Kennesaw State University
Department of Economics and Finance
Principles of Microeconomics - Online
Econ 2100/Section W01 – Summer 2012
Instructor: Michael Patrono
Phone: 770-298-7132 (cell)
E-mail: mpatrono@kennesaw.edu
Office Hours: On-line: Tuesday and Thursday 10:30 am to 11:00 am on regular class days
and by appointment.
Table of Contents
Textbook
Course Description
Course Prerequisite
Teaching Methodology
Communications & Discussion Boards
Learning Objectives
Course Objective
Tentative Course Schedule
Technical Requirements
Attendance Policy
Course Withdrawal Date and Policy
Quizzes
Tests and Exams
Extra Credit Opportunities
Tutoring
Class Grade
Grading scale
Make-up Exam Policy
Important notice
Academic Honesty
Disruptive behavior
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Textbook: Principles of Economics (6th Ed.), N. Gregory Mankiw, but the 5th edition will suffice. See
book option email for additional information. Other course materials, including class notes,
discussion articles, quiz and exam solutions will be posted on Georgia View Vista.
Course Description: Analysis of price and output determination under various market structures,
income distribution, resource allocation, domestic problems, international trade regulation and
taxation.
Course Prerequisite: Three credit hours of Math 1100 or higher.
Teaching Methodology: As an on-line course, there will be minimum face to face contact among
the students and between the students and the instructor. In order, to replicate the intimate,
learning community experience available in the classroom, we will deploy technology to aid in the
teaching. A virtual classroom will be created by using a Horizon Wimba’s Live Classroom. This tool
allows students to login at a specified time and participate in an interactive classroom session
similar to the face to face experience. These sessions will be held from 11:00am to 1:00pm on
Tuesday. Students not able to attend this session will be able to participate via listening
to/watching the archived version of the session posted on Georgia View Vista (GAView) shortly
after class – each session will be indexed for easy navigation. (GAView is the successor to Web CT
Vista, see “Technical Requirements”, below.)
Using the Horizon Wimba’s Live Classroom, a lecture-discussion format will be followed. Student
participation in class discussion is encouraged. Such participation will greatly aid in the students’
understanding of the material and subsequent performance on the exams. Student interaction also
will help the Instructor identify areas that need additional attention in class to achieve student
understanding. In addition, the Quizzes (See Quizzes below) associated with each Chapter that will
be assigned via GAView will enable students to test their understanding of the course’s concepts as
we progress through the material.
Communications & Discussion Boards: Students are encouraged to communicate with the
instructor frequently, especially if they feel they are not grasping the course’s core concepts.
Students should select the communication tool that is most comfortable for them – phone, e-mail or
online office visit. In general, the Instructor will check and respond to e-mail at least once a day
except Saturday and Sunday, however I will answer calls to my cell phone. (To the extent possible,
students will be notified if the Instructor cannot meet this response time standard.) The Instructor
will initiate communication with the students via email, GAView postings on the homepage, and in
the Wimba class sessions. Students should check email and GAView Announcements at least daily
and listen to archived class sessions (if a non-participant in the live session) within 24 hrs after
posting. The Instructor will assume the student is aware of any information transmitted after it has
been posted for 24 hours.
In addition, two non-graded discussion boards are available on GAView. These are: “Ask the Prof”
(a place to discuss topics of general interest relating to the course) and “The Vent” (a “no names”
board to let off steam about the course, the Instructor or University; any Instructor postings on this
site will be signed so you know it is me, but the students postings will not have identifiers
attached). The Instructor will have access to all postings but will not know who the student poster
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is. On “Ask the Prof” everyone in the class can see the posting by name, so do not post private
information here.
Course Learning Objectives: This course is intended to provide a basic introduction to several key
concepts surrounding the allocation of resources in the economy. The material in this course will
aid the student in understanding the economic principles that stand behind decision-making
outside the classroom. In addition, the material covered will provide a solid foundation for future
study in economics and business.
