Syllabus 

Economics 224 Section 001 Spring 2012

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Assignment Schedule and Interactive Lecture Modules
Class Video
Blackboard (Grades, Tests, and Chapter Quizzes) 
Syllabus
Facebook Group
Course FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Professor Henry Chappell

Course Website: http://professorchappell.com/Econ224_s12/index.htm

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Course Materials
Course Introduction
Learning Objectives
Course Organization
Schedule
Course Policies
Grading
Study Recommendations

Course Materials

Textbook: Gregory Mankiw, Essentials of Economics. I recommend that you purchase a used copy of the 5th edition (ISBN 978-0324590029). Currently copies are available on Amazon at prices below $5.00. Alternatively, you may purchase the newer 6th Edition (ISBN 978-1133162933) for $289.00. I would only recommend the 6th edition at the bookstore for someone with a scholarship that covers all book expenses. If you buy the 6th edition, it will have a higher resale value at the end of the semester.

Lecture Modules: This section of ECON224 is an online class. Instead of attending traditional classroom lectures, you will view interactive lecture modules available through Blackboard. The modules include brief lecture segments and require occasional responses from you as you watch and listen. You are expected to complete these modules as a normal part of your study for this class; however, you can also earn some credit for these, as discussed in the section on grading. Information on how to access lecture modules and post your scores can be found on the course FAQ page.

Blackboard: I will use Blackboard (1) to send e-mail announcements to you (2) to post lecture modules, quizzes, practice quizzes, tests, and the final exam, and (3) to post grades.

Class Video: This class will not have regular class meetings. However, I will hold weekly problem-solving sessions on Tuesday nights from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm in room BA 750. Video recordings of problem sessions will be posted on the web, usually within 24 hours. Attendance at problem sessions is not required but some students will find that the live class environment is helpful. If you do not attend, I strongly encourage you to watch the recording later.

Facebook: I encourage you to join the Econ224 Group. Sometimes a lecture module asks you to comment on an issue by posting in the Facebook Group. Answers to questions raised by students will also be posted in the Facebook Group.

Other: I will occasionally post other materials on the web and/or ask you to make use of other web resources.

Course Introduction

Economics studies the allocation of scarce resources among competing uses. In this course, we focus attention on resource allocation by way of market institutions. In markets, prices reflect scarcity and they guide users of resources in the choices they make about production and consumption. Topics covered include demand and supply in competitive markets, imperfectly competitive markets, and the determination of aggregate economic outcomes (including GDP growth, unemployment, and the rate of inflation).

Learning Objectives

Students should be able to understand and apply core principles of economic analysis. Students should be able to analyze the performance of competitive and imperfectly competitive markets, understand the notion of economic efficiency, and be familiar with important aggregate economic variables and the forces that determine their evolution over time. Students should become aware of important economic policy issues and understand the arguments that economists make regarding those issues.

This course will be organized into short modules. Detailed learning objectives are provided in each module.

Course Organization

Online lecture modules, available in Blackboard, provide the main source of content for this class. You will also be expected to complete chapter quizzes posted in Blackboard. For each graded chapter quiz, there is a paired practice quiz.

Schedule

The detailed schedule is posted here:

http://professorchappell.com/Econ224_s12/schedule.htm.

The schedule lists dates for all important events and assignments for this class. To get credit for your work, you must complete assignments at the indicated times. Test dates will not be changed after the course begins (unless required by Blackboard outages). 

I encourage you to work and read in advance of the schedule. If you encounter a computer glitch the keeps you from completing an assignment before the deadline, that does not provide you with an excuse for missing the assignment. 
 
Also, notice that after a test date, there is no relief from work -- you will quickly need to complete new problem sets on new material. You should be reading and working problems for new material before you have been tested on all older material. 

Course Policies

Lecture Modules

Graded lecture modules can be viewed as many times as you wish before the deadline. Your recorded grade will normally be the highest score recorded by Blackboard before the deadline last submission preceding the deadline. Warning: If you exit a module abnormally for any reason, your score may be recorded as a zero by Blackboard. Always check your grade before the deadline, since the grade displayed there is the one you will receive.

There are also practice lecture modules available. These are identical to graded modules, except that no grades are recorded. After deadlines for graded modules have passed, you can still view practice modules.

You are allowed to view lecture modules in any location and from any computer where you can reach the Internet. You may discuss lecture module questions with others in terms of general principles, but you must select answers yourself.

