The contents of the syllabus are listed below by Section and Sub-Section. All Sections and Sub-Sections listed are links to material internal to the syllabus or to documents outside the syllabus.
SECTION 1
Essential Course InformationSECTION 2
Contact InformationSECTION 3
General Course InformationSECTION 4
Pearson MyEconLab & eTextSECTION 5
Assignments and DeadlinesSECTION 6
GradingSECTION 7
TestingSECTION 8
Tips on Studying for CourseSECTION 9--College Policies
Required:
Economics Today: The Micro View plus MyEconLab plus eBook 1-semester Student Access Kit, 20/E, by Roger LeRoy Miller (Pearson, 2020). There are several alternatives/formats available.
If you have paid your tuition for this course and you have not opted out of the First Day Access textbook program, then you should already have access to this eText through the course's Blackboard site. Please see the instructions on how to access it SECTION 4.1 of this syllabus..
If you opt-out of the First Day Access program, then you will still need to purchase access to Pearson's MyEconLab to complete this course. If you are purchasing the textbook outside of the First Day Access program be careful. The cover of Economics Today: The Micro View is almost identical to the cover of Economics Today: The Macro View.
Here are your options if you opt out of the First Day Access program:
*A rental Print Upgrade can be added to the above after registering for Pearson’s MyEconLab through Blackboard for $24.99. It will be shipped directly to your address at no additional cost.
*A rental Print Upgrade can be added to the above after registering for Pearson’s MyEconLab through Blackboard for $24.99. It will be shipped directly to your address at no additional cost
UNIT Exams and the Final Exam will be administered through Blackboard; and your course grades
can be accessed through Blackboard.
You can review those grades by clicking on "My Grades" in the left navigation bar of Blackboard. Grades from the Pearson MyEconLab site will by automatically uploaded to the Blackboard gradebook.
In addition, important notifications and announcements will be posted and sent to the class from the Blackboard Announcement page. You should check the Announcement page of Blackboard frequently.
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.
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. You can also use this link to recover your ACCeID and to reset a forgotten password.
Do not fill in your Username and Password on this page, since you have not activated your ACCeID yet.
DO CLICK on Activate your ACCeID.
Your ACCeID will be the first letter of your legal, given, first name and your seven digit ACC ID number. For example, fictional student John Keynes might have this Username j0067701.
Once you activate your ACC eID, just follow the instructions.
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 this course's Blackboard content is accessed by first clicking on the "Courses" tab in the upper right hand corner of the first Blackboard page that comes up. Then click on the name of the course: Course ID: 223S-55353-ECON 2302-003: Principles of Microeconomics. You are then taken to the course's main Blackboard page. It is much easier to find the "Start Here" link, the "Course Content" link, and the "MyEconLab" link by doing this than if you try to navigate from the very first page that comes up when you log onto Blackboard
Orientation for this course is done by taking a quiz over the course's syllabus. That is the document you are reading right now.
This Orientation Quiz must be taken and submitted before you can take any of the exams. The quiz consists of 20 questions. Students must make an 80% or better on it in order to gain access to the UNIT I EXAM. This exam also has a corequisite of a 65% or better grade on the Chapter 4 MyEconLab Quiz.
The learning objectives for this quiz can be found by clicking on Mandatory Orientation Quiz on the course's ACC Blackboard site.
Your course's ACC Blackboard site can be found at http://acconline.austincc.edu
IMPORTANT:
A-->This quiz must be taken using a proctoring software provided by ACC. I require this so that you will become comfortable using this software right from the beginning and before a more stressful testing situation. More on the software can be found toward the end of this syllabus or by clicking on Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor in the Table of Contents at the top of this syllabus.
B-->If it is not taken on or before Wednesday, February 1, you risk being withdrawn from
this course for "non-attendance."
EXAM |
Unit Covered |
Chapters Covered |
Exam Deadline for Extra Credit Points |
Location of Exam |
1 |
I |
1, 2, 3, 4 |
February 14 |
Blackboard |
2 |
II |
5, 19, 20, 21 |
March 7 |
Blackboard |
3 |
III |
22, 23, 24, 25 |
April 11 |
Blackboard |
4 |
IV |
26, 28, 31, 32 |
May 2 |
Blackboard |
Final |
ALL |
1-6, 19-26, 28, 31 & 32 |
May 11 |
Respondus |
All UNIT EXAMS will be available for re-testing on
Blackboard through the last day of the semester if a student has met the prerequisites for taking
it. FINAL EXAM extra credit deadline is Thursday, May 11. The Final Exam will remain available through Sunday, May 14. Beware though! Since Exam 4 is a prerequisite for taking the Final Exam, a student couldn't take the initial attempt on Exam 4 at any time after 9 p.m. on Sunday, May 14, and have any hope of taking the Final Exam the same day. The Final Exam can be re-taken once. |
Office: |
Rio Grande Campus(RGC)/3000 Building at 1218 West Ave. 78701 |
Rm. 3342 |
RGC Phone: 512-223-3390 |
E-mail: jason@austincc.edu. Send at any time, and I will respond within 24 hours. Subject line must contain ECON 2302.55353.003.
Blackboard is the Learning Management System (LMS) ACC uses for all its courses. You will learn more about Blackboard below.
Blackboard Collaborate is a tool within Blackboard that will be used to hold virtual office hours by appointment if you cannot make it to my office. We can meet virtually at a time convenient to us both or during my face-to-face office hours. Blackboard Collaborate is similar to Google Hangouts and Zoom. You will find a link to Blackboard Collaborate in the left navigation bar of Blackboard along with instructions on how to use it.
Virtual meetings with the instructor will be by appointment only. These appointments will be arranged and agreed to via email requests to the instructors email account: jason@austincc.edu--please include ECON 2302.55353.003 in the subject line.
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. The following topics are also likely to be considered: market structure, markent failure, public choice theory (government regulatory failure), international trade, and income distribution.
Credit Hours: 3This course is a competency based distance learning course. More can be found about what it means to be "competency based" below under the heading Grading and The Competency Based Education Model. Here I want to focus more on the "distant learning" nature of the course.