At a high level, students successfully completing this course will be able to:





Demonstrate knowledge of the sources of the gains from trade and identify the benefits of
an open trading system.
Identify the behavior of supply, demand and price under various conditions.
Describe the ingredients of the Perfectly Competitive industry model from both the input
and output perspectives.
Compare the Perfect Competition industry model and related efficiency to the inefficiency
created by monopoly
Understand the efficiency implications of externalities, public goods and the tax system.
Tentative Course Schedule
Class
Sessions
May 28
May 31
Thursday
Holiday - No Class
1
June 3 Sunday
June 5 Tuesday
2-3
June 24 Sunday
Chapter 4 Market Forces of Supply and Demand online lecture
Quiz 2 on Chapter 4 due and Extra Credit Opportunity 1
posted
4-5
June 17 Sunday
June 19 Tuesday
Intro to course and Chapter 3 Gains from Trade online lecture
Quiz 1 on Chapter 3 due
June 10 Sunday
June 12 Tuesday
Item
Chapter 5 Elasticity and its Application online lecture
Quiz 3 on Chapter 5 due
6-7
Chapter 6 Supply, Demand, and Govt. Policy online lecture
Quiz 4 on Chapter 6 due
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Class
Sessions
June 26 Tuesday
8-9
Item
Chapter 7 Consumers, Producers, and the Efficiency of
Markets
June 30
Saturday
Quiz 5 on Chapter 7 due
July 1 Sunday
Exam 1 covering chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7as well as Extra
Credit Opportunity 1 paper due
July 3 Tuesday
10-11
Chapters 10 and 11 on Externalities and Public Goods online
lecture
July 4
Wednesday
Holiday
July 8 Sunday
Quiz 6 on Chapters 10 and 11 due and Extra Credit
Opportunity 2 posted
July 10 Tuesday
12-13
July 15 Sunday
July 17 Tuesday
Quiz 7 on Chapter 13 due
14-15
July 22 Sunday
July 24 Tuesday
Chapter 13 on Costs of Production online lecture
Chapter 14 on Firms in Competitive Markets online lecture
Quiz 8 on Chapter 14 due
16-17
Chapter 15 on Monopoly online lecture
July 28 Saturday
Quiz 9 on Chapter 15 and Extra Credit Opportunity 2 Paper
due
July 29 Sunday
Final Exam on Chapters 10, 11, 13, 14, and 15
Note: The course outline is tentative and can be changed by the Instructor when needed. Changes
will be announced in class. It is the responsibility of the student to stay aware of any changes
during the semester.
Technical Requirements: In order to participate in this online course, students will need:
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1. Access to (and facility with) the Georgia View (GAView) course management system, the
successor to Web CT Vista with similar (but not identical) navigation and nomenclature.
Students can access from http://kennesaw8.view.usg.edu. (See the “Support” button on our
home page for additional information on technical support resources to assist students in
becoming familiar with this new system.) In particular, this course will make heavy use of
the Live Classroom, Discussions, Assessments, Assignments, Announcements and Mail tools
of this application. To use Live Classroom (the tool that supports our Virtual Classroom)
you will need to run the “Setup Wizard” the first time you enter the Virtual Classroom. (The
separate “General Introduction to On-Line Learning” has additional information on Live
Classroom technical topics and help resources in addition, the Support button on our home
page has additional information on Live Classroom.) You will find the Wizard under the
Virtual Classroom button
2. Access to (and facility with) Microsoft Powerpoint, Word, and Excel, all at 2003 or higher
levels.
3. A computer running Windows 2003 (or higher, the Apple counterparts or similar operating
systems) that has Broadband Internet access (cable, DSL, ISDN etc.).
4. Access (to and facility with) Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox browsers.
5. The version of Java required by GAView (run the GAView browser check if you are unsure –
See separate document “General Introduction to On-Line learning for more information).
6. A headset with a microphone ($20-$30 at Radio Shack, and only if you want to ask
questions in the live sessions by voice. A text box is provided in the Live Classroom to ask
questions by typing).