On Monday nights, 7 -10 pm, we will have scheduled computer lab hours for this class in room 701 BA. My TA will be available to offer help if you wish to work modules in the lab during those hours.

Quizzes

Graded quizzes can be retaken as many times as you wish before the quiz deadline. Your recorded grade will normally be the highest score you received over all submissions. However, if you exit a quiz without submitting it, a grade of zero may be recorded. Always check the grade you have before the deadline -- the grade recorded for you will the grade displayed in Blackboard when the due date is reached. 

There are also practice quizzes available. These are identical to graded quizzes, except that no grades are recorded. After deadlines for graded quizzes have passed, you can still take practice quizzes.

Tests and exams in this class will draw questions from the same test bank pools as the practice quizzes. This means that the practice quizzes provide you with an excellent study tool. 

You are allowed take graded quizzes and practice quizzes in any location where you can reach Blackboard. You may discuss quiz questions with others in terms of general principles, but you must work problems and select answers yourself.

The Monday night lab hours (7 -10 pm, room 701 BA) mentioned above can also be used for quiz-taking. Although you can take online quizzes at your convenience in terms of time and location, if you come to the lab hours you will be able to ask questions of the student assistant on duty. This is a good opportunity to get immediate feedback if you are puzzled by a question.

Testing: 

Tests will be given via Blackboard in room 701 BA, a computer lab classroom. The exams will be monitored by me (Prof. Chappell) or by student assistants. Each test will be given over a period spanning three consecutive nights, with five hours of lab time scheduled for each of those nights. The final exam will also have hours scheduled over multiple time slots. I reserve the right to change testing procedures as the semester proceeds. Dates for tests and exams are provided on the course schedule. Specific times for individuals will be provided later.

I will  assign students to specified testing times within the 3-day period, but I expect to be flexible in rescheduling for those with conflicts. In advance of the test, you can request a different test time within the announced three-day testing interval. Make your request one week in advance of the testing interval. So long as space is available, we will accommodate requests. The same rules will apply for the final exam. Often many students request an early final exam -- it may NOT be possible to meet all such requests for early exams. Send your request to econ224@professorchappell.com.

Tests will normally consist of 30 multiple choice questions. You will have 75 minutes to complete the test. The final exam will have 50 questions and you will have 2 hours to complete the test. Almost all questions will come from the test bank associated with the Mankiw textbook.

Generally, the test bank answer key is extremely accurate, and I would like to minimize counterproductive disputes over the correctness of test bank answers. To do this, when you take each test or the exam, you will be asked to waive your right to dispute test bank answers for purposes of grading. In return for waving this right, you will be awarded a small number of extra credit points. For more details, please see the course FAQ on this policy by clicking the link below:

Blackboard did not grade my test correctly. What should I do?

There will be no make-ups for missed tests.  If you are excused from a test, then weight will be added to your final exam. Effectively, this means that at the end of the semester, the grade for the missing test will be replaced by your final exam grade. Normally, if a student misses one test, I will NOT require a written excuse from a doctor or other authority. You will be automatically excused. This automatic excuse policy does NOT apply to the final exam.

Important! If you have already missed one test without providing an excuse, and if an illness or emergency arises when you are scheduled for a subsequent test, contact me prior to your scheduled test time. I understand that in some emergency situations, you may not be able to reach me before the scheduled test. Ultimately, I am the judge of what is or is not an emergency, so I urge you to contact me promptly in order to avoid being penalized. You must also promptly provide me with  written documented evidence of an emergency.  Specifically, failure to immediately notify me that you have an emergency will result in a 10 point penalty on the test grade (your test grade will be recorded as your final exam grade less 10 points). Failure to provide me with a written excuse within one week of the schedule test date will result in a 25 point deduction assessed (your test grade will be recorded as your final exam grade less 25 points). Written excuses should be delivered to my office, 416 BA. 

Work conflicts are not an acceptable excuse for missing tests. You are expected to arrange work schedules and other activities so that you can take tests in the testing intervals shown on the course schedule. If you cannot do so, you should not take this class. 

If an emergency requires you to miss the final exam, you must notify me promptly and provide written documentation of the emergency. I am the final judge of what constitutes an emergency. If you are unable to take the final exam within the scheduled 4-day interval, and if you have provided documentation and been excused, you will receive a grade of "Incomplete" and will need to complete the course at a later date. 

