1 SIRIUS COURSES Syllabus Revised: 7/29/2010 Principles of Economics I (Macroeconomics) 3 Credit Hours Term/Year: Reference Number: Classroom: Instructor: Office: Phone Number: E-mail: Web Page: IMPORTANT COLLEGE DATES Course Start Date: Drop with 100% refund Withdraw with "W" grade Course End Date: COURSE DESCRIPTION This course in macroeconomics presents the foundations of economic analysis; the theory of economic growth, development, and stabilization; current economic issues; and fiscal and monetary public policy. REQUIRED INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS The SIRIUS course package includes a book (e-book or print) and an online component available through your course management system. Book: Sachse, A., Barrett, P. (2010). Principles of economics I: Macroeconomics. Jacksonville: Florida State College at Jacksonville, SIRIUS. ISBN 13: 978-1-931997-28-7 (digital); ISBN 13: 978-1-931997-21-8 (print)
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1
SIRIUS COURSES
Syllabus Revised: 7/29/2010
Principles of Economics I
(Macroeconomics)
3 Credit Hours
Term/Year:
Reference Number:
Classroom:
Instructor:
Office:
Phone Number:
E-mail:
Web Page:
IMPORTANT COLLEGE DATES
Course Start Date:
Drop with 100% refund
Withdraw with "W" grade
Course End Date:
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course in macroeconomics presents the foundations of economic analysis; the theory of
economic growth, development, and stabilization; current economic issues; and fiscal and
monetary public policy.
REQUIRED INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS
The SIRIUS course package includes a book (e-book or print) and an online component available
through your course management system.
Book:
Sachse, A., Barrett, P. (2010). Principles of economics I: Macroeconomics. Jacksonville: Florida
State College at Jacksonville, SIRIUS. ISBN 13: 978-1-931997-28-7 (digital); ISBN 13:
978-1-931997-21-8 (print)
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LEARNING OUTCOMES
The primary objective of this course is to explore the subject matter of the field and to become
familiar with the vocabulary and concepts.
When you finish this course, you will be able to
• Compare and contrast the principles of scarcity, economic cost, and incremental
reasoning
• State the laws of demand and supply and define the terms demand, quantity demanded,
supply, and quantity supplied
• Explain the causes of changes in demand and supply and predict the effects of these
changes on the equilibrium price/quantity relationship
• Describe the determination of gross domestic product (GDP) and state the relationship
between GDP, net domestic product (NDP), national income (NI), personal income (PI),
and disposable income (DI)
• Define fiscal and monetary policy and demonstrate the mechanics of discretionary fiscal
and monetary policy
Specific Learning Objectives. Specific learning objectives are found at the beginning of each
chapter. Use the objectives to identify what the chapter will cover and what you should know
when you are finished reading. In a very real sense, this is much like skimming the headlines of a
newspaper before you delve into a particular story. The objectives provide you with a basic
framework for learning and understanding; however, these objectives should not limit your
knowledge of or interest in the subject.
LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (COURSE PLATFORM)
The online component of the course is delivered in the learning management system supported
by your college.
TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENTS
Please use the following checklist to determine your computer readiness. You should
own or have access to
• Computer with personal access to the Internet (e.g., computer with a modem or cable
modem connection)
• An e-mail account
• Web-browser software--at least Internet Explorer 7.0, Firefox 3.0, Safari 3.1 or above
• Windows XP or Vista or higher operating system (or MAC OS X or higher)
• Anti-virus software
• Word-processing software
• The latest versions for plug-ins, including Acrobat Reader, Flash Player, JAVA, and
Quicktime
• Additional hardware, including speakers
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ACCESSIBILITY
If you require specific accommodations to complete this course, contact your college’s
coordinator for disability services; you may also wish to notify your instructor.
HYBRID/BLENDED or FACE-TO-FACE COURSES
If you are taking this as a hybrid/blended or face-to-face course, please note the following.
1. There will be a one-hour orientation session held in a campus classroom or lab during the
first week of the course. All students enrolled in this section of the course must attend the
orientation session.
2. This course, when taught in a 16-week format, has a minimum of two hours of face-to-face
meeting time with your instructor each week. If you are taking this class in a shorter format
(12- or 8-weeks), the number of weekly contact hours will increase (2.5 hours per week for a
12-week course and four hours per week for an 8-week session). These meetings will be held
in a campus classroom or lab each week the class is in session. The sessions are designed to
improve student success and are required for student attendance.
3. During your face-to-face meetings, some of the time will be spent with your instructor
formally covering new topics and new information. This time will also be used to discuss
real, current events of the economy. For example: What did the Fed say at the latest meeting?
