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COURSE OUTLINE

Introduction to Microeconomics (ECON 101 800), Fall 2023

Instructor: Alexander Gainer

Email: [email protected]

Office Hours Schedule: Mondays (in-person & zoom) 10 to 11; Thursdays (zoom only) 3 to 4

Office: Tory 7-14

Need Help? Have a Question?

If you have a question, you should first go to the “Q & A” forum on eClass to see if the question has been answered; if not, you can post the question on the forum.

If you feel your question is not appropriate for the forum, then you can email  [email protected]. The T.A.s and I monitor this email address and will do our best to respond to emails within 24 hours; however, we will not respond to emails over weekends. Please contact me with the [email protected] email and not my personal U of A email.

If you need help using Top Hat or Kritik, then you should contact their support team (contact information here).

Tutor Sessions: Tutor sessions are available to help you with this course and learn the material. The sessions will be in-person (Tory 8-28) and virtual. The tutor sessions will likely begin during the third week of the semester, and their hours will be posted on this calendar. The tutors are third and fourth-year honours economics students. If you are attending tutor sessions virtually, use this zoom link: https://ualberta-ca.zoom.us/j/98659436784 

Office Hours: I will offer office hours where students can come to ask questions about the course. The Monday office hours will be hybrid (in-person at Tory 7-14 and zoom), and Thursday office hours will be by zoom only. You will use this zoom link for my office hours: https://ualberta-ca.zoom.us/j/94531596098 

Course Format: This is an online asynchronous course, allowing students to progress through materials at their discretion. However, adherence to assessment due dates, including exams and assignments, is mandatory.

Course Websites: this course makes extensive use of eclass. The following course material will be posted on the e-class course website: course content modules, announcements, exams (and practice exams), and grades.

Minimum Computing Requirements: This is an online course so students must have a computer that can run a currently supported version of Windows or MacOS, a webcam, and a reliable internet connection. More information is available at this link.

Course Objectives: The purpose of ECON 101 is to learn how markets and governments determine which goods and services are produced and how income is distributed in the Canadian mixed economy.

In its simplest form, microeconomics is the study of individual decision-making by consumers and businesses. The goal is to understand why consumers and businesses make the decisions they do, and how to measure their well-being as a result of these decisions. We will also consider how these decisions, and measures of well-being, change in response to different assumptions regarding market conditions.

Required Textbook: Introduction to Microeconomics (A. Gainer), Top Hat e-textbook. The book can be purchased at this website: https://app.tophat.com/e/657274 . If you need help creating a Top Hat account or buying the textbook, see this link. When you purchase this e-textbook, you get access to Top Hat’s platform, which is where the course’s homework is completed. It is easier and cheaper to buy the textbook from Top Hat with the above link instead of the bookstore.

Other resources:

Kritik: This platform is where the course activities will be submitted and evaluated. You will sign up for Kritik by email invite. We will not use Kritik until week 4 or 5, so you will not receive an email invitation until week 4.

Instructions on how to sign up and use Top Hat and Kritik are at the end of this document (link here). Make sure you sign up for all of these resources with your “@ualberta.ca” email.

Please contact me if you are interested in the no-cost alternative for Kritik or Top Hat homework.

Missed Exams: If a student misses the midterm exam, they must email me immediately to notify me and to apply to write the deferred midterm exam. The deferred midterm exam will be held on November 9. If you miss a midterm and do not contact me, you will receive a mark of zero on that exam. You will not be able to have the percentage weight of your missed exam added to the percentage weight allotted to the final exam

A student who has missed a final exam because of incapacitating illness, severe domestic affliction or other compelling reasons (including religious conviction) may apply for a deferred exam. The application is to be submitted to the undergraduate office of the applicant’s own faculty. The instructor does not have the authority to approve such applications. More information is available at this link. The deferred final is tentatively scheduled for December 21.

Grading: Students will be ranked according to the weighted sum of their assignments and exams. When assigning letter grades I look for breaks between pools of students. From Section 23.4(4) of the University Calendar, “Grades reflect judgements of student achievement made by instructors. These judgements are based on a combination of absolute achievement and relative performance in a class.” The following table will give a rough idea of how the grading system works in this class; the actual percentage cut-offs may be higher or lower.

Students with special needs (University Calendar §25.2): Students with disabilities or special needs that might interfere with their performance should contact the professor at the beginning of the course with the appropriate documentation. Every effort will be made to accommodate such students, but in all cases, prior arrangements must be made to ensure that any special needs can be met in a timely fashion and in such a way that the rest of the class is not put at an unfair disadvantage. Exam arrangements: Academic Success Centre(ASC) and the student, with the approval of the course instructor, determine exam accommodations. Assessments and/or documentation of the need for accommodation are required. At the beginning of each term, the student meets with instructors to review the exam arrangements which will be used. The student provides a “Letter of Introduction” from ASC verifying the nature of the accommodations required due to the disability. A few weeks before each exam, the student completes an “Exam Schedule” form, for ASC, outlining scheduled exam dates, times, etc. The student then takes an “Exam Instructions and Authorization” form to the instructor. The instructor is asked to complete the form and enclose it with the exam and arrange to have it delivered or mailed to ASC. In administering exams, ASC follows university protocol and only makes accommodations as required due to the disability. Exams are usually set to overlap with the time the professor has set the in-class exams.