A distant learning course is similar but not identical to a self-paced course. It is similar in the sense that there will not be scheduled lectures in which an instructor will explain the material you are attempting to learn. Your understanding of the material will come mostly from reading the assigned readings and doing the assigned homework and quizzes on your own as would be done in a self-paced or correspondence course. The instructor will always be there to help explain difficult concepts and theories, and there are very helpful videos explaining the material embeded in the course. Indeed, some of my lectures for my face-to-face lecture course will be available where the topics covered are similar. But this does not make the course equivalent to a regularly scheduled lecture course which offers easy accessibility to the instructor and fellow students.
A distant learning course is different from a self-paced course in that it must be completed in a given time period. In this course's case, it must be completed during this semester. Becuase of this, there are deadlines for the homework assignments, quizzes, and exams. These are set to help ensure that students can complete the work in the time designated. However, it is like a self-paced course in that students can accelerate their pace and complete the course well before the end of the semester if they wish to do so. Students just cannot stretch the course out to last longer than a regular college semester.
In addition to not being able to listen to an instructor's explanation of the material and the lack of easy access to fellow students, time management problems can also make a distant learning course more difficult to complete than a traditional college lecture course. Not having to attend a regularly scheduled lecture can lead to procrastination problems. Setting a firm schedule for reading and studying is a must in distant learning courses. For more on how to study for this course, see the sections entitled Recommended Study Method and Reading found below in this syllabus.
For all the difficulties noted above, there are compensating benefits to taking a distant learning course. The most important one for most students is the flexibilty it gives them in putting together a course schedule when they are faced with other obligations such as family and work but also with putting together a full load if they are a full time college student.. As such, distant learning courses can shorten the time it takes to complete a course of study and to get a degree. It can also save on transportaion expenses, and it can spare students from having to listen to the unrelated personal stories and political opinions of the professor.
If you are uncertain if a distant learning course is for you, the College provides a couple of on-line quizzes that might help you decide if it is. You can take the Learning Style Survey and review the Technical Skills Checklist to find out if you’re comfortable with the learning style required to be successful in an asynchronous distance learning environment.
The College also provides a very helpful FAQ page that answers many questions about distant learning courses at https://online.austincc.edu/faq/. Among the questions answered that are relevant to this course are:
TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT SERVICES:
In response to COVID-19-related campus closures, Austin Community College now provides free, secure drive-up WiFi to students and employees in the parking lots of all campus locations. WiFi can be accessed seven days a week, 7 am to 11 pm. Additional details are available at https://www.austincc.edu/coronavirus/drive-up-wifi. Students who submit the Student Technology Access Form and indicate they need help accessing their online learning environment to successfully complete their courses are eligible to check out an ACC iPad for use during the semester. You must be registered for a credit course, Adult Education, or Continuing Education course. For more information, including how to request a device, visit http://www.austincc.edu/sts.
Free WiFi access is also available to studnets anywhere on any ACC campus during hours of operation.
Instructional Methodology II--Competency Based:
This is a Competency Based Education course. That means that the grades assigned will be based on the mastering the UNITS (Competencies) in the course. Once students have shown mastery of one UNIT (or competency), they may move on to the next UNIT. UNIT Challenge Exams are available in the Chalenge Exam folder on the course's Blackboard site for each of the four UNITS (Competencies).
The Challenge Exams are optional; students can ignore them and start the MyEconLab assignments in each UNIT if they so desire. One attempt will be allowed for each UNIT Challenge Exam AND it must be taken in a secure setting using Respondus Lock Down Browser and Respondus Monitor (you will find more details about this in the course's ACC Blackboard site. From the left navigation column in Blackboard, follow this sequence of links: Course Content/Challenge Exams/Instructions on how to use Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor).
If a grade of 80% or better is made on a UNIT Challenge Exam, then a student may move on to the next UNIT without completing the MyEconLab assignments in the UNIT for which the UNIT Challenge Exam was taken. If a grade of less than 80% is made on a UNIT Challenge Exam, then students will have to move through each the MyEconLab assignments in the UNIT in the order they are assigned. After students have completed these assignments with a 65% or better grade on them, they will be able to take the UNIT Exam. Three attempts will be allowed on each UNIT Exam without the instructor's permission--an initial test and two re-tests. The highest score is used for grading purposes.
Students must make a 65% or better on a UNIT Exam to move on to the next UNIT Challenge Exam OR the next UNIT MyEconLab assignments and UNIT EXAM. If more than three attempts are needed to make a 65%, students must set up an appointment with the professor to discuss the difficulties they are having with the UNIT Exam. Once a UNIT Exam has been passed with a 65% or better, the process will repeat itself on the next UNIT/Competency.
A student has completed the course when the student completes the Final Exam. The prerequiste for being able to take the Final Exam is that a student must have made an 80% or better on the UNIT IV Challenge Exam OR 65% or better on the UNIT IV Exam AND has submitted the mandated DAC assignment (see DAC--Assignment below). The letter grade a student will be assigned will be determined by the weighted average of the grades on the four UNIT Challenge Exams OR UNIT Exams, as the case may be, the grade on the Final Exam, and the grade on the DAC assingnment (explained elsewhere in this syllabus and on the course's ACC Blackboard site). Each UNIT Challenge Exam OR the associated UNIT Exam will have a weight of 13.64%, or 150 points. That is UNIT I will have a weight of 13.64%; UNIT II, 13.64%; UNIT III, 13.64%: and UNIT IV will have a weight of 13.64%; in the point system used this is equivalent to 600 points or 54.55% of the grade. And the Final Exam will have a weight of 36.36% or 400 points. The DAC assignment will have a weight of 9.1% or 100 points. 150 + 150 + 150 + 150 + 400 + 100= 1100 points.
Here is a link showing all the prerequisites for all the MyEconLab assignments, regular UNIT Exams, Challenge Unit Exams, the Final Exam, and the Course Challenge Exam:
https://www.austincc.edu/sondg/Prerequisites/PCM/Micro/prereq.htm.
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College and Departmental Goals for Course:
1. 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.
2. Common Course Objectives/Student Outcomes: Students who complete this course will be able to:
- apply the basic concepts of scarcity and opportunity cost;
- manipulate the basic demand and supply model to determine an equilibrium price and quantity, changes to equilibrium price and quantity, and their impact on resource allocation;
- critically evaluate the usage of policy in microeconomic markets;
- explain the theory of consumer behavior;
- explain the theory of the firm;
- model and explain the theoretical market structures of perfect competition and imperfect competition.
3. Discipline Program Student Learning Outcomes:
- PSLO 1: Socially Optimal and Suboptimal Outcomes - Model and explain under what circumstances markets are capable of creating socially optimal and socially suboptimal outcomes.