What are the latest unemployment figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics? What
do they indicate? This is also your opportunity to ask questions and receive feedback. Your
instructor may also choose to use interactive activities during your face-to-face time as a
means of reinforcing learning. These sessions may be oriented around increasing interactive
learning among students and between students and the instructor.
4. All other course-related activities will be conducted online.
FIRST WEEK OF CLASS
You should complete and submit the Learner Agreement indicating that you agree to abide by
the course conditions outlined in the syllabus. You should then introduce yourself on the
Discussion Board.
LEARNING COMMUNITIES
Students learn through interactions with each other, with the instructor, and with written,
auditory, and visual learning materials. To facilitate interactive learning among learners and
between learners and faculty, a major goal of this course is to encourage the development of
learning communities--that is, to help learners and faculty get to know and better understand
each other. Towards this end, the instructor will post a brief written biography introducing
herself/himself; this will be available online as a part of the first week of class. Learners are
asked to also introduce themselves by posting a brief biography on the Discussion Board--a
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picture is also recommended. In addition, a discussion forum (Cyber Café) has been provided to
informally discuss things with other classmates without intervention of the faculty member. The
Cyber Café will also be a useful place to find classmates interested in forming the team required
in this course, if your instructor does not assign you to teams. Finally, the Discussion Board will
contain a place where you can post questions for the instructor.
DISCUSSION
The business model of today is for persons to work as teams. To prepare for such activities, all
learners are asked to participate in online discussions.
One discussion question, worth 20 points, is included for each chapter. In all formal discussions,
you are to first read the question carefully, post an answer to the question, read the responses of
your classmates (or team members if it is a team discussion), and then post replies to your
classmates. Learners who participate in discussions are likely to experience a higher level of
learning and retention of the information contained in the course. To encourage your active
participation in the course, you will receive credit for your contributions to the discussions.
Your discussion grade will be based upon the thoroughness, accuracy, and insightfulness of your
responses. You will also be graded based upon your use of correct spelling and grammar and
correct sentence and paragraph format (ALWAYS spell check your responses) and the number
and depth of your responses to other student posts.
Example of a discussion question:
Find the price of something in the 1950s--a house, car, gasoline, or
something else that interests you. Note the item, the price, and the year.
Compare it to the cost of the same item today. Are you surprised by the
price difference?
What social perceptions do you think prevent us from keeping an accurate
perspective on price indexes over the years?
Post your response on the Discussion Board. Add support for your
discussion by citing external references; be sure to list each URL. Then
read and respond to the posts of your classmates.
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ASSESSMENTS
Your performance in this class will be evaluated in several ways: chapter quizzes, discussion
questions (as noted in the previous section), written assignments, a midterm and final exam and a
team project, All work must be completed on time.
Quizzes
There is a 10 item quiz covering material for each chapter; each quiz is worth 20 points. Upon
completion of the material and activities in each chapter, you should take the online quiz. The
quiz items are drawn from large data bases, and you may retake the quiz as many times as you
choose without penalty. The quizzes are not timed. Your goal should be to achieve a score of
80% or higher on each quiz.
Current Events--Extra! Extra! Read all about it!
Every day we hear and read about the economy on the radio, on television, in the newspaper, on
the Web, and in magazines. This assignment is your opportunity to evaluate what an article or
news story has to do with economics. You will complete a short (less than five minutes or 500
words if your class is all online) briefing on a selected article or topic and explain how this
illustrates a principle or topic in economics. Give a brief summary of the article; then, tell which
part of the article applies to economics and how it applies. Your article must be recent, within the
past 90 days.
Each student will present an article/topic. When? Check the Calendar of Activities. Each week,
you will see an entry such as “Extra! Extra! 1, 2, 3, 4.” This means that in this week, students
with numbers of 1, 2, 3, and 4 will each present an article. How do you know what your number
is? Your instructor will randomly assign your numbers on the first day of class.
This assignment is worth 40 points. If you are taking this class as a hybrid or fully face-to-
face course, your professor will tell you how s/he prefers you to do this assignment (oral or
written). If you are taking this assignment in a fully online format, you will submit your
Extra! Extra! assignment to the appropriate assignment drop box for grading and to the
designated Discussion Board area to share with your classmates.
Economic Analysis Paper
In this paper, you will explain at least one economic principal you have read about in a short
newspaper, magazine, or journal article. Do not use multiple sources. Your article must be
recent--less than three months old. Do not use advertisements, editorials, blogs, Wikis, or
Websites such as Ask.com or About.com as your source article. The source must be a recognized
newspaper, magazine, or journal article. Online newspapers and magazines are acceptable.
