Economics 101 – Principles of Microeconomics

Course Syllabus

Section 3, MWF 10:00-10:50, 2245 Coover Hall

Instructor: Christopher Burkart

Office: 280B Heady Hall

Phone: 294-5831

E-mail: cburkart@iastate.edu (include “Econ 101-3” and your topic in the subject line)

Office hours: MW 11 a.m.-12 p.m. or by appointment

Teaching Assistants:

Teaching assistants will hold office hours in the Econ Help Room, located in 178 Heady Hall.  Outside of TA office hours, assistance in understanding course material is available from Help Room staff.  The Help Room is open Monday-Thursday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.  Questions regarding grading of exams and other basic administrative issues should be taken up with your TAs.

Class Homepage: http://www.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ101/burkart/

The class home page will contain a copy of this syllabus, class announcements, a link to the textbook website, grades for your exams, and other useful information. 

Required Textbook

Microeconomics, by Paul Krugman and Robin Wells, 2004, ISBN 0716752298

Lectures will be based (sometimes loosely) on topics from the text, but you will need to demonstrate understanding of material presented both in class and in the text.

Special Accommodations

If you have a documented disability that requires special academic accommodations, you will need to go to the Disability Resource (DR) Office for coordination of your academic accommodations.  Please request that a Disability Resources staff send a SAAR form verifying your disability and specifying the accommodations you will need.  This should be done at the beginning of the semester.

Exams

This course will utilize a somewhat non-traditional means of assessing your understanding of the material presented.  Beginning the second week of class, there will be a “mini-exam” in the last 20 minutes of every Wednesday class (from 10:30-10:50) and a 20-minute exam during finals week.  In total there will be 15 of these exams.  No homework, no large/long exams.  However, you will need to stay on top of the material and attend class regularly if you want to earn a good grade. 

Exams will cover material from the previous week’s lectures.  Exams are all closed book, closed-notes.  Questions may be short answer, multiple choice, or a combination of the two.  It is highly recommended that you review the textbook questions at the end of each chapter and attempt the practice quizzes available online at the textbook website.  The URL for the textbook website is http://bcs.worthpublishers.com/krugmanwells/

Grading

Your grade in this class will be based solely on your exam performance.  Only the best 12 of the 15 exams will be used to calculate your final grade, but there are no “make-up” exams for any reason, and no exceptions to this policy.  Use this aspect of the course wisely-- the intent is to allow you the opportunity to make up for occasional poor performance as well as some flexibility between your personal and academic lives.  Missing an exam because you overslept or didn’t feel like coming can develop into a risky habit you would do well to avoid.

In the unbelievably-improbable-and-nearly-inconceivable event that you have legitimate reasons* to miss four exams (effectively a quarter of the entire semester) you will need to provide documentation verifying the legitimacy of your absence for all of your missed exams, not just the fourth one.  A conference with your academic advisor and/or Dean of Students Office representatives may be required in this event. 

Letter grades will be assigned according to the average percentage score of your 12 best exams.  The score cutoffs for each letter grade will be determined after reviewing exam results.

*Legitimate reasons: (1) illness with written documentation by a physician, or (2) death of a parent or sibling with written documentation by the Dean of Students.  Athletic or other extracurricular activities are not considered legitimate reasons. 

Notes on Classroom Etiquette

With 250 students scheduled to be in class all at the same time, we must all work together to make sure the in-class environment is an enjoyable experience for all and is conducive to learning.  As a general principle, be considerate of those around you.  In particular, here are a few “Do’s” and “Don’ts”:

1. Do turn off your cell phone during class.  After class, you are welcome to turn it back on and even use it to call your instructor to tell him how much you enjoyed his class today.
2. Do not read newspapers during class.  This is inconsiderate to both the students around you and your instructor.  Besides, reading the letters to the editor in the Iowa State Daily may raise your blood pressure, reduce your IQ, or both.
3. Do not start gathering up your materials, stand up, etc. before the lecture is completely over.  You may think you can do this very quietly, but several individuals doing this collectively results in a lot of distracting noise that may delay the end of a lecture.  However, if you feel like standing up to applaud your instructor for a job well done, that would be acceptable.
4. Do not talk with fellow students during lecture.  Again, if many students do this, the collective result is a lot of distracting noise.  Lectures by your instructor will be the only distracting noise allowed in class.
5. Do sit near the door if you must leave class early and Do let your instructor know this before the start of class.  However, if a lecture is making you so nauseous that you feel you are going to toss your cookies, feel free to leave early regardless of where you are sitting.
6. Do bring, within reason, any food or caffeine-laced beverages to help keep you awake during class.  Feel free to share anything particularly good with your instructor.
7. Do feel free to ask questions during class, unless it appears the instructor doesn’t even know what he’s talking about.