PL 376
This syllabus is subject to revision as necessary at any time during the semester

PL 376
Planning for Sustainable Tourism
Fall 2009 Syllabus

DRAFT - Under Construction


*** For Fall 2009, this is a 7 Week accelerated class, running Weeks 9 to 16 of the Semester. The class will require more than twice the normal weekly effort than you would have in a full 16 week semester.

*** You MUST have the Textbook by the end of the START of First Week of this Class - by Monday OCTOBER 26 to complete the first Quiz and Reading Assignment.


Other Course Policies:
Plagiarism, NAU policy statements, Student Handbook

Fall 2009 - 3 Credit Hours
Professor: Dr. Alan A. Lew

Office Location: Social and Behavioral Science WEST (Bldg 70), Room 230
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
Office Hours: Tuesdays 12:00am to 3:00pm (26 Aug to 2 Dec 09) and by Appointment


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

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

ACCELERATED CLASS

AUDIO and VIDEO PODCASTS - REQUIRED

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 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 and your Computer.


COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course covers both issues and methods in planning for tourism development from the perspective of sustainable development. Sustainable development is generally defined as using resources to meet the needs of society today in such a way as to ensure the availability of resources to meet the needs of future generations. To accomplish this requires the application of many traditional public planning methods, with an emphasis on community participation and ecosystem management models.

Philosophy of this Class:

  1. Sustainable tourism requires a sustainable community. While individual acts of sustainability are necessary, it is only when they are reflected broadly across a society that the community becomes sustainable. Thus we can not look at tourism sustainability in isolation from the larger community issues that tourism is a part of.

  2. In a democracy, community values are expressed through the beliefs and actions of elected officials. As technical advisors to elected officials, public planners have a crucial role to play in influencing and shaping sustainable behavior and development; which in turn influences sustainable tourism practices.

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 Vista System Requirements.
  4. Your computer must be able to play MP3 audio files, which includes speakers or headphones of some kind.
  5. Ability to devote an average of 8 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).

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES: By the end of this course, students will:

(1) Understand the concept of Sustainable Development
(2) Be familiar with various planning paradigms that may be applied to sustainable development efforts [FYI - Urban (Public) Planner #36 Best Jobs in America - CNN, 2006
(3) Understand the major components of the tourism industry and phenomenon
(4) Understand the relationship between tourism and larger community and environmental systems
(5) Be able to theoretically apply sustainable development concepts to tourism planning in both developed and less developed situations


Tips for Success in This Class


REQUIRED TEXTBOOK

Understanding and Managing Tourism Impacts An Integrated Approach - by C. Michael Hall, Alan A. Lew. (Published by Routledge)


COURSE 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 FORMAT & WORKLOAD:

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. 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.

For 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.

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

(What is a podcast?) Dr. Lew did a series of podcasts in the Fall 2006 Semester that roughly followed an earlier version of this class. Links to some of those podcasts appear in the class assignments and readings. Transcriptions are also available for most of them. You can consider these podcasts as lectures, though they are not specifically focused on this class only, and they are one year old. Each podcast is about 30 minutes long (16mb in size) and includes news items (from last year) related to tourism. Some of them are Required, while others are not. Those that are not required are still highly recommended as additional background material for the assignments.

In addition, there are other audio podcast files that are related to topics in the class that will be linked to the assignments. Most of these will not have transcripts.

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. A direct link in the Learning Modules - In theory, you should be able to download the mp3 file from your browser. However, this depends on the default audio program is for your web browser. You might want to ask the NAU Computing Center to help you change the default audio player so you can more easily download and play the mp3 files.

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


ASSIGNMENTS

ASSIGNMENT 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 AND BLOG 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 (if no other proof is available)
        • The Instructor Mailing address and Fax number are at the top of this syllabus.

ASSIGNMENT TYPES:


GRADING

The Percentage Grading Breakdown will be:

TOTAL POINTS POSSIBLE = 1750*

*The Total Points are subject to change, if necessary. 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. 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 unforeseeable 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 Blackboard-Vista about a week after they are submitted. Late assignments will take about two weeks (or more) to be graded. Points for Quizzes 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 assignment instructions (any webpage created specifically for this class) 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 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.

SUSTAINABILTY, PLANNING & TOURISM EVENTS

You can earn extra credit in this class by attending up to four outside 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 25 points and you may do no more than one report in one week. The report should be between 500 an 1000 words in length (about 1 to 2 pages).

Most topics related to Sustainability, Planning or Tourism will be acceptable. The presentation does not need to be about all three. Some examples from previous semesters include:

Events and Activities Must Be Approved in Advance. I 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 of activity must take place during the semester that you are taking this class. If you have any ideas for events (or other activities) that you would like to do, just get my approval in advance.

Content: You must evaluate the extra credit experience in the context of the class. That means that you must reference concepts and ideas from the textbook, the podcasts, the websites and any other additional material required in the Learning Modules. For the Riordan Mansion Tour (above), for example, the most appropriate part of the textbook to use is probably Chapter 4 - the Cultural Impacts chapter - though there could be useful ideas in other chapters, as well. Attending a Planning Commission Meeting would draw upon Chapter 6 - the Planning and Management chapter. Be very clear in your analysis of the tour as to which concepts using and where you got them from.

Submission: Event papers should be written in MS Word. At the top of the paper, please include (1) your name, (2) submission date, (3) the title, name of the presenter, date, time and place of the presentation your attended, and (4) the word count of your paper. Submitted this paper to your instructor by email through Blackboard-Vista.

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 contact Dr. Lew asking for a special extra credit assignment for yourself alone.)


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.

Tips for Success in this Class


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.

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