Instructor: Email: ECO 250 Economics and Business Statistics I Fall 2009 Online Course Dr. Michelle Sheran You should direct your questions to my graduate assistant, Matt Rabbit. Matt is the primary contact for this course and can be reached via email at mprabbit@uncg.edu. Required Textbook: Homework Manager: Online Access Key: Summary: Essential Statistics in Business and Economics by David P. Doane and Lori E. Seward This is required and is available for purchase as part of the textbook package. To take this online course, you MUST purchase a Student Access Key. A Student Access Key is an alpha-numeric PIN needed to view and utilize protected publisher content that has been added to a Blackboard course. Student Access Keys are only available for purchase as part of the textbook package. To be clear, you need to purchase the following three items in order to take this class: the textbook, access to Homework Manager, and a Student Access Key. This course cannot be taken without all three. The only way to purchase all three is to buy the bundled package through the UNCG bookstore.
Learning Objectives: 1. Understand sampling methods, sampling distributions and the Central Limit Theorem. 2. Calculate and interpret common measures of central tendency and dispersion and be able to determine the presence and direction of skew. 3. Calculate the mean and variance of common probability distributions. 4. Calculate and interpret confidence intervals for population means and proportions. 5. Perform hypothesis tests and understand the consequences of errors in tests. 6. Estimate and interpret simple linear regression and make predictions. In addition to the above, an important objective of this class is to learn to use Microsoft Excel to do statistical analysis (It is assumed that you have good spreadsheet skills from ISM 110 or its equivalent). Exams: There will be two midterm exams and a final exam. The final exam is comprehensive. The exams will be timed, open book and open notes. Exams are administered through Blackboard. Homework Assignments: There will be 8 homework assignments. All homework assignments must be submitted electronically via Homework Manager. If you do not complete an assignment on time, you will be assigned a grade of zero. The lowest homework grade will be dropped. Please note that homework assignments will not be accepted late. Note too that the practice problems are excellent preparation for the homework assignments. Quizzes: There will be 8 quizzes. All quizzes must be submitted electronically via Blackboard. If you do not complete a quiz on time, you will be assigned a grade of zero. The lowest quiz grade will be dropped. Please note that quizzes cannot be taken late.
Grading policy: Your average for the class will be determined as follows: Homework sets: 20% Quizzes 15% Exam 1: 20% Exam 2: 20% Final Exam: 25% Your final grade will be assigned based on the following scale: 97% and above: A+ At least 93% but less than 97%: A At least 90% but less than 93%: A- At least 87% but less than 90%: B+ At least 83% but less than 87% B At least 80% but less than 83%: B- At least 77% but less than 80%: C+ At least 73% but less than 77%: C At least 70% but less than 73%: C- At least 67% but less than 70%: D+ At least 63% but less than 67%: D At least 60% but less than 63%: D- Less than 60%: F Academic Integrity Policy: Students are expected to know and abide by the Honor Code in all matters pertaining to this course. Violations of this code will be pursued in accordance with the code.. The link to UNCG s academic integrity policy is: http://academicintegrity.uncg.edu/complete/ Faculty and Student Guidelines Please familiarize yourself with the Bryan School s Faculty and Student Guidelines. These guidelines establish principles and expectations for the administration, faculty, staff, and students of the Bryan School of Business and Economics. The link for this document is http://www.uncg.edu/bae/faculty_student_guidelines.pdf
Miscellaneous: 1. Had this been a traditional, face-to-face course, we would have met in the classroom for 2.5 hours per week. Moreover, the rule-of-thumb in college is to spend two hours each week studying for every one hour in class. Thus, you should plan on allocating at least 7.5 hours per week towards this course. It is very important that you keep up with the class. Doing so will require a substantial amount of time and effort. 2. It is highly recommended that you view the Chapter Slide Show presentations in slide show mode. There are helpful graphics that can only been seen in slide show mode. (In Microsoft PowerPoint, go to the Slide Show menu and click on From Beginning to start the slide show.) 3. This material covered in this course cannot be learned passively. Active thinking and problem solving are essential. Statistics is a tool learned only by use! Thus, it is essential that you spent adequate time working through the practice problems, quizzes, and homework assignments. These will provide you with the opportunity to apply the material presented in the Lesson Presentations and Chapter Slide Shows. The best way to learn the material is through practice, practice and more practice! 4. You are responsible for all the material covered in the lesson presentations, slide show presentations, and assigned textbook readings. Moreover, you are responsible for problems covered in the quizzes, practice problems and homework assignments. All are fair game for exams. 5. This is an online course. You must have access to a computer and to the internet to take this course. Please have a backup option (ex: a friend s computer, a computer at a local library) as technical problems may arise over the course of the session. Technical problems are not a valid excuse for missing a deadline! Starting assignments early can help safeguard you from such situations. 6. I recommend taking notes during lesson presentations and slide show presentations as if you were in a traditional class! This will greatly facilitate your studying for the exams.
Course Schedule: Assignment Due Date Specifics Module 1 September 2 Chapters 1 & 2 Homework #1 Chapter 2 Quiz Module 2 September 16 Chapter 4 Homework #2 Chapter 4 Quiz Module 3 September 30 Chapter 5 Homework #3 Chapter 5 Quiz Exam 1 October 5 Modules 1-3 Module 4 October 21 Module 5 November 4 Chapters 6 & 7 Homework #4 Homework #5 Chapter 6 Quiz Chapter 7 Quiz Chapter 8 Homework #6 Chapter 8 Quiz Exam 2 November 9 Modules 4 & 5 Module 6 November 25 Module 7 December 7 Chapter 9 Homework #7 Chapter 9 Quiz Chapter 12 Homework #8 Chapter 12 Quiz Final Exam December 14 Modules 1-7