|
|
Syllabus |
| General Information & Format - Vista Help - Description & Assumptions - Textbooks - Schedule & Workload - Assignments - Check-Ins - Grading - Extra Credit - Other Course Policies: Incompletes, Plagaris, How to do well, and more |
This syllabus is subject to revision as necessary at any time during the semester
GGR 346 - Geography of the United States
Department of Geography, Planning and Recreation
College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Fall 2008 - 3 Units
Dr. Alan A. Lew (Alan.Lew@nau.edu)
Office Location: SBS West (Bldg 70), Room 230
Office Hours: Wed 12:30-2:30pm, Fri 11am-1pm, and by appointment
Mailing Address: Dept. of Geography Planning & Recreation, NAU Box 15016,
Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5016
Tel: 928-523-6567 (office); 928-523-2650 (dept.); Fax: 928-523-2275 (attn: Dr Lew); Skype: alanalew
Student Comment at end of the class in Fall 2008: I want you to know how much I enjoyed this class. It was more work than some of my others but I liked it more anyway. It was really interesting and the "personal" touch you contributed by adding all of those photographs was really wonderful. I felt I got a true "feeling" for each section of the country. I can tell that you really enjoy what you do. Also, it is obvious that you put a tremendous amount of time into teaching this class. Also your audio files add to the class -- the lack of "connectedness" in on-line classes is a major downside for me, but with the addition your audios files helps to diminish that. Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for a terrific experience.
COURSE FORMAT: 100% online using Blackboard-VISTA - The Class Homepage is http://vista.nau.edu
You must log in using your NAU Dana or Jan account. You should bookmark this website.
AUDIO and VIDEO PODCASTS (and iTune U)
Audio and video presentations by the Instructor will be available in Blackboard-Vista (using Elluminate and maybe Wimba). Audio files may also be available in Apple iTunesU at: GGR 346 on iTunes. This is new and accessible to the general public through this link (it is not searchable in iTunes).
EMAIL POLICY:
Prior to the first day of classes, and after the last day of classes (of Finals Week), correspondence should be sent to the class Professor (see above) . You can also email the class Instructor at these times, but you will not be guaranteed a timely response.
All Correspondence starting the First Day of Classes must take place through the VISTA website (http://vista.nau.edu).
All Written Assignments must be submitted through Blackboard-VISTA. Any assignment emailed outside of VISTA will be ignored. Contact the NAU Help Desk (see below) if you cannot send an email or an assignment within VISTA.
VISTA HELP: If you are having PROBLEMS WITH Blackboard-VISTA...
FIRST: Contact the NAU Help Desk as soon as you encounter a problem that, if not resolved, will result in a loss of points.
- Write Down the NAME of the person you are speaking with, the TIME that you are talking to them, WHAT THEY SAID to try and resolve the problem, or not.
SECOND: If your assignment will still be late, then contact your instructor as soon as you have finished talking to the Help Desk and let them know what is going on, and so they have a record of when you attempted to submit the assignment.
- Clearly describe what the problem was, when it took place, and what you did to try and fix it.
- Include the NAME of the Help Desk person you spoke with, the TIME and DAY that you called the Help Desk, and What the Help Desk person said.
Contact the NAU Academic Computing Help Desk at:
Flagstaff: 523-9294
Toll free: 1-888-520-7215
On the web: http://www4.nau.edu/achd/
Via e-mail: help@dana.ucc.nau.edu
Contact the NAU Academic Computing (Student/Dana) Help Desk for ALL Technical Questions about Blackboard-Vista and your Computer.
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Analysis of the relationships between physical (geology, climate, vegetation)
and cultural (historical, cultural, economic) aspects of the United States
with an emphasis on contemporary geographic trends. The class readings and quizzes cover all of the topics above. Issue paper assignments will focus on the following three themes: Environment, Culture/Ethnicity, and Community Planning and Development.
Prerequisites: None, other than the ability to use a Web-browser and E-mail.
COURSE GOAL:
Students taking this course will study the U.S. from a geographic perspective
and will learn how to understand and interpret the diverse and complex physical and human factors that shape
landscapes of this country.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES: By the end of the term, students will know ...
1- How the geologic history of different regions of
the U.S. shape the landscape
2- How climatic differences shape the character of
different regions
3- How the cultures of different regions in the U.S.
have formed over time
4- How contemporary social processes are affecting
regions and the country overall
ASSUMPTIONS/PREREQUISITES:There are No Prerequisite Courses for this class. Access to and use of the Internet are required, as is a computer that is Blackboard-Vista compatible. Students are expected to have:
Click Here for special requirements for students who Registered AFTER the First Assignment is Due.
1 - Geography USA: A Virtual Textbook by Alan A. Lew – the class textbook - this is currently available for free through the Blackboard-Vista class site.
2 -Goodes World Atlas - This books is not available at the NAU Bookstore. Instead, you are required to purchase it from other sources. Any Edition that is less than 15 years old will do - List price is $34.95 for the current edition, but you can get it for as little as $20 online. You can try a metasearch engine, like Chambal or AddAll or BestBookBuys or BookHQ or CampusBooks4Less.
