syll306.html

ECN306 was designed for any student, regardless of major, willing to work in an environment where success is related to one's abilities to deal effectively, efficiently, and creatively with numbers. It is grounded in a belief that information truly is power, and too often this information is distorted or manipulated, or it comes to you in a quantitative format that is poorly understood. We are not talking about some high-powered math you would learn in an advanced math course. We are talking about mathematical concepts you should have been introduced to in high school, even if you haven't been asked to use them much outside of the math classes. Think back to your high school reports, or even your college reports, and try to identify the times you used a "spiffy" graph or table to convey your message in a paper. For most of you there will be few examples of your creatively using numbers to tell a story.

This is now about to change - and it is worth the change. Successful people tend to be good with numbers, and I trust you want to be successful. There is also a real thrill associated with finding an important story and a way to convey the story to others, and you will get a chance to experience that this semester. Good information is also one of the prerequisites for good choices, and increasingly the information needed to make educated choices is presented in mathematical form. The problem is that as you begin to base decisions on quantitative information you must be aware of the dangers Darrell Huff pointed out nearly 50 years ago in his little book How to Lie with Statistics - and the best way to protect yourself from the "statistical" lies of others is to see first-hand how the "lies" are created. This is what this course is about. In addition to being able to better assess the work of others, when you are done with this course you will also be able to create and present your own "information" using existing technology - and your work will never be the same again. There will be numerous opportunities to practice your skills at telling stories with numbers, and you'll be evaluated on the quality of your storytelling. You'll need to come up with a story that is both interesting and important, and you will also need to be able to capture some of the story with numbers. This means you will need to know what the important numbers are, where they can be found, and how they can be "pushed around" to help you tell your story. You'll work, but it will not be drudgery, and class will not be painful, unless you come unprepared. Furthermore, because we are talking about developing a skill, it will take hard work and practice, both inside and outside of the classroom. The classroom will become a place where you can float some of your ideas, demonstrate to the class and to me what you are capable of, take some chances to showcase the creativity and originality of your work, and get some feedback on that work. You should also have some fun.

If you are still interested, check out the Goals section to get a better sense of what you will be expected to accomplish in the course. Today you have access to far greater levels of information and data, and to the tools needed to analyze it efficiently and effectively, than I could have ever imagined when I was in school. This course is more "practical" than "theoretical," and the focus is on identifying and solving problems that are a critical part of the research process. You may not be asked to memorize numerous facts, but you can count on being asked to work on defining a problem, finding relevant data, processing these data in a meaningful way, and presenting your findings in a professional manner. Armed with a few basic principles and some rudimentary skills, you can do wonderful things, and I will look for it in your work. I am not easily impressed, but I expect to be impressed by your work. Everything you do is a reflection on you - a statement that says "hire me because I am a true professional" - and I will expect you to be professional. If you ever saw Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men you will recall the scene when he tells Tom Cruise, "You can't take the truth." While I disagreed with his character in the movie, he was right that sometimes honesty can be difficult to deal with, and this will be true in this course. But honest feedback is what you will get, so prepare yourself.

As you work your way through the semester you should consider dropping by during office hours. This is time that you have paid for with your tuition and I suggest you get your money's worth. I am available during these times to discuss anything pertaining to assignments for this course or questions you have regarding the state of the local, national, and /or international economy. During the semester you will find that I wear "two hats" - that of your instructor and that of a consultant. You will have a number of projects and deadlines throughout the semester and you should use all possible resources to accomplish your tasks - including me. My office hours will be announced the first day of classes, but if these times conflict with your schedule, you should see me about alternative times, or you can send me an e-mail message using Web CT mail. In fact you should get in the habit of checking your Web CT e-mail regularly because I will use it to keep you informed of 'late-breaking' developments as well as any schedule changes. This is also a place where you can post questions regarding assignments or projects you are working on "after hours." It will not take you long to realize we work opposite ends of the day - you have just gone to sleep as I come online, and I have probably gone offline as you hit your stride.

