ECON 2301
Instructor: James Sondgeroth
SPRING 2006
| Blackboard | |
OFFICE HOURS OFFICE: Pinnacle Campus, Rm.1029
Phone: 223-8135
E-mail: jason@austincc.edu
| Office Hours: | Tuesday | NOON - 4:00 p.m. |
| Wednesday | 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. | |
| Thursday | NOON - 4:00 p.m. |
The purpose of this course is to familiarize the student with the generally accepted principles of macroeconomics. Macroeconomics is concerned with such things as, economic growth, unemployment, inflation, and the business cycle. Though ultimately based on the actions of individual households and business firms (microeconomics), macroeconomics deals with aggregates--i.e., consumers as a whole, producers as a whole, exporters and importers as a whole, fiscal policy --the effects of government spending and taxation, and the monetary policy of the central bank.
The course is subdivided into several major areas as follows: (1) microeconomic foundation; (2) national income accounting; (3) growth; (4) inflation; (5) unemployment; (6) money and banking; (7) international trade and the exchange rate; (8) the business cycle; (9) national income determination with the effects of fiscal and monetary policy included; (10) an explanation of our current situation.
Course Description, Rationale, and Common Course Objectives/Student Outcomes
as established by the economics department:
1. Course Description- Principles of Macroeconomics deals with consumers as a whole, producers as a whole, the effects of government spending and taxation policies and the effects of the monetary policy carried out by the Federal Reserve Bank. Macroeconomics is concerned with unemployment, inflation, and the business cycle.
2. Course Rationale- This course is meant to give students insight into the dynamics of our national economy. The knowledge gained in the course will make students better informed citizens and allow them to follow the debates over national economic policy reported in the news media. This course is also a foundation course that will prepare students to be successful in upper division finance, marketing, business administration, economics, government, and social work courses.
3. Common Course Objectives/Student Outcomes.
Students who complete this course will be able to understand:
- the meaning of unemployment and inflation data and how that data is collected and computed;
- the meaning and components of the National Income Accounts, especially GDP;
- the meaning of the business cycle and its phases;
- and to manipulate the basic Aggregate Supply, Aggregate Demand model of the macro economy;
- how fiscal policy operates, its tools, and its advantages and drawbacks;
- how a fractional reserve banking system works;
- how monetary policy operates, its tools, and its advantages and drawbacks.
Required Macroeconomics, Edition 7, by Roger A. Arnold (South-Western College Publishing, 2005) Recommended On-line study guide with dynamic and interactive graphs, a graph making tool, lecture videos, and quizzes of the material covered in the textbook is available at the textbook's web site http://arnoldxtra.swlearning.com/. See below for instructions on how to access this site.
If you purchased a new textbook, you should have a thin cardboard page right behind the front cover that gives the registration information for "Xrta!". At the bottom of this page is a tear out card with a serial number on it. Follow the instructions on this card to enter the Arnold Xtra! site.If you have purchased a used textbook, you can buy access to this site for $11.95 at http://arnoldxtra.swlearning.com/econ7e/index.html.
NOTE: Purchase is not required.
If you have the time and inclination, the material on this site can be a great help to you in this course.
See below for the extra credit homework/quiz assignments that will be available on Blackboard from Arnold's Xtra!
The essay questions that will compose part of the exams will function as broad learning objectives for the course and will be handed out well in advance of the exams.
These questions can be found by clicking here.
Learning objectives for each chapter you will study are listed at the beginning of each chapter in the textbook; a more extensive list can be found on Arnold's Xtra! site. Read them carefully before you read an assigned chapter. They are there to help you read the chapter. They are there to help you focus your mind on the important concepts and theories discussed in the chapter. The exams will test your knowledge of and ability to apply these learning objectives. Knowing this will help you efficiently allocate your mental energies.
The web site for Arnold's textbook, http://arnoldxtra.swlearning.com/, contains a link to "Mastering the Learning Objectives" for each chapter that you might want to use.