Expectations for AI-Use: In this course, we commit to AI use guided by ethical and transparent principles. While students are allowed to use advanced automated tools (such as ChatGPT or Dall-E 2) for the Kritik video activities, AI is not allowed in any other assessments, such as the Top Hat quizzes, midterm exam or final exam.

IMPORTANT: Please note that AI use is strictly prohibited in assessments and assignments not approved by the instructor. Failure to abide by this guideline may be considered an act of cheating and a violation as outlined in the relevant sections of University of Alberta (November 2022) Code of Student Behaviour.

Academic Integrity

“The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect. Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of Student Behaviour (link here ) and avoid any behaviour which could potentially result in the suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University.” (General Faculties Council, 29 SEP 2003)

During exams, you will NOT be permitted to communicate with your colleagues.

Note 1: Policy about course outlines can be found in §23.4(2) of the University Calendar. Note 2: The Code of Student Behaviour is published in the Calendar. Note 3: Check out Section 30.3.2 in the General Faculties Council Policy Manual (is posted on the course WebCT site).

Lecture Recording

Audio or video recording, digital or otherwise, of lectures, labs, seminars or any other teaching environment by students is allowed only with the prior written consent of the instructor or as part of an approved accommodation plan. Student or instructor content, digital or otherwise, created and/or used within the context of the course is to be used solely for personal study and is not to be used or distributed for any other purpose without prior written consent from the content author(s).

Territorial Statement
“The University of Alberta acknowledges that we are located on Treaty 6 territory, and
respects the histories, languages, and cultures of the First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and all
First Peoples of Canada, whose presence continues to enrich our vibrant community.”
(from the beginning of the Calendar).

Learning and working environment: The Faculty of Arts is committed to ensuring that all students, faculty and staff are able to work and study in an environment that is safe and free from discrimination and harassment. It does not tolerate behaviour that undermines that environment.

Sexual Violence Policy: It is the policy of the University of Alberta that sexual violence committed by any member of the University community is prohibited and constitutes misconduct. Resources and more information can be found at https://www.ualberta.ca/campus-life/sexual-violence.

Resources for Students
The University of Alberta offers many resources to help students with academic and non-academic challenges. The best all-purpose website for student services on campus is here:
https://www.ualberta.ca/current-students.

Instructions for Signing Up and Using Class Resources

It is important you sign up for all class resources with your “@ualberta.ca” email address. Failure to do so may result in you not receiving marks for that resource.

If you need help with any of these resources, contact their support team (see table):

1. Top Hat Assignments: We will be using Top Hat to access our digital textbook and for the class assignments. For the “Quiz” questions, you will have one attempt to get them correct and there will be a one-hour time limit. The graded assignments start in week 3. At the end of the semester, I will drop your 2 lowest quiz results.

It is recommended that you read this short guide (link here) on how to use our textbook.

Keep in mind that I will make chapters available to you as we progress through the semester, so do not worry when you only see a couple of chapters the first time you use our textbook.

You should receive an email invite to sign up for Top Hat. If you missed the email invite, sign up at this link: https://app.tophat.com/e/657274  (course join code is 657274). You have to pay for this resource.

If you have questions, you can view their getting started guide (link here) or contact their support team (see above table).

2. Kritik Activities:  We will be using Kritik.io, a peer-to-peer learning and evaluation platform in this course. You will submit your video activities on Kritik.

Watch this 4-minute Quick Start Video for Kriitk (link here) before the first activity.

Each Kritik activity has 3 unique stages:

- Stage 1: Create → Follow the instructions, read the provided rubric and create a video.

- Stage 2: Evaluate → Anonymously score your peers based on a rubric, and provide written comments.

- Stage 3: Feedback → Provide peer evaluators anonymous feedback on how motivational/critical their comments were

Grading

When you participate in Kritik activities, you will receive 3 scores: Creation score (50%), Evaluation score (40%) and Participation score (10%). The Kritik activities are worth 25% of your overall grade. To understand what these scores mean and exactly how they are calculated, please read the section How Scoring Works.

You have to complete the course outline quiz and ONEcard video submission with a grade of 100% (unlimited attempts) in order to get a grade on the Kritik activities. At the end of the semester, I will drop your lowest video activity.

Registration/Support

An email invitation will be sent to your @ualberta.ca email account by week 4 that contains the link to register for a Kritik account and enroll in the course. You MUST use your @ualberta.ca email to sign up in order to access the course. If you have not received any email yet (and its after week 4), please contact Kritik using the live chat button on their website.

How to get help: If you have any questions about Kritik, please use the live chat on the Kritik Website. A human agent will respond promptly within a few minutes during business hours. You can also visit Kritik’s Help Centre for useful articles and videos.

Individual Video Activities