It will also not take long for you to realize that I am not the only source of assistance for those looking for help solving problems. Why not ask your fellow classmates? With the Discussion component of Web CT under the Communication link you can post to the entire class a question you may have with an assignment or project, and based on my past experience, you are likely to find help. This is a one-to-many communications tool and it is a good place to post questions that anyone in the class could contribute answers to.

Finally, you will need to understand Web CT. This is a course where all of the material is on-line, which may require a little adjustment in how you work during the semester. For those who have not taken a course using Web CT course, you should check out carefully the Structure part of the syllabus where you will find the various components of the course explained. For those who have taken Web CT courses before, you should briefly check out the section for the "details" of this course since all of the Web CT courses are different.

Now let's look at what I had in mind as I "built" the course, what I expect you to be able to do when you have completed the course.

The goals of the course are specified in terms of what you should be able to do when the course is over and not what you will do in the course. These goals were designed for students looking for a successful transition from college to the "real" world where there are a number of widely valued skills. When this course is completed, you should be able to:

	construct a good resume
	express your ideas effectively and professionally in a written format
	express your ideas verbally in an effective and professional manner
	make an effective PPT presentation
	better appreciate the value of planning and a good work ethic - and the cost of not being prepared
	better appreciate the difficulties - and advantages - of team efforts
	efficiently find data and information
	move information efficiently from the Internet to your computer
	demonstrate proficiency with spreadsheets
	generate and interpret summary statistics
	process and interpret data that provide a basis for a position on some issue
	create effective displays of quantitative information and effectively integrate them into your work

For most of you this course will be very different from what you are used to because all of the material is on-line, which will require a little adjustment in how you work during the semester. It will also require you to use Web CT, an interface between you and the material. One thing you should not forget is your password.

Once you are into Web CT you will find the following parts to the course that can be found behind icons that appears on the home page for the course. Each of these links is explained briefly below.

The Schedule page should be monitored regularly because this is where you will find the daily schedule of readings and assignments. Here you will find the Lectures column that gives you the topic for the day. You will also find the Modules/Readings column where there are links to two sets of readings. The first are the equivalent of the textbook which can also be found via the Readings link. This is where you should start, where you look for the material needed to answer the Assignments, a second component of each unit. In addition to these readings there are also some outside readings that are drawn from newspapers, magazine, and academic journals. You will find links to some while some are posted on URI's online reserves. You can find the online reserves at the Helin site that is on the URI Library web site. Once there all you need to do is search for my courses by instructor's name and you will find the list of articles. To access the articles you will need your students ID because you will need to read the bar code if you are off campus. And you will need to get your ID validated to use the online reserves by taking it to the circulation desk at the library.

The Course Modules page is the equivalent of the Table of Contents, and here you will find links to the six course modules, what would correspond to chapters in a book. You will also find some online guides, such as the Writing and Speaking guides in the first module, and you will be responsible for the material in those guides.

The Assignments/ Exam Page is critical in this course since the course is built around skills and the best way to develop these skills is with practice. This is why there is at least one assignment for each module in the course. To find out when the assignments are due you will need to check the schedule page, but be sure to monitor it regularly to keep track of any changes that may surface during the semester.

The Syllabus page provides the basic information on the course including the goals, course requirements, and grading procedure.

The Mail link is for on-to-one communications and it is the email you should use to contact me about course related material. You should check on a regular basis.

The Blog/Discussion link is for one-to-many communications. This link you should check on a regular basis since this will be used as a means of getting information to the class regarding the course. This is a great place to post questions to the class and to communicate with the class on assignments and projects

The Information Sources page links you to a number of indexes to web sites that may be of interest to you as you work on the assignments for this course or as you research papers for other courses. What you will find here are links to some of what I consider to be the better sites for accessing economic data. If you are looking for some time-series data you would look under the Historical Data Series link where you would find two of my favorites - Economic Report of the President and Economic Time-Series Page where you can generate on-line graphs of many important economic variables. Another of my favorites, the annual Statistical Abstract, can be found in the General Sources / Indexes link. This is a wonderful source of data on a wide array of topics and often times a good place to start your data search. The only down side is that the data is in PDF form so you will not be able to download it to your machine.

