Syllabus: BEC 151-94 Prin of Macro Economics – Summer 2016

Henry Ford Community College

Course Syllabus – BEC 151
Principles of Macro Economics
ONLINE – section 94
Summer 2016
Section ID: 1111197


Instructor & Contact Information:

Instructor:    Jim Luke
Office:       I am an adjunct and do not have an office on campus.
Phone & Voice Mail:        313-550-8884 (cell + text)
Email:   jluke@hfcc.edu  Students who send email to me can expect a reply within 2 business days.  If the issue is more urgent, I suggest sending a text message or calling.  Questions posted on the help forums should be answered within 48-72 hours.
Office Hours:    By appointment – call, text, or email to setup a time/place.


I. Division: Business & Economics

II. Course and Section Information:

Course Code:  BEC151
Title: Principles of Macro Economics
Semester: Winter 2016
Class Meetings: ONLINE – no face-to-face class meetings


III. Credit Hours: 3

IV. Total Contact Hours:   47 (note this course is conducted online)

V. Prerequisites: none

VI. Co-requisites: none

VII. Course Grading Scale:    A-E

VIII. Catalog Description

Macroeconomics is a required course for Business Administration majors planning to transfer to four-year colleges or universities.  The course examines the theoretical foundations of aggregate economic policies. Areas of study include the elements of a free market system, the measurement of macroeconomic performance, the creation and control of money, and alternative models of government intervention to affect business cycles and economic growth.

IX. Goal Statement:

Students will develop the ability to understand and interpret macroeconomic news and events, form their own views based upon sound economic analysis, and be able to critically evaluate the opinions and statements of policymakers.

X. Measurable Objectives:

Major Core Course Objectives (* indicates meets critical thinking outcome)

  1. Define economics and explain its relation to the other social sciences.*
  2. Define free market capitalism and explain its characteristics.*
  3. Define and explain National Income Accounting.*
  4. Discuss economic growth and business cycles
  5. Define and explain unemployment and its measurement.*
  6. Define and explain inflation/deflation and their measurement.*
  7. Explain the development and role of money in an economic system.*
  8. Explain the role of the Federal Reserve System and the process by which it controls the money supply and interest rates.*
  9. Define aggregate demand and aggregate supply. Explain how aggregate demand and aggregate supply are used as a model of the macro economy. Develop and use graphs in the explanation.*
  10. Discuss the Classical/Laissez-faire theory of the macro economy and business cycles.*
  11. Discuss the Keynesian criticism of Classical Theory and the Keynesian theory of the macro economy and business cycles.*
  12. Discuss the role of monetary policy and the impact it can have on an economic system.*
  13. Discuss the role of fiscal policy and the impact it can have on an economic system.*
  14. Discuss supply side economics.*

XI. Assessment of Academic Achievement

A. The following methods are used in this class:

Type of
Graded Assignment
(all online)
Points
Available
% of Final
Course Grade
Quizzes 135 points 42%
Worksheets   60 points 19%
Midterm Exam 20 points 6%
Required Forum Posts (4 forums) 20 points 6%
Final Exam Review Exercise   5 points   2%
Final Exam 80 points 25%
Total for Course 320 points 100%

 Quizzes – 135 points

Quizzes are multiple-choice and true-false question tests with only one best answer for each question. Some graphs and minor calculations may be involved. After completing each of the 15 units, students will complete a short quiz of approximately 10 questions. Quizzes are administered online. Students will be shown their score (# correct) immediately and which questions they missed. Students will not be provided correct answers after completing the quiz or later in the course. If you have a question or do not understand a question after having taken the quiz both times, contact the instructor for help or post a question on the help forum. This is necessary since students will be taking the quizzes at different times and will also have the opportunity to re-take quizzes. Quizzes do not have time limits. Any quiz may be re-taken, but each quiz may only be taken a maximum of two times. The highest of the two quiz submissions will be counted.