- PSLO 2: Economic Policy -Defend and criticize the role of economic policy in a mixed market economy.
- PSLO 3: Economic Data -Critically evaluate economic data.
4. Alignment Table:
Here is the link to the Course Alignment Table. This table shows the alginment of the Program Level Outcomes with the Course Level Outcomes down to each of the 160 individual instructor composed learning objectives and the reading assignments, related videos, and MyEconLab assignments for each objective.(Here is a link to the Word document version of the Course Alignment Table.)5. General Education Competencies:
- Civic and Cultural Awareness - Analyzing and critiquing competing perspectives in a democratic society; comparing, contrasting, and interpreting differences and commonalities among peoples, ideas, aesthetic traditions, and cultural practices.
- Critical Thinking - Gathering, analyzing, synthesizing, evaluating and applying information.
- Quantitative and Empirical Reasoning - Applying mathematical, logical and scientific principles and methods.
- Written, Oral and Visual Communication - Communicating effectively, adapting to purpose, structure, audience, and medium.
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Learning Objectives for Course as Specified by the Instructor:
The UNIT EXAMS in this course are based on learning objectives composed by the instructor that you can find by clicking HERE. The learning objectives for each chapter assigned and for each UNIT EXAM and for the Final Exam can be found in UNIT and Final Exam folders on the course's ACC Blackboard site. Read these objectives carefully before you read the corresponding chapter in the textbook. The learning objectives are correlated exactly with the questions on the UNIT EXAMS.
In general, after studying each chapter, you should be able to:
- Answer questions about the topics covered in the chapter and outlined in the learning objectives. (See Learning Objectives)
- Define all the key terms introduced in the chapter and review the "what you should know" section at the end of the chapter.
- Answer questions in the Sample Tests in MyEconLab.
- Successfully complete the Homework Assignment over the chapter in MyEconLab.
- Take the Chapter Quiz over the chapter assigned in MyEonLab by your instructor.
The answers to the learning objectives listed at the beginning of each chapter can be found by reading each chapter. They are probably not as succinct as you might want them to be. But my learning objectives for each chapter are much more specific. Thehy were created from the list of learning objectives at the beginning of each chapter of the textbook. There are 4 or 5 of them listed at the beginning of each chapter, and I broke these learning objectives down further so that there would be ten learning objectives for each chapter. As it turned out, each learning objective actually correlated with a section or subsection of those chapters. And the list of ten objectives followed exactly the outline of each chapter from beginning to end. That being the case, I would recommend you take the objectives I have created for each chapter and look through the chapter for the answers to each objective. I believe they will be fairly easy to find.
Here again is the link to all my LEARNING OBJECTIVES for each chapter assigned in the course, for each Unit Exam and Unit Challenge Exam, for the Final Exam and the Course Challenge Exam as well as for the two Extra Credit Exams over the chapters not assigned as a regular part of the course.
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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SECTION 4
Pearson MyEconLab & eText
How to Sign Up for Pearson MyLab & eText:
FIRST DAY ACCESS PROGRAM REQUIRED TEXT:
Economics Today: The Micro View with MyLab Economics, 20th edition, MillerA discounted charge of approximately $105 (includes tax) has been added to your tuition and fee bill for the cost of the course materials used in this course. By participating in the First Day program, you will gain access to the eText and MyLab Economics through your instructor's Blackboard site.
How to Sign Up for Pearson's MyEconLab Courseware
- Click on "Course Materials - MyEconLab (MEL)" in the left navigation column of the course's ACC Blackboard site.
- FirstDay - Digital Bundle will load. It includes access to the VitalSourse eText, click "Read Now" to open it. It also includes a link to the Pearson MyEconLab site. Click "Launch Courseware" to register for the site at the beginning of the semester and then later to access the Pearson MyLab site.
- When you click on "Launch Courseware," you will be asked to register for Pearson MyLab.
- Registering:
- If you have already registered for a Pearson product, MyLab or otherwise, for another course, then just sign in with your username and password.
- If you have not previously registered for Pearson MyLab, do so now.
Need help? Here is a video provided by ACC's Barnes & Noble Bookstore--First Day--Blackboard Training Video.
For more help with MyLab & Mastering with Blackboard, go to http://help.pearsoncmg.com/mylabmastering/bbi/student/en/index.html.
For First Day questions, go to https://customercare.bncollege.com/hc/en-us/categories/360000142447-First-Day-Inclusive-Access-FAQs.If you do not wish to participate in the program you have until FEBRUARY 1 to "Opt Out". If you "Opt Out" of receiving and paying for your materials via this program, you will be responsible for obtaining those on your own. These are the required materials for the course.
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MyEconLab--Student Features:
Students benefit when they start an exam confident and prepared. MyEconLab is the only online assessment system that gives students the tools they need to learn from their mistakes right at the moment they are struggling.
Personalized Study Plan
A Study Plan is generated from each student's results on answering Study Plan questions, by taking the Sample Tests, and by completing the instructor's assignments. Students can clearly see which topics they have mastered-and, more importantly, which they need to work on. The Study Plan links to additional practice problems and tutorial exercises to help on those topics. (When you click on the "Study Plan" link in the left navigation bar, it only opens up to a tutorial on how to use MyEconLab. Look for the link "View all chapters" to find access to all the Study Plan questions.)
Unlimited Practice
Many Study Plan and instructor-assigned exercises contain algorithmically generated values, ensuring students get as much practice as they need. Every problem links students to learning resources that further reinforce concepts they need to master. The Study Plan questions can be taken over and over again; the instructor assigned Homework Assignment can be retaken as many times as a student wants. The Chapter Quizzes can be taken three times. The highest score is used for grading the Chapter Quizzes.
Learning Resources
In the lower-left corner of each practice problem is a link to the eText section discussing the very concept being applied. Students also have access to guided solutions ("Help Me Solve This"), animated graphs, audio narratives, and flashcards on many of the problems. MyEconLab has a suite of graphing tools for practice and current news articles that tie chapter topics to everyday issues.
Tests and Other Assignments
MyEconLab comes with two pre-loaded Sample Tests for each chapter so students can self-assess their understanding of the material..
