This syllabus is NOT up to date
Some links may still need corrections
synonym 25230
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Professor: |
Marianna Sidoryanskaya |
| Final Exam | Extra Credit Points Type 2 |
| Testing Centers | Extra Credit Points Type 3 |
| Academic Freedom | Scholastic Dishonesty |
| Students with Disabilities | Smarthinking: a free on-line tutoring service |
| Office Hours: | Monday | 12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. |
| Tuesday | 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. | |
| Wednesday | 12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. | |
| Thursday | 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. | |
| Friday | By appointment only | |
| by phone: | Call my office number M, T, W, or Th, and I will return your call within 24 hours. | |
| in person | Call my office to make an appointment. |
|
Office: |
Rm. 2204.20 |
CYP Phone: 223-2093 |
Messages: Please feel free to leave messages on Professor Sidoryanskaya's voice mail at 223-2093. She will return the calls as soon as she is in the office again.
E-mail: msidorya@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.
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.
Once you have done this, please make sure that your correct email address is listed on Blackboard. If it is not, please follow the instructions on this course's Announcement page of 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: Principles of Macroeconomics Course ID: 208F12-25230. 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
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.
Departmental Course Description, Rationale, Common Course Objectives/Student Outcomes, and Departmental Quiz
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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Required:
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1. Economics Today: The Macro View plus MyEconLab plus eBook
1-semester Student Access Kit, 14/E, by Roger LeRoy Miller
(Pearson/Addison-Wesley, 2008). There are several alternatives/formats
available. See additional discussion about how to
buy and to
use this book below by clicking HERE. |
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 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:
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.
Economics Today: The Macro View plus MyEconLab plus eBook 1-semester Student Access Kit, 14/E:
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, MyEconLab, and the associated eBook has been added.
Some version of the textbook, new, used, or eBook, is required. So is access to the course's MyEconLab site.
You can buy the eBook and MyEconLab 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. In fact, I see no reason why you couldn't use the 12th or 13th edition if you can find them. (Hint: Search engines). However, you need to be careful here, because in all probability you will not receive a access kit that has not been used, even if you buy a used 14th edition. So, if you do buy used, you will most likely still need to buy access to MyEconLab. Instructions on how to do this can also be found below.
WHERE TO PURCHASE:
Here are the directions (which are pretty much like those above except for step
'd':
MyEconLab: --Student Features:
(The following information about MyEconLab was taken from the publisher's web site at http://myeconlab.com/productinfo/stu_features.shtml. It is worth a visit since additional information in the form of javascript windows is present on that page.)
Students benefit when they arrive for class confident and prepared. MyEconLab 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.
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.
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.
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. MyEconLab has a suite of graphing tools for practice and current news articles that tie chapter topics to everyday issues.
Test and Other Assignments
MyEconLab 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:
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 MyEconLab 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 MyEconLab 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 MyEconLab.
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 MyEconLab.
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.
CHAPTER ASSIGNMENTS/TESTING***
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UNIT I |
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Chapter 1: The Nature of Economics |
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Chapter 2: Scarcity and the World of Trade-Offs |
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Chapter 3: Demand and Supply |
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Chapter 4: Extension of Demand and Supply Analysis |
Test over UNIT I due by October 10
for extra credit points.|
UNIT II |
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Chapter 7: The Macroeconomy: Unemployment, Inflation, and Deflation |
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Chapter 8: Measuring the Economy’s Performance |
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Chapter 9: Global Economic Growth and Development |
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Chapter 10: Real GDP and the Price Level in the Long Run |
Test over UNIT II due by October 29
for extra credit points.|
UNIT III |
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Chapter 11: Classical and Keynesian Macro Analyses |
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Chapter 12: Consumption, Real GDP, and the Multiplier |
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Chapter 13: Fiscal Policy |
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Chapter 14: Deficit Spending and the Public Debt |
Test over UNIT III due by November 14
for extra credit points.|
UNIT IV |
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Chapter 15: Money, Banking, and Central Banking |
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Chapter 16: Money Creation and Deposit Insurance |
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Chapter 17: Domestic and International Dimensions of Monetary Policy |
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Chapter 18: Stabilization in an Integrated World Economy |
Test over UNIT IV due by December 5
for extra credit points.
