TIME: On-Line Course

LOCATION: On-Line Course

INSTRUCTOR: Dean Sinclair

OFFICE: Room 201

PHONE: #357-5492

E-MAIL: sinclaird@nsula.edu

WEBSITE: http://users.nsula.edu/sinclaird

This course is part of a two-part world regional geography series. The focus of this class is on the developed world and the major geographical concepts and issues pertaining to it. The class will be an on-line experience, with the course centered on the text. In addition, there will be discussion activities in which you will participate. The regions of the world that we will be studying include Europe, Russia and the territories of the former Soviet Union, North America, and East Asia. The primary goal of the course is to give the student a framework in which to understand our rapidly changing world. To facilitate the on-line experience, I will be posting to Blackboard power point presentations, Chapter Outlines, and short practice quizzes that will help you focus your reading in the text. There will be a discussion board and directed response exercises that will be part of your experience.

1. To gain a better understanding of the complex geographic forces shaping the modern world.
2. To gain an understanding at the various cultural and economic systems found in the regions of the developed world.
3. To gain a broad understanding of the physical characteristics of the regions of the developed world.
4. To gain an understanding of the dynamic geographic processes associated with migration, agricultural systems, industrial activities, and political systems in the developed world.
5. To develop a basic knowledge of the location of key states, cities, and physical features in the developed world.

Attendance: Attendance policies of this course are in compliance with University regulations as stated in the current General Catalog. Students are expected to attend class. Attendance is counted through logging on and responding to the discussion question or the directed response question. Students not responding to the discussion question will be counted as absent for that week. Students will be dropped from the class for excessive absences as per the University Catalog.

Academic Honesty: Policies concerning academic honesty are in compliance with University regulations as stated in the current General Catalog. Consult official University Academic Honor Code statement included in this syllabus.

Exams Five exams will be given over material presented in assigned readings. Tests will consist of fifty Multiple Choice and True/False questions. The test window will be open for 72 hours. The final exam is NOT cumulative. Grades for tests will be posted on Blackboard.

Discussion Board Questions will placed on a discussion board to which you must respond. This will be the manner in which attendance is counted, and will also be a part of your grade. Responses on the discussion board must be coherent and make a contribution to the discussion. A question for discussion will be posted on the board on Monday, and you must respond to the question by Friday at noon.

Directed Responses There will also be directed response questions. These responses will be directed towards a question that I pose concerning the reading or possibly an article on the web, to which I will post a link. The question and any links will be posted on Monday, and your response is due to me by Friday at noon. Your responses will be sent to me via the digital drop box. Your responses will be in the form of a coherent, well written paragraph of at least FIVE sentences with no typographical errors. Your responses will be graded and the grade will be posted on Blackboard.

Exam 1 16%

Exam 2 16%

Exam 3 16%

Exam 4 16%

Exam 5 16%

Discussion Board 10%

Directed Responses 10%

Total 100%

90-100 A

80-89 B

70-79 C

60-69 D

Less than 60 F

It is the policy of NSU to accommodate students with disabilities, pursuant to federal law, state law, and the University’s commitment to equal educational opportunities. Any student with a disability who needs accommodations, for example in seating placement or in arrangements for examinations, should inform the instructor at the beginning of the course. Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact the Office of Disability Support, which is located in Kyser Hall, Room 239, telephone (318)357-4460 or TTD (318)357-4393.

Classroom Civility Statement:

Each Northwestern State University student is encouraged to help create an environment that promotes learning, dignity, and mutual respect for everyone in the learning environment. Students who speak at inappropriate times, take frequent breaks, interrupt the class by coming to class late or leaving early, engage in loud or distracting behaviors, use cell phones or pagers (other noise-making devices like watches with alarms), listen to headphones/CDs, play with computers or hand held games, use inappropriate language, are verbally abusive, display defiance or disrespect to others, or behave aggressively toward others during the class period may be asked to leave the class and subjected to disciplinary action under the Northwestern State University Student Code of Conduct and Sanctions (Article VII Sanctions). The instructor of a course may deem additional behaviors or actions inappropriate; these action or behaviors will be outlined in the course syllabus. Copies of the infractions and sanctions are available on the NSU web sits at http://www.nsula.edu/studenhandbook/page100.htm.

Academic dishonesty is defined as the following: 1) acquiring or using a published test bank, 2) copying from another student’s test, paper or computer file, 3) using unauthorized materials during a test, 4) collaborating during a test with any other person by giving or receiving information without authority, 5) stealing, buying, or otherwise obtaining non-administered or unauthorized tests, 6) selling or giving away non-administered or unauthorized tests, 7) bribing anyone to obtain information about a test, 8) substituting for another student or permitting another person to substitute for oneself to take a test, 9) submitting as your own, in fulfillment of academic requirements, any work prepared totally or in part by another, 10) supplying to another student any theme, report, or other work for use in fulfilling academic requirements, and 11) plagiarism, defined as the use of another person’s work and the unacknowledged incorporations of that work in one’s own work that is offered for credit.

Academic dishonesty will result in one of the following disciplinary measures to be decided by the course instructor: I) verbal/written warning, 2) conference with department chair or dean, 3) reduction of test/course grade to an "F". A student may subsequently be placed on probation or suspended or expelled and forced to withdraw from Northwestern as a result of academic dishonesty.

Refer to the section in the Student Handbook concerning Academic Infractions and Sanctions for Academic Misconduct.