Online Office Hours: Thursdays 1:20-2:30, Wednesdays 7:00pm-9:00pm and by appt Course: online 24/7 Virtual class hours: online 24/7 OFFICE HRS: This will be based on student s response. I will post these times on Monday as soon as I collate all orientation emails. Instructor Information Name: Fran Lara Garib EMAIL: To maintain a paper trail all communications should be via email. Always cc all emails to franlara@att.blackberry.net and lara.garib@lsco.edu CELL NUMBER 713 775 4898. Text or call me if you have any concerns Aplia Webpage: www.aplia.com (a username and a password are required to access this course site). Aplia Support http://www.aplia.com/support/index.jsp Required Textbook: Principles of Economics, Mankiw (5 h edition) with Aplia Enrollment Supplementary Materials: simple handheld calculator EVALUATION METHOD: Grading Exams 56% Assignments Include but not limited to: 35% Aplia Home Work Discussion Boards Quizzes Chapter summary and progress reports 10% Course Requirements Orientation This will help you to master this course Your orientation is compulsory. Although some assignments are graded, these marks will not go against you. It is an introduction to the Aplia interface and helps you to understand how Aplia works.
DO THE PUBLISHER S POWERPOINT ACTIVITIES ON EACH CHAPTER. You will have access to the required text through your Aplia account. If you require a Physical textbook, CALL ME. Weekly Check-ins (10% of Final Grade) By the Thursday of each week you must send me an email. This email will be your progress report; let me know what you have done for the week and state any questions or difficulties you may have. In your OWN use examples to describe the chapter s concepts. DO NOT COPY AND PASTE. This is palgerism and will result in F PLEASE CC ALL EMAILS TO franlara@att.blackberry.net Include the chapters you have read. The assignments completed Discussion Posts Include the concepts that you have difficulties comprehending; cite pages if necessary Examples of progress reports: Hi, Prof. Lara, This is John Smith. I just finished reading Ch. 4 about how markets work. I understand that a market economy works because of prices. In my own life, when McDonald's started their $1 for any size drink promotion, I found myself demanding (consuming) more large drinks, which I think is a move along the Demand curve. And when doctors reported on the healthful benefits of dark chocolate over milk chocolate, I noticed Hershey's Special (dark chocolate) bars didn't go on sale when Hershey's regular (milk chocolate) candy bars did; Which meant that the demand for regular Hershey s fell (shift to the left) and the demand for dark increased (shift to the right). This rightward shift caused a movement up along the Supply curve Copy Exams (56% of final grade) There will be approximately four online exams which are all open book and they are not timed. You must complete both attempts by the given due date and time. You may do a few problems a day or do a few exam questions as you cover the chapter.. Each exam will count for 12% of your final grade. The exam which you do your best will count for an additional 5%, For example, if your do your best on the exam 4, then your grade on exam 1, exam 2. 3 and exam 4 will count for 12%, 12%, 12% and 20% respectively. If you do your best on exam 2 then your grades on exam 1, 2, 3 and 4 will be 12%, 20%, 12% and 12% respectively. I will give you at least one week notice for your exams. You must score at least 50% to access your second attempt. There is an excel spreadsheet attachment that you may use to calculate your grades. Simply enter, the data required and you will see your current grade. 2
Chapters LAMAR STATE COLLEGE-ORANGE Tests 1, 2, 3, 4 1 2 attempts 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 2 2 attempts 29, 30, 31, 32 3 2 attempts 33, 34, 35, 36 4 2 attempts Assignments 35% Student s Responsibility DO YOUR HOME WORK. This is a college level class and requires self-motivation, discipline, and total commitment. Review all lecture notes, PowerPoint slideshows, and assigned readings. Students spend on average four hours per assignments each week on this course Aplia We will use a commercial website called Aplia, which provides a series of problem sets integrated with the Mankiw text. In practice, you will spend much more time at Aplia than you will at the course's D2L site. The entire textbook is available at Aplia in FlashPaper form, which can be read online or printed. You will also have 2 homework assignments per chapter at Aplia; thirty -five percent of your grade is from your Aplia assignments; (DO NOT BLOW IT OFF). These assignments are time sensitive. You must register online at www.aplia.com, go to your respective class time, and do the assigned work. You must FINISH your assignment before the deadline. If you are in the middle of your work and the deadline passes, APLIA WILL BAR YOU FROM COMPLETING THAT ASSIGNMENT resulting in a zero for the assignment. Aplia Policies Aplia Assignments: Each graded problem set has a firm due date. You can change your answers as many times as you like before the due date has passed. Once the due date has passed, the grade will be recorded and it will not be possible to change your answers or complete the assignment at this point. In other words, Aplia assignments must be completed by the due date. The software does not care whether you have an excuse or not. After the due date, you will be able to see the correct answers and the explanation for graded problems. In addition to graded assignments, you will also be able to do regular practice assignments on Aplia. The practice problem sets offer immediate feedback and you will often find it useful to do the practice problems before attempting the graded problems. Your score on these practice assignments do not affect your grade in any way. The introductory assignments will walk you through the differences between graded and practice assignments and familiarize you with the logistics of Aplia. 3
