COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON Department of Economics ECON 200 PRINCIPLES OF MICROECONOMICS Spring 2016 Express Online

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1 COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON Department of Economics ECON 200 PRINCIPLES OF MICROECONOMICS Spring 2016 Express Online Dr. Constantin Ogloblin COURSE DESCRIPTION This course presents the structure of the market, including product and factor pricing, allocation of resources and distribution of income, market equilibrium analysis, and analysis of domestic and international problems and policies. The course is application-oriented. Each topic is discussed using real-world examples. The course is designed to engage students in active learning through interactive online activities. LEARNING OBJECTIVES The principal objective that students are expected to achieve is the ability to analyze economic policies and business decisions using the models and tools presented in the course. Students are expected to be able to: Predict and explain the directions of price and quantity changes and analyze economic policies using the supply and demand model Apply the principle of opportunity cost and various cost concepts (such as sunk cost, fixed cost, variable cost, and marginal cost) to analyze how a firm s production decisions influence its economic costs. Use marginal analysis to find profit maximizing output and price for firms operating in various market structures (perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition, and oligopoly) GENERAL EDUCATION STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES Students will be able to apply social science concepts, models, or theories to explain human behavior, social interactions, or social institutions. These outcomes will be assessed in a special assignment. ATTENDANCE, ACTIVITIES, AND COMMUNICATIONS All activities in this course are done online, through OAKS and Aplia. Your systematic and active engagement in the course learning activities and practices is very important to your success. You are expected to study regularly and keep up with online assignments, which have firm due dates. Start working on your assignments as soon as they become available. This will help you see how much time you may need to complete the assignment, plan accordingly, and avoid missing assignments due to technical glitches. It is your responsibility to be aware of all announcements, schedule updates, and discussion postings. Starting to work on your assignments early will also give you time to get help. Please use OAKS Discussions for all communications in this course. You are allowed and encouraged to

2 ECON 200 Spring address your classmates' questions and provide explanations, including those related to graded assignments, as far as you do not post direct answers to the assignment questions. There is no penalty for inaccuracies in your discussion postings. Be aware, however, that everyone in the class will be able to see your discussion postings. If you would like to ask a question or make a comment privately, please contact me by at coglobli@georgiasouthern.edu. If you ask me a direct question via Discussions or , I will usually reply in 24 hours (it may take me longer to reply during weekends and holidays). As a rule, I address discussion postings first and then reply to messages. Please use clear subject lines that reflect the content of your discussion postings or messages. Keep the dialog collegial and professional. Be sensitive and reflective to what others are saying. Avoid outbursts, extreme opinions, and offensive language. Please don't use the SMS/chat style spelling and abbreviations. COURSE TOOLS AND MATERIALS This course uses Aplia to facilitate effective online learning. Using Aplia will allow you to work interactively with course assignments. In most assignments, you will get immediate feedback after you answer the questions, so you will be able to see whether your answers are correct or incorrect and why, with detailed explanations for each question. After reading the feedback, you will be able to try two more versions of the same question to practice and learn more. You will also be able to review the problem sets that you ve completed, to prepare for other assignments and exams. Aplia problem sets will be assigned to each learning module. On your Aplia Home page, you will see the assignments and due dates for the current week and next week. To enroll in Aplia, connect to Follow the prompts to register for your Aplia course. Please enter your name exactly as it appears in your school records. You will be also required to provide your student ID. Make sure that you select the correct time zone: (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada). After registering for your course, you will be able to access and use Aplia resources, including the online textbook, for free until 01/27/2016. After the free trial ends, you will be required to pay for access. You can pay online using a credit or debit card, or PayPal. If you don t pay by the end of the free trial period, your course access will be suspended until your payment has been made. All your scores and course activity will be saved and will be available to you after you pay for access. If you already purchased an Aplia access card at the bookstore or used Aplia for another course, the course key to register for this course is 6PX4-Z98X-CCEL. The textbook for this class is Microeconomics, by Robert E. Hall and Marc Lieberman, 6 th edition. You will have access to the online version of your text on the Aplia website as soon as you register for Aplia. If you d also like to have a printed textbook, you can order it online from Aplia for a discounted price. CENTER FOR STUDENT LEARNING I encourage you to utilize the Center for Student Learning's (CSL) academic support services for assistance in study strategies and course content. They offer tutoring, supplemental instruction, study skills appointments, and workshops. Students of all abilities have become more successful using these programs throughout their academic career and the services are available to you at no additional cost. For more information regarding these services please visit the CSL website at or call (843)