How should you be evaluated? In this course you will be evaluated in terms of how well you achieve the goals set forth earlier. The opportunity to demonstrate your command of these skills will arise continuously throughout the course, although there will be two exams in this course that focus on your ability to apply the skills developed in the course.

In addition to the exams, you will be evaluated on class participation. This course differs from traditional courses in the use of class time. During the semester you will be continuously evaluated on your ability to field new questions and your ability to come to class prepared. You will also have a number of assignments, and your grade on each assignment will reflect the quality of both the content and the presentation. A poorly-presented "good idea" receives an evaluation comparable to that received by a well-presented "poor idea." I expect that the assignments will be up to current professional standards, the type of work you would expect to give to your boss. The assignments will be typed, well organized, and each sheet contains your name, the assignment, and the question. You can expect at least one question to be collected from each assignment, a question you will not know in advance. Remember, it is output that counts in the final evaluation and the key to your success will be your productivity. You should also note that "I didn't understand the material" is an unacceptable excuse for incomplete / missing work. This is a course in which you are developing professional skills, and one of those skills is figuring out how to accomplish the tasks you are given. You do not tell a boss I didn't understand it, so do not try telling me. What you should do is plan enough ahead so you stop by during office hours to get some assistance with the problems.

On the assignments that require a presentation of some material then you need to get it to me electronically by 1:30 PM. If you miss the deadline your presentation will be considered to be unprofessional. I would suggest you BE PROFESSIONAL since this is a course where only professionalism will be accepted, and I take any lack of professionalism very seriously.

To participate, however, you need to be in class, so as you weigh the costs and benefits of your decision to attend class, keep in mind that class attendance does matter and it will be factored into your final grade. For those students who miss more than four classes during the semester, you may be penalized by a grade point for every class above four you miss. Also, in this course I will follow the procedure outlined in the University manual and any registered student will be dropped from the course if they miss the first two classes. If you take too many days off from work you get fired, and if you do that here, you will probably fail. For students who miss more than 3 classes, I reserve the right to penalize you a grade point for each missed class. So keep this in mind on those days where you find it hard to drag your ___ out of bed. Do it because it will be worth it.

You will also have to contribute to a semester project. Everyone will need to contribute in a meaningful way to the project, and we'll talk about it early in the semester.

Exams	40
Assignments	25
Final Project	20
Class participation	15
Total	100

There is also the issue of deadlines. As the course proceeds, you will find your success will depend upon your ability to deal effectively with time constraints. I am a fairly understanding person, but this is not a place where you will find me understanding. This may be the first time you will be evaluated in this manner, but I can assure you it will not be the last. Each assignment has a due date and that is the ONLY date the assignment will be accepted, although you will all be allowed to drop one assignment from your grade.

Finally, at the outset of the course, I think it only fair to give you my interpretation of letter grades in the context of your "job performance." It might help if you think of me in the dual roles of an employer and consultant. When I wear my employer hat, you will be my research assistants so what you do is a reflection on me, so I will use the same standards on you as I use for myself. Keep in mind the scale is a floating scale. As the semester progresses and your skills improve I will expect more from you in your work. When you are working on a project I will also be wearing the hat of a consultant who you might search out for help on your projects. If you intend to be professional, then you had best get good at working with consultants - and no better time than now.

It should come as no surprise that there is no text designed to help students achieve all of the goals I set for this course. For this reason I have created a good amount of material designed specifically for you that you can find on the ECN306 Web page. There is a handout that is printed that you need to purchase at i-Copy in the Emporium. Included here will be much of the material that will be discussed during class periods and the material that would be on overheads. This will be your notebook for the semester so bring it to class. There is one book that you will be responsible for this semester. Ian Ayres, Super Crunchers, Bantam Books 2007.