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MyEconLab Chapter Homework Assignments and Chapter Quizzes:
MyEconLab is the online study guide which accompanies our Miller text. MyEconLab is required, not optional at least if you take the normal path through the course like 99% of students have in the past. However, if you pass the Course Challenge Exam with an 80% or better, you do not need to complete any of the MyEconLab assignments, since by doing so you have demonstrated that you have a very good grasp of the material covered in this course. You can also skip over the MyEconLab assignments in particular UNITS if you pass the Challenge Exam for that Unit with an 80% grade or better.
While the grades made on MyEconLab assignments are not part of the course grade, students cannot move on to the UNIT EXAMS without making at least and 65% on the assigned Chapter Homework Assignments and Chapter Quizzes that are part of the assignments for each chapter. More details about how this works will be found in the Instructional Methodology II--Competency Based section. A link to a list of all prerequisites for MyEconLab assignments and UNIT EXAMS can be found HERE.
MyEconLab has three types of assignments:
- Study Plan: These are ungraded practice questions. You will be given 3 tries, then the system will tell you the correct answer. When you finish, the system will tell you which sections of the chapter you need to focus your study time on.
Each question will have links to Learning Aids at the lower left of the question or problem. These Learning Aids include
- Help Me Solve This - Guided Solutions take you step by step to the correct answer
- eText takes you to the page of the text where the information covered by the question is presented even if you did not purchase access to the eBook.
- Graphing - allows you to draw a graph of the question to help find an answer
- Ask My Instructor - emails the question to me, so I can help you with it
- Chapter Homework Assignments: These are graded question sets, set up like the Study Plan sets. Each chapter will have 20 homework questions that are worth 1 point each for a total of 20 points.
There is no limit on how many times a student may take a homework assignment. The questions do not vary much from one attempt to the next.
Students must get at least 13 of these questions correct before they can move on to the associated Chapter Quiz.
Learning Aids are available on Homework assignments, and students will be able to take these assignments over and over again until they get them right.
- Chapter Quizzes: These are graded assignment sets worth about twice as much as the Homework sets. Each chapter will have 20 quiz questions that are worth 40 points.
Students must get at least 13 of these questions correct before they can move on to the next Chapter Homwork Assignment or to the UNIT EXAM.
Learning Aids are also available on quizzes while you are working on them, and you will be able to review the graded questions after submitting the quiz with the help of the Learning Aids.
Like the on-line, mid-term exams, the highest of the three attempts will be used, not the grade on the last attempt. Since you will need at least a 65% on these MyEconLab Chapter Quizzes to move on to the next MyEconLab Chapter Homework Assignment (or, when it is the last chapter in a UNIT, to the UNIT EXAM), these quizzes must be passed to move forward in the course.
You will have 60 minutes to complete a Chapter Quiz.The Results page will give you your scores on each assignment, as well as your overall average, and it will allow you to review the quizzes and homework assignments you have already completed.
Chapter Quizzes and Chapter Homework Assignments will have suggested due dates, but they will be available until the end of the semester. It is in your self interest to complete them on or before the suggested deadlines. The reason for this is becaurse you will not be able to take the UNIT EXAMS on or before therir extra credit deaadlines if you have not taken and passed the Chapter Homework Assignments and Chapter Quizzes in a UNIT. Passing them on or before the suggested deadline will allow you to take the UNIT EXAMS before their extra credit deadlines. The exta crdit fo taking a UNIT EXAM on time is 30 extra crdit points or 20% of the weight of the exam. (The extra crdit for taking the FINAL EXAM on or before its extra crdit deadline is 10% of the weight of the final.)
You will be able to work on the assignments after their suggested deadlines have passed but that means you would have forfeited the extra credit you might have earned by taking the associated UNIT EXAM on time.Deadlines for Homework Assignments and Quizzes on MyEconLab can be found here: http://www.austincc.edu/sondg/homework/Micro/2022-2023/16wSpringMEL.htm.
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How to Use Pearson's MyEconLab Courseware and eText
- Now that you are registered, you can click on the "Course Materials - MyEconLab (MEL)" in the left navigation bar of Blackboard to access the course material.
- After the FirstDay - Digital Bundle loads, click on "Launch Courseware" in the bottom right of the digital bundle pane.
- On the next page, click on the "Open MyLab & Mastering" button at the top of the page. It is just to the left of the thumbnail image of the textbook cover.
- This will finally take you to the course's actual Pearson MyEconLab site.
- There are a number of important links on the left navigation bar of this page that you may find very helpful to your success in this course: <
- Assignments: Access to the MyEconLab assignments. There are two other access points to these assignments on the course's Blackboard site, i)"MyLab & Mastering Assignments" in the left navigation bar of Blackboard, and ii) in the chapter folders of the "Course Content" link on the left navigation bar of Blackboard (e.g., Course Content/Unit I/Chapter 1), but this is a nice alternate access point.
- Pearson eText: This is a more user-friendly version of the eText than the VitalSource eText available when you click on "Read Now" at the bottom left of Digital Bundle referred to in Step #2 above.
- Results: Here you can review your grades on the Chapter Homework Assignments and Chapter Quizzes. If you answered a question incorrectly, the correct answer will be given. If the question is a Problem rather than a Multiple-Choice question, then often times the solution will be explained by clicking "Question Help" in the upper right of the panel and then on "Help Me Solve This."
- Study Plan: If you navigate to the Study Plan questions for a chapter and click on the Text Problems and then on Question Help/Help Me Solve This, then not only will explanations of the solution be given but also mathematical formulas, which are only given in a verbal format in the textbook, will be provided. Many of my students in the past have told me that this was a lifesaver for them.
- Past students have also found the Multimedia Library and Chapter Resources very helpful.
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SECTION 5
Assignments and Deadlines
CHAPTER ASSIGNMENTS/EXAM DEADLINES
UNIT I
Chapter 1: The Nature of Economics and Appendix 1
Chapter 2: Scarcity and the World of Trade-Offs
Chapter 3: Demand and Supply
Chapter 4: Extensions of Demand and Supply Analysis
Test over UNIT I due by February 14 for extra credit points.
Learning Objectives for Exam 1
UNIT II
Chapter 5: Public Spending and Public Choice
(skip Chapter 6; chapters 7 through 18 are not included in this micro text as they pertain to macro.)Chapter 19: Demand and Supply Elasticity
Chapter 20: Consumer Choice
Chapter 21: Rents, Profits, and the Financial Environment of Business
Test over UNIT II due by March 7 for extra credit points.
