NOTE: Before you buy the textbook for this course read the following carefully. I will be using the 12th edition of Arnold's Microeconomics WITH APLIA which is an on-line Study Guide and homework site. Homework will be assigned on Aplia and will count a significant percentage of your grade.
1. An eText with Aplia is available at the Aplia web site for $125
2. A loose leaf package, non-bound, with printed Aplia Access code is available
at the ACC bookstore for around $202 + tax. This will give you access tot he
eText also.
3. If you buy a new or used version of the text on-line or in the bookstore,
you will still need to buy access to Aplia for $125.
4. If you buy a previous edition of the textbook, I do have the table of contents
for the 9th edition, 10th edition, and 11th edition posted on the course's ACC
Blackboard site so that you can correlate the chapters of the 9th or 10th with
the chapters in the 11th. This will be much cheaper, but you will still need
to buy access to Aplia for $125.
Finally, on a completely different subject, this syllabus may undergo minor
changes up to the first day of the semester. The syllabus as it stands on the
first day of the semester will be the final arbiter of all questions about the
course, its assignments, its due dates, and its grading methodology. Small changes
to the syllabus as it now stands might be made before the first of the semester.
If you download this syllabus a substantial time before the beginning of the
semester, I encourage you to check back to see if there have been any changes,
such as deadline changes or grading changes, the first few days of class.
| Students with Disabilities | |
| Incompletes | Academic Freedom |
| Withdrawals | Scholastic Dishonesty |
|
Office: |
Pinnacle Campus/7748 Highway 290 West |
Rm. 1028 |
PIN Phone: 512-223-8135 (leave message with department secretary) |
The purpose of this course is to familiarize the student with the generally accepted principles of microeconomics. Microeconomics is concerned with how societies allocate scarce resources. Microeconomics deals with the interactions between and among households and business firms; it focuses on the behavior of people and deals with the process by which we make our living under conditions of free market capitalism.
The course is divided into several major areas as follows:
- The economic problem--scarcity
- Opportunity cost
- Comparative advantage and trade
- Capitalism and socialism
- Efficient allocation of scarce resources
- Demand and utility analysis
- Supply and cost analysis
- Factor markets
- Income distribution
- Market failure
- Market structure
- Government intervention failures
Course Description, Rationale, and Common Course Objectives/Student Outcomes
as established by the economics department:
1. Course Description- Principles of Microeconomics deals with the interactions between individual households and business firms. The concepts of supply and demand will be studied; students will learn what these concepts mean, how they operate, and how prices are determined. Market structure, market failure and income distribution will also be considered.
2. Course Rationale- This course is meant to give students insight into the dynamics of a market based economy and how through its mechanism scarce resources are allocated. The theoretical and actual role of the government in this market system will also be addressed. The knowledge gained in the course will make students better informed citizens and allow them to follow the debates over various economic events and policies 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 as established by the economics department.
Students who complete this course will be able to understand:
Microeconomics, 12th Edition, by Roger A. Arnold (South-Western College Publishing, 2015)
[The 11th edition will be fine. The pagination is different, so, if you do use an earlier edition, you will need to be sure you are reading the correct pages and doing the correct homework. Students should also read about Aplia which is a required on-line homework site. Students must buy access to this site, and access to it comes along with access to the eText of the 12th edition textbook, so you might want to reconsider buying an earlier edition of the textbook.]
If you are waiting for your copy of the textbook to be delivered to you or you don't have the money to buy it immediatedly, you can register for Arnold's eText through Aplia without paying immediately and use it for around 21 days. In approximately three weeks, on February 7, you will need to pay for accessAplia is an interactive, on-line Study Guide and Homework Assignment platform which includes an eText of the Arnold textbook.
Students can only register for Aplia through the course's ACC Blackboard site. Instructions on how to register or purchase access to Aplia can be found HERE.
Aplia has a grace period. If you choose to pay later, you may register for and use Apia through February 7 without paying.
The lecture topics/questions upon which the exams will be based will function as broad learning objectives for the course and will be handed out well in advance of the exams.
All of the multiple-choice questions found on the on-line exams will center about the same list of topical questions. The instructor will hand out the list of questions at the beginning of each segement of the course. Each segment will cover 14 to 18 of these questions. The instructor has composed a pool of 10 to 40 questions over each question. The on-line exams will randomly draw from 1 to 3 questions from each of these pools. As such, these questions will constitute learning objectives of this course.These questions can be found by clicking here.
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. Missing four of the 31 class meetings will result in an instructor initiated withdrawal.
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. The on-line, mid-term exams will be adminstered on Blackboard. On-line quizzes over the material covered in the testbook will also be administered on Blackboard.
Instructions on how to log into this course's Blackboard site can be found at http://itdl.austincc.edu/blackboard/stlogin.htm.
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.
Pre-Test:We will start the semester with an on-line pre-test which will be available on the course's ACC Blackboard site.
There will be twenty questions on this pre-test.
Students will receive 10 extra credit points for taking this pre-test. This extra credit is worth 1% of the course grade.