Worksheets – 60 points

There will be 6 worksheet assignments. These worksheets are assigned in various different Units, but not all units will have a worksheet assignment. A worksheet consists of a table of data and a description of an economic situation or problem. Some initial data is provided and students are expected to calculate the remaining data. After completing the blank parts of the worksheet, you will answer a short series of questions online. The data you calculate will be needed to answer the questions. Worksheet answers may submitted as many times as the student chooses. The last submission counts for the grade. In addition, students are encouraged to collaborate and discuss the worksheet problems on the discussion forums. Students who “go the extra mile” in helping other students in the HELP forums may receive bonus points.

Required Forum Postings – 20 points

There are five forums in the course, all located in Moodlerooms.  Posting to four of the forums is required and 5 points are earned for posting.  These four required forums are located in Units 1, Unit 6, and Unit 15. Students must participate and post to each of the four Required Forums. In most cases, students will receive the maximum allowed points for their post. The instructor reserves the right to lower the points though, if a post is trivial or uncivil.  In addition, there is a HELP Forum located at the top of Moodlerooms just under the Announcements. If students are struggling with a worksheet they are encouraged to post a question to he HELP forum and to help each other.

Final Exam Review Exercise – 5 points

A review exercise is in Unit 15 to help students focus, study, and prepare for the final exam.  It is worth 5 points and all students who attempt the exercise will receive the 5 points.  They will probably also get a higher final exam score, too, since they’ll be better prepared.

Final Examination – 80 points

The final exam will be comprehensive, covering all material covered by quizzes during the entire semester. Each question counts for 2 points.

B. Grading Scale: A-E

Course
Grade
% of
Possible
Minimum
Points
Earned
A 90-100% 288
B  80-90% 256
C  70-80% 224
D  60-70% 192
E   0-60% <192

XII. Instructional Materials

Required Textbooks:

Greenlaw, Stephen and Timothy Taylor; Principles of MacroEconomics, published by OpenStax, 2015, ISBN-10: 1-938168-25-9, ISBN-13: 978-1-938-168-25-3; Creative Commons license

Where to get the textbook: THIS BOOK IS NOT AVAILABLE AT THE HFCC BOOKSTORE Traditional economics textbooks generally cost $150-$250, which I consider too much. This semester I am trying a different approach. I’m requiring the use of what’s called an open education resource, or OER.  It is a textbook, alright, but it’s free online. Instead of being protected by closed copyright under the control of a major publisher, it is a book that has been collaboratively written by multiple professors at major colleges and universities and published under a Creative Commons license by OpenStax publishers.

Please note that the book is available in 4 different options:

You may choose whatever option suits you. HOWEVER I STRONGLY RECOMMEND GETTING A PRINTED OR PRINTABLE (PDF) VERSION. Students with printed versions seem to do better in the course and student feedback suggests it is the better option. The online book requires you to be connected to the Internet whenever you read it.

Other Materials and Resources

Students must make use of the instructor’s website at http://macro.econproph.net. All materials that the student needs to read, view, or study are located at macro.econproph.net. Directions about what to read in the textbook and when is also listed at macro.econproph.net.  Links to the website exist in MoodleRooms or students can go directly to the macro.econproph.net site.  Going directly to the site might be advisable if you are using a mobile device such as an iPad or smart phone.

ALL ASSIGNMENTS THAT ARE GRADED ARE LOCATED IN HFCC’s MOODLEROOMS.

Technology Requirements

Students must have access to the World Wide Web using standard browsers such as Firefox, IE, Safari, Opera, Konqueror, or Chrome. Moodlerooms works best with Firefox.  Macro.econproph.net should display well on any device or browser.

XIII. Course Practices and Policies

Attendance Policy

Students are expected to be active online at least every week as evidenced by submission of a quiz.  Students MUST complete Unit 1 assignments, including the Unit 1 quiz and Forum before the mandatory Unit 1 deadline.  Students who do not complete Unit 1 by the deadline will be considered to have “NEVER ATTENDED” under HFCC Policy.  The HFCC Registrar will be notified that they have NEVER ATTENDED, a “never attended” grade will be entered on their transcript, and they will not be permitted back into the course. Don’t be that “never attended” person.