Learning Objectives for Exam 2
UNIT III
Chapter 22: The Firm: Cost and Output Determination
Chapter 23: Perfect Competition
Chapter 24: Monopoly
Chapter 25: Monopolistic Competition
Test over UNIT III due by April 11 for extra credit points.
Learning Objectives for Exam 3
UNIT IV
Chapter 26: Oligopoly and Strategic Behavior
(Skip Chapter 27)Chapter 28: The Labor Market: Demand, Supply, and Outsourcing
(Skip Chapters 29 and 30)Chapter 31: Comparative Advantage and the Open Economy
Chapter 32: Exchange Rates and the Balance of Payments
Test over UNIT IV due by May 2 for extra credit points.
Learning Objectives for Exam 4FINAL EXAM due by May 11 for extra credit points.
ACC Testing Centers no longer offer face-to-face, in person, proctored testing. This course will use a remote proctoring software for all the UNIT EXAMS, the Final Exam, and all the challenge exams in the course. The UNIT Exams, whose extra credit deadlines are given above, must be taken in a proctored environment using free proctoring software entitled Respondus LockDown Browser and Respondus Monitor. Students who have a Chromebook AND cannot download the proctoring software can arrange alternate distance proctoring through ACC; see ACC On-Line Testing.
Students will be allowed to take the FINAL EXAM at home using free proctoring software mentioned above.
All exams will be available on Blackboard for re-testing purposes through May 14.
Beware though! Since Exam 4 is a prerequisite for taking the Final Exam, a student couldn't take the initial attempt on Exam 4 at any time after 9 p.m. on Sunday, May 14, and have any hope of taking the Final Exam the same day.
One re-test is allowed on the final exam, so taking the initial attempt on or before May 13 is the safe choice.
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 1.82% of the course grade per exam--9.1% in total. You can earn additional extra credit points by taking the chapter quizzes over the chapters in the textbook that were not assignmed as regular part of the course. There are four such chapters. Details about all the extra credit points available can be found under "Extra Credit Points" below.
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Deadlines for all MyEconlab Assignments and all Exams:
I have created a separtae web page for all the deadlines for the MyEconLab assignments, all the Unit Exams, and the Final Exam. I did this so you could more easily print it and keep it in a handy place.You will find the website HERE.
In case the link above does not work and you need the specific URL, here it is: http://www.austincc.edu/sondg/homework/micro/2022-2023/16wSpringMEL.htm
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THECB (Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board) Mandated Discipline Assessment Cycle Assignment:
This assignment is a prerequisite for taking the FINAL EXAM. Students will need at least a 65% on it to be able to take the FINAL EXAM.
It is worth 100 points of the 1100 points upon which grades will be determined. That is, it is worth 9.1% of the course grade, and it is one of two prerequisites for being able to take the FINAL EXAM.
The Economics Department is mandated by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and ACC's accreditation agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, to test whether it is achieving various General Education Competencies assigned to it as listed in the this syllabus in the Section entitled "Course Description, Rationale, and Common Course Objectives/Student Outcomes as established by the economics department."
This year the General Education Competency required by ACC for ECON DAC is "Empirical and Quantitative Skills." That is, the Department is being asked how well student can: "Apply mathematical, logical and scientific principles and methods through the manipulation and analysis of numerical data or observable facts resulting in informed conclusions." This General Education Competency correlates to the Economics Department's PSLO #3: "Students should be able to critically evaluate economic data." (BTW, IP, PSLO means Program Student Learning Objective.)
The instructor of this course will create a problem which will include data about the production function of a hypothetical firm and, given the costs of inputs and the price of outputs, will be asked a number of questions about this scenario.
The assignment will be explained in detail in instructions which will be posted to the course's ACC Blackboard site. The assignment will be made available soon after the second exam deadline. It will be due on Monday, April 24. It will be due about two weeks after the Extra Credit Deadline for taking the UNIT III Exam.
Students will be able to attach their written answers to the questions asked about the situation to the DAC Assignment on Blackboard.
All of this seems rather abstract right now, so here are some sample questions used in the past: Sample Question. I hope this example will provide some insight into what will be asked this semester.
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Deadline for Extra Credit MyEconLab Assigments and their Exams:
These deadlines are on the same web page as for the Deadlines for all MyEconlab Assignments and all Exams above.
You can directly access them by clicking on the following link: https://www.austincc.edu/sondg/homework/micro/2022-2023/16wSpringMEL.htm#MELECT3.
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Prerequisites for All MyEconLab Assignments and Unit Exams:
As noted in several places throughout this syllabus, this is a competency based course. What this means in general is that in order to move on to the next assignment or exam, you must have shown "competence" on the previous assignment of exam by passing it with a minimum grade. That minimum is 65% if you take the regular path through the course and 80% if you take the Challenge Exam path.
As with the Deadlines for all MyEconlab Assignments and all Exams subsection above, I have created a separate web page listing all the prerequisites for the MyEconLab assingments, Unit Exams, the Final Exam, and all the Challenge Exams. I did this so that it would be easy for you to print it out and have it handy as you work your way through the course.
You will find the link to this page by clicking here: http://www.austincc.edu/sondg/Prerequisites/PCM/Micro/prereq.htm.
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SECTION 6
GradingThere are two basic ways to move through this course in order to complete it with a grade of A, B, C, D, or F.
The first is the way 99% of students will choose to proceed. It is the traditional method that all students are accustomed to. It is explained in the first section below.
The second is to show competency (demonstrating knowledge of the material covered) on each unit of the course or on the course as a whole by taking the appropriate challenge exams. It is explained in the second section below.
Grading Traditional Route
The course consists of four units. Each unit contains four chapters of material. Each chapter requires that students pass a homework assignment and a quiz over the material in it on Pearson’s MyEconLab. Students cannot go on to the next chapter until they pass these assignments and quizzes with a grade of at least 65%. Once they pass all of the assignments and quizzes in a unit, the unit exam will become available to them to take. Students must pass the unit exams with a grade of 65% or better to be able to take the next unit exam after they successfully complete the homework assignments and quizzes of the chapters in the next unit. Three attempts will be available to students on each unit exam with only the highest grade counting. If students cannot make a 65% or better on an exam after three attempts, they must contact the instructor for advice on how to proceed.
