ONLINE Course Description
For ECO 202 O10B
Summer 2008
Principles of Microeconomics with Jim Roberts

Course Pace & Expectations

Quizzes
       Quiz scores contribute half of the 400 base points in this course.  Quizzes are based upon the reading and online material for each unit of the course, focusing largely on terminology and fundamental skills.  You'll do well on quizzes simply by keeping up with the reading and keeping pace with the take-home lectures that Imake available on cd and online. Quizzes are great preparation for the exams, and should be considered primary exam review material.  You may take each quiz as many times as you like until you are content with your understanding of the material and your scores on them.  There are no time limitations with quizzes, but there is a closing date for each after which you will not be able to access it. Closing dates are posted on the course schedule at http://www.tcc.edu/faculty/webpages/jroberts/eco/202/

Exams
Exams are really just big quizzes –similar both in content and in format.  With each exam, however, there is only one attempt permitted and 90 minutes permitted for that attempt. There will be 40 possible points to score with each of three non-comprehensive exams.  This means that exam scores constitute 30% of the 400 base points.  You’ll have nearly a one-week “window” to take one attempt at each exam.  At the end of that week, the exam is no longer available: don’t miss THIS boat! 

Each exam may be taken with open books and notes, but ONLY from a computer with an "always-on" connection: not dial-up.  Any of TCC's four campuses' open labs offer you this type of connection. With such a connection, many students (including active duty military) have completed this course from foreign locations with no problems.  I do not restrict my students to testing at the proctored testing centers on our TCC campuses. Because I test using random selection of questions from question pools organized by topic, different students will not get all the same questions on their exams.

Attendance & In-Person Exam Reviews
Because many of my students are out of state, overseas, or facing very erratic work schedules, I do not require any physical attendance in my online courses. Still, you are all invited to attend the optional exam review sessions this summer. I have scheduled all of them for Tuesday evenings at 7pm in room B-207 of the Virginia Beach campus. At these meetings, I'll use about 90 minutes of your time to review the most essential points, then turn the meeting over to you for Q&A. This summer, we'll review just as each of the 3 exams opens. Exam 1 Review: June 10th, Exam 2 Review: July 1st, and Exam 3 Review: July 22nd.

Writing Assignments on the Discussion Board
Two research and writing assignments collectively make up 20% of the course score, or 80 points on a 400-point scale.  These assignments will be completed on the discussion board, and make up the only mandatory work to be posted to the discussion board. (All else is extra credit)  I expect a college-level research effort and citation of sources. I provide more detail (and offer personal guidance) with each writing assignment: see ASSIGNMENTS in Blackboard.

Discussion Board Extra Credit
One feature of this course that calls for some established pace is the discussion board. Starting about two weeks into the course (once students have some basic "tools of analysis"), I will initiate asynchronous discussions on course-related topics and invite you all to contribute to them for extra credit.  Our class discussion board will provide some community to this course, and a good place to clarify your understanding of course material -without fear of losing points for what you say.

I will award two points or more for each substantive contribution to the discussions, so it IS possible to score more than 400 points in this course.  Don't contribute to earn points, though: attempt to clearly express your ideas, and points will follow.  My hope is that all of you will leave this course well informed on current economic issues and able to converse intelligently on economic matters. Writing is an important part of gaining and demonstrating those strengths, and I’ll reward you up to 40 points of extra credit for it. 

Grades
Grades will be based upon a straight scale where 90% (360 points) or more earns an “A”, 80% (320 points) is a minimum “B”, 70% (280 points) is a minimum “C”, and 60% (240 points) is a minimum “D”.  As you earn your points, you can track them on the Blackboard (BB) Gradebook.  I don’t “give” grades –you earn them.  That means that your grade is based on performance only, and not how well we get along or agree on issues.  I encourage you all to express alternative viewpoints but to remain respectful of others and their right to disagree!

 

How to Proceed
       This course is a "talkie" -with audio lectures and mainly still images. You probably already have the required software on your computer already. If not, you'll need to download free audio/video software (Realplayer) as well as free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the images. Access (password), technical support, student email, library resources, and other common questions are answered at http://www.tcc.edu/students/DTLS/ -note the menu at left under "Distance Learning". Once you're familiar with your "MyTCC" login and password AND you're enrolled, you'll routinely be going to https://tcc.my.vccs.edu/ to "take class".

Once you've arrived at the course homepage, you should see several buttons on the left-hand side.  By clicking on "Take Home Lectures", you'll find the Course Schedule, which is the gateway to the lecture presentations and instructional material. Each of the fifteen learning units of the semester is listed down the left column. By clicking on the word "one", you will go to the detailed outline for unit one. Click on any of the underlined topics there and go to the presentation on that topic. Click on the "lecture" button at the bottom of each .pdf (image) file, and a short audio clip that corresponds with the image will play. If you minimize the Realaudio box, the audio file will play without obscuring the image. Dates on the Reading Schedule are updated at the beginning of each semester.

Textbook

The textbook for ECO 202 is ECONOMICS by McConnell & Brue, 17th ed. ISBN #978-0-07-312663-0.

You will NOT need the glitzy dvd that the publisher tries to sell with the textbook. Sources for purchasing this textbook include the TCC (Barnes & Noble) bookstores and:

Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/

Barnes & Noble
Join at: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/textbooks/index.asp

Half.com is strongly recommended by students. It is now owned by EBay, so your EBay ID and password (if you have one already) will work on this site. http://www.half.com/textbooks

A great meta-search for this textbook can be found at http://www.addall.com/ A meta-search will search all known sources for textbooks. Half.com is the source rated most highly by students. Now that this company has been purchased by EBay, your EBay ID and password will work with this site. http://www.half.com/

You'll be seeking to purchase at least the textbook itself (17th ed: ISBN#978-0-07-312663-0), but are encouraged to purchase either the workbook or the interactive cd-rom along with it. Neither the workbook nor the cd-rom (nor any other ancillaries) are required. Purchasing both the workbook and cd-rom is unnecessary.

An identical paperback textbook by the same authors is available as "The International Edition", and it sells for a much lower price just because it is marketed outside of the United States. Still, it may be available from the sources above at a fraction of the price of the regular textbook! The ISBN # of the International Edition is 978-007-126594-2.

Please stay in touch this semester. Bon Voyage!
...............................Jim Roberts

Updated in May, 2008 for Summer Semester, 2008