You may not access mobile phones during a test or exam and you may not use a mobile phone as a calculator. You may not use a hand-held calculator, nor can you access any books, notes, programs or websites while taking tests or exams (except that you may access the online calculator(s) specified in the exam instructions).

Test and Exam Schedule (All in BA 701)

Test 1:

1/31 8:30 pm -12:00 midnight
2/1 4:00 pm – 12:00 midnight
2/2 8:30 pm -12:00 midnight

Test 2:

2/21 8:30 pm -12:00 midnight
2/22 4:00 pm – 12:00 midnight
2/23 8:30 pm -12:00 midnight

Test 3:

3/20 8:30 pm -12:00 midnight
3/21 4:00 pm – 12:00 midnight
3/22 8:30 pm -12:00 midnight

Test 4:

4/10, 8:30 pm -12:00 midnight
4/11 4:00 pm – 12:00 midnight
4/12 8:30 pm -12:00 midnight

Final Exam Schedule

4/25 8:30 pm -12:00 midnight
4/26 4:00 pm – 12:00 midnight
4/27 8:30 pm -12:00 midnight
4/28 9 am to 5 pm.

Accommodating Disabilities

Reasonable accommodations are available for students with a documented disability. If you have a disability and need accommodations to fully participate in this class, contact the Office of Student Disability Services: 777-6142, TDD 777-6744, email sasds@mailbox.sc.edu, or visit LeConte College Room 112A. All accommodations must be approved through the Office of Student Disability Services. If you require special arrangements, please advise me in advance of each test.

Expectations for the Instructor

I will do my best to facilitate learning, to answer questions appropriately, to be fair and objective in grading, to provide timely and useful feedback on assignments, and to maintain adequate office hours. It is my intention to provide you with the best possible learning experience. 

Honor Code

The University Honor Code applies. All work must be your own unless I explicitly permit collaboration. See the Honor Code at this link:

http://www.sc.edu/academicintegrity/honorcode.html

You are permitted to discuss lecture modules and graded chapter quizzes (in terms of general principles and strategies) with other students. You may not exchange answers.

E-mail Policy

Students sometimes find that it is easier to e-mail me with a question than to look for the answer in materials posted on the course website. Unfortunately, this is not easier for me. A large portion of the e-mails I get ask questions that have been answered on  the course web page, this syllabus, the announcement archive, or my course FAQ page. Please consult these sources before asking a question. My teaching assistant or I will eventually reply to all e-mails, but questions with answers provided elsewhere will not receive a high priority. 

You should normally send questions to:

econ224@professorchappell.com

This account will be monitored by my teaching assistant. If you have a private matter that should not be seen by my assistant, contact me at

hwchappell@professorchappell.com

Course Announcements

Because this is an online class, you should frequently check the Econ224 Course Webpage and your e-mail for announcements related to the course. I will send e-mail announcements by Blackboard. If you do not receive e-mail announcements, you will need to make sure that Blackboard is using the correct e-mail address for you. To check or change your e-mail address associated with Blackboard, login to Blackboard, choose "Personal Information," choose to "Edit Personal Information," and then enter your preferred  email address in the appropriate field. Failure to receive or read an announcement will not be an acceptable excuse for failing to fulfill any course requirement.

Grading

Your grade will depend primarily on test scores, with weight also given for Chapter quizzes and for watching and interacting with lecture modules. You will have 4 tests and a comprehensive final exam. The tests will consist of multiple choice questions. 

Grading Weights:

Your lecture module grade will be determined as follows: (1) Calculate the total points available on lecture modules (2) Calculate 85% of that number to calculate the "threshold" (3) Express your total points as a percentage of the threshold, truncating at 100% (if that percentage exceeded 100%).

Example: Suppose that it is possible to earn a maximum of 1565 points in lecture modules over the semester. Suppose that you earn 1000 points. The threshold is 85% of 1565, or 1330.25. Your total of 1000 is 75.174% of 1330.25. So your lecture module average will be 75.174%.If you had earned a total of 1400 points, your total would exceed the threshold, and your percentage quiz grade would be 100%.

Your grade for chapter quizzes will be calculated in a similar way. Your Chapter quiz grade (as a percentage) will be determined as follows: (1) Calculate the total points available on Chapter Quizzes (2) Calculate 85% of that number to calculate the "threshold" (3) Express your total points as a percentage of the threshold, truncating at 100% (if that percentage exceeded 100%).