Attendance Policy: Class attendance is strongly recommended. In any event, students are
responsible for all material covered in class, as well as the assigned readings. Most class sessions
will end with discussion of questions from the text’s test bank relating to the chapter.
Understanding the right and wrong answers from the test bank questions will be especially good
preparation for the exams. Horizon Wimba, Live Classroom sessions will be archived and posted on
Web CT Vista.
Students must exclusively attend the course section for which they are officially enrolled. Grades
will be based on student performance in the specific course and section in which they are enrolled.
It is the students’ responsibility to ensure they are attending the course and section in which they
are enrolled. Changes to the class roster cannot be made after the Add/Drop period ends.
Course Withdrawal Date and Policy: The last day to withdraw without academic penalty is June
27th, 2011. Students who wish to withdraw with a grade of “W” must do so on or before June 27th,
2011. Students withdrawing after June27th will receive a grade of “WF”. All withdrawals must be
processed thorough the Office of The Registrar by the student.
Quizzes : You are required to complete 9 quizzes, one for each chapter covered in the course with
one quiz covering 2 chapters. The combined value of these quizzes is 30% of your total course
grade. Your 2 lowest quiz scores will be automatically dropped. This is to make room in your
schedule to absorb personal scheduling conflicts with work or vacation. The purpose of the quizzes
is twofold; first, they pace your studying and, second, they give you practice on problem types that
will be encountered on the exams. Grades for each individual assignment will be posted under “My
Grades” in GAView. The first and successive quizzes will be announced via GAView. Late or missed
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assignments will not be accepted or made up. If you miss a quiz you must use your drop to cover it
up to 2 missed quizzes.
There will be plenty of time to complete each quiz. The assessments will be posted by no later than
Friday at midnight and due Sunday or Monday (see schedule) at midnight. You have two
opportunities to take each quiz; the highest score will be recorded. Both times you will have 2 hours
to complete the quiz after you start it and the highest grade between the two attempts will be
counted. The sequence of the answers will be scrambled between each attempt. This design is to
help you learn the material rather than to encourage you to “guess” the answers.
There are two very strong recommendations for you regarding the quizzes:
1. Read the chapter BEFORE attempting a quiz the first time. This way you will have some
idea where to look in the text to find your answer.
2. Do Not wait until the last minute to take a quiz. After midnight on the assigned date the
quiz will NOT be available to you. “GAView would not let me in” is NOT an excuse for
missing the deadline even if the technical staff is working on the website since you will have
had several days to take it.
Tests and Exams: There will be one test during the semester plus the final exam. The final exam is
not cumulative. The tests will include both material discussed in class and information
contained in the assigned readings. Each test/exam will consist of 50 multiple-choice questions.
There will be no additional adjustments to test grades or the overall class grades. Overall test
grades for each student will be rounded to the nearest whole number (i.e. 79.33 will be rounded to
79 and 79.67 will be rounded to 80). (See “Class Grade”, below.)
Extra Credit Opportunities: Opportunities to earn extra credit will be available to students on an
optional basis. You do not have to attempt the extra credit, you may choose to or not at your
discretion. It can only add to your grade, not subtract. These will take the form of reading a
maximum of 2 articles that will be posted on GAView and writing a maximum of a 2 page - double
spaced - paper on the reading. These papers (graded on a pass/fail basis) will be worth a maximum
of 3 pts each, for a total of 6 pts. These points will be added to the numerical grade achieved on the
course exams, Quizzes, and Discussion Group assignments, see “Class Grade” below. This will be
the only opportunity to earn extra credit in this course. Details on these assignments will be found
on GAView with the articles. Late assignments will not be accepted. Make sure you realize that you
can’t choose to do the extra credit at the very end when things aren’t going well. The extra credit
requires that you submit your work on the schedule listed above.
Tutoring: The University will make available free tutoring resources for students in Econ 2100 and
certain other courses. Students are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity to clarify and
confirm the concepts discussed in the course. Details with respect to this resource will be released
shortly after the semester starts.
