you choose, you will
need to regsiter at http://www.pearsonmylab.com/Be ready
with following:
PearsonMyLab--Student Features:
Students benefit when they
arrive for class confident and prepared. PearsonMyLab
is the only online assessment system that gives students the tools they need to
learn from their mistakes right at the moment they are struggling.
I.
Personalized
Study Plan
A Study
Plan is generated from each student's results on Sample Tests and instructor
assignments. Students can clearly see which topics they have mastered-and, more
importantly, which they need to work on. The Study Plan links to additional
practice problems and tutorial exercises to help on those topics.
II.
Unlimited
Practice
Many
Study Plan and instructor-assigned exercises contain algorithmically generated
values, ensuring students get as much practice as they need. Every problem
links students to learning resources that further reinforce concepts they need
to master.
III.
Learning
Resources
In the
lower-left corner of each practice problem is a link to the eText
page discussing the very concept being applied. Students also have access to
guided solutions, animated graphs, audio narratives, flashcards, and live
tutoring. PearsonMyLab has a suite of graphing tools
for practice and current news articles that tie chapter topics to everyday
issues.
IV.
Test
and Other Assignments
PearsonMyLab comes with two pre-loaded Sample Tests
for each chapter so students can self-assess their understanding of the
material. Instructors can assign these Sample Tests or create assignments using
a mix of publisher-supplied content and their own custom exercises.
As a student you should:
The examinations in this course are based on learning objectives composed by the instructor that you can find on Blackboard under Course Documents. Read these objectives carefully before you read the corresponding chapter in the textbook and do the activities, Study Plan, Homework, and Quiz on PearsonMyLab. 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:
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.
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 the textbook.
Step Six: Revise and improve your list and then use it to make the outline/map of the chapter.
Step Seven: Answer the "Study Plan" questions related to the chapter in PearsonMyLab so that you will know which parts of the chapter you have a weak understanding of.
Step Eight: Read the chapter in the text completely and thoroughly, especially those sections that the PearsonMyLab diagnosis states you have a weak understanding of.
Step Nine: 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 not been included before this time.
Step Ten: Answer the guided (and graded) Homework Assignments for the chapter in PearsonMyLab.
Step Eleven: Revise your outline/map one more time.
Step Twelve: Read over the chapter again.
Step Thirteen: Take the graded quiz for the chapter that the instructor has assigned in PearsonMyLab.
Step Fourteen: 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.
Exams are based on the Learning Objectives students are expected to master. Furthermore the exam questions will be drawn exclusively from the textbook, Economics Today: The Micro View.
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 4.
The midterm/unit exams will be administered over the internet through the courses Blackboard site.
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 exam is 1040. One billion is 1 followed by 9 zeros (109). 1040 is 1 followed by 40 zeros.
The online unit/midterm exams will also be timed. You will have 60 minutes to answer 40 questions.
In addition, the exams will be administered on the Blackboard internet course platform used by ACC, so students will need to sign on to Blackboard in order to take the exams.
Please note: Students will not be able to access Exam 2 until Exam 1 is passed with a grade of 70% or better. Students will not be able to access Exam 3 until Exam 2 is passed with a grade of 65% or better. The instructor reserves to right to drop from the class any student who has not passed Exam 1 by the last day of the semester to drop classes. The reason for this policy is that students who either have that much difficulty with the material or who fall that far behind rarely finish the class well.
If you are having trouble passing an exam, please contact the instructor for help. ThatÕs what IÕm here for.
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.
All exams will be available on
Blackboard until the last week of the semester. Be sure to make note of the
exact dates listed on Blackboard.
Contact
the instructor if you are unable to take any of the exams by the listed
date.
Contact
the instructor if you have fallen behind schedule so that you can put
together a plan to catch up.
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 any ACC Testing Centers. You will have your results immediately.
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, then questions over Chapter 2. You will find no questions over chapters which are 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 re-testing on the final exam.
PearsonMyLab.com is the online
study guide which accompanies our Miller text. 25% of your grade, 1000 points,
will come from PearsonMyLab Homework and Quizzes. PearsonMyLab is required, not optional.
PearsonMyLab has three types of assignments:
Each
question will have a panel of helps to the left of the window. These
"helps" include
The Results page will give you
your scores on each assignment, as well as your overall average.
Quizzes and Homework assignments will have due dates.
You will not
be able to do the assignments for credit after their deadlines have passed.
Please note: The system sometimes locks up and kicks the student out of a quiz. If this should happen to you, I can easily allow you access to the quiz to try again. However, the original deadlines will still hold. This means that if you are doing the quiz the evening it is due and you are unable to complete it, I will not be able to help you regain access to the quiz.
Grading is based on the points available on the exams and the required PearsonMyLab Homework & Quizzes. There are four required Unit exams and a required final exam. Each midterm 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 |
|
|
PearsonMyLab Homework |
= |
|
= |
333 |
|
|
PearsonMyLab Quizzes |
= |
|
= |
667 |
|
|
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 three ways to for students to improve their grades by earning
extra credit points. The total number of extra credit points possible is about 20% of the 4000
points available on exams and required PearsonMyLab
Homework & Quizzes alone.
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 find
these deadlines, as well as details on which chapters each test covers, on
Blackboard.
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 unit as long as you met the deadline the first time you took the exam.
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 3.75% of the total points available (4000) from the tests and required homework.
Extra Credit Type 2: Completing more than the
required number of Homework assignments and Quizzes on PearsonMyLab:
PearsonMyLab homework assignments and quizzes
constitute 25% of the total points for the course. That is 1000 out of a total
of 4000 points. The list of homework assignments and quizzes and their due
dates can be found on the PearsonMyLab web site.
The extra credit comes from the fact that if you actually did all of the
homework assignments and quizzes listed on PearsonMyLab
for this course, you could earn up to 1200 points. Every point beyond 1000 that
you earn on this part of the course will be added to your extra credit points.
Extra
Credit Type 3: Taking PearsonMyLab Tests on the
unassigned chapters of the textbook.:
Several chapters in the test are not assigned and will not
be covered on any mid-term exam on Blackboard or on the Final Exam. However
small tests over most of these chapters will be made available on PearsonMyLab. Each of these tests will be worth 100 points.
If students are looking for another way to improve their
grade, then they are encouraged to read these chapters and take these tests.
Students must make 70% or better to earn any points on these tests. This policy
is meant to discourage students from taking these tests without reading the
chapters.
There will be a total of 500 extra credit points available from these
tests.
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.
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.
In addition, students should be aware of a change in the law regarding Withdrawals passed by the Texas Legislature in the spring of 2007. Starting in the Fall of 2007, entering freshman will be restricted to six non-punitive withdrawals for the whole of their undergraduate careers while attending state colleges.
Please be sure to check on the ACC academic calendar or the assignments page of our Blackboard for the last day to withdraw from the course.
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.