Click Here to view a Draft Class Schedule.
The Official Course Schedule is kept in the CALENDAR link within VISTA. Note that you can also add your own, private, entries into the VISTA Calendar. You should check the Calendar daily (as well as your VISTA email) to make sure that you are getting your assignments done.
You will mostly be working on your own in the class and you will be entirely responsible for your own work. This class requires an enormous amount of SELF DISCIPLINE. To consider whether or not you should continue with the class, it is recommended that you read: Taking Planning Education to the World: Online Teaching at NAU
All Assignments have specified due dates and times. Please note that these are all Arizona Standard Time. If you live in a different time zone, you must compensate for the difference.
CLASS WORKLOAD
The Arizona Board of Regents Contact Hour Policy (ABOR Handbook, 2-206, Academic Credit) states: "an hour of work is the equivalent of 50 minutes of class time . . . at least 15 contact hours or recitation, lecture, testing or evaluation, seminar, or colloquium as well as a minimum of 30 hours of student homework is required for each unit of credit."
The interpretation of this policy is that for every credit hour, a student should expect, on average, to do a minimum of three hours of work per week. A three credit hour class should average 9 hours of work per week over the semester.
First 3 Weeks of Class
There is very little due in the first 2.5 weeks of this class. The reason is because there tends to be a lot of adding and dropping in Liberal Studies classes like this during the first three weeks. In addition, a few students always have a problem getting their textbooks!
If you enroll in this class from the first day of the semester, you are STRONGLY ENCOURAGED to get started on the assignments now and to try and stay 1 WEEK AHEAD on all of the assignments (i.e., finish them 1 week before they are due). By doing this, you will have insurance in case an emergency arises and you cannot work on the class for a week.
If you enroll in this class late, you better get your book and get started on the assignments ASAP!
POLICIES:
COMMON ASSIGNMENT TYPES:
TurnItIn
Essay portions of the assignments above will use the Turnitin Service, which NAU has recently purchased to enhance student writing abilities. You will submit the assignment through a Turnitin folder on the main Course Content page.
You will be able to view the problem areas and revise your paper at any time prior to the due date and time.
All papers that are turned in through the Turn-it-in folder will be permanently logged into the Turn-it-in website. The paper will be associated with this class and with the names of your Instructor and Professor. The paper will not be viewable by anyone without express permission of the the Professor and Instructor of this class. The paper will be used for originality rankings for other papers that are submitted through Turn-it-in.
COMMENTS on Turnitin Assignments
In addition to the Originality Report, the Turnitin tool allows the instructor to grade your papers and place notes on them. These comments can be found by opening your paper in Turnitin, then looking for one or more little blue buttons (or bubbles) somewhere on your paper. Click on a blue button and a window will open with comments from the assignment's grader.
PAPER FORMATTING in Turnitin
When you submit your paper to Turnitin, some of the formatting is lost. In fact, all of the formatting is lost for the Originality Report. For grading purposes, however, most of the formatting is will remain in tact. In general, however, it is safer to keep your formatting simple rather than complex.
Horizon Wimba
Horizon Wimba is a set of audio presentation and recording tool that was recently made available on the NAU Blackboard-Vista system. I will be using these in this class.
Bb-Vista Who's Online Chat
If you have a question and would like a more instance response, then click on the "Who's Online" link in Bb-Vista. If I show up on the list, then click on me to invite me to a chat session.
The total points possible are:
Grading is based on your percentage of the total points
The Grading Breakdown on 1650 points will be:
*The Total Points are subject to change as the semester progresses. The final grade is based on the % received of the final points in the class.
The 'A' grade is intended for students who consistently submit work that is both on time and superior to the majority of the rest of the class in a consistent manner throughout the term.
WARNING: Keep all of the work that you receive points for in this (and all of your classes)! If there is ever a discrepancy between what I have recorded and what you think you received, I will only change my record if you have your original work.
Grade Points will be posted in Blackboard-Vista.
Your assignments are expected to be well written and checked for spelling and grammatical errors.
The web pages for this course should be the same -- though human error can occur. To help me maintain the class web pages as best as I can, you will receive 1 point for each typo or spelling error that you find in the text or assignment instructions and 2 points for each error that you find in the Quizzes. Only the First Person to find the error and inform the Instructor (Dr. Lew) of it will receive these points (yes, you should email Dr. Lew directly if you find something). You need to be clear as to where the problem is and what it is. And the error needs to be an obvious one, and not subject to semantic debate.
US GEOGRAPHY EVENTS
You can earn extra credit in this class by attending up to 3 events or activities (mostly public meetings and lectures) that are related to the class and writing a short report on the event and what you learned from it. Each report is worth up to 15 points and you may do no more than one report in one week. The Instructor will read and edit what you have written, and then post it on the class discussion list for other students to read.
Events and Activities Must Be Approved in Advance. Events must be approved by the instructor prior to its taking place. The Instructor may post announcements on the class announcement or email list of campus and community events that qualify - those that are posted will be automatically approved. However, you may also propose events, especially for events that are not in the Flagstaff area. The event or activity must take place during the semester that you are taking this class, and before the last week of classes. If you have any ideas for events (or other activities) that you would like to do, just get my approval -- preferably at least a week in advance.