3 ECON 200 Spring COURSE CALENDAR AND OUTLINE The tentative course schedule is shown below. I reserve the right to change the topics and dates if necessary. You will see the exact due dates for upcoming assignments in Aplia. Topic Due date Introduction January 8 What Is Economics? January 10 Scarcity and Choice January 12 Supply and Demand January 14 Midterm Exam 1 January 19 Working with Supply and Demand January 21 Elasticity January 26 Production and Cost January 28 Midterm Exam 2 February 2 How Firms Make Decisions: Profit Maximization February 4 Perfect Competition February 9 Monopoly February 11 Midterm Exam 3 February 18 General Education Assignment February 23 Final Exam February 25 Please note that the last day to withdraw from this course with a grade of W is Monday, February 8. GRADING POLICIES Your grade will reflect your ability to use the tools of economics to analyze practical problems, rather than just your memorization skills. Your course grade will be determined as follows: Aplia Problem Sets 35% Midterm Exam 1 20% Midterm Exam 2 20% Midterm Exam 3 20% Final exam 20% General Education Assignment 5% The lowest exam score will be dropped. All exams will be given online, through Aplia. The General Education Assignment will be given through OAKS. The final exam will be cumulative. The exam questions will come from the problems and applications discussed in

4 ECON 200 Spring the online lectures and/or assigned for homework. Many questions will require analytical thinking. The letter grade for the course will be assigned according to the following scale: Score (at least) 93% A Grade (guaranteed) 90% A 87% B+ 84% B 80% B 77% C+ 74% C 70% C 67% D+ 64% D 60% D Your cumulative grade will be updated in OAKS after each midterm exam. MAKE-UP POLICY No make-up will be given for missed assignments or exams. No credit will be given for assignments and exams submitted after the due time. Computer malfunctions, Internet outages, and other technical problems do not excuse missing an assignment or exam deadline. COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON HONOR CODE AND ACADEMIC INTEGRITY Lying, cheating, attempted cheating, and plagiarism are violations of our Honor Code that, when identified, are investigated. Each incident will be examined to determine the degree of deception involved. Incidents where the instructor determines the student's actions are related more to a misunderstanding will handled by the instructor. A written intervention designed to help prevent the student from repeating the error will be given to the student. The intervention, submitted by form and signed both by the instructor and the student, will be forwarded to the Dean of Students and placed in the student's file. Cases of suspected academic dishonesty will be reported directly by the instructor and/or others having knowledge of the incident to the Dean of Students. A student found responsible by the Honor Board for academic dishonesty will receive a XF in the course, indicating failure of the course due to academic dishonesty. This grade will appear on the student's transcript for two years after which the student may petition for the X to be expunged. The student may also be placed on disciplinary probation, suspended (temporary removal) or expelled (permanent removal) from the College by the Honor Board. Students should be aware that unauthorized collaboration working together without permission is a form of cheating. Unless the instructor specifies that students can work together on an assignment, quiz and/or test, no collaboration during the completion of the

5 ECON 200 Spring assignment is permitted. Other forms of cheating include possessing or using an unauthorized study aid (which could include accessing information via a cell phone or computer), copying from others' exams, fabricating data, and giving unauthorized assistance. Students can find the complete Honor Code and all related processes in the Student Handbook at STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES The College will make reasonable accommodations for persons with documented disabilities. Students should apply at the Center for Disability Services / SNAP, located on the first floor of the Lightsey Center, Suite 104 (tel ). Students approved for accommodations are responsible for notifying me as soon as possible and for contacting me one week before accommodation is needed.