F2F Fall Syllabus

Professor Schmidt believes that a student takes the most from a college course when the course material relates to real life. In order for a course to be a life impacting experience it cannot simply be a series of dates in which students spew back memorized text material in the form of an exam. >>>>So be ready to interact, discuss, raise questions, and even disagree with the professor and classmates on various topics, concepts, and types of assignments. This is how valuable, retainable learning takes place. {Take a look at Bloom’s Learning Theory}

COURSE INFORMATION

Instructor Website: http://hull.aug.edu/bschmidt

Text: Foundations of Macroecnomics-5e Bade & Parkin. ISBN(13): 9780136125832

Pearson Online Lab Access code must also be purchased if text is not purchased through ASU.

***Beginning Spring 2012 the ASU bookstore will carry a 'Pearson Custom Business Resource' version of the text book.

The chapters covered in the course are printed in the Custom Version and it Less Expensive than the actual text***

Course Description:

ECON2105: Macroeconomics; This introductory course explains the nature of the economic problems which any society must solve and how a mixed economy solves these problems. Topics covered include supply and demand, income and employment, money and banking, and fiscal policy. Prerequisite(s): MATH 1101 or MATH 1111 with a grade of C or better.

Grading Scale: Knowledge Evaluation:

F2F Macro
Homework/Participation	20%
Exams (3)	45%
Graph Presentations (2)	10%
Debate	25%

A	90-100
B	80-89
C	70-79
D	60-69
F	59 and below

NOTE: Grades are not ‘given out’ by the professor; they are ‘earned’ by the student. Please make sure that you ‘earn’ a grade with which you can live. THINK of it like a baseball game and as the professor I simply RECORD YOUR SCORES.

Course Requirements:

Class Attendance is Mandatory. When in attendance all students are expected to conduct themselves in a respectful and ethical manner.
On time completion of course assignments is required. Please see the course policies section below for details.
All students must have access to a computer with reliable internet access, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Powerpoint.
See Course Online Lab requirement under the ‘text’ section above. *Note* This software also specifies technological requirements. All campus computers are in compliance with these requirements.
Numerous tools are made available through the Online Lab software. Daily research and reading in this format is necessary for exemplary performance in this course.
Software Utilized in this course:
1. MyASU: Beginning of semester emails from Professor (Desire2Learn: Not utilized)
2. Professor’s Website: Syllabus, Schedules, Extra Credit, All course related helps
3. http://pearsonmylabandmastering.com: Announcements from professor, Homework/Participation, Extra study helps, Grades
Some assignments for this course will require research and readings separate from the assigned text. Sources include but are not limited to the following: Internet and Reese Library research, various historical and economic texts, The Augusta Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and other professional journals.

COURSE ASSIGNMENTS

The assignments and activities in this course build throughout the semester. Each student’s preparation of material, use of study groups, and use of the professor as a resource is critical to the learning process and overall success in this course.

NON-EVALUATED ASSIGNMENTS

Chapter Quizzes:

Each chapter quiz will be posted in the Online Course Lab environment under ‘quizzes & tests’.
Chapter quizzes are not a course requirement. They are excellent practice exam material and are made available for study purposes only.
Students may [are encouraged to] discuss, collaborate or work in study groups on end-of-chapter assignments, study plan problems, and the chapter quiz.
Quiz Query Information:
- 90 minute time limit; Two attempts; Students may review only after deadline

EVALUATED ASSIGNMENTS:

Homework/Participation/Attendance:

Homework is a required portion of the overall course grade
Failure to complete the Chapter HW is recorded a zero AND as an absence for that week.
- Homework cannot be worked after the due date in Classroom Instructed Courses
- Once a student has missed 10% of the course (3 absences) they can be withdrawn from the course by the professor. The student will receive a WF if withdrawn after midterm and the student has below a 70% average.
Each chapter homework is due by 10AM on the day in which the chapter is first covered in class.
Each chapter homework is clearly named and posted in the Course Online Lab environment under ‘homework’.
Group work is encouraged. A grade of 70% or better is required in order to complete the corresponding quiz.
Homework Query Information:
- Each question may be worked 3 times (highest score is taken); No time limit; Unlimited review

Exams

Exams will cover several chapters and consist of a combination of graphing, multiple choice, and short answer.
Exams will be taken in class and cannot be made up. If you are absent you will receive a grade of ‘zero’.
ALL exams (including take home exams) are to be the student’s individual work.
ALL work must be shown (including elementary math solutions, graph labels and titles)
The final exam will be cumulative in nature as complete mastery of the material can only be demonstrated through practical application and critical thinking which represent true understanding of critical facts and principles.
Any part of an exam given as take home that is submitted late will automatically receive a grade of ‘zero.’

