Personal and Family Finance Human Development and Family Studies 283 XV Summer 2012 College of Human Sciences Department of Human Development and Family Studies Iowa State University of Science and Technology Instructor: Jeanna Nation 1337 Palmer Phone: 515-294-5215 E-mail: e-mail through Blackboard Learn Office hours: By appointment only Delivery: Online through Blackboard Learn Course Objectives: The student will gain understanding of concepts, tools and applications of basic personal finance. Course Structure: We will be utilizing Blackboard for our assignments, activities, as well as journals. Please become familiar with its functions. This course will be broken down into units. These units are not to be done at your own pace but rather finished according to the dates stated on the syllabus. It is important to note that this course will cover more than one unit per week, thus it is vitally important to check the syllabus and make note of due dates. Course Policies: If you need to contact the instructor, please do so through Blackboard Learn s e-mail function. All correspondence will be sent through iastate.edu e-mail but will be facilitated through Blackboard Learn. Using this feature is the best way to ensure your instructor will receive your message. Your instructor will check e-mail and Blackboard Learn each day of the normal academic calendar. Best efforts will be made to respond to any correspondence by noon of the next academic day. Students should not expect a response to any correspondence over the weekend. Best efforts will be made to have grades for all components of this course posted a week from the due date. If an assignment is submitted early, there is no guarantee that it will be graded before the due date. No late work will be recognized. Any late submissions will receive 0 points. Students with Disabilities: Please address any special needs or special accommodations with me at the beginning of the semester or as soon as you become aware of your needs. Those seeking accommodations based on disabilities should obtain a Student Academic Accommodation Request (SAAR) form from the Student Disability Resource (SDR) office (phone 515-294-7220). SDR is located on the main floor of the Student Services Building, Room 1076. Academic Integrity: The value of an education at Iowa State University depends greatly upon the quality of academic work and research completed by students at our institution. Each member of the Iowa State community has an opportunity to play an important role in promoting and preserving integrity on campus. The academic work of all students must comply with all university policies on academic honesty. Examples of academic misconduct are: All quizzes are open note; however collaboration with other individuals on quizzes is prohibited. All exams are closed note and collaboration with other individuals is prohibited.
Attempting to use unauthorized information (working with other student) in the taking of a quiz; Submitting as one's own work, themes, reports, drawings, laboratory notes, computer programs or other products prepared by another person; Knowingly assisting another student in obtaining or using unauthorized materials; or Plagiarism. A useful link to understanding plagiarism, the consequences of plagiarism, and best practices for avoiding plagiarism is available at: http://instr.iastate.libguides.com/content.php?pid=10314. Academic honesty policies are included in the Policy On Academic Dishonesty, Policies and Procedures On Academic Misconduct Investigations, and Code of Computer Ethics and Acceptable Use Policy. These policies are contained in the Student Disciplinary Regulations. In addition, students are responsible for following ethical standards adopted by the various colleges and departments. Overall Course Best Practices: Before you start this course there are a couple of items you will first want to check to ensure you are receiving the course content in an optimal way. 1. Clear your bowser cache-without doing this your quizzes will not submit properly and you will continue to run into problems. Internet Explorer 1. Open the Tools menu. 2. Select Internet Options. 3. Under Browsing History, click Delete (For IE 6 users, click Delete Files). 4. Click Delete All (For IE 6 users, click box next to Delete all offline content). 5. Click Ok (For IE 6 users, click Yes). Firefox 1. Select Clear Recent History from the Tools menu. 2. Check the box next to Cache (deselect other boxes if you do not want to delete that information too). 3. Choose the time frame. 4. Click Clear Now. Safari 1. Open the Safari menu. 2. Select Empty Cache. 3. Click Empty. 2. Do a browser checkup https://bb.its.iastate.edu/webapps/dur-browsercheck-bblearn/module/testbrowser.jsp 3. Ensure you have the most recent version of Java. For a free download please visit http://www.java.com/en/download/testjava.jsp. Course Requirements: Required text: Personal Finance. Garman & Forgue, 11 th Edition. Computer Requirements: Your computer must support Blackboard capabilities. Journals: There will be one journal entry due each of the 8 weeks of the summer session. Your journals will vary in content but will be directed with instructions each week. Some weeks you may be responding to questions by providing your opinions, preferences, experiences, etc. Other weeks you may be doing some research and giving your own input to current events. Journals will appear to you in Blackboard Learn each Monday 8AM of this summer session, and will close the following Monday at 11AM. You will not have access past the Monday 11AM deadline, thus no late work will be accepted. Any late submissions will receive 0 points.