Regular attendance is expected. Frequent exposure to an instructor's explanations is an important factor in a student's ability to master the material covered. Although I will not penalize students for missing class (they are hurting themselves by cutting), I will reward students who attend frequently by awarding them extra credit points. These extra credit points will equal around 5% of the course grade. See the section on Extra Credit Points below.
Blackboard (http://acconline.austincc.edu) is an on-line classroom management tool. It includes a grade book, a discussion board, ways to communicate between students and between students and professor, and a testing facility.Instructions on how to log into this course's Blackboard site can be found at http://itdl.austincc.edu/blackboard/stlogin.htm.
Please 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 your instructors can see your grade information. And even then, each instructor will only be able to see the grades in the course that they are teaching.
There will be four midterm objective/multiple choice exams, two essay exams, and a comprehensive final exam administered to students during the semester.
The four midterm objective/multiple-choice exams will consist of 25 questions. These exams will be administered on-line through the course's Blackboard site. You can take them at home if you like. These exams will be timed; you will have 40 minutes to complete them. The multiple choice questions on these exams will be directly correlated to 12 to 15 of the essay questions/learning objectives handed out in class and available on the Internet.
Each of the objective exams will be worth 100 points. Students must take them by the deadlines set in the "Tentative Lecturing Schedule." Students may request to take a re-test on these exams, but these re-tests must be completed within a week after the initial deadline for the exam being re-tested.
The lowest grade of these four exams will be dropped when a student's final grade is calculated.
The two essay exams will be based on the essay questions/learning objectives that will be handed out well before the exams; these questions are available on the Internet from the very beginning of the semester. There will be anywhere from 20 to 30 questions on these handouts. On examination day I will randomly select 4 questions from the handout, and these questions will constitute the essay part of the exam. The essay exams will be administered in class.
For the essay part of the exam, students will be allowed to use two sheets (8.5 X 11) of paper with handwritten notes on both sides. These notes must be turned in with the exam. These notes will be returned with the graded essay exams. You should keep these notes since you will be able to use them on the final exam.
A Blue Book must be used for the essay part of the exam. If there is enough room in the Blue Book, it may be used for both midterm exams. If you have never used a Blue Book, please see the professor before you buy one.
Each essay exam will be worth 100 points.
The final exam will consist of 50 objective questions and will contain no essay questions. The final exam will be administered in class. Students will be able to use the four sheets of notes they prepared for the two midterm essay exams on the final exam. The final exam will be comprehensive.
Each objective/multiple-choice midterm exam will be worth 100 points -- 300 points total after the lowest objective/multiple-choice midterm exam grade is dropped.
Each essay exam will be worth 100 points each--200 points total.
The final exam will also be worth 400 points.
Altogether exams will be worth 900 points or 90% of your semester grade.
Homework assignments will come from the "Questions and Problems" and the "Working with Numbers and Graphs" sections at the end of the chapters in the textbook. There will be up to 18 homework assignments during the semester. You need complete only 10 of these to receive full credit for the homework component of the course. Each assignment will be worth up to 10 points. If you do 10 of these assignments you can earn up to 100 points, or 10% of the course grade. If you want to earn extra credit you can complete more than 10 assignments. Each assignment over the 10 required that you turn in can earn you up to 10 additional extra credit points.
All assignments must be turned in on time. See Homework assignments for the deadlines for each assignment. I will not accept any late homework no matter what the reason. There are 18 opportunities to complete the required 10 homework assignments.
Homework assignments will be worth 100 points or 10% of your grade.
There are 1000 points available all together. The four objective/multiple-choice midterm exams will be worth a total of 300 points after eliminating the lowest grade. The essay exams be worth 200 points total. The final exam will also also be worth 400 points. The homework assignments will be worth a total of 100 points.
Final letter grades will be distributed according to the following scale:
| Letter Grade | Points | Percent |
| A | 1000-900 | [100-90%] |
| B | 899-800 | (90-80%] |
| C | 799-650 | (80-65%] |
| D | 649-550 | (65-55%] |
| F | 549-0 | (55-0%] |
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 the first two exams with a C or better. The student must also come by my office to fill out an incomplete 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 four 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 no tests or only a few of the tests and the semester ends without you 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. For example, if a student misses more than seven classes, the instructor can unilaterally initiate a student withdrawal.