Graph Presentations:

Each student will create 2 graphs during the semester to present to the class, one on each of the 2 graph presentation days. The graph will be based on a news paper or journal article. It should not come from the internet. Graph presentations will require the usage of PowerPoint presentation software. The students will be graded on various factors including presentation technique all of which is defined on the professor’s website.

***PLEASE SEE THE GRAPH PRESENTATION GUIDELINES SECTION ON THE PROFESSORS WEBSITE FOR DETAILS***

Debate: Prepare students to succeed in a global, information rich society by strengthening information literacy skills and efficient use of digital resources abilities.

Each student will participate in a live debate that will be held at the end of the course. Students will choose teams and prepare a defense to a view point assigned by the professor on current event topics discussed throughout the course. The students will be graded on various factors including their team’s ability to support their view point with economic theory and data. Usage of four to six Graphs will be required. Specific details are provided on the professors website.

***PLEASE SEE THE DEBATE GUIDELINES SECTION ON THE PROFESSORS WEBSITE FOR DETAILS***

COURSE POLICIES

Students are to check their campus email accounts and Course Online Lab Environment announcements daily.
All submitted items should have the student’s full name, assigned number, and the title of the assignment at the top left. Omission of any of this information will result in a deduction of five points from the assignment grade.
Any student not enrolled in the correct Online Lab Environment Course by the due date of the first assignment will receive a zero for the assignment (and all other past due assignments) once they enroll in the software.
Due dates are clearly defined in the course schedule online as well as this document. Changes to these dates will be posted in the online lab environment or emailed through pipeline with at least a 24 hour notice. Each student is responsible for taking note of and adhering to any changes – even if absent. Assignments, Projects, and Exams are NOT accepted after their due date. No Exceptions.
Professor Schmidt is accessible 24 hours a day via email, reasonable hours via phone, and posted office hours. Students are encouraged to contact the professor at the first indication of difficulty with the course, scheduling, or a situational crisis which may impact the course outcome.
1. When contacting the professor

i. Please include your name, course number, and course section in ALL email communications.

ii. Be specific with your request. Vague questions will receive vague answers.

1. ExampleàSubject: ECON2105 online Nickie Williams Message: Will you please check #7 on chapter 2 homework. I believe the computer scored it incorrectly. If not, what did I do wrong?

iii. If you do not receive a response from me within 24 hours please attempt to contact me again. With over 250 students each semester some emails inadvertently get overlooked.

iv. Appointments are not necessary when coming by my office. However, you should come prepared with a page number, specific topic, or specific problem.

v. To schedule an appointment: Email me 2 or 3 times that work for you and I will choose the one that works best.

Disability and Testing Center: If you require extra testing time or other accommodations, the proper paperwork must be received from the testing center within the first week of the course in order for the accommodations to be made.
Graphing calculators, texts, and notes will not be permitted during examinations. (You may use a basic calculator)
Please review the ‘Frequently asked questions’ section of the syllabus prior to emailing the professor with questions.
Classroom Instructed Students: Electronic devices are not permitted in the class room. Please leave them in your vehicle. ANY student utilizing headphones, cellphones, PDA’s, laptops, Ipods, or other electronic device in the classroom will be asked to leave and marked absent. Repeated occurrences by the same student will result in a grade of ‘WF’.
All Work MUST be shown on all assignments and exams to receive full credit - including basic problem solving math.
All returned assignments may be picked up from the file box located outside my office door. Each student is assigned a number and are to obtain papers obtaining their number only.
Students are expected to physically and mentally attend each class meeting with enthusiasm for the subject matter. Friendly conversation and sleep should be taken care of outside the classroom.
1. Roll will be taken at the beginning of class. If you arrive late, you have been marked absent.
2. Student's will be marked absent for the day if he/she leaves class prior to the end of the scheduled session.
3. It the responsibility of the student to contact a classmate to obtain any information missed due to an absence.
4. The professor can choose to withdraw a student from the course if the student misses 10% of the course regardless of the student’s current academic standing in the course.

13. One Week to Challenge your Grade: If you believe a mistake has been made with the scoring of an item please email me your name, course, the assignment name, and number of the suspect question. If you are correct, I will rescore your assignment as long as you contact me within a week from the items due date.

