EGEO 312

Geography of the World Economy

Syllabus

Course Objective: This course examines and analyzes the interaction between people, their environment, and economy in a global context.

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Instructor:

Patrick Buckley
650-4773
patrick@cc.wwu.edu
room: AH 222

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Textbook: .The World Economy: Resources, Location, Trade and Development (5th Edition)

Stutz, Fredrick P. and Barney Warf. 2006. The World Economy; Resources, Location, Trade, and Development. 5th Edition.

Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ.

 

Grading:

      Parts                                                Totals

TOTAL    100pts

Three Examinations (20 points each) -- examinations made up to multiple choice, identifications, and very short answer questions will be given (check the schedule page for the the dates of these exams).  Their purpose of three exams rather than one or two is twofold, first to provide the exam when materials are still fresh in our minds and second to help students adjust to this course's method of examination.  This gives a student an opportunity to grow during the quarter and prevents one misstep from ruining a student's grade.  Grading on these exams is based on an anchor score system, where the average of top three grades represents full points.

Discussion Reports (5 points each) -- Before the first two exams students will be given a list of open ended questions focusing on aspects of the global economy and to be applied to a specific geographic location.  These will require a little research.  To perform this research and write a short report answering the questions students will be assigned into discussion groups of 5 to 6 members.  Each group is to come up with a report addressing and documenting responses to these questions (see assignment for details).  Students will be given time in class to begin the process of crafting an answer to the questions, and then as time permits we may spend some time in class discussing approaches taken to answering the questions (there are no absolute answers only well thought out answers).  Each group is to produce a preliminary draft two page typewritten report which is due at the beginning of the second class period after the assignment is made (also coincidentally the day of  the examination -- working on the report should prove a useful technique in preparing for the exam).  Final report will be due at the class period following the exam (this technique insures a group is thinking and discussing before the exam and also allows them to re-consider their work after the exam).  Reports will be assigned to parallel each of the first two exams.  Since the third exam is during the busiest time of the quarter, no assignment will be made at that time.  Along with the report a sheet should be provided by each group member documenting the work that they provided to the group effort.

Pop Quizzes and Class Participation (5 points total) -- at random pop quizzes will be given at the beginning of a class period (kindly arrive on time, if you know you'll be a few minutes late due to running from one end of campus to the other let me know and allowances will be made).  These serve a variety of purposes.  First and foremost they are informational and help the instructor to understand if` students are understanding material.  Second, they reward preparation and participation.  Third, they help the students to prepare for other examinations in class by providing a preview of examination style questions.  These pop quizzes will be graded on a three point basis:  point one for being present at the quiz, point two providing a reasonable but not fully correct answer, and a third point for a correct answer. Finally, answers that are clearly not at all related to the question asked will result in a zero, thus if you have no idea how to answer the question say so and get your point don't make a wild guess since you will lose a point.  Sometimes the quizzes will be for merely informational purposes (how well did a class activity go, such as a  lecture, report...), for these pop quizzes all students will be awarded three points regardless of correct or incorrect answer. 

Final (25 points) -- a comprehensive final will be given at the end of the quarter reviewing materials from the first three exams plus any new material.  Note that the final is comprehensive and worth a bit more than one exam, this provides the student with an opportunity to make-up for any earlier missteps on exams.  Grading on the final is based on an anchor score system as on the other three exams.

Letter Grades -- In the examinations and final an anchor score system is used where the two highest scores represent 100% correct regardless of the number of points at risk.  All other scores then follow based on their proportion of the anchor.  Pop Quizzes are graded as noted above.  Discussion Reports can have a maximum of 5 points.  Course final grade is out of 100 points from the above measures This is converted to 100% (divide student points by 100).  Letter conversions based on the 100 percent are as follows:

A 94
A- 90
B+ 86
B 82
B- 78
C+ 74
C 70
C- 66
D+ 62
D 58
D- 54

Study Sessions:

For each examination a 1 hour study session will be scheduled outside of course hours and all interested students may attend.