AEB 5188: Course Handbook

Instructor Information

Quick Facts

Credits: 3
Prerequisites: A basic course in microeconomic theory.
Lectures: Combination of video conferencing and web-based lessons.
Discussions: Weekly online chat and bulletin board discussions are planned to discuss course materials. Chat room and bulletin board discussions promote student-instructor interaction and are therefore, mandatory.
Other: Students must have Internet connectivity and a multimedia capable computer. Please refer to the University of Florida computer and software requirements.
I strongly encourage participation, contribution, and interaction in the classroom. The web-based approach of this class poses definite challenges to traditional teaching methods. I have worked to design the course material and activities so that they educate, are interactive, and useful in your distance education program.

Course Description

This course combines economic theory with decision sciences to solve management problems in agribusinesses. Application of course concepts will occur through the use of case problems, chat room and bulletin board discussions.

Course Objectives

To review concepts of demand demonstrate how they may be used to improve management decisions.
To review the concepts of supply and demonstrate the importance of production and cost theory in management decisions.
To learn how market structure can change market behavior and affect management decisions.
To learn to apply these concepts through the use of problem sets and case studies.
To help students improve their decision-making skills.

Course Requirements

There is a required text for this course (see below) as well as a course CD-ROM. Assigned readings will be posted on the web as part of the class unit they pertain to. In addition to assigned readings, students will be asked to expand their knowledge of managerial economics by seeking outside articles and books. Students will then be asked to share insights gained with their classmates and instructors.
Throughout the course, cited materials are linked to websites that contain additional information about the source, including purchasing information.
Each week there will be a one and a half hour discussion session. Students as well as course instructor will be connected through WebCT’s chat facility or through a videoconference delivered to selected sites around the state of Florida. These discussion sessions will be used to discuss questions posed by the instructor, to review the units for the particular week, and for addressing questions regarding readings, homework, etc.

Course Texts

The two required texts for this course are

Managerial Economics, Theory, Applications and Cases, Fourth Edition, by Edwin Mansfield, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1999, ISBN 0393973158.
Study Guide and Casebook for Managerial Economics, Fourth Edition, by Edwin Mansfield, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1999, ISBN 039397314X.

Both of these will be used throughout the course. I will refer to examples in the texts, use questions for starting points of discussion, and cases in the Study Guide are used for written assignments.

The text itself is available from

Gator Textbooks, Gainesville Florida, 352-374-4500. They have new and used versions of the text as well as the Study Guide.
Amazon.com for $93.50. I did not find the Study Guide on their website.
WiZeUp.com for $62.50 and the Study Guide is available for $8.50. The reason for the low prices is that this is a digitized version (20 MB) of the text and Study Guide (13 MB). Downloading may take 1-1.25 hours with a 56K modem. WiZeUp will allow you a free download of the first three chapters of the text to see how you like it (about 45 minutes).

Course Format

This course is part of the distance education program at the University of Florida. The main medium for communication between course staff and students will be through WebCT, an integrated Web-based classroom management tool. Thus, in order to make the learning as pleasant and effective as possible my mode of teaching has to be different from that used in a standard classroom setting.

As a prerequisite, I expect every student to have Internet access as well as a multimedia capable computer. Specifically, we recommend that students use the University of Florida computer and software requirements to make sure that their computers are "AEB 5188 capable."
The central point of contact will be the class Web site located at http://webct.nerdc.ufl.edu:8900/public/AEB5188/. Here I will make available many of the class-related materials for downloading and viewing. Access to this class site is restricted to registered students in the class. In addition to the web site, this course utilizes a CD-ROM. On this CD you will find presentation materials on the course concepts. These presentations, along with readings from the textbook will be used as a basis for many of our bulletin board and chat room discussions.
There will be few lectures in the traditional sense. Instead I have broken the course material into five sections, which are divided into units. Each unit is comprised of about a week’s worth of material. The units are available in various forms such as standard web pages, PowerPoint presentations that consist of voice-annotated slides as well as lecture notes, and interactive learning exercises (games, self-tests, etc.).