Example: Suppose that a total of 180 quiz points are available over the semester. Calculate 85% of 180 to get the threshold of 153. Suppose you earned a total of 140 points on quizzes over the semester. Your percentage quiz grade will be 140 expressed as a percentage of 153, which is 91.503%. If you had earned a total of 160 points, your total would exceed the threshold, and your percentage quiz grade would be 100%.

This generous grading scheme for lecture modules and quizzes is meant to be forgiving of occasional tardiness or forgetfulness, illness, or for problems you encounter completing assignments. Do not ask to make up missed module or quiz assignments -- the leniency in grading is intended to compensate for events that might cause you to miss an assignment.

You will not be able to make up work for missed modules or quizzes after the due date. Also, regardless of the reason, I cannot give you the credit available for quizzes and lecture module assignments if Blackboard does not record your grade. For quizzes and tests, your grade will be the one that Blackboard reports for you. It is your responsibility to see that your grades are being properly recorded and to take any corrective actions needed to insure that they are recorded before the grading deadline.

Grading Scale:
 
Your grade is determined by the following scale:
 

Please note that this grading scale is lenient! There are several reasons for this. Primarily, it is because this is a challenging course, and many of the test questions are difficult. I also recognize that multiple choice questions can sometimes be difficult to interpret or subject to confusion over wording. Please not that my leniency is already built into the grading scale; there will be no "ex-post" adjustments or exceptions to the grading scale. 

If you are exactly on a borderline, I will award the higher grade. That is, if your average is 80.0000, you will get an A.

However, if your grade is 79.9950 you will get a B+. There will be absolutely no exceptions made to this grading scale. Also, it is not possible to do extra work for extra credit in order to improve a grade. Further, your grade cannot be adjusted ex post because of any special circumstances you have faced during the semester, or any consequences you might suffer because your grade is lower than desired. There are normal ways to handle medical issues that might arise during a semester, but these do NOT involve offering more lenient grading scales.

In a large class, there will always be some individuals whose average ends up being just below a threshold for a higher grade. Unfortunately, the university requires that I assign discrete letter grades, and this means that there are always some individuals who will be disappointed about missing a higher grade by tiny fractions of a point.

Study Recommendations

Like most economics courses, this class requires analytical thinking. Casual reading of the text will not be adequate study, nor will casual listening to lecture modules. Memorization will not substitute for understanding. You must attempt to master the logic of the arguments that are made in the text, in online materials, and in class. 

The tests given in the class are multiple choice tests. Because a multiple choice test does not require an explanation in an answer, students have a tendency to believe that they do not need to acquire the ability to provide an explanation. This is a fallacy. Gaining the ability to explain concepts will greatly help you in answering multiple choice questions.

I am occasionally asked the following question: “Do I have to know all of the formulas in the book?” In response, I am tempted to reply: “You don’t have to know (memorize) anything, as long as you understand everything.” That may not seem to be an especially helpful response, but it does suggest something about how I think you should study. 

I strongly recommend that you do the following:

1. When confronted with a logical argument, ask yourself if you can work through and understand the argument on your own. Close the book and write it out.

2. For every diagram you see in the text, be able to explain what is plotted and what concept or principle the diagram is illustrating. Can you provide an appropriate caption for each diagram without looking?

3. Practice solving problems like those found at the end of each textbook chapter and in the Chapter quizzes. I will go over some of these in problem-solving sessions. Try to solve problems by yourself before watching me solve them.

4. Take the learning objectives listed in each lecture module seriously. Can you convince yourself that you have a good understanding of each point listed as a learning objective in a module?

5. Take the practice quizzes. The chapter quiz questions are randomly drawn from the same pool of questions as the tests. Each time you take one of the practice quizzes, you will get a new random selection of questions. When you miss questions on practice quizzes, be sure to review your course materials to make sure that you understand why your answer was incorrect. Warning! You are permitted to take as many practices quizzes and practice tests as you like, but unless you use these to remedy your deficiencies in understanding, repeated attempts are not likely to be very helpful.

6. If you do poorly at first, consider studying with a group or hiring a tutor. Do not continue to follow an unsuccessful approach. See the List of Tutors.

7. When you view the online modules, you should also take notes -- just because I will not lecture in a traditional way does not mean that you should not take notes. While the modules should always be available (absent Internet outages), the discipline of note-taking is helpful.

8. Do not fall behind. If you stay ahead of the schedule, you will find it easier to work through the assignments in a thoughtful way that allows you to learn. 

One last piece of advice: I firmly believe that the best way to get an F in this class is to aim for a C.

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