Once the fourth unit exam has been successfully completed with a grade of 65% or better, the final exam will become available. Two attempts are allowed on the final exam; only the highest will be used.
A student has completed the course when the student completes the Final Exam. The letter grade a student will be assigned will be determined by the weighted average of the grades on the four UNIT Exams, the grade on the Final Exam, and the grade on the DAC assignment. Each UNIT Exam will have a weight of 13.64%, or 150 points out of 1100 in the course. That is UNIT I will have a weight of 13.64%; UNIT II, 13.64%; UNIT III, 13.64%, and UNIT IV will have a weight of 13.64%; in the point system used this is equivalent to 600 points or 54.55% of the grade. And the Final Exam will have a weight of 36.36% or 400 points. The DAC assignnment will be worth 100 points or 9.1% of the course grade. 150 + 150 + 150 + 150 + 400 + 100= 1100 points.
Letter Grade Weighted Average Points A 90 to 100% 990 to 1100+ B 80 to 89.9% 880 to 989 C 65 to 79.9% 715 to 879 D 55 to 64.9% 605 to 714 F 0 to 54.9% 0 to 604NOTE #1: Because of the Letter grades are exclusively determined by the grades earned on the UNIT Exams. The grades earned on the Pearson MyEconLab homework assignments and quizzes are not used directly in determining letter grades. These assignments and quizzes do matter though, since students cannot take the UNIT Exams without passing them with a grade of 65% or better.
NOTE #2: Because of the Extra Credit Points already mentioned and more thoroughly discussed later in this syllabus, the total points shown in the Blackboard gradebook might be greater than 1000. However, the letter grades will be based on points accumulated as shown in the above table. It is certainly possible that some students might accumulate more than 1000 points.
NOTE #3: Finally there are several important pieces of information that students need to keep in mind when preparing for the final exam.
1) If a student makes an F on the final, (that is, makes less than 55% or 220 points out of 400 on the final exam), then the student can make no higher than a C in the course.
In other words, a student cannot make an A or a B in the course if he makes an F on the final.
2) If a student makes a D on the final, (that is, makes at least 55%, 220 points, but less than 65%, 260 points, on the final exam), then the student can make no higher than a B in the course.
In other words, a student cannot make an A in the course if he makes a D on the final.
3) If a student makes a 95% ( 380 points--not counting extra credit points for taking the exam by its extra credit deadline) or above on the final exam, the student will earn an A in the course regardless of his total points.
The first two items are why students are allowed one retest opportunity on the Final Exam and why a Practice Final is being provided to students in this course. It is hoped that this Practice Final will help students better prepare for the final and take away some of the anxiety that students normally feel when approaching a final exam. And the retest opportunity gives students a second chance if they do poorly on the Final. The highest grade of the two attempts on the Final Exam will be used to calculate grades.
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Grading Competency Route:
The traditional route explained in SECTION 1 contains competency components in that students must make minimum grades on the chapter homework assignments and quizzes to proceed to the next chapter and to the UNIT Exam. And students must also make minimum grades on the UNIT Exams to proceed to the next Unit Exam or to the Final Exam.
To make this course a thorough going competency based course, students may skip over the chapter homework assignments and quizzes in a Unit if they can make at least an 80%on the UNIT CHALLENGE EXAM. If students make less than 80% on the UNIT CHALLENGE EXAM, then they must work through all the chapter homework assignments and quizzes in a Unit and take the regular Unit Exam. If students make an 80% or better on the UNIT CHALLENGE EXAM, then they can go on to take the next UNIT CHALLENGE EXAM or start working on the Pearson MyEconLab assignments for the next Unit.
After successfully completing the UNIT IV CHALLENGE EXAM, student may take the regular Final Exam.
Students’ letter grade in the course will be determined by their grades on the UNIT CHALLENGE EXAMS (or mixture of UNIT CHALLENGE EXAMS and the regular UNIT EXAMS) and the FINAL EXAM.Unlike the regular Unit Exams discussed in SECTION 1, UNIT CHALLENGE EXAMS must be taken using the Respondus LockDown Browser and Respondus Monitor.
To complete the logic of a Competency Based Education course, a Course Challenge Exam will be available at the beginning of the course. This Course Challenge Exam will be just like the comprehensive Final Exam, AND, like the Final Exam, it must be taken using the Respondus LockDown Browser and Respondus Monitor. It will consist of 100 questions. The questions will all be correlated with specific learning objectives which will be listed on Blackboard. If a student makes an 80% or better on this Course Challenge Exam, then the student will have demonstrated mastery of the material in this Principles of Microeconomics survey course and the grade the student will be assigned will be determined as follows:
If a student scores less than a 80% on the Course Competency Exam, then the student will need to show mastery in the four UNITS mentioned above. If a student makes a B on the Course Challenge Exam and wants to raise his grade to an A, then the student will need to proceed through the four UNITS as outlined above.
Letter Grade (Grade on Course Challenge Exam not including extra credit points) A 90 to 100% B 80 to 89.9%
There are three ways for students to improve their grades by earning extra credit. The total amount of extra credit available is equal to 24.2% of the course grade.
You can earn extra credit by taking your exams on or before the initial testing deadlines.
You will earn extra credit equal to 20 points on each UNIT EXAM taken on or before its extra credit deadline. You will not lose this extra credit if you take the re-test for that UNIT after the deadline for regular UNIT EXAMS.
This means there are a total of 80 points, or 7.3% of the course grade, available as extra credit just by taking the UNIT EXAMS on or before their deadlines.
If you take the Final on or before its deadline, you will earn another 20 points extra credit.
This extra credit is available to those who take the UNIT CHALLENCE EXAMS and the COURSE CHALLENGE EXAM with these caveats: i) the extra credit is only available to those who make an 80% or better on them BEFORE the extra credit is awarded; ii) students CANNOT earn extra credit on BOTH the regular exams and the chanllenge exams.
So the total extra credit avialble by taking all exams by their due date is 9.1% of the total number of points available in the course.
You can also find them on the Pearosn MyLab Home page under Assignments.
These grades will upload automatically to the course's Blackbaord site just like the regular MyEconLab assignments, but they will not be automatically added to your total points. The instructor will have to verify that you have actually watched watched the video before extra credit points will be added to your total points for watching them. The time students spend watching the videos is reported in the Pearson MyLab gradebook.
