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

GENERAL INFORMATION

GGR 346 - Geography of the United States
Department of Geography, Planning and Recreation
College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Spring 2008 - 3 Units

Dr. Alan A. Lew (Alan.Lew@nau.edu)
Office Location: SBS West (Bldg 70), Room 230
Office Hours: Mon 12pm-2pm, Wed 10am-12pm, 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

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.

• Registered students will not be able to access the VISTA version of this class (or any other class) until the First Day of Classes of the Term
  
  If you Register for the class AFTER the FIRST ASSIGNMENT is Due - Click Here

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).

• Outside of VISTA, please use your DANA or JAN account to send email message. These are the official and only acceptable email servers for all NAU email correspondence. Use of non-Dana or Jan email accounts will not be responded to.
  
  
• To Send an Email from VISTA: Click On MAIL on the left sidebar menu; Click on CREATE MESSAGE; Click on BROWSE FOR RECIPIENTS and then click on either your Instructor's or Professor's name, or on All Instructors. click on SAVE; Compose your message; then SEND it.
  

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.

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

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:

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.
• On the Blackboard-Vista login page is a link to Check Your Browser. Click on that link. All Checks Must Be GREEN. If any are Red, you must fix them. If you do not know how, call the NAU Student Help Desk.
4. Your computer must be able to play MP3 audio files.
5. Ability to devote an average of 7 to 9 hours a week to this 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:

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.

• You are expected to have this book by the First Week of class. No other books or material are required. Please do what you can to get this book as soon as possible. I will not accept any excuses for not having this book when it is required for an assignment.

COURSE SCHEDULE & WORKLOAD

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.

• If you Register for the class AFTER the FIRST ASSIGNMENT is Due - Click Here

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!

ASSIGNMENTS

• ALL WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS, INCLUDING THOSE POSTED IN THE DISCUSSION AREA OF VISTA, WILL BE CONSIDERED LATE IF RECEIVED AFTER 11:59 P.M. ON THEIR DATE DUE
  
  
• LATE WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT POLICY: 15 points will be deducted for each day that an assignment is late. Late assignments will not be accepted after the points reach 0 (this is 7 days for a 100 point assignment, and 3 days for a 50 point assignment). You are also less likely to receive an immediate response to your assignment if it is late, since the class needs to move on and not as much time can be devoted to late assignments.
• This late assignment policy does not apply to Quizzes. Quiz availability expires on a specific time and date -- they may not be taken after their due date and time, except as a Make Up (see below).
  
  
• Written Assignments must be submitted through the Vista/Turn-It-In submission link. Submissions outside of VISTA will be ignored.
• EARLY SUBMISSIONS OF ASSIGNMENTS ARE ENCOURAGED AND ALWAYS ACCEPTED.
• Please note that Due Dates and Times are all Arizona Standard Time. If you live in a different time zone, you must compensate for the difference.
  
• MAKE UP ASSIGNMENTS - Both Written Assignments & Quizzes

• Requests for make up assignments, both written assignments and quizzes, will only be allowed for reasons beyond the control of the student. In addition, you must provide:
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.
  • Note that 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 (if no other proof is available)
• The Instructor Mailing address and Fax number are at the top of this syllabus.
  
  
• You will receive less credit if you could have done the assignment before the problem arose.
• See the section on Extra Credit (below) if late assignments become a problem for you.
  
  

COMMON ASSIGNMENT TYPES:

• All of the assignments are listed in the order they are to be done under the Learning Module titled "All Assignments". This link can be found either by clicking on the Course Contents link or the Learning Modules link, both of which are on the sidebar menu in Blackboard-Vista. Assignment Due Dates are listed on the Calendar link on the Blackboard-Vista sidebar menu.
  
  
• CLASS INTRO QUIZZ (1 at 30 points): This quiz basically covers the syllabus. You are allowed to take this quiz as many times as you wish. You must score 100% on this quiz before you can take (or even see the link for) the Quizzes for Chapters 1 and 2.
  
  
• INTRODUCTION and REGION READING ASSIGNMENTS and QUIZZES (12 at 100 points each): You will work your way through the reading assignments. For each reading you will also be required to do a Quiz. You may take each quiz twice, though many of the questions will vary on the second attempt. The highest of your two attempts will be recorded. The quizzes are due by 11:59pm (midnight); you can still continue taking the quiz after that time, but the answers submitted after 11:59pm will not count towards your points. The Region Quizzes are worth 100 points each.
  
  
  • ALL CHAPTER QUIZZES ARE AVAILABLE STARTING ON THE FIRST DAY OF CLASS UNTIL THEIR DUE DATE. You must, however, get 30 points on Quiz 1 before you will be able to see Quizzes 2 & 3.
    
    
• MIDTERM and FINAL REVIEW QUIZ ASSIGNMENTS (2 at 100 points each): There are no tests in this class - just a midterm and final assignment. These are the same as the Weekly Quiz Assignments, except that the purpose is to review material presented previously in the class. There will be one in the middle of the class (after we finish the Eastern US) and one at the end (which will cover everything since the Midterm Quiz and possibly some comprehensive questions). These quizzes will not be released until about a week before they are due.
  .
  