Students who wish to drop the course must either drop it themselves at the registrar or ask the professor via email.  If students wish to drop the course or receive a DR grade, it is the student’s responsibility to drop the course or request a DR.  DO NOT ASSUME THAT INACTIVITY WILL BE REWARDED WITH A DR GRADE.

Scheduling and Due Dates

The online parts of this course are designed to provide a significant amount of flexibility to students in scheduling their own work. There are only three firm “deadlines” as listed below. I have provided a recommended schedule (see table below) for completing each unit but it is up to each student to plan and monitor their own progress. The requirement that students plan and schedule their own work is an integral part of learning economics. In particular it helps the student to experience concepts of scarcity, opportunity costs, production possibilities, and other economic principles. More information about scheduling and deadlines are provided in Unit 1 of the course, and by checking this suggested schedule. If the schedule does not display properly, you may also go to this link:  Recommended Work Schedule and Due Dates . Plan your own pace and schedule accordingly.

You may proceed at your own pace as long as you stay active each week and you meet the three required deadlines. One lesson of economics is that all activities have opportunity costs and that everyone’s opportunity costs are different. Therefore, the most rational or optimal scheduling can be determined by each student. You may proceed as fast or as slow as you wish so long as you meet the three mandatory deadlines and are active regularly. Students who postpone much of the work to the last few weeks usually experience a significant additional cost in doing so: lower quiz scores, more anxiety, more time to master the same material. Economics is much more difficult to learn in a compressed, short period of time. Flexible scheduling DOES NOT MEAN PROCRASTINATING EVERYTHING TO THE LAST FEW WEEKS.

The required deadlines are:

  • Unit 1 “Getting Started Forum” and Unit 1 quiz:  July 3, 11:59pm,   Students who miss this deadline will be reported as having never attended the course.
  • Midterm closes online at midnight at the end of July 24
  • FINAL WILL BE AVAILABLE TO TAKE ONLINE BETWEEN Aug 8-15.  THE EXAM MUST BE COMPLETED NO LATER THAN 6PM on Aug 15.

Contact with the Instructor

Students who contact the instructor by email or by posting a question in the Forums can normally expect a response within 2-3 business days, usually faster.  The instructor will be active in the course and checking in at least three times per week. In summer I usually check in Monday-Friday.  Towards the end of the course it will be more often.  For urgent issues, texting or phone is available.

Student Services at HFCC

Students have access at HFCC to a variety of student services.  For more information, see:  http://www.hfcc.edu/for_faculty_and_staff/Support.asp

IX. Detailed Outline of Course Content and Sequencing

The course is divided into 15 Units. Unit 1 and Unit 15 are an introduction to the course and a summary/conclusion of the course, respectively. The other 13 units are organized  according to topics. Before getting into theories of economic policy, we spend the first 6 units studying a model or simplified structure of the economy, society’s goals, and measures of economic performance. The organization of course units does not necessarily match the sequence of textbook chapters. For more information and details see the “Jim’s Guide” and “Reading Guide” for each unit. Be advised that Unit numbers DO NOT CORRESPOND directly to chapter numbers in the book. In order to know what to read in the textbook for each unit, it is necessary to first read the Jim’s Guide/Reader’s Guide online for that unit.

X. Student Academic Integrity

The very nature of higher education requires that students adhere to accepted standards of academic integrity. The HFCC policies on Academic Dishonesty will be enforced.

Additional Instructor’s Policy

I encourage discussion between students and the sharing of ideas and information. One of the best methods for learning and truly grasping economic concepts is to explain them to others. Students are welcome to assist each other in learning. In fact, a HELP Forum is provided and students are encouraged to ask questions and help each other.  However, the direct exchange of answers to questions without discussion, argument, or reasoned explanation is viewed as academic dishonesty. I reserve the right to reject the score of any assessment that I suspect may have been obtained dishonestly and not through student learning, even without proof of any dishonest actions by the student.

Students are encouraged to assist each other in learning and mastering the material, particularly when dealing with the problem worksheets. A discussion forum will be provided for this use. Collaboration, however, is only for students to help each other understand the material. Trading, sharing, or publishing of specific answers to specific quiz or exam questions is prohibited and will be considered a violation of academic integrity.

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