It is the student’s responsibility to drop classes they have stopped attending.  Failure to drop a course you have stopped attending will result in an “F” in the course.  Please feel free to call me if you have problems – academic or personal – that might make you consider withdrawing from this course.  If you have fallen behind in the course, it is in your best interest to drop the course.  I will not grant any extensions or incompletes at the end of the semester (there will no exceptions to this policy).

REQUIRED TEXTBOOK 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course offers an introduction to the concepts and tools of economic analysis.  Topics covered include price theory including supply and demand, marginal analysis, utility, cost and revenue concepts, competition, production and factor markets.  Economic principles are applied to the analysis of such problems as industrial organization, the environment, public choice and the distribution of income.  Graded or credit option.  (CAN ECON 4). (3 units).

Students should plan to spend AT LEAST six hours per week completing the various readings, exercises and quizzes for this course.  We will generally cover one or two chapters per week.  Do not fall behind because it will be impossible for you to catch up.  I do not accept late assignments and I will not issue incompletes at the end of the semester - either you finish the course in the allotted period of time or you will receive an "F" in the course.  I will make no exceptions whatsoever to this policy.

GRADING POLICY

Class grade will consist of homework, class project, participation in class discussions (discussion board), midterm, final exam and quizzes.  Final grade will be determined using a straight percentage scale as follows:  A= 90-100%; B= 80-89%; C=70-79%; D=60-69%; F= 0-59%.  Credit/No Credit students must earn a minimum of 70% (420 points) for CREDIT.

QUIZZES

There will be weekly/bi-weekly quizzes in this course (10 quizzes total).  Each quiz will have 20 questions and will cover one to two chapters.  Quizzes will consist of multiple-choice, true/false, matching and/or short essay questions.  Quizzes will be worth 10 points each for a total of 100 points.  Please be advised that you should complete all quizzes on your own and you may use your notes and the book while completing the quizzes.  Each quiz will have a time limit of 120 minutes so you should be prepared to take the quiz before you log on to it and you must complete it in one sitting.  Quizzes are due by the deadline listed on the quizzes page and the Schedule of Assignments.  It is your responsibility to take the quizzes on time.  Once the deadline has passed, you will not be able to log onto the quiz and will receive zero points for that quiz.  You may take each quiz three times and your highest quiz score will count towards your grade.

DISCUSSION BOARD

Students will be required to post responses to discussion board questions at least 10 weeks out of the semester.  Ten (10) points will be assigned for 2 posts (1 posted response to a discussion board question + 1 response to the posts of other students).  You are required to post your responses 10 weeks during the course of the semester.  Administrative and/or technical questions (like “how do I get into the quiz?”) do not count as a post but I welcome you to post any general questions you may have on the administrative/technical issues discussion board.  Postings for credit must be in regard to the economic concepts that we are studying.  I will post discussion questions to the discussion board on a weekly basis (corresponding to the material we are covering during that week).  There are several different discussion boards corresponding to the various weeks of the course and you must respond to discussion questions in a timely manner.  In order to earn the full 100 points you must post one message and respond to one other student at least 10 weeks in the semester (two posts per week).  The introduction posting is NOT included as part of the 10 weeks of postings. 

Discussion board postings will be graded based upon the timeliness of the response (within the same week that the chapter has been covered), the quality of analysis/answers to the discussion board question and to the other students’ responses, length and depth of the postings and neatness (please use complete sentences and proper grammar/spelling as this is an academic forum).  Your posts should be at least two paragraphs long in order to receive credit.  Incomplete or uninformed posts will not receive credit.  The introduction does not count as part of your scored postings but it is mandatory nonetheless.  Please do not post to the bulletin board until AFTER you have read the chapter and you fully understand the concept.  It is blatantly obvious when someone has posted a response without reading the chapter.