Each journal will be worth 15 points for a total of 120 points. A rubric will be filled out including instructor feedback for each journal for grading purposes. The rubric is as follows: An example journal has been included in the unit 1 lecture. Please refer to that lecture for more detailed information. Tracking Your Spending: Throughout the semester there will an additional assignment titled tracking your spending. Tracking your spending will open May 14 th and is due on or before June 25 th at 11AM. This assignment will require you to keep track of your spending for one month and create a summary. Submissions should be done through Blackboard Learn electronically; no hard copies will be accepted. General feedback regarding submissions will be provided no later than one week after the due date. Feedback will be facilitated through Blackboard Learn and will be viewable by students in their Blackboard Learn grade book. This assignment is worth 40 points. No late submissions will be recognized, any late submissions will receive 0 points. A rubric will be filled out including instructor feedback for each journal for grading purposes. The rubric is as follows: Instructions: Keep track of your spending for a one month period. You may do this in any way that works best for you. After you have done this for the one month period turn in a breakdown of what you have spent your money on, your
budget moving forward, and complete an analysis of your current spending habits. Your analysis should be no less than a 2 page report, 1" margins, Times New Roman font, size 11, 1.5 spaced. This analysis should look at what you are currently spending your money on, what trends you may or may not see, and what, if any, changes you may need to make. Please note that I will read through all of these. If you don't think something will make complete sense to me, make sure you explain it in your analysis. Also note that your total submission should be more than 2 pages as you need to submit a budget, spending breakdown (how much you spent in different categories), and your 2 page analysis. Credit Report: Credit report will open May 14 th and is due on or before June 25 th at 11AM. This assignment will require you to obtain their credit report via www.annualcreditreport.com and complete a summary. This summary should include what you saw in your report (not details about accounts, rather what kind of information you found), what you think you are doing well, and what you think you should change to help improve the information you see in your report. Submissions should be done through Blackboard Learn electronically; no hard copies will be accepted. General feedback regarding submissions will be provided no later than one week after the due date. Feedback will be facilitated through Blackboard Learn and will be viewable by students in their Blackboard Learn grade book. This assignment is worth 40 points. No late submissions will be recognized, any late submissions will receive 0 points. A rubric will be filled out including instructor feedback for each journal for grading purposes. The rubric is as follows: Instructions: Your credit is a vital piece of your financial composition. To get on top of your credit, check your free credit report through www.annualcreditreport.com. From there you can choose which of the three credit report agencies you wish to obtain your report; Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. Each of these three companies should have similar information within your report, so which one you choose is up to you. When you select the company, you will then be asked to prove your identity. The companies will do this by asking you a series of questions. If you answer a question wrong you will be denied access to your report. Keep in mind, being denied is for YOUR security. If you should be denied access to your credit report you will be given the option to send for your report by mail. To do this you will need to complete a form and some identifying information. Another reason you would be denied access to your credit report is because you do not have enough credit accounts to verify your identity. If you are unable to get a copy of your credit report electronically contact me as soon as possible to make alternate arrangements to satisfy the requirements of this assignment.
Because your credit report has incredibly sensitive financial and personal information, therefore YOU SHOULD NEVER GIVE YOUR CREDIT REPORT TO ANYONE! I do NOT want a copy of your credit report. Rather I would like you to complete a two page summary consisting of the information you observed in your credit report. Also identifies at least two items regarding how you intend to improve/maintain your credit over time, and what, if anything, you would have changed about your past financial behaviors that are now being reflected in your credit report. Through www.annualcreditreport.com you will not have access to your credit score. If you should choose to purchase your credit score it will cost around $15, depending on which company you select. This assignment DOES NOT require you to purchase your credit score. Lectures: This is an online course thus there are no traditional lectures that take place. In order to supplement your learning a software program called Panopto will be used within Blackboard to provide online lectures. All lectures will be prerecorded and will be archived for you to review at any time during or after the unit opens. Some of these lectures will be fairly short while others could be lengthy. There will be a lecture for unit, and if a unit has more than one chapter covered, there will only be one lecture which covers both chapters. Each lecture will be available 8AM of the week the material is being covered and will remain open thereafter. To view the Panopto lectures, click on the link that will be provided in Blackboard in the unit you are trying to view, use your ISU net-id as your username and your ISU password to log in. This will then automatically send you to the lecture you are trying to view. Opening the web page in a new window tends to work best. Please keep in mind that this is an online course which means a lot of self-motivation will be required to learn this material. However, if you have questions and would like to meet in person please contact me to set up a time. I am more than happy to meet individually by appointment with students! Quizzes: There will be a 40 point quiz each unit there is not an exam. Units that have a quiz will test over material from the respective unit. Please note that some units cover more than one chapter. There will be a total of 12 quizzes totaling 240 points. These quizzes will be comprised of 20 true/false and multiple choice questions. For quizzes that will test over more than one chapter, the number of questions will be divided evenly between the testable chapters. Quizzes due dates will vary as this is an accelerated summer course. Be sure to check the syllabus for exact due dates. You will have 40 minutes to complete the quiz once it is open and you will have 3 attempts. Your highest score will be recorded for a grade. Please note that the quiz questions will be drawn randomly from a test bank, so it is likely you will not see the same questions. If you find a problem with a question, please contact your instructor explaining the problem you have encountered, which attempt you were presented the question, and the question number on that attempt. This information will be needed for your instructor to investigate the reported problem and respond properly. Exams: There will be four 60 point exams and questions will be multiple choice, true false, fill in the blank, and short answer. The exams are meant to be closed book taken via Blackboard. You will have 2 hours to complete each exam and only one attempt. This may seem like a tight deadline, but those who have studied should have no problem. You should notice those weeks that there are exams, there is also content that will be covered. While you will be able to complete the exam before the content, it is not advisable as the exam will also include that week s course material. It would always be advisable to complete the unit quiz and discussion before completing that unit s exam. Best Practices-Taking a Quiz/Exam: 1. Make sure that you have a reliable Internet connection. o A wired connection better than a wireless connection.