It must be taken before the second class meeting.Three Midterm Multiple-Choice Exams:
There will be three cumulative, midterm, multiple choice exams. The third exam could be viewed as a comprehensive final exam, because the cumulative nature of the objective mid-terms will go some way toward meeting the objectives of a comprehensive final exam.The three midterm multiple-choice exams will consist of between 30 and 50 questions. These exams will be administered on-line through the course's Blackboard site. The first two exams will be take home exams in that they will be available on Blackboard and will not be administered in the classroom. The third and last exam will be administered in the classroom on the last day of class. A wi-fi connectd laptop or tablet will be needed to take it. (If a student does not have such a devise, the instructor will provide a paper version if notified 48 hours in advance.)
The first on-line midterm objective/multiple-choice exam will consist of 30 questions worth 5points apiece for a total of 150 possible points.
The second on-line midterm objective/multiple-choice exam will consist of 40 questions worth 5 points apiece for a total of 200 possible points. It is a cumulative exam. This means that it will cover material from the first exam in addition to the material covered since the first exam.
The third on-line midterm objective/multiple-choice exam will consist of 50 questions worth 7 points apiece for a total of 350 possible points. It is a cumulative exam. This means that it will cover material from the first and second exams in addition to the material covered since the second exam.
The first two exams, which can be taken at home, are open note, open textbook exams.
For Exam 3, 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 after students complete the exam. Up to ten extra credit points will be awarded for these notes based on their thoroughness.
For each of these mid-term exams, a Practice Exam will be provided through Blackboard. This Practice Exam can be taken at home as a way to prepare for the actual exam. The practice exams will be made available at the same time as the actual exam. These Practice Exams will be worth 10 extra credit points each regardless of the score students make on them as long as they are taken before the actual exam is taken on Blackboard.
Summary of Exams weight in course:
Altogether the three cumulative, midterm, objective/multiple-choice, on-line, in-class exams will be worth 700 points or 70% of the grade. First Exam = 150 points. Second Exam = 200 points. Third Exam = 350 points. The Practice Exams = 30 extra credit points if taken before the start of the three actual exams.
- Aplia homework assignments (and maybe a few on-line experiments):
A major part of your grade will be earned by completing the graded homework assignment on Aplia.com.Aplia is an interactive, on-line Study Guide and Homework Assignment platform which includes an eText of the Arnold textbook.
THIS PART OF THE COURE WILL BE WORTH 200 POINTS, OR 20% OF THE COURSE GRADE.
Instructions on how to register or purchase access to Aplia, as well as the Access Code needed, can be found here: http://www.austincc.edu/sondg/Aplia/Micro/2016-2017/12thEdSpringEcon2302.pdf
If you choose to pay later, you may use Apia through February 7 without paying.
The number of points Aplia assigns to its problem sets greatly exceeds 200 points. In the past few semesters it has averaged around 750 points. I will take the percentage of Aplia points you have answered correctly and multiply that times 200 points to get the points I will record in the course's ACC Blackboard gradebook. The number of Aplia points could vary through the semester. This will mostly depend on how many market experiments the class does during the semester. Note that the number of points the instructor will multiply your Aplia average by will not vary; it will stay constant at 200 points. EXAMPLE: A student has earned 680 points on Aplia out of the 750 possible. That is 90.67% of the points possible on Aplia. (90.67%)*(200) = 181 points. 181 points will be recorded in the course's Blackbook gradebook for this student.
- On-line, multiple-choice homework/quizzes available on Blackboard:
There will be 13 on-line, multiple-choice quizzes available on Blackboard under Assignments. These quizzes will be based on the material covered in the chapters assigned this semester.
Each quiz will contain 10 multiple-choice questions worth one point each. Each quiz will be worth 10 points.
Ten of these quizzes are required as part of the grade, so the THREE lowest grades of the 13 will be dropped.
The Reading Quizzes will be worth 100 points or 10% of the course grade.
These on-line quizzes will be due by class time the day the on-line, multiple-choice exams over the same material are administered in class.
You will be allowed up to three attempts on each of these quizzes. I will use the highest grade you make on these attempts for grading purposes.
SCHECULED DATES for On-Line Multiple Choice Exams and DEADLINES for On-Line Arnold Chapter Reading Quizzes:
On-line Multiple-Choice Exam On-line Practice Exams On-line Arnold Chapter Reading Quizzes Exam 1 By Monday 10:30 am, March 6, on Blackboard Monday, March 6, by 10:30 a.m. Monday, March 6, by 10:30 a.m Exam 2 By Monday 10:30 am, April 17, on Blackboard Monday, April 17, by 10:30 a.m. Monday, April 17, by 10:30 a.m Exam 3 Wednesday, May 10, in class Wednesday, May 10, by 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 10, by 10:30 a.m.
There are 1000 points available all together. The three objective/multiple-choice midterm exams will be worth a total of 700 points. The on-line reading quizzes covering each chapter of the textbook that is assigned will be worth 100 points altogether. Finally there will be graded problems assigned from Aplia; these will be worth 200 points altogether.