Technical Support: If you have questions about registering or using the Aplia website, please contact Aplia by clicking the Aplia Support link at the bottom of any Aplia page or by e-mailing support@aplia.com. You will receive a response in one business day. Technical Problems, "Skips" and Makeups: Aplia should work perfectly on any of the machines in a campus computer lab. It should also work properly on most home computers, assuming you have the required plug-ins. The Configuration Test should handle any of these issues. I understand that technical problems and other circumstances will sometimes arise that prevent you from completing a particular assignment. However, it is impossible for me to "back up" the due date for an assignment to accommodate these problems after the due date has passed. If you miss a due date, you will receive a zero for that particular assignment, without exception. To soften the impact of unforeseen contingencies, you are allowed to "skip" one assignments without penalty; I will simply drop them when calculating your grade. If you complete all of the Aplia assignments, (so that you have no zeros to skip), I will drop your two lowest homework scores at the end of the semester. These "skips" are intended to be used to cover any and all circumstances that prevent you from completing an Aplia assignment on time. The following hypothetical circumstances provide some examples of student excuses and how they relate to Aplia: I added the class late. --- Use a skip. My internet connection crashed. --- Use a skip. My computer was broken. --- Use a skip. I was in the hospital.---use a skip The above list makes the skip policy clear. There is no shame in having to miss an assignment. It will undoubtedly happen to many people over the semester. Missing one assignment will not hurt your grade. COURSE OUTLINE WITH RESPECTIVE APLIA ASSIGNMENTS ORIENTATION/APLIA FAMILIARIZATION 1) Introduction to Using Aplia Problem Sets 34/Graded 2) Thinking Like an Economist 30/Graded Chapter 2 Assignments (Tentative) 3) Interdependence and the Gains from Trade Chapter 3 4) Border Security Tradeoffs Uses a PPF/PPC-style diagram 5) The Market Forces of Supply and Demand Chapter 4 4
6) When It Comes to Buying Textbooks, Students Do Their Homework 7) Application: The Costs of Taxation Chapter 8 8) The design of the tax system Chapter 12 9) How Effective Are Cigarette Taxes? 10) Application: International Trade Chapter 9 11) News Analysis: Hung-Up on Hanger Tariffs 12) Measuring a Nation's Income Chapter 23 13) Measuring the Cost of Living Chapter 24 14) Production and Growth Chapter 25 15) The Most Important Economic Indicator 16) Saving, Investment, and the Financial System Chapter 26 17) The Basic Tools of Finance Chapter 27 18) Unemployment Chapter 28 19) French Riots - Are Labor Policies Part of the Problem? 20) The Monetary System Chapter 29 21) Money Growth and Inflation Chapter 30 5
22) Open-Economy Macroeconomics: Basic Concepts Chapter 31 23) A Macroeconomic Theory of the Open Economy Chapter 32 24) Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply Chapter 33 25) The Macroeconomic Effects of Hurricane Katrina 26) The Influence of Monetary and Fiscal Policy on Aggregate Demand Chapter 34 27) The Short-Run Trade-off between Inflation and Unemployment Chapter 35 28) Nobel Recipient Edmund Phelps: Dynamiter of Conventional Wisdom Edmund Phelps, the 2006 recipient 29) Five Debates over Macroeconomic Policy Chapter 36 Grading Scale 90% - 100% A 80% - 89% B 70% - 79% C 60% - 69% D 0% - 59% F Make-up Policy: No make up EXAMS Classroom Policies: Since face to face meetings in the classroom are replaced by online meetings through any or all of the following methods: discussion boards, emails, chat, and whiteboard, students are expected to follow the rules of netiquette in these forums. (Netiquette rules are available in the D2L tutorials) Attendance: Your chapter progress reports, active participation in the discussion board will be considered in lieu of physical attendance. http://www.lsco.edu/students/studenthandbook/students_handbook_page9_16.htm#class 6
Important dates such as Withdrawals and Drops: Fall - 2010 August 2010 8/23 First class day for fall semester and 8-week Session I 8/23-25 Schedule revisions and/or late registration with penalty fee 8/27 September 2010 Application process for December 2010 graduation begins 9/6 Labor Day - No Classes (buildings closed) 9/8 12th Class Day - no penalty for dropping Last Day to apply for Grade Replacement 9/20 9/27 October 2010 10/15 10/18 10/28 November 2010 11/1 11/2 11/8 11/13 11/15 11/22 Last day to drop or withdraw from 8-week Session I with a Q or W Last day to drop or withdraw from 8-week Session I with academic penalty Last day to drop or withdraw from fall semester without academic penalty Last day to petition for No Grade Last class day for 8-week Session I Last day to register for 8-week Session II First class day for 8-week Session II Early advisement begins Last day to drop/withdraw from fall classes with penalty Last day to apply for December graduation Registration for Spring 2011 begins Last day to pay for diploma, cap and gown Last day to drop or withdraw from 8-week Session II with a Q or W Last day to drop or withdraw from 8-week Session II 11/24 Thanksgiving Holiday recess begins after evening classes (buildings closed 25-28) 7
11/29 December 2010 12/7 12/8 Classes resume at 7:00 a.m. Last class day for fall semester and 8-week Session II Final Exam Review Day (no exams or assignments); Finals begin at 5 p.m. 12/9-14 Final examinations 12/15 Last day to register and pay for winter mini-session 12/16 12/17 12/22-31 Winter mini-session begins--9 class periods Commencement Holiday Break (buildings closed) 8