FINAL EXAM due by December 10.
| All midterm exams will be available on Blackboard for re-testing purposes through
December 9.
All re-tests of midterm exams must be taken before December 10. There will be absolutely no testing or re-testing over midterm exams after December 9. 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 3.75% of the course grade. You can earn additional extra credit points by doing more than the required MyEconLab Homework & Quizzes. Details about all the extra credit points available can be found under "Extra Credit Points" below.
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, Economics Today: The Macro View.The exams over each Unit assigned will include ten question
s 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. 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.
Once again, the midterm 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 the opportunity to re-test each exam twice. Students do not have to re-test at all. If a student is satisfied with his score after the initial attempt, 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.
Students will be allowed three attempts on each on-line, mid-term exam--the initial attempt and two re-tests. Blackboard 8 allows these exams to be re-set without the permission of or action by your instructor. If you want to take a re-test, just go to Assignments and the folder that contains the exam you want to re-test. Click on the link for that exam, and a message window will pop up asking you if you really want to re-test. If you indicate that you do want to re-test, then the old grade will be removed and you will be allowed to re-test. You score on the re-test will completely replace your old score on the exam.
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 9. All re-tests of midterm exams must be taken before December 10. There will be absolutely no testing or re-testing over midterm exams after December 9. There is no re-testing on the final.
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 the Testing Centers on the Northridge, Rio Grande, South Austin, 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, or Fredericksburg testing centers after December 4, 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 a 8.5x11 inch piece of paper with notes written 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.
MyEconLab.com is the online study guide which accompanies our Miller text. 25% of your grade, 1000 points, will come from MyEconLab Homework and Quizzes. MyEconLab is required, not optional.
MyEconLab 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.
Deadlines for the Homework Assignments and Quizzes on MyEconLab can be found here: http://www.austincc.edu/msidorya/homework/macro/12wfallMEL.htm.
Grading is based on the total number of possible points available on the exams and the required MyEconLab 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 |
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Exam 2 |
= |
(40) X (10) |
= |
400 |
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Exam 3 |
= |
(40) X (10) |
= |
400 |
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Exam 4 |
= |
(40) X (10) |
= |
400 |
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MyEconLab Homework |
= |
= |
333 |
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MyEconLab Quizzes |
= |
= |
667 |
||
Final Exam |
= |
(50) X (28) |
= |
1400 |
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| Total Possible Points | 4000 |
Number of Points needed for Final Letter Grade
4000-3600 |
(100-90%) |
A |
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3599-3200 |
(89.9-80%) |
B |
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3199-2600 |
(79.9-65%) |
C |
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2599-2200 |
(64.9-55%) |
D |
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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 equal to21% 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.
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, the final, and required MyEconLab Homework & Quizzes.
Extra Credit Type 2: Completing more than the required number of Homework assignments and Quizzes on MyEconLab
:MyEconLab 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 MyEconLab web site.147 plus 293 equal 440 points, and together constitute 11% of 4000 points.
Extra Credit Type 3: Taking MyEconLab Tests on the unassigned chapters of the textbook.
:Chapters 5, 6, 19, 33, and 34 are not assigned and will not be covered on any mid-term exam on Blackboard or on the Final Exam.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 this past spring, 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.
The last day to withdraw from this course without penalty is Monday, November 24..
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EXAM |
Unit Covered |
Chapters Covered |
Exam Deadline for Extra Credit Points |
Location of Exam |
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1 |
I |
1, 2, 3,4(not 5-6) |
October 10 |
Blackboard |
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2 |
II |
7, 8, 9. 10 |
October 29 |
Blackboard |
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3 |
III |
11, 12, 13, 14 |
November 14 |
Blackboard |
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4 |
IV |
15, 16, 17, 18 |
December 5 |
Blackboard |
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Final |
ALL |
1-18 (not 5-6) |
December 10 |
Testing Center |
|
All midterm exams will be available on Blackboard for re-testing purposes through
December 9. All re-tests of midterm exams must be taken before December 10. There will be absolutely no testing or re-testing over midterm exams after December 9. There is no re-test for the final exam. |
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. 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.
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.