HOMEWORK

EXAMS

All exams are mandatory and failure to complete all exams will result in an “F” in the course.  The midterm will consist of 60 multiple-choice and 2 essay questions and will cover chapters 1, 3, 5, 6, 7.  The final exam will have 60 multiple-choice and 2 essay questions and will cover all chapters that have been covered in the course (Chapters 1, 3-12, 15-17).  Both the midterm and final examinations will have 2 hour time limits.  BOTH EXAMS ARE CLOSED BOOK, CLOSED NOTES EXAMS.  You should NOT use your book to check your answers or your essays.  All of your work should be your own (do not copy from anyone else or from the book).  If I suspect you have used your book/notes on the examination or that you have plagiarized, you will receive an "F" on the exam.  Once you have logged into an exam, you must complete the exam within 2 hours.  Failure to complete the exam within the time limit is the student’s responsibility and no extensions or make up examinations will be allowed.  This means that you should have already studied for the examination and that you are fully prepared to complete the examination before you log into the exam.  There will be no extensions whatsoever for any reason.  It is your responsibility to complete the exam before the deadline.

CLASS PROJECT

Throughout the course of the semester, you will be required to find and analyze ten (10) newspaper articles which address the issues we are covering (e.g., supply and demand, externalities (social cost), price floors/ceilings, market structures, labor markets, etc.).  The project is worth 100 points towards your class grade.  Students who do not turn in a project will receive an automatic "F" in the course (even if you have completed all of the other assignments).  The class project is due to the instructor the week prior to the final exam (please see assignment schedule for due date).  **Please see the project instructions for more details.

EXTRA CREDIT
There are extra credit assignments posted at www.discoverecon.com.  Be sure to log in to our class so you can get credit for the exercises you complete.  You must complete all of the exercises in a chapter with a 70% or better, I will give you 2 points extra credit for that chapter.  You must complete ALL of the exercises in a chapter in order to get the extra credit.  Partial points will not be given.  When you register on Discoverecon.com and you are asked to choose your book, please enter the book "The Economy Today" by Bradley R. Schiller (this is the same book but contains the Macro chapters as well).  Our course should come up and you should click on our course so I can see you in the gradebook.  After you have registered at Discoverecon.com, please send me an e-mail so I can verify that you are listed in my gradebook on Discoverecon.  Otherwise, you will not receive credit for your work - no exceptions.  The chapters listed in the course on Discoverecon will have different numbers than our text but have the same chapter topics.  Extra credit for each chapter will close one week after we have covered the chapter in class.

ACCOMMODATIONS FOR DISABILITIES

GRADES

HONOR CODE

Plagiarism, cheating and other forms of academic dishonesty will NOT be tolerated.  Plagiarism is taking words or ideas from any other source without giving credit to that source.  It is against school policy and is not acceptable in college.  Any test or essay must be exclusively your work and must be done entirely on your own.  Everything must be in your own words.  If you work with another person on a test or copy material from any other source, you will receive a failing grade in the class.  Do not plagiarize on your discussion board postings or you will receive an "F" in the course.  Cheating in any of its many forms will result in an “F” in the course.  Please be reminded that the midterm and final examinations are CLOSED-BOOK, CLOSED-NOTES exams.  Any student suspected of using their book or notes to complete the midterm or final exam will receive an "F" on the exam.

WEBCT TECHNICAL ISSUES

The professor can NOT help you with technical issues.  If you have technical issues or problems with WebCT, your account, etc., please call the Virtual College technical support office at (562) 692-0921 x3077 or fill out an online help form at www.riohondo.edu/help.  You may also visit the Virtual College for help in person in Room L4000D - 4th Floor Library, Monday thru Friday from 8:00AM to 4:30PM.  If you have a technical issue, don't panic - just ask for help!

ASSIGNMENT/QUIZ DEADLINE POLICY

The schedule of assignments contains the due dates for all assignments, quizzes and tests.  If you do not turn in an assignment when it is due, you have no right to complain or ask for an extension.  No tests or quizzes will be reset for anyone for any reason.  It is your responsibility to complete all required assignments prior to the due date.

CHAT ROOM (VIRTUAL OFFICE HOURS)

I will be conducting weekly/bi-weekly "virtual office hours" in the Chat Room.  If you have any administrative or content questions, please feel free to come and ask them in the chat room.  I will give you 5 points extra credit for the first time you participate in a chat room discussion.  Participation in the chat room means that you come with questions and interact with your fellow students and instructor.

**Please note: syllabus subject to change at the discretion of the instructor.