Course Organization

Each unit is organized in a similar fashion. That is, each week you will have a reading assignment from the text and you will carry out a variety of activities including: (a) self-tests (both graded and ungraded), (b) 1-2 bulletin board discussion sessions, (c) a one-hour chat room or videoconference discussion, (d) interactive exercises designed to develop your ability to utilize economic concepts for decisions, and (e) exploring links to additional resources for further explanation of the topics covered in any given unit.

Reading Assignments and Quizzes

Reading assignments associated with each unit are posted on WebCT. You are expected to read the text before the beginning of the unit and take a self quiz on the material by 11:00 p.m. on the Sunday before the unit is covered. The major purpose of the quiz is to identify material that students find confusing. You are responsible for all material covered in the text, even if it is not discussed. There are also optional problem sets from the end of the chapter. Some of answers are provided in the text.

For each unit, I will select potentially confusing elements to highlight. Each block will have some type of interactivity, such as an Internet exercise or self-test.

Review Modules on CD

Presentations on foundation material are provided on the CD because it allows you to operate independently of the Internet. This should reduce the amount of time required to view the materials. These materials are broken into blocks that you should be able complete in about 30 minutes. To help you identify areas that you may need to focus on, there are (ungraded) Diagnostic quizzes on the class website. If you do poorly on one of these quizzes (80% or below), you should direct your attention to the corresponding Review Module on your CD.

Internet Exercises

Internet exercises are designed to familiarize you with the material available on the Internet. In addition, they will be designed to demonstrate how the economic concepts are used to make management decisions. These exercises will, at times, tie into the bulletin board postings.

Bulletin Board Discussions

In order to develop a learning community, each student will be required to make one or two bulletin board postings each week. These postings are intended to generate interaction among the students in the class, to demonstrate that you are able to apply the concepts being taught to a problem, and to critique postings of your classmates. These postings will be graded, with part of the grade being whether or not you posted your assignment and the rest being on the quality of the posting. Quality is a difficult thing to measure; however, I will be looking at the posting to see if it is relevant, whether it makes appropriate use of material text, and whether it references a specific concept presented in the text. You are expected to demonstrate that you have synthesized the concept being presented. You are also expected to practice "Netiquette" in your posts. Read these "Core Rules" if you are not familiar with this concept.

Video Conferences and Chat Sessions

Each week the class will participate in a “live chat" or a videoconference. With the exception of June 6 and July 4, class discussions will be held from 5:00-6:30 p.m. on Tuesday evenings. [The discussion for the first week in June will take place on Monday, June 5 and in July, it will take place on Wednesday, July 5.] The live session may be a discussion session of concepts students found confusing, problem sets, or a particular topic for discussion. At times the videoconference may include a mini-lecture to clarify concepts or to introduce a concept not covered in the text. I expect each of you to come to the class discussion prepared to participate.

Homework and Major Evaluations

Homework assignments and major evaluations are available for download at the appropriate times. Completed papers must be written in Word or WordPerfect and submitted to the instructor on or before the due date via the WebCT Dropbox.
Generally speaking, the assigned bulletin board posting assignments for each unit must be posted on the class web bulletin board by Saturday midnight of each week. This will allow time for classmates to respond to bulletin board postings before the start of the next unit.
The week before the major evaluations (commonly referred to as exams) will be reserved for review. Students will be given the opportunity to seek clarification on possible test material prior to each major evaluation.
The instructors will correct the returned material and contact each student individually about the work and grade received.
Students can check their progress in the course by viewing their grade records on-line.

Evaluation Procedure (Grading)

Class Participation	60 points
Assignments	80 points
Bulletin Board Responsiveness	80 points
Major Evaluation (midterm)	80 points
Term Project	80 points
Final Evaluation	80 points
Total	460 points

| Back to the Top |