The last day to withdraw from this course without penalty is Monday, April 24..
Points in addition to the maximum points possible from exams and homework assignments are available through good attendance. Each student will start with 50 extra credit points for attendance. Each absence will reduce these extra credit points by a number of points as shown in the table below:
absence 0 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th points deducted for absence 0 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89 144 233 377 total extra credit points remaining 50 48 45 40 32 19 -2 -36 -91 -180 -324 -557 -934 As you can see, if you miss more than five classes, your bonus points will go into the negative and will be subtracted from the points you have earned from exams and homework.
If you do more than the required homework assignments as explained in section under "Homework," then you will also earn extra credit points.Additional extra credit points will be available on the essay exams. A fifth, optional question will be drawn at the beginning of the essay exam. That question will be worth 10 extra credit points.
Finally, additional extra credit homework beyond that discussed above will be available on Blackboard under Assignments. These assignments are taken directly from Arnold's Xtra! web site.
On Arnold's Xtra! web site, you will find a link entitled "Quiz Your Knowledge." You can take this quiz on Arnold's web site, and you will receive feedback on well you have done on it with a listing of your correct and incorrect answers. However, this grade will not show up in your gradebook page in Blackboard.
The extra credit homework/quiz that will count toward your grade will be found on Blackboard under "Assignments." This material will exactly duplicate the questions from "Quiz Your Knowledge," so you should do very well on it. The only way you should miss very many questions on these homework assignments is if you do not take them. There will deadlines for taking them after which it will be absolutely impossible to take them. However, before that deadline passes, you may take these extra credit homework/quizzes over as many times as you please in order to improve your grade on them.
You will be awarded 0.2 points for each question you answer correctly. There will be 20 questions on each of these extra credit homework/quizzes, so you can earn up to 4 extra credit points on each one. There will be 12 quizzes available in all which means that it could be possible to earn up to 48 extra credit points doing these extra credit homework/quizzes.
The deadlines for taking these on-line quizzes will be the deadlines for the two mid-term exams. For example, if we cover the first five chapters for the first mid-term, then the quizzes over those chapters will be due by midnight of the day preceding the first mid-term.
|
Week No. |
CHAPTER/ASSIGNMENTS |
|
1 |
Introduction and Chapter 1 and Appendix A |
|
2 |
Chapters 2 |
|
3 |
Chapter 3 |
|
4 |
FIRST OBJECTIVE EXAM ONLINE WILL BE AVAILABLE ON BLACKBOARD ON Thursday, February 9 AND MUST BE COMPLETED BY CLASS TIME Tuesday, February 14. It will tentatively cover Chapters 1, 2, and 3. |
|
5 |
Chapter 5 |
|
6 |
Chapter 6 |
|
7 |
Chapter 7 and Chapter 8 |
|
8 |
FIRST
ESSAY EXAM IN CLASS Thursday, March 9. SECOND OBJECTIVE EXAM ONLINE WILL BE AVAILABLE ON BLACKBOARD ON Tuesday, March 2 AND MUST BE COMPLETED BY CLASS TIME Thursday, March 9. It will tentatively cover Chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8. |
| SPRING BREAK MARCH 13 - MARCH 19 | |
|
9 |
Chapter 9 |
|
10 |
Chapter 10 |
|
11 |
Chapter 11 |
|
12 |
Chapter 12 |
|
13 |
Chapter 13 |
|
14 |
Chapter 14 |
|
15 |
SECOND
ESSAY
EXAM IN CLASS Thursday, May 4. FOURTH OBJECTIVE EXAM ONLINE WILL BE AVAILABLE ON BLACKBOARD ON Tuesday May 2, AND MUST BE COMPLETED BY CLASS TIME Thursday May 4. It will tentatively cover Chapters 12, 13, and 14. |
|
16 |
FINAL EXAM IN CLASS Thursday, May 11. |
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.