This syllabus is subject to revision as necessary at any time during the semester

GGR 240
 World Regional Geography WEST
Winter Session 2009 Syllabus

*** You MUST have the Textbook by the START of this Class to complete the first Quiz and Reading Assignment.

General Information & Format - Vista Help - Description & Assumptions - Textbooks - Schedule & Workload - Assignments - Checkins - Tips - Grading - Extra Credit - Other Course Policies: Class Lock Out, Plagiarism, NAU policies statements, Student Handbook

Click Here for special requirements for students who Registered AFTER the First Assignment is Due

General Information

GGR 240 - World Regional Geography EAST (3 units)
Department of Geography, Planning and Recreation
College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Dr. Alan A. Lew (Alan.Lew {at} nau.edu)
Office Location: SBS West (Bldg 70), Room 230
Office Hours: 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

COURSE FORMAT: 100% online using Blackboard-Vista - The Class Homepage is http://vista.nau.edu

ACCELERATED CLASS

AUDIO and VIDEO PODCASTS

Audio and video presentations by the Instructor will be available in Blackboard-Vista. Audio files may also be available in Apple iTunes U.

LEARNING MODULES - Assignment Instructions are in the Learning Modules

  1. Click on "Course Content" (on the sidebar menu) OR on "Learning Modules"
  2. Then on "First Half of the Class"
  3. Then on "Module Instructions" for the first module, to get started.

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.

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 at the email address above.

All Correspondence starting the First Day of Classes must take place either through the Blackboard-Vista website (http://vista.nau.edu).

All Written Assignments must be submitted through Bb-Vista. Any assignment emailed outside of Bb-Vista will be ignored. Contact the NAU Help Desk (see below) if you cannot send an email or an assignment within Vista.

Blackboard-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.

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.

Contact the NAU STUDENT TECHNOLOGY CENTER Help Desk at:
Flagstaff: 928-523-9294
Toll free: 1-888-520-7215
On the web: https://www4.nau.edu/stc/
Via e-mail:StudentComputing@nau.edu

For a comprehensive list of resources available to web students please visit: http://www.distance.nau.edu/guide/student_resources.aspx

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course examines the social and environmental processes that characterize the Western World, which is liberally defined as the regions including all of Europe (Western, Central, Southern, Northern, and Eastern through Russia), North America and South America. The approach is comprehensive, covering both the physical geography (primarily geomorphology and climatology), and human geography (history, economics, and culture) of these regions.

COURSE GOAL: 
Students taking this course will study the Western World from a geographic perspective and will learn how to understand and interpret the diverse and complex physical and human factors that shape landscapes of these regions.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:
    1- How the geologic history of different regions shape the landscape
    2- How climatic differences shape the character of different regions
    3- How the cultures of different regions have formed over time
    4- How contemporary social processes are affecting the regions and countries

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:
  1. Good familiarity with personal computers, the Internet and World Wide Web.
  2. Ability to use a word processor, such as Microsoft Word, which can be found in all of the NAU computer labs.
  3. Access to the WWW from a computer that meets the Blackboard-Vista System Requirements.
  4. Your computer must be able to play MP3 audio files, which includes speakers or headphones of some kind.
  5. Access to a computer that can run Google Earth 5.
  6. Ability to devote an average of 7 to 9 hours a week to this class for a 16 week class, 15 to 18 hours a week for an 8 week class, and 30 to 36 hours a week for a 4 week class. This is based on the fact that a full-time load of 15 credit hours is roughly equivalent to 40 to 45 hours of work a week.

Click Here for special requirements for students who Registered AFTER the First Assignment is Due.

REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS

World Geography of Travel and Tourism: A Regional Approach - by Alan A. Lew, C. Michael Hall and Dallen J. Timothy - Butterworth-Heinemann-Elsevier - (2008) - ISBN: 978-0-7506-7978-7.

OPTIONAL: A good Atlas with lots of Thematic Maps is highly recommended. A thematic map is one that shows special topics, such as population, climate, coal mining, vegetation, income, language and ethnicity.

CLASS SCHEDULE:

Click Here to view an overview of the Class Schedule (subject to revisions).

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.

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 16 week semester.

For accelerated classes that are less than 16 weeks in length (including Finals Week), the average hours per week are increased according to the same per credit hour calculations. Therefore,a 3 unit class taught in 8 weeks would have a workload of 18 hours a week; taught in a 4 week Winter Session, the workload would be 36 hours a week.