o If you are using a dial-up connection, make sure you won t be interrupted by a dropped connection from incoming or outgoing phone calls, etc. 2. Run the Browser Check to make sure your software is up-to-date. o Bb Learn requires Java JRE version 6. Windows users download the latest version of Java from http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp. Mac users download the latest version of Java by running the Software Update from the Apple menu. o Make sure you have all the appropriate plug-ins (Flash player, Quicktime, Real Player, etc.) 3. Use a Supported Browser. o View the list of currently supported browsers. o Enable your browser s status bar to see the timer. o Start with a fresh Bb Learn session. Close all open browsers and reopen one just for taking the test. o Turn off all pop-up blockers. o Internet Explorer 8 and 9 users should run in compatibility mode while taking quizzes and tests in Bb Learn. 4. Close all open windows and applications before starting the test. o Avoid starting any software updates at any point while taking a test. 5. Bb Learn has a 1-hour inactivity timeout. o o Clear your schedule for the allotted time for taking the quiz or test. Save your answers after you complete each question. When time expires for a quiz or exam, your submission will automatically be submitted. At that time, any questions that did not have an answer saved will receive 0 points. 6. Three attempts will be allowed for each quiz, one attempt will be allowed for each exam. 7. Each quiz attempt will allow 40 minutes for completion and each exam will allow 2 hours for completion. Point Totals: Journaling 120 Quizzes 240 Tracking Spending 40 Credit Report 40 Exams 240 Total 680 Grading scheme: A 94%+ A- 90%-93% B+ 86%-89% B 82%-85% B- 80%-81% C+ 76%-79% C 72%-75% C- 70%-71% D+ 66%-69% D 62%-65% D- 60%-61% F 59% or below
Unit Date Outline Unit # Start Date Chapters Covered Activities Due Due Date Unit 1 May 14, 2012 8AM Chapters 1-2 Quiz Unit 1 May 17, 201211AM Unit 2 May 16, 2012 8AM Chapter 3 Quiz Unit 2 May 21, 201211AM Unit 3 May 21, 2012 8AM Chapter 4 Quiz Unit 3 May 24, 201211AM Unit 4 May 23, 2012 8AM Review Units 1-4 Exam 1 (Chapters 1-4) May 28, 201211AM Unit 5 May 28, 2012 8AM Chapter 5-6 Quiz Unit 5 May 31, 201211AM Unit 6 May 30, 2012 8AM Chapter 7 Quiz Unit 6 June 4, 201211AM Unit 7 June 4, 2012 8AM Chapters 8-9 Quiz Unit 7 June 7, 201211AM Unit 8 June 6, 2012 8AM Review Units 5-9 Exam 2 (Chapters 5-9) June 11, 201211AM Unit 9 June 11, 2012 8AM Chapter 10 Quiz Unit 9 June 14, 201211AM Unit 10 June 13, 2012 8AM Chapter 11 Quiz Unit 10 June 18, 201211AM Unit 11 June 18, 2012 8AM Chapter 12 Quiz Unit 11 June 21, 201211AM Unit 12 June 20, 2012 8AM Review Units 10-12 Exam 3 (Chapters 10-12) June 25, 201211AM Unit 13 June 25, 2012 8AM Chapters 13-14 Quiz Unit 13 June 28, 201211AM Unit 14 June 27, 2012 8AM Chapters 15-16 Quiz Unit 14 July 2, 201211AM Unit 15 July 2, 2012 8AM Chapter 17-18 Quiz Unit 15 July 5, 201211AM Unit 16 July 4, 2012 8AM Review Units 13-18 Exam 4 (Chapters 13-18) July 9, 2012 11AM Journal Date Outline Journal # Start Date End Date Journal 1 May 14, 2012 8AM May 21, 2012 11AM Journal 2 May 21, 20128AM May 28, 201211AM Journal 3 May 28, 20128AM June 4, 201211AM Journal 4 June 4, 2012 8AM June 11, 2012 11AM Journal 5 June 11, 2012 8AM June 18, 2012 11AM Journal 6 June 18, 2012 8AM June 25, 2012 11AM Journal 7 June 25, 2012 8AM July 2, 2012 11AM Journal 8 July 2, 2012 8AM July 9, 2012 11AM