Under Construction!
August 27- December 16
Professor: |
Marianna Sidoryanskaya |
M.,W. 9:00a.m. - 1:30 a.m. |
CYP |
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CYP |
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CYP
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Office: |
Rm. 2204.17 |
CYP Phone: 223-2093 |
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
Blackboard is an on-line classroom management tool. It includes a grade book, an announcements page, a discussion board, and a facility for administering on-line tests and quizzes.
Instructions on how to log into this course's Blackboard site can be found at http://itdl.austincc.edu/blackboard/stlogin.htm.
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 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 Microeconomics Course ID: 207F16-06546. 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 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 #1: |
1. Microeconomics: 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 use this book below by clicking HERE. |
Required #2: |
2. Aplia, by Paul Romer (Aplia, Inc., 2006). See below for more information about this on-line resource. |
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 and on Aplia. 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.
Microeconomics: 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 indicat 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.
Aplia is a website developed by Professor Paul Romer of
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.
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 and experiments the instructor has selected from Aplia. Communication will be done through the a listserv and the email address given above. 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 record the total grade recorded in Aplia's gradebook to the gradebook available on the course's ACC Blackboard site. This is done because the grading system in this class is based on a point system.
See below for the homework assignments.
WHERE TO PURCHASE:
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 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.
Mandatory Student Progress Assessment Meetings
To receive credit for this course, students must contact the instructor TWICE during the semester. 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.
ACTIVEBOOK CHAPTER
ASSIGNMENTS/TESTING***
UNIT
I |
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Chapter 1: The Economic
Perspective and Appendix 1 |
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Chapter 2: Production and
Trade |
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Chapter 3: Demand and
Supply |
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Chapter 4: The Power of
Prices |
Test over UNIT I due by September 25 th for extra credit points.
UNIT
II |
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Chapter 5: Elasticity:
Measuring Responsiveness |
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Chapter 6: Consumer
Behavior |
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Chapter 7: The Firm and
Production |
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Chapter 8: Costs and
Profit-Maximizing Output |
Test over UNIT II due by October 16 th for extra credit points.
UNIT
III |
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Chapter 9: Pure
Competition |
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Chapter 10: Monopoly and
Antitrust |
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Chapter 11: Oligopoly and
Monopolistic Competition |
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Chapter 12: Markets for
Labor and Other Inputs |
Test over UNIT III due by November 13 th for extra credit points.
UNIT
IV |
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Chapter 13: Earnings and
Income Distribution |
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Chapter 14: Public Goods,
Regulation, and Information |
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Chapter 15: Externalities
and Common Property Resources |
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Chapter 16: Public Choice |
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Chapter 17: International Trade |
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 th. |
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 4% 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."
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 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 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. 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. 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 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.
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. Email me at msidorya@austincc.edu to request a re-test.
YOU SHOULD TAKE THE EXAMS NO LATER THAN THE LISTED DATE.
For all deadlines click here.
However, all exams will be available on Blackboard until December 11 at midnight.
Contact the instructor if you are unable to take any of the exams by the listed date.
The Final Exam must be taken in a
You MUST show your student ID and a photo
ID in order to take an exam at a
The Final Exam can be taken at the Testing Centers on the Northridge,
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 18, since this chapter is not assigned in this course; it is covered in the ECON 2301 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
More information about the final can be found on this course's Blackboard site.
There is no re-testing on the final exam.
Aplia contains highly interactive problem sets, tutorials, news analyses, readings, and experiments.
The number of points available from these problem sets, tutorials, news analyses, readings, and experiments varies. 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.
Actually, at this point, there are 669 points available on the Aplia web site. 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. But the number I will record in the Blackboard gradebook will be two times greater; theoretically, you could earn 1338 points by doing Aplia homework.
IMPORTANT: To repeat, 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 669 points on Aplia, the total points recorded in the course's ACC Blackboard site will be 1338 points. The 338 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 Chapter 1 is due before 11:00 pm September 3rd, Chapter 2 is due before 11:00 pm September 10 and so on.
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.
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 Ayer'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.
Due Dates for |
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UNIT I |
UNIT I |
Chapter 1 |
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Chapter 2 |
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Chapter 3 |
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Chapter 4 |
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UNIT II |
UNIT II |
Chapter 5 |
|
Chapter 6 |
|
Chapter 7 |
|
Chapter 8 |
|
|
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UNIT III |
UNIT III |
Chapter 9 |
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Chapter 10 |
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Chapter 11 |
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Chapter 12 |
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|
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UNIT IV |
UNIT IV |
Chapter 13 |
NONE |
Chapter 14 |
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Chapter 15 |
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Chapter 16 |
NONE |
Chapter 17 |
Grading
is based on the points available on the exams, required Aplia
homework, and Aplia experiments. 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 |
Aplia
Homework |
= |
1000 |
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Final Exam |
= |
(50) X (28) |
= |
1400 |
Total Possible Points |
4000 |
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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 |
|
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 12.2% of the 4000 points available on exams and required Aplia homework 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 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 a unit as long as you met the deadline and you took 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 3.75% 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 on Aplia :
Aplia homework assignments constitute 25% of the required
total grade for the course. That is 1000 out of a total of 4000 points. See the
list of assignments and their due dates above under Aplia Homework.
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 669 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 1338points
from Aplia. Only 1000 points are needed in order to
make a 100% grade on Aplia homework. So if you did
earn 1338 points on Aplia
homework, 338 of those points would be
considered extra credit points.
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. 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 26rd..
For Principles of Microeconomics PCM
EXAM Unit Covered |
Chapters Covered |
Exam Deadline for Extra Credit Points |
Location of Exam |
|
1 |
I |
1, 2, 3, 4 |
September 25 |
Blackboard |
2 |
II |
5, 6, 7, 8 |
October 16 |
Blackboard |
3 |
III |
9, 10, 11, 12 |
November 13 |
Blackboard |
4 |
IV |
13, 14, 15, 16, 17 |
December 4 |
Blackboard |
Final |
ALL |
ALL (not 18) |
December 12 |
Testing Center |
All midterm exams will be available on Blackboard
for re-testing purposes through December 11 . |
Due Dates for |
|
UNIT I |
UNIT I |
Chapter 1 |
|
Chapter 2 |
|
Chapter 3 |
|
Chapter 4 |
|
|
|
UNIT II |
UNIT II |
Chapter 5 |
|
Chapter 6 |
|
Chapter 7 |
|
Chapter 8 |
|
|
|
UNIT III |
UNIT III |
Chapter 9 |
|
Chapter 10 |
|
Chapter 11 |
|
Chapter 12 |
|
|
|
UNIT IV |
UNIT IV |
Chapter 13 |
NONE |
Chapter 14 |
|
Chapter 15 |
|
Chapter 16 |
NONE |
Chapter 17 |
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.