Yesterday, Friday, February 17, was the first time I had checked on how long students, who had watched the videos and had points for doing so, had actually spent doing so. It took me 8 hours to do this. I then realized that if all the videos were available to be watched until right up to the end of the semester, then, with 144 students in my courses and around 66 videos available in each section (9,504 video times to check), I would have to spend a week making sure students had actually watched the videos. My grades for the semester would have to be turned in before I could manage checking how long each student had watched each video. The conclusion I reached at 10 pm last night was that something had to change.
I thought long and hard about what to do. Here is what I decided to do:
There are 66 short videos included in the 16 assigned chapters. So the total extra credit available by watching all these videos is 66 points or 6% of 1100 points.
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. The instructor does reserve the right to withdraw students who have fallen behind on taking the exams and completing the MyEconLab assignments.
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.
Important information about the consequences of
withdrawing from a course are discussed at this ACC site:
http://www.austincc.edu/apply-and-register/registration-steps/drop-or-withdraw-from-a-class.
Instructions on how to withdraw yourself online can be found here: https://www.austincc.edu/help/myacc-and-online-services-instructions/course-withdrawal-drop-instructions.
The last day to withdraw from this course without penalty is Monday,
April 24.
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.
Click on this link to read the ACC's Policy on Incomplete Grades.
If you do fall behind schedule but still expect to complete the course, please contact me at jason@austincc.edu as soon as possible so I know you are still interested in completing the course.
If you find yourself way behind or many points short toward the end of the semester and do not think you can catch up, you may withdraw from the course without a grade penalty up to three weeks before the end of the semester on or before Monday, April 24. Please read the section on Withdrawals for more information.
Since this is a Distance Learning course, we do not meet regularly--in a sychronous manner-- as we would do if this was a lecture course that met MWF at 10 am for example. For that reason, attendance will not be taken. However that does not mean that I will not be very closely watching your progress through the course
One of the reasons that I set up a scheule for completing the MyEconLab assignments and UNIT Exams is to monitor how well you are progressing through the course. There are MyEconLab assignments due every week, and I download those grades to a spreadsheet to see who is up-to-date on the assignments and who has fallen behind. I will be communicationg with you abut your progress or lack thereof.
I have no set rule for withdrawing students if they do fall behind. However, if by April 1 you still have not started doing any of the assignments or exams, then I will start emailing about withdrawing from the course.
I do expect that you will keep up with the schedule I have set out for completing the assignments and exams. And I give a gernerous amount of extra credit points to you if you do keep up. By the way, since this is an asynchronous course, you may work ahead of the schedule and finish to course early if you want to.
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 20 days before the end of the semester. Please read the section on Withdrawals for more information.
All UNIT Challenge Exams, the Course Challenge Exam, regular UNIT EXAMS, and the Final Exam are objective, multiple-choice question exams.
All UNIT Challenge Exams, the Course Challenge Exam, UNIT EXAMS, and the Final Exam 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 above or in Blackboard. Furthermore all exam questions will be drawn exclusively from the textbook, Economics Today: The Micro View. The exams over each UNIT will include ten questions over each chapter assigned for each UNIT, so each UNIT Challenge Exam and the corresponding UNIT EXAM will cover four chapters and consist of 40 questions. The questions will appear on the EXAMS in the order in which the chapters were assigned for the UNIT. For example, on the UNIT I EXAM the first ten questions will cover Chapter 1, next ten will cover Chapter 2, questions 21-30 will cover Chapter 3, and questions 31-40 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 regular EXAMS for each of the four UNITS will be administered over the Internet through the course's ACC Blackboard site. Each regular UNIT EXAM over a UNIT will be found in the corresponding UNIT Module folder which itself will be locted in the Course Content folder a link to which is in the left navigation column of Blackboard. Regular UNIT Exams, like the all Challenge Exam, require that students use the Respoindus LockDown Browser and Respondus Monitor software. Students are allowed on sheet of 8.5"x11" paper with handwritten notes on both sides when taking the Unit Exams. Please show your notes to the camera before starting the exam.
Each UNIT CHALLENGE EXAM will be found in the Challenge Exam folder which is also in the Course Content folder. These CHALLENGE EXAMS are not required; they are available to students who think they grasp the material in a UNIT well enough to pass a test over it with an 80% or better grade and thereby skip the MyEconLab assignments associated with the UNIT. All UNIT CHALLENGE EXAMS are proctored. Students can not use books or any other aid in taking the exam. They will be allowed one sheet of handwritten notes. The CHALLENGE EXAMS require the use of the Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor.
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 a UNIT EXAM is 40 questions long, 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 UNIT Exam is 1040. One billion is 1 followed by 9 zeros. 1040 is 1 followed by 40 zeros, or 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 different exams will be possible for each UNIT EXAM.
These EXAMS will also be timed. You will have 60 minutes to answer 40 questions.
Once again, the UNIT EXAMS, both Regular and Challenge, 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 these exams.
If students make an 80% or better on the UNIT Challenge Exams, they may move on to the next UNIT Challenge Exam without working through all the EconLab assignemnts. If a student makes an 80% or better on the UNIT IV Challenge Exam, he may move on directly to take the Final Exam without working through the MyEconLab assignments in UNIT IV.
Students will have the opportunity to re-take each RegularUNIT EXAM twice (there are no re-tests on Challange Exams). The highest grade will be used in determing grades. Students do not have to re-take these exams if they make over 65% on them, though they can if they want to try to improve their grade on them.. A 65% grade on a UNIT EXAM will allow the student to move on to the next UNIT or the Final Exam if it is the UNIT IV EXAM. If a student does not make an 65% or better on a UNIT EXAM after three attempts, then the student will need to communicate with the Professor of the course before he can re-test it again.
NOTE: All UNIT Challenge Exams, UNIT EXAMS, and the FINAL Exam have prerequisites that have to be met before they can be taken.
UNIT I Challenge Exam: to take this exam
you must have taken and passed the Mandatory Orientation Quiz with an 80% grade
or better grade AND completed the Required Self
Introduction.
UNIT I EXAM: to take this exam you must
have taken and passed the Mandatory Orientation Quiz with an 80% or better grade
AND the Chapter 4 MyEconLab Quiz with a 65% or
better grade AND completed the Required Self Introduction..
UNIT II Challenge Exam: to take this exam
you must have taken and passd the UNIT I Challenge EXAM with a grade of 80%
or better OR the UNIT I EXAM with a 65% or better
grade.