This is NOT a research paper. You are demonstrating in writing that you can recognize economic
principles in the real world, synthesize the concept, and apply it. Do NOT just summarize the
article. Tell how that story or article demonstrates an economic principle. Examples: How does
the article support the simple circular flow model? How does the article support the supply and
demand model? How does the article reflect what we’ve discussed on long-run growth?
Inflation? Banking?
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This assignment is worth 120 points. In the business world, written work is usually reviewed
and critiqued by other team members. You will work with classmates to ensure that your papers
are peer reviewed prior to submission.
Team Project
What topic in macroeconomics would you like to investigate in more depth? Participate in a team
(your instructor will notify you how teams will be formed), select a topic of interest to you and
your team members, and prepare a paper. You may develop your paper in one of the two
following ways:
1. Conduct a research review of the published literature, and write a concise summary and
evaluation of the research that is related to your area of interest. The review should contain a
description of information with research citations related to your topic of interest. You will
need to include the identification of any theoretical conflicts or controversies related to your
topic; also, any needs or questions for further research should be addressed.
2. The alternative is to identify and conduct a group project that is practical, real world, and
applicable to the learning objectives of this course and then write a paper describing the
project, its execution, and the findings.
All paper or project topics must be approved by the instructor. All completed papers/projects
must be in APA format.
The completed paper should contain a minimum of five pages. A formal paper (option 1 above)
should have a minimum of 10 scientifically recognized references. For projects (option 2 above),
the paper should first briefly explain the relevant economic theory you are applying and then
describe the project and its outcome. Some projects will have their own requirements which will
take precedence over these requirements. The paper should be double spaced and should use a
12-point Times New Roman font.
In addition to the content pages, a title page at the beginning of the paper should contain the title
of your paper, the team name, and the names of the students who participated in developing the
paper, the course number and name, and the term and year. Text should begin on the next page.
Your paper should have a one-inch margin bordering your text on all four sides.
Be sure that you make a copy of your paper; then, submit it as requested by your instructor.
Submit it to the drop box in the Assignments area. Your instructor will review the paper, identify
areas that may need more work, and return it to you in time for the team to make final revisions
before the final due date.
Remember--you must work together with other members of your group in gathering information,
and each team member must contribute to the development of the paper. Following submission
to the instructor, the team leader will post the paper on the Discussion Board, and each student
will have an opportunity to read and respond to the papers.
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The grade for the paper will be based on your use of economic theory, the thoroughness,
accuracy, and insightfulness of the coverage of the topic, correct usage of the APA format,
correct spelling and grammar, and correct sentence and paragraph format. (ALWAYS spell
check your paper.) The grade for the project will also reflect your use of data. All team members
will receive the same grade. The course shell contains help in applying the APA format to the
development of the paper and in participating in team activities.
Exams
Midterm Exam: The midterm exam is worth 120 points. The midterm is online. It is an open
book, open notes exam. You are limited to 90 minutes for completion. You will lose two points
for every minute you exceed 90 minutes. DO NOT OPEN THE MIDTERM UNTIL YOU ARE
READY TO SIT DOWN AND COMPLETE IT. It is NOT like the quizzes; you have just one
opportunity to take the midterm. Once you open it, the 90-minute clock starts, and you must
complete the exam. DO NOT browse while taking the midterm exam. If you try to navigate away
from the exam while it is open, you will be locked out of the exam.
Final Exam: The final exam is worth 120 points. This exam is limited to 2 hours for
completion. You will lose two points for every minute you exceed 2 hours. DO NOT OPEN
THE FINAL UNTIL YOU ARE READY TO SIT DOWN AND COMPLETE IT. It is NOT like
the quizzes; you have just one opportunity to take the final. Once you open it, the 2-hour clock
starts, and you must complete the exam. DO NOT browse while taking the exam. If you try to
navigate away from the exam while it is open, you will be locked out of the exam.
GRADES
Your final letter grade will be determined by totaling the points for all of the above activities as
indicated in the chart below.
GRADED ASSIGNMENTS POINTS
Quizzes (12 @ 20 points each) 240
Discussion Board (12 @ 20 points each) 240
Current Events --Extra! Extra! 40
Economic Analysis Paper 120
Team Project 120
Midterm 120
Final Exam 120
TOTAL POINTS 1000
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A 900-1000 points
B 800-899 points
C 700-799 points
D 600-699 points
F 0-599 points
CALENDAR OF ACTIVITIES
Week Topic Dates
Week 1 Introduction to Online Courses
Learner Agreement
Discussion Forum—Introductions
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter Quiz
Discussion Forum
Join a team for the Team Project
Week 2 Chapter 2. Economizing the Problem
Extra! Extra! Read all about it. Students with numbers
1, 2, 3, and 4
Chapter Quiz
Discussion Forum
Week 3 Chapter 3. Economizing the Problem Expanded