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%] |
EXTRA CREDIT: The 1st Day information sheet is worth 10 extra credit points. The Syllabus Quiz is worth up to 20 extra credit points. Completion of the Pre-Test is worth 10 extra credit points if completed before the second class of the semester. The two sheets of handwritten notes on Exam 3 is worth up to 10 extra credit points if submitted after the exam. A Practice Exam taken before the an actual exam will be worth 10 extra credit points; since there are three exams, this will be worth 30 points altogether. Adding all this extra credit up gives a total of up to 80 extra credit points that are available in this class.
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.
The instructor will withdraw students who have four absences.
Outside that circumstance, 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 except for excessive absenses (four or more).
In addition, students should be aware of a change in the law regarding Withdrawals passed by the Texas Legislature in the spring of 2007. Starting in the Fall of 2007, entering freshman will be restricted to six non-punitive withdrawals for the whole of their undergraduate careers while attending state colleges.
The last day to withdraw from this course without penalty is Monday, April 24.
|
WEEK |
CHAPTER ASSIGNMENTS |
|
1 |
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|
2 |
|
|
3 |
Introduction and Chapter 1 |
|
4 |
Chapter 2 & first section of Chapter 20 |
|
5 |
Chapter 3 |
|
6 |
Chapter 4 |
|
7 |
FIRST OBJECTIVE EXAM ONLINE WILL BE ADMINISTERED ON BLACKBOARD and must be taken before class on Monday March 6. It will be available on Blackboard by Tuesday morning, February 28. It will tentatively cover Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, and part of 20. |
|
8 |
Chapter 6 |
|
9 |
Chapter 7 |
|
10 |
Chapter 8 |
|
11 |
Chapter 9 |
|
12 |
SECOND OBJECTIVE EXAM ONLINE WILL BE ADMINISTERED ON BLACKBOARD and must be taken before class on Monday, April 17. It will be available on Blackboard by Tuesday morning, April 11. It will tentatively cover Chapters 6, 7, 8, and 9 plus material from Exam 1. |
|
13 |
Chapter 13 & Chapter 16 |
|
14 |
Chapter 15 |
|
15 |
Chapter 10 & Chapter 11(very briefly) |
|
16 |
THIRD OBJECTIVE EXAM ONLINE WILL BE ADMINISTERED IN CLASS ON BLACKBOARD on Wednesday, May 10. It will tentatively cover Chapters 13, 16, 15, 10, and 11 and the material covered on EXAM 1 and EXAM 2. |
| On-line Multiple-Choice Exam | On-line Practice Exams | On-line Arnold Chapter Reading Quizzes | |
| Exam 1 | By Monday 10:30 am, March 6, on Blackboard | Monday, March 6, by 10:30 a.m. | Monday, March 6, by 10:30 a.m |
| Exam 2 | By Monday 10:30 am, April 17, on Blackboard | Monday, April 17, by 10:30 a.m. | Monday, April 17, by 10:30 a.m |
| Exam 3 | Wednesday, May 10, in class | Wednesday, May 10, by 10:30 a.m. | Wednesday, May 10, by 10:30 a.m. |
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 disabilities. Students
with disabilities who need classroom, academic or other accommodations must
request them through the office of Student Accessibility Services (SAS). Students
are encouraged to request accommodations when they register for courses or at
least three weeks before the start of the semester, otherwise the provision
of accommodations may be delayed. Students who have received approval for accommodations
from SAS for this course must provide the instructor with the ‘Notice of Approved
Accommodations’ from SAS before accommodations will be provided. Arrangements
for academic accommodations can only be made after the instructor receives the
‘Notice of Approved Accommodations’ from the student. Students with approved
accommodations are encouraged to submit the ‘Notice of Approved Accommodations’
to the instructor at the beginning of the semester because a reasonable amount
of time may be needed to prepare and arrange for the accommodations. Additional
information about Student Accessibility Services is available at http://www.austincc.edu/sas.
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.
Safty Statement: Austin Community College is committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for study and work. You are expected to learn and comply with ACC environmental, health and safety procedures and agree to follow ACC safety policies. Additional information on these can be found at http://www.austincc.edu/ehs. Because some health and safety circumstances are beyond our control, we ask that you become familiar with the Emergency Procedures poster and Campus Safety Plan map in each classroom. Additional information about emergency procedures and how to sign up for ACC Emergency Alerts to be notified in the event of a serious emergency can be found at http://www.austincc.edu/emergency/.
Please note, you are expected to conduct yourself professionally with respect and courtesy to all. Anyone who thoughtlessly or intentionally jeopardizes the health or safety of another individual will be dismissed from the day’s activity, may be withdrawn from the class, and/or barred from attending future activities.
You are expected to conduct yourself professionally with respect and courtesy to all. Anyone who thoughtlessly or intentionally jeopardizes the health or safety of another individual will be immediately dismissed from the day’s activity, may be withdrawn from the class, and/or barred from attending future activities.
Safty Statement: All College e-mail communication to students will be sent solely to the student’s ACCmail account, with the expectation that such communications will be read in a timely fashion. ACC will send important information and will notify you of any college related emergencies using this account. Students should only expect to receive email communication from their instructor using this account. Likewise, students should use their ACCmail account when communicating with instructors and staff. Instructions for activating an ACCmail account can be found at http://www.austincc.edu/accmail/index.php.
