PCM = Internet Based

16 Week Session

 January 14 - May 9

Spring 2008

synonym 11310

Instructor:

JAMES SONDGEROTH

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Messages: Please feel free to leave messages on Mr. Sondgeroth's voice mail at 223-8135. He will return the calls as soon as he is in the office again.

E-mail: jamesesondgeroth@yahoo.com

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 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 to the email address given above and the course listserv, communication will be done through the Discussion Board that is part of the course's Blackboard site.

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: 208S16-11310. 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

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Course Description:

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.

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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.

Instructional Resources:

Required:	1. Macroeconomics: 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 buy and to use this book below by clicking HERE.
Required:	2. Aplia, by Paul Romer (Aplia, Inc., 2006). See below for more information about this on-line resource.

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Learning Objectives:

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. 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:

1. List what topics the questions on the exams will cover and what pages in the textbook those topics are covered on. (See Learning Objectives)
2. Define all the key terms introduced in the chapter and listed in the "end-of-chapter resources" on the textbook's on-line activebook web page.
3. Answer questions drawn from the "Explore & Apply" section in the textbook.
4. Successfully complete all the "active exercises" and "active graphs" on the textbook's on-line activebook web page.
5. Take the "Practice Quiz" and "Test Yourself" quizzes at the end of each chapter on the on-line activebook.

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.

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Macroeconomics: Explore & Apply, Enhanced Edition, 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 indicate 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.

WHERE TO PURCHASE:

1. ACC Bookstores have the following textbook for sale:  Macroeconomics: Explore & Apply, Enhanced Edition, Activebook Version 2.0, by Ronald M. Ayers and Robert A. Collinge (Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2005). ISBN # 0131855573. This package will contain a hard copy of the text and an Access Code for the on-line material and the eBook. The eBook is almost identical to the material in the hard copy minus the material mention in the paragraphs above.
   
   I estimate the selling price will be $84.60 with a key for the on-line material.
   
   If the ACC bookstore at the campus nearest you does not carry this text, it can have it sent over from the main ACC bookstore. The main ACC Bookstore is located at 817 W. 12th Street. This is near the Rio Grande Campus. Its telephone number is (512) 474-2704. You can order the text on-line through the ACC Bookstore by visiting http://austincc.bkstore.com.
    
2. If you wouldn't mind using just the eBook (no hard copy), you can buy access to the eBook only.  Access to the eBook, through my Course Compass course, costs $35.60. (Students who buy the new text in item #1 above for $84.60 will have access to this eBook also.)
   
   Here are the directions for doing this if it interest you:
   
   For student access code purchase only:
   
   Go to http://info.coursecompass.com/website/student_register.html
   / Under the section of the page entitled "Student Access Card" click on the link right above the credit card icons. That link is called "Purchase online access now with a credit card."
   / Enter the course ID: sondgeroth11414
   / On the next page you will be able to purchase
   OneeKey Grade Assist for Ayers, Collinge Macroeconomics: Explore and Apply Enhanced for $35.60.
   

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APLIA:

Aplia is a website developed by Professor Paul Romer of Stanford University. The instructor of this course will be assigning homework from this site. 

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. (However, if you would like to get an early start on Aplia, please go to http://www.austincc.edu/sondg/Aplia/Macro/key/2007-2008/spring08.html.)

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 the instructor has selected from Aplia. Communication will be done through the email address given above, the course listserv, and the Discussion Board that is part of the course's Blackboard site.  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 transfer the total grade recorded in Aplia's gradebook, appropriately adjusted, to the gradebook available on the course's ACC Blackboard site.

See below for the homework assignments.

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Recommended Study Method:

As a student you should:

1. Spend as much time studying for this non-traditional course as you would have spent if you had registered for this course in its traditional lecture format - going to lectures and doing homework. This translates into about 12 hours a week for this 16 week course.
2. Not procrastinate, and you should not cram for exams. Set up a regular study schedule for this course and stick to it!
3. Read the learning objectives supplied by the instructor. The learning objectives listed in activebook at the beginning of each online chapter are more general than those composed by the instructor. The instructor's learning objectives will be correlated to the examination questions.
4. Study the assigned textbook material. This includes the "Explore & Apply " sections found at the end of most chapters.
5. Work through the questions in the Self-Study Quiz and the Test Yourself found in the "end-of-chapter resources" in your activebook. (Note: the Self-Study Quiz can be found at ACC Blackboard/ECON 2301/Course Documents/Chapter you are studying, and it can be found in the activebook.)
6. Go through all the "active" examples, exercises, concept checks, and graphs. Go through the "smart graph" exercises also. (Both of these can be found at ACC Blackboard/ECON 2301/Course Documents/Chapter you are studying and in the activebook.)
7. Go through all of the applicable Aplia practice and graded homework problem sets for a given chapter/unit in the text.
8. Take the four midterm exams and the final by their assigned deadline dates.

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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 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.

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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 Aplia homework. Details about all the extra credit points available can be found under "Extra Credit Points" below.

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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 5. 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.

If you want to take a re-test, you will need to email me to request that I re-set the exam you want to re-test.  Blackboard does not automatically re-set exams, so do not be bashful about making these requests if you want to re-test.

For all deadlines click here.  

However, all exams will be available on Blackboard for re-testing purposes through May 6. All re-tests of midterm exams must be taken before May 7. There will be absolutely no testing or re-testing over midterm exams after May 6.  There is no re-testing on the final.

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 April 29, 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.

You can earn up to 100 points for each experiment you participate in. There will be several iterations of each experiment; to earn all 100 points, you will need to participate in each iteration. There will be two required experiments scheduled during the semester;  two additional experiments will also be scheduled for extra credit points. These two additional experiments will be worth 100 Extra Credit points each. See the section that explains extra credit points.

See Aplia Homework assignments above for the dates and times of these experiments.

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Grading is based on the total number of possible points available on the exams. 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.