If you enroll in this class late, you better get your book and get started on the assignments ASAP!

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. Please note, however, that my computer is on most of the day and even though I may be logged in to Bb-Vista, I may not be anywhere near my computer.

PODCASTS

Weekly Assignment Reviews will be provided throughout the term. These may include new material and may address questions that arise from students.

You are required to listen to these when they are announced as available (in the Bb-Vista Announcement link). You will be able to access the podcasts either through the class Learning Module in one of three ways:

  1. Wimba Voice Board - will open an audio player in Bb-Vista - however, this tool will not play anything longer than 10 minutes, so some files may be in two parts, or may not be there at all.
  2. iTunes U - will open iTunesU on your computer. This requires that you have iTunes installed on your computer, which can be synced with an iPod. All of the shorter (less than 10 minute) audio files will also be available on iTunesU, along with a few (but not many) longer audio files.
  3. Both Wimba Board and iTunesU can be used to download files to a computer and an mp3 player.

Dr. Lew does a travel and tourism related podcast on his blog at http://TravelGeography.info

GOOGLE EARTH

We will use Google Earth in this class for some of the assignments. Google Earth is a program that must be installed (for free) on a Mac or PC.

ASSIGNMENTS

POLICIES:

  1. ALL ASSIGNMENT ARE ACCESSED through the LEARNING MODULES in Bb-Vista.
  2. ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSION VERIFICATION: You are responsible for verifying that your assignment was properly submitted.
  3. WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS
  4. QUIZZES and EXAMS
  5. MAKE UP ASSIGNMENT & QUIZZES/EXAMS

      1. A clear and complete explanation of the reason the assignment is late, including why the assignment could not have been submitted before the problem arose;
        • Note that waiting until the last few hours before a quiz or an assignment is due and then running into a personal problem will not be considered an acceptable reason for why the assignment is late.
          • NAU Computer Server problems are not your personal problems, and are therefore acceptable reasons for a late assignment. Your personal computer problems are not acceptable.
            • PLEASE BACK UP YOUR PERSONAL COMPUTER'S HARD DRIVE ON A REGULAR BASIS.
      2. Written proof, such as a letter from a doctor, minister or funeral home, or a letter from the NAU Dean of Students (or the Associate Dean of Students), supporting your justification
        • The Instructor Mailing address and Fax number are at the top of this syllabus.

ASSIGNMENT TYPES:

Tips for Success in this Class

GRADING

There will be:

TOTAL = 1700 Points (warning: subject to change*)

The Percentage Grading Breakdown will be:

* The Total Points may change due to unforeseeable issues that may arise.. The final grade is based on the % received of the final points in the class, not the points in this syllabus.

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. You need to demonstrate mastery of the subject matter through the quality and thoughtfulness of your answers. Between 10% and 20% of the class will likely receive an 'A'. (It could be more or less than this, depending on the makeup of the class.)

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 is recorded in the Grade book and what you think you received, the Grade book will only be changed if you have your original work.

The Total Grade Points and Percentage Grading Breakdown are subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances that may affect the total points. Final grades will be based on the percentages above as they apply to the total final points at the end of the semester.

All Written Assignment Points will be posted in Vista about a week after they are submitted. Late assignments will take about two weeks (or more) to be graded. Points for Quizzes and Exams will generally be posted as soon as the quiz is completed.

EXTRA CREDIT

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 textbook or assignment instructions and 2 points for each error that you find in the Quizzes and Exams. Only the First Person to find the error and inform the Instructor of it will receive these points (yes, you should email Dr. Lew in Bb-Vista 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.

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. 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. You may also suggest events, especially those outside of 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. All of these papers must be submitted before Final Exams Week.

The following examples from Fall 2008 in the Arizona Daily Sun website and the NAU events calendar website would all have worked, as would have other events like them. The topic needs to emphasize geography issues related to this class, which are given (in parentheses, below). In addition, they must include a lecture component, which could be in the form of a guided tour -- simply going to a place a reporting on it is not acceptable.

Format - In about 500 words, you should report on where you went, what you saw and did, what you learned, and especially how it relates to this class. Also include when you went there (date and time).

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.)

OTHER POLICIES

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.

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.

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..

PROCESS FOR LATE ADDS AND LATE WITHDRAWALS FROM CLASSES

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.

Northern Arizona University Policy Statements

safe environment policy
students with disabilities
institutional review board
academic integrity

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NAU Student Handbook