The following examples from the Arizona Daily Sun website and the NAU events calendar website would all work, as would other events like them. The paper would need to emphasize tourism issues related to this class, which are given (in parentheses).
- Flagstaff Underground Tour (Historical perspective on the development of a community)
- River, Canyon and Dam Slide Show (USGS) (Physical geography presentation)
- Downtown Accessibility Audit (Perspectives on the urban America built landscape)
- County Supervisors Meeting (Politics and decision making process - representing the American values and shaping the US landscape -- this one is a bit of a stretch, as you never know what they may be talking about. A Planning Commission meeting would be better, but I will accept a County Commission or City Council meeting, as well.)
- Ain’t It Purty”: Tourist Impressions of Grand Canyon (tourist demand/experiences of place)
Fortunately, geography is a broad and interdisciplinary subject matter, and many (not all) topics that relate to the formation/history, culture, earth sciences, and landscapes of the US would qualify. There are a lot of such events on the NAU campus (as well as other university and college campuses).
There are No Other Extra Credit Options for this class. All students are treated the same, so any extra credit options that are adopted are only those that would be available to ALL students. (Do not ask for a special extra credit assignment that applies to you alone.)
FINISHING THE CLASS EARLY
Web-based students often ask about finishing the class early. Because not all assignments will be posted early, this is generally not possible. In addition, the Final Review Assignment will not be posted until the last week of classes. It may be possible (in some semesters) to finish all assignments, except the Final Review Assignment, a few weeks before the end of the semester. At the most only one student ever actually does this in any semester.
INCOMPLETES
Incompletes will not be given without written recommendation by the Dean of Students.
Retaking the Class to Raise Your Grade
If you are not receiving the grade that you prefer toward the end of the semester, then the recommended action is to retake the class in another semester and apply for a Grade Replacement using this form: MS Word, .PDF - the form must be submitted at the time that you register for the class the second time. Note that the assignments will probably be different the second time that you take the class.
ACADEMIC DISHONESTY is a form of misconduct that is subject to disciplinary action under the Student Code of Conduct and includes the following (please check the appropriate block).
You are expected to do all of the work yourself, and to properly reference any material that you use from other sources using standard referencing systems used in the social and physical sciences. If you need help with this, click here.
DO NOT COPY ANOTHER STUDENT’S WORK, even in part. DO NOT GIVE YOUR PAPER TO ANOTHER STUDENT TO TURN IN AS THEIR WORK.
- If you do either of these, at a minimum you will receive zero (0) points for the assignment AND a number of points equal to that of the assignment will be further deducted from your total. For example, for a 100 point assignment, you will get 0 for the assignment, and 100 points will be further deducted from your total.
- In addition, and you may be dismissed entirely from this class.
DO NOT COPY SOMETHING FROM ANY OTHER SOURCE WITHOUT A COMPLETE REFERENCE TO ITS ORIGINAL AUTHOR (Author, Title, Year, Publisher, Page numbers, and Access date and URL for Web material). Points will be deducted from assignments if you do not properly reference your sources. Using quotations from other sources should be kept to a minimum and only used where relevant..
- The following WWW site on doing research and avoiding electronic plagiarism is recommended reading for anyone doing research on the WWW: http://www.sofweb.vic.edu.au/internet/research.htm
SBS LATE WITHDRAWAL POLICY: This policy comes into effect after the drop with a “W” deadline (after the 8th week of a regular semester). The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Policy for Approval of Petitions to Withdraw From a Class After the Deadline:
PROCESS FOR LATE ADDS AND LATE WITHDRAWALS FROM CLASSES
(These are new university policies in 2008 that I have been asked to include in this syllabus)
Adding of Class after the Add Deadline or after Posting of Grades for Session/term:
Student requests to add a class after the add deadline or after grades have been posted for a session or term must use the “Petition to Add a Class after the Deadline” available on the Registrar’s website. All signatures must be obtained prior to submitting the form to the Registrar’s office for processing.
Withdrawal after Deadline during Session/term:
Student requests to drop a class after the withdrawal deadline or to withdraw from all classes during a session/term are routed to the Registrar’s Office using the appropriate form(s) available on the Registrar’s Website . See the following URL for the appropriate form: http://home.nau.edu/registrar/forms.asp
Withdrawal after Posting of Grades for Session/term:
Student requests to withdraw from a class or to request a withdrawal from all classes after grades have been posted for that session/term must be sent to the Academic Standards Committee. See the following URL for instructions on how to file a petition with the Academic Standards Committee: http://www2.nau.edu/academicadmin/downloads/PolProc.doc
Exception to Withdrawal after Posting of Grades for Session/term:
Students who have just been academically suspended from NAU who have proof which appears to articulate extenuating circumstances beyond the student’s control (medical/psychological or family trauma) that seem to merit a retroactive withdrawal from the term immediately past, should contact the Office of the Registrar for withdrawal consideration.
safe environment policy
students with disabilities
institutional review board
academic integrity
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~