Syllabus
AGEC 4213—Advanced Quantitative Methods in
Agricultural Economics
Fall Semester, 2012
Tuesday and Thursday, 3:30-4:45
266 Agricultural Hall
Instructor: Dr. Bailey Norwood
[Note: any changes or additions to this syllabus will appear in red font.]
Contact
Email:
bailey.norwood@okstate.edu
Phone: 405-334-0010 (but I’m much more
responsive to my email than phone; texting is okay)
426 Agricultural Hall
Webpage:
http://asp.okstate.edu/baileynorwood/Bailey/BaileyNorwood.htm
I do not have set office hours, but am
in the office most of the time, and I encourage you to make an appointment if
you wish to see me, or feel free to drop by anytime unannounced.
(1) Consult Bailey's
Calendar/Schedule at:
https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=bailey.norwood%40gmail.com&ctz=America/Chicago
(2) Using this calendar,
find a date/time convenient for you and Bailey.
(3) You cannot enter an
appointment directly in the calculator. Instead, simply email Bailey
the date/time you select,
and he will reply with a confirmation.
(4) You are welcome to stop
by his office unannounced, but no guarantees that he will be there or can chat
(though usually he can).
Prerequisites:
A basic course in statistics, algebra, calculus, and some course
where Excel was used frequently. Much of this course concerns material you have
already learned, but forgotten.
Objectives—Professional
Enhance your economic, quantitative,
reasoning, and communication skills. Specifically, to…
·
…to
improve your skills in Excel using charts, histograms, averages, correlations,
simulation, and regression. Most of the class asks you to repeat what you have
learned in other classes but in a more thoughtful framework.
·
…to give
you the skills to draft impressive emails for professional communication.
·
…to give
you the confidence and skills to perform most data analyses expected of business
students (especially agribusiness students).
·
…to give
you the intellectual foundation for understanding how statistics are used in
society, allowing you to excel in law, government, politics, philanthropy,
lobbying, research, and high positions in business.
You live in a world influence by myriad
random and non-random factors. To live a good life, it helps to understand your
world and the role of randomness within the world. You should leave this class a
more enlightened student, who takes pride in their newly-found discoveries of
the world and remain a curious student of the world.
The class is held in a computer lab for
a reason: almost all our lectures pertain to active exercises in Excel. Some
notes will be posted on the board, but most information is provided through
readings and class worksheets. The typical day involves me handing out
worksheets at the beginning of class and then helping students complete them
during the lecture.
The material we learn is cumulative. If
you miss a few classes and don’t learn the Excel tools covered in class, you may
find yourself unable to keep up with the rest of the class, and I won’t slow
down for truant students who exhibit little concern for the material they
missed.
Undergraduate students in the Department of Agricultural Economics (or graduate students from this department) are typically well-prepared for the class, in terms of Excel skills. Others often lack the Excel skills of their peers and have difficulty keeping up in class. These students will need to work harder than others and seek help after class for material they had difficulty following.
Grading
·
Homeworks
(30%): Homeworks will be assigned throughout the semester. Some will require the
student to learn the content independently and some will ask the student to
repeat material learned in class. Late homeworks will be penalized at most ten
percentage point per day truant.
·
Tests (or Exams)
(30%40%): These are traditional tests that are based solely off material in class,
readings, and homeworks. There will probably (I stress the word
probably) be three tests, including a
final.
·
Two or
more “Important Emails” (mostly likely four) (30%): An important part of this
class is analyzing data in Excel to produce informative charts. Most activity
regarding data and information in the modern workplace takes place through email
with many charts and succinct narratives accompanying the charts. To pass my
class, you must be able to construct excellent graphs with near-perfect
narratives. These are not class papers. The student is given data and a question
about the data. Students then answer the question by producing a chart from the
data as well as a brief narrative. These are not as time-consuming as a
traditional class project, in that the data analysis is really quite easy and
very little writing takes place—but what is written must be superlative. The
number of projects depends on the size of each project, and I prefer to
construct the assignment as the student progresses, to ensure the student is
adequately prepared for the project.
·
Students must know that their grade is
based solely on performance, and will not be influenced by a “need” for a
certain grade. For example, I will not give you a passing grade simply because
you need it to graduate this semester, nor will a need for certain grades for
scholarships matter.
Final Numerical Grade = (0.3)(Average
Homework Grade) + (0.4)(Average Exam Grade) + (0.3)(Average “Important Email”
Grade)
The correspondence between numerical and
letter grades are as follows.
|
Final Numerical Grade |
Letter Grade |
|
≥ 90 |
A |
|
80-89 |
B |
|
70-79 |
C |
|
60-69 |
D |
|
< 60 |
F |
Attendance:
Optional. However, each class requires the use of Excel, and the cumulative
nature of the class implies that students who rarely attend class will not be
able to keep up with class when they do attend. I will not slow down the lecture
to help those with poor attendance. If a student misses class and exhibits
little concern for what they miss should know they are responsible for any
reluctance I show in helping them. All material is posted on the class website,
so students should check there for the material they miss.
Plagiarism
/ Cheating:
I reserve the
right to assign you an F! in the class
for any instance of plagiarism or cheating. Plagiarism refers to instances where
you take narratives, tables, or figures from others in a near-identical format.
Important
Dates
|
8/27/12 |
Deadline to drop class with 100% refund |
|
8/31/12 |
Deadline to drop class with 50% refund |
|
11/9/12 |
Last day to withdraw from class with “W” |
|
11/22/12 |
Thanksgiving, so no classes |
|
12/3/12 |
Beginning of dead week |
|
12/11/12 |
2:00-3:50 Final exam |
This syllabus attachment should be considered a formal part of my syllabus: Syllabus Attachment
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