In addition, students are encouraged to take advantage of Aplia (aplia.com). This online resource
has self study and tutoring resources that many students find helpful. Refer to the Book Option
email for information on the financial considerations relating to purchasing access to Aplia in
conjunction with purchasing the text.
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Information about other support resources (technical, academic and non-academic) can be found
under the Support button on the courses home page.
Class Grade: Class grade will be determined as follows: Class Grade = (Mid Term x .35) + (Final
x .35) + (Average Quiz Grade x .30) plus any accumulated extra credit points.
Assessment
Weight
Mid Term Exam
35%
Final Exam
35%
Average Quiz Grade (with two lowest grades dropped)
30%
Total
100%
Plus Optional Extra Credits
Up to 6 pts
Grading scale: 90-100=A; 80-89=B; 70-79=C; 60-69=D, 0-59 =F. Incompletes will be awarded
only for non-academic reasons, at the Instructor’s discretion.
The results for graded assignments (Quizzes, Midterm Exam) will be posted on Vista (under “My
Grades”) within 48 hours after the assignment due date. Extra Credit papers will take longer. Final
exam grades and final course grades will be posted in Vista by the Friday evening of final exam
week. The instructor will communicate with the students when unexpected events prevent
meeting these response times.
During the last week of the semester and after the last Quiz is completed, the Instructor will post
the semester long grade for these activities, the student is encouraged to check the Instructor’s
calculations.
Make-up Exam Policy: The following make-up exam policy applies to all students:

If the scheduled exams create a scheduling difficulty for students, these situations should be
brought to the Instructor’s attention within the first two weeks of class and alternative
arrangements will be set up for the taking of the exams.

Other Make-up exams will not be given without a written, excused absence.

All documents regarding the absence from the exam must include the name of the person
issuing the document, a phone number and a signature.

Make-up exams are given in the event of illness, school sponsored activities or personal and
work related emergencies.
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
To request a make-up exam, the student must inform the Instructor of the reason before the
exam or in the case of emergencies, within 48 hours of the missed exam.

Make-up exams must be taken prior to the next class session.
Important notice: Kennesaw State University provides program accessibility and reasonable
accommodations for persons defined as disabled under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of
1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Students with disabilities who require
accommodations (academic adjustments and/or auxiliary aids or services) for this course must
contact the Office for Disabled Student Support Services via Ms. Carol Pope, ADA Compliance Officer
for Students, at 770-423-6443 (V) or 770-423-6480 (TDD). Please do not request accommodations
directly from the professor or instructor without a letter of accommodation from the Office for
Disabled Student Support Services. For additional information, please visit:
http://www.kennesaw.edu/stu_dev/dsss/dsss.html
Academic Honesty: Academic Honesty is assumed. Cheating in any form or plagiarism is strongly
discouraged. Every KSU student is responsible for upholding the provisions of the Student Code of
Conduct, as published in the Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogs, respectively.
Section II of the Student Code of Conduct addresses the University’s policies and procedures on
Academic Honesty, including provisions regarding plagiarism and cheating, unauthorized access to
University materials, misrepresentation and/or falsification of University records or academic
work, malicious removal, retention or destruction of library materials, malicious/intentional
misuse of computer facilities and/or services and misuse of student ID cards.
Incidents of violations of the Student Code of Conduct will be handled through the University’s
Judiciary Program. Disciplinary measures in cases of such incidents include expulsion, suspension,
probated suspension, restrictions, reprimand (oral or written), restitution and community service.
Disruptive behavior: Belligerent, abusive, profane, threatening and/or inappropriate behavior on
the part of the student is a violation of the KSU Student Code of Conduct. According to University
Policy regarding disruptive behavior, students who are found in violation of the Code of Conduct
may be subject to immediate dismissal from the University. Also, those violations, which may
constitute misdemeanor or felony violations of state or federal law, may also be subject to criminal
action beyond the University’s diplomacy process.