• ISSUE ASSIGNMENTS - SPECIAL TOPICS (4 at 50 points each) - These assignments either in form of online discussions or written papers.
  • Proper Referencing for Issue Papers: Please use this source as a guideline for how you reference items in your Issue papers: http://www.geog.nau.edu/writing.html
    • There are other methods of referencing academic papers, and if you are used to a method that is commonly used in research journals published another discipline, you may use that method, instead. They all include the same essential information.
      
      
• CHECKINS (2 at 10 points each): You are required to Check-In twice during the term by the due dates listed in the Calendar. The Checkin should include:
  • (1) What is working especially well for you in the class.
  • (2) What is NOT working for you in this class; and
  • (3) Any initial suggestions for how we (you and I together) can begin to improve what is not working.
    
    
  • The Checkin is submitted by clicking on the Checkin Link either on the Learning Module or on the Calendar.
  • The Checkin can be submitted anytime within 1 week prior to its due date. Do Not send it sooner than 1 week before the due date. No points are give for late Check-ins.
    
    The purpose of these Checkins is to prevent small problems from becoming major problems. It is perfectly acceptable to simply say that "everything is OK" and leave it at that -- just so long as you send something. Silence from you is an indicator that something is wrong and you may be headed for trouble in this class.

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.

• When you turn your paper in, you will be given an Originality Report (or score - Red is not good), which indicates the degree to which Turn-it-in "thinks" your paper is original and not composed of copied material from other sources or students.
• This is not a perfect evaluation. Block quotes that are fully referenced will be erroneously tagged as plagiarism. These are not really a problem, as the Instructor and TA will manually assess each student's paper and will ignore these when determining your grade.
• However, if you have copied material without properly referencing the original sources, you will not get credit for those parts of your paper. If this is a significant problem, then you will receive 0 points for the assignment.
  

You will be able to view the problem areas and revise your paper at any time prior to the due date and time.

• The ultimate goal, is for you to turn in the best paper possible for the written assignments. Turn-it-in basically helps you to avoid plagiarism -- which has become an increasing problem in our current information economy. By doing so, it forces you to write more personally, creatively and with deeper consideration of the issues.
  

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.

• If you are opposed to this policy, then you will need to drop this class and take it from a different professor or at a different university or college.
• Click Here for the NAU Cline Library page on Plagiarism and Academic Integrity.

COMMENTS on Turnitin Assignments 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.

GRADING

The total points possible are:

• 1200 points - Reading Assignments Quizzes (12 x 100 points)
• 200 points - Midterm & Final Review Quizzes (2 x 100 points)
• 30 points - Syllabus Quiz (1 x 30 points)
• 20 points - Check-Ins (2 x 10 points)
• 200 points - Issue Assignments (4 x 50 points)
• = 1650 TOTAL POINTS POSSIBLE
  

Grading is based on your percentage of the total points

The Grading Breakdown on 1650 points will be:

• To Receive an 'A' = 90% (Minimum 1585 points)
• To Receive a 'B' = 80% (Minimum 1320 points)
• To Receive a 'C' = 70% (Minimum 1115 points)
• To Receive a 'D' = 60% (Minimum 990 points)
• Below 60% = ‘F’ (Below 990 points)
  
  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.

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 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.

• These points will be placed in an Extra Credit column in the Grade book.
  
• The following words will often be tagged as typos in a spell checker. For this class, these are considered correct spellings: Checkin, Webpage, Website, Gradebook.
• Some international cities and countries have more than one correct spelling, both of which may be encountered in this class. Similarly, many scientific terms, commonly used in the physical and social sciences, will not be in most spell checkers. Before submitting these as potential typos, please do a more general search of the WWW to see if they are commonly used in academic publication.
• Some of the pages on the class website are developed by either VISTA or NAU, and not by Dr. Lew. These pages also have typos on them, but cannot be fixed by Dr. Lew. Therefore, you will not receive extra credit for pointing these out. You can usually tell if they are VISTA or NAU pages because they look different from the pages that Dr. Lew created -- though sometimes the difference is small.
  
  
• If you find a Typo in a quiz, please provide:
  1. The Quiz Number - because this class moves so fast, I cannot tell which quiz the problem is in unless you tell me.
  2. The attempt (first or second) that the typo was in. "Question 15" on the first attempt is not the same as "Question 15" on the second attempt.
  3. Give me more than just one word. A whole sentence is best.
• For Typos in the Chapter Reading and Issue Instructions:
  • Provide more than just one word. A whole sentence is best. I have to search the quiz to find the typo, and more words are helpful.
    

US GEOGRAPHY EVENTS

You can earn extra credit in this class by attending up to 2 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 10 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. 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.

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.

• Please note that the university policy for an incomplete is that it is only granted to students who have completed most of the work for the class and are only tardy on a couple of assignments that would enable them to pass the class. In addition, the reason for not completing the tardy assignments must be beyond the student's control. Finally, the policy states that "After a grade is submitted to the Registrar, the grade may not be changed as the result of the addition of extra credit work not available to all students in the course and/or work not outlined in the syllabus or an addendum which was distributed during the semester."
• You must have completed at least 75% of the class to be considered to qualify for an Incomplete in this class.
• Incompletes must be requested and approved by the class Professor. You will work with the class Professor to finish the Incomplete.
• Note that many faculty at NAU have found that only 20% of students who take an Incomplete actually finish their classes successfully.

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.

• Tips for Success in this Class
  
  

PLAGIARISM and CHEATING: 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