Extra credit is not given on an individual basis; if offered it is outlined in the syllabus or course website and made available to the entire class. There will be no other exceptions made or help given outside of the ‘normal’ course experience. Please review all extra credit categories below:
1. Any student completing activities as prescribed below will receive extra credit given as either points on the final exam or toward class participation assignments.

i. Attendance at various campus events/activities. Not all campus events equate to extra credit. Any campus event that constitutes extra credit will be posted on my website under extra credit and a flyer will be placed on my door when available. These are typically worth 1 to 3 points on the Final exam.

ii. Completing 3 hours of career/community volunteer work and submitting a portfolio that includes a formal paper relating the experience to economics. Papers will be awarded between 0 and 25 points of extra credit and are due 2 weeks prior to the last day of classes. Each student may submit 4 papers. Examples are available on my website.

EXTRA CREDIT IS A PRIVILEGE – NOT A RIGHT. AS SUCH A ONE TIME ATTEMPT POLICY IS BEING IMPLEMENTED AS OF SUMMER 2012, FOR ALL EXTRA CREDIT ITEMS – INCLUDING THE CIVIC DUTY PAPERS.

BE SURE TO READ ALL OF THE INFORMATION/GUIDELINES ON MY WEBSITE PRIOR TO COMPLETING EXTRA CREDIT.

iii. REWRITES, RESUBMISSIONS, LATE SUBMISSIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED

***PLEASE SEE THE EXTRA CREDIT GUIDELINES SECTION ON THE PROFESSORS WEBSITE FOR DETAILS***

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

· Technical problems with the online lab: Contact the publisher at 1-800-677-6337 M-F 8am-8pm EST and Sunday 5pm-12am EST or visit the ‘student center’ through the link on Pearson lab mainpage or utilize their live chat feature. Please do not email your instructor or call ASU’s ITS department, as this product is maintained and serviced by the textbook publisher and the aforementioned persons cannot provide assistance.

· *Online Students*: I do not reset quizzes. Please be sure that you are utilizing a reliable computer and internet connection prior to beginning your quizzes. If your internet connection is lost during an exam or quiz. Wait a few minutes and try to log back in to complete your quiz. If your time elapses, I am sorry, but I will not reset your quiz.

· I will happily discuss your grades with you at any time that you prearrange or during office hours. I will NOT discuss your grades over the telephone, email, in the hallway, or in the classroom.

· The grade shown on MyEconLab is NOT your official grade. It is a basic idea of your current score but does not include all of your assignments or participation scores. Official grades will be submitted to the registrar at the end of the semester. You may download the grade calculation worksheet from website if you like to keep track of your grades.

· Late assignments are not accepted under any circumstance. If you miss an assignment, you should begin to work on the assignment for next week and get ahead in the course work to prevent a reoccurrence. {If your system went down, you received a connection error, your computer crashes costing you hundreds to repair, or your two year old spills coffee on your lap top and your assignment is LATE, your grade is ZERO}

· Athletes and working students with schedule conflicts à It is your responsibility to work ahead in the course as to ensure deadlines are not missed.

· Withdrawal: Each student must complete and submit the paperwork to withdraw. Please review the withdrawal process outlined on my website for my courses. ASU guidelines are strictly followed with after midterm withdrawals. Please review this section of the student handbook.

· Is she really going to read this? If I ask you to complete it, you can be assured that I intend to read it.

· Why doesn’t she accept anything late? When you graduate and obtain a position in the ‘real world’ tardiness to work, missing deadlines, inappropriate behavior, poor time management, or your dog urinating on your lap top will not be viable excuses or tolerated for extended periods of time. Think of my class as preparation for this environment. One day, instead of an undesired grade on an assignment or in a course it may be your car, house, or groceries that suffer.

· This class is harder than I thought. Businesses hire college graduates for their critical thinking skills, time management skills, ability to set and achieve difficult goals, exposure to various aspects of life and ability to flourish in social settings more so than they do for their knowledge base. All of these skills are obtained and refined during the undergraduate experience. As your professor, I do my part in improving upon these skills by setting high standards, supporting you in your achievement of them, creating assignments and monitoring discussions around topics and concepts that require the application of learned material – not the reiteration of memorized definitions.

· Everyone can’t be perfect all the time. And this professor doesn’t claim to be so either. As humans do, we all make mistakes. If you believe you have witnessed such an incident on my behalf, please inform me immediately. I strive to be fair as much as possible despite the world's unbiased wrath.

· How do I study for this class? Treat this class like a math class. Work on it every day. This course is unlike any other course you have taken at this point. It is a social science course that requires big picture thinking (like history, sociology, psychology, and political science), but it also requires a mathematical foundation, an understanding of mathematical concepts, and builds upon these foundations as each chapter is covered (just like a math course). Thus, you cannot wait until the night before an exam to study and perform well.