UNIT II EXAM: to take this exam you must
have taken and passd the UNIT I EXAM AND the Chapter
8 MyEconLab Quiz with a 65% or better grade.
UNIT III Challenge Exam: to take this exam
you must have taken and passd the UNIT II Challenge EXAM with a grade of 80%
or better OR the UNIT II EXAM with a 65% or better
grade.
UNIT III EXAM: to take this exam you must
have taken and passd the UNIT II EXAM AND the Chapter
13 MyEconLab Quiz with a 65% or better grade.
UNIT IV Challenge Exam: to take this exam
you must have taken and passd the UNIT III Challenge EXAM with a grade of 80%
or better OR the UNIT III EXAM with a 65% or better
grade.
UNIT IV EXAM: to take this exam you must
have taken and passd the UNIT III EXAM AND the
Chapter 17 MyEconLab Quiz with a 65% or better grade.
FINAL EXAM: to take this exam you must have taken and passd the UNIT IV Challenge EXAM with a grade of 80% or better OR the UNIT IV EXAM with a 65% or better grade. AND have submitted passed the DAC assignment.
TO SEE ALL PREREQUISITES FOR ALL MYECONLAB ASSIGNMENTS AND ALL BLACKBOARD EXAMS, CLICK HERE.
YOU SHOULD MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO TAKE THE UNIT EXAMS NO LATER THAN THE LISTED EXTRA CREDIT DUE DATES.
For all extra credit deadlines click here.
However, all UNIT EXAMS will be available through the last day of the semester
for re-testing purposes.
Contact the instructor if you are unable to take any of the exams by the listed date.
Contact the instructor if you have fallen behind schedule so that you can work with the instructor to put together a plan to catch up.
The Final Exam must be taken using Respondus LockDown Browser and Respondus Monitor. More information about the Respondus software will be given in the section immediately below this sectioin of the syllabus.
The final exam will be comprehensive. There will be 50 questions on it drawn from the 160 Learning Objective pools used in this course. So each question will be drawn form two to four pools. The quesitions will be arranged in the order the chapters were assigned. Questions over Chapter 1 will be the first ones encountered and questions over Chapter 32 (Chapters 6, 27, 29, and 30 are skipped) will be the last ones encountered.
Students will be allowed to use two 8.5x11 inch pieces of paper with notes written on both sides. These crib sheets must be hand written -- not typed, and it must not be a photocopy. This crib sheet must be shown on the Respondus Monitor camera before the start of the exam..
More information about the Final Exam will be posted on the Announcements page on this course's Blackboard site about three weeks before the end of the semester. (If you complete the course early, please email me, and I will supply you with that information.)
The Final Exam may be retaken once, and there is a Practice Final available on Blackboard.This Practice Final is a copy of the actual Final Exam you will be taking using the Respondus Lock Down Browser, but the Practice Final Exam does not require the Respondus Lock Down Browser. The Practice Final is the "same" as the Final Exam in the sense that it draws examination questions from the same test pools. It is not an exact copy because it will most likely draw a different question from each pool. Nevertheless, it will give you an excellent sense of what the final exam will be like when you take it using the Respondus LockDown Browser. As such, it should help you understand how much you will need to prepare for the actual final exam. Again, Respondus is not needed to take the Practice Final Exam.
A Course Challenge Exam is offered to all students who want to see if they can pass the course without working through all the Pearson MyEconLab assignments and taking all the UNIT Exams . If students make an 80% or better on this Challenge Exam they will have passed the course and need to do nothing more in it. As the professor of the course, I will give a letter grade of A or B to anyone who can do this.
The prerequistite for taking the Course Challenge Exam is to have compelted the Mandatory Orientation Quiz with a grade of 80% or better.
This Challenge Exam is exactly like the final exam described below. By "exactly like," I mean all its questions will be randomly drawn for 50 pools of questions just like the Final Exam.
To learn more about the nature if this exam, please read the information given below about the final exam.
Like the Final Exam, the Challenge Exam must be taken using Respondus LockDown Browser and Respondus Monitor.
You must show your student ID and a photo ID when using Respondus.
If you make over an 80%, you are finished with the course. If you make less than 80%, you will need to proceed through the normal assignments and exams required of the course.
Good luck if you want to try taking it. If you don't succeed, it will not damage your grade in the rest of the course in the least.
If you don't want to attempt taking it, you can proceed to the UNIT I Challenge Exam, or you can start working on the UNIT I MyEconLab assignments.
ACC Testing Centers no longer offers proctoring services to Distance Learning instructors or students.
As a result, all exams that students would have had to take in an ACC Testing Center before the pandemic will now be offered at home on Blackboard using a free proctoring software program.
That software is entitled Respondus LockDown Browser and Respondus Monitor. Instructions on how to download this software to your computer and how to use it can be found on this course's ACC Blackboard site. Follow this path to the instructions: Click on Course Content in the left navigation bar of the course's ACC Blackboard site; next click on Final Exam and Practice Final Exam; finally click on Instructions on how to use Respoindus LockDown Browser and Monitor. By doing so, you will finad all the needed links to download the software and videos on how to use it.
This software can be used at your home or anywhere in the world that has an Internet connection.
My guess is that around 99% of students will only need to use Respondus to take the regular FINAL EXAM for this course. However, if you want to take the Course Challenge Exam or any of the UNIT Challenge Exams, then you will have to use this software to take those exams also. In fact all exams in this course excepting the Practice Exam require the use of the Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor.
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 "Chapter Summary" section at the end of the chapter.
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 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: Complete a Study Plan for the chapter in MyEconLab.
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.
What follows generalizes my advice to them which you can also use as an approach to each chapter. You should also read the following section in the syllabus: Recommended Study Method.
As you approach a new chapter:You will find the website HERE.
In case the link above does not work and you need the specific URL, here it is: https://www.austincc.edu/sondg/Syllabi/How-to-Prepare-for-Macro-UNIT-Exams.html.
I spent some time searching for appropriate videos on YouTube that hopefully
will help you understand the content of the assigned chapters better. It is
true that I could not find as many for the chapters at the end of the course
as for the earlier chapters. Using Chapter 1 as an example, here is the way
to find them: click on Course Content in the left navigation bar → UNIT
I → Chapter 1 → Videos.
The Khan Academy videos are straight forward lectures, but I like Marginal Revolution
University videos the best if they are available.