· Guest Speakers: Any student may arrange for a guest speaker to come to class and discuss a subject matter of importance to the class or in relation to the material being covered. Please let the professor know in advance so that proper protocol can be followed with the formal invitation and preparation for the speaker.

· How to prepare for Graph Presentations

o Read the Graph Presentation Instructions on the Professor’s Website

o Review the Grading Rubric

o Review the Presentation Helps as needed

o Review the Example Presentations as needed

How to get started in this course:

1. Attend class

2. Purchase textbook and Coursecompass.com access code

3. Register at coursecompass.com with the correct course code

***PLEASE BE SURE TO REVIEW THE SECTIONS INDICATED ABOVE ON THE PROFESSORS WEBSITE

FOR FULL ASSIGNMENT AND SYLLABUS DETAILS***

ASU AND HULL COLLEGE OF BUSINESS POLICIES

Class Attendance:

If the student has been absent for more than the equivalent of 10 percent of class time, regardless of cause, then the professor may withdraw the student from the class for excessive absences. It is important to note that the instructor may—or may not—withdraw a student from class based upon attendance. In any case, a student should not assume that the instructor has initiated the withdrawal form. A student not withdrawn from a course who stops attending class (or who never attends class) is subject to receiving a grade of WF or F for the course. Please reference the Class Attendance Section in ASU Catalog for further details.

“Each student is expected to attend class regularly, to arrive on time, and to remain until class is dismissed. Tardiness and leaving class early are disruptive for other students and the faculty and are behaviors that are not acceptable in a classroom or business setting. Students who do not arrive promptly or leave early may be noted as absent, at the faculty member’s discretion. Absences in excess of the maximum prescribed in the course syllabus may result in the faculty member’s withdrawing the student from the course.” HCOB Professional Behavior Guidelines

Code of Conduct:

Please review the Student Code of Conduct in the Jaguar Student Handbook. It outlines your responsibilities as students and mine as a faculty member to maintain the integrity of the learning environment. As outlined in the handbook, disorderly conduct may result in expulsion from the class. Moreover, any form of academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. Should you be caught cheating or plagiarizing the work of another I will follow the procedures as outlined in the handbook.

“The classroom should be considered a place of business - academic business. Distracting behavior such as uninvited casual talk among students, use of cell phones and beepers, sleeping, or inappropriate behavior toward fellow students or faculty will not be tolerated any more than they would be in a business setting. Faculty have the right and the responsibility to maintain a classroom free of such distractions. Students who persist in such behavior may be asked to leave the class and may be counted absent for the session. Persistent disruptive behavior may result in the faculty member’s withdrawing the student from the course.” HCOB Professional Behavior Guidelines

Academic Honesty:

In an academic community, honesty and integrity must prevail if the work done and the honors awarded are to receive their respect. The erosion of honesty is the academic community’s ultimate loss. The responsibility for the practice and preservation of honesty must be equally assumed by all of its members. Any type of dishonesty in securing those credentials therefore invites serious sanctions, up to and including, a WF in the course, and expulsion from the institution. Examples of dishonesty include actual or attempted cheating, plagiarism, or knowingly furnishing false information to any university employee. Please reference the Academic Honesty Section in ASU Catalog for further details and specific definitions of cheating and plagiarism.

“Unethical behavior of students in any form is not acceptable and will not be tolerated in the College of Business Administration. Academic dishonesty ( see definitions on the next page ) - cheating on exams, plagiarism of the work of others, unapproved collaboration on graded work, and the like - will be dealt with immediately and with clear consequences. Depending on the nature and severity of the problem, a student who is guilty of any such violation may be: 1) withdrawn from the course with a grade of WF (counted as an F in the GPA); 2) given a grade of zero on the assignment; 3) given a grade of F in the course; or 4) otherwise penalized, at the discretion of the faculty member. Two occurrences of a WF grade for academic dishonesty will result in a student’s being expelled from the University, per current University policy as described in the University Catalog.” HCOB Professional Behavior Guidelines

Disabilities:

Students with disabilities must contact Ms. Angie Kitchens in the Office of Testing and Disability Services (706-737-1469) before the start of the semester. If you require special accommodation, her office will send a classroom accommodation form to affected faculty. Should you require special accommodations, please contact me at the beginning of the semester to determine how they will be implemented. Please reference the Testing and Disability Section in ASU Catalog for further details.

URL’s of Interest:

ASU Catalog http://www.aug.edu/faculty_secretary/catalog/2009/FINAL_2009_2010_web.pdf

HCOB http://hull.aug.edu/

MyASU https://myasu.aug.edu/web/mycampus/home

COURSE SCHEDULE

Note: These dates and assignments are subject to change according to the discretion of the professor.