SYLLABUS

Instructor: Dr. Chuck Ziehr (pronounced "Z-ear"), Professor of Geography

Office: Seminary Hall 313

Phone: (918) 456-5511 ext. 3525; you may leave a phone message after five rings

E-Mail: ziehr@cherokee.nsuok.edu

WWW: http://arapaho.nsuok.edu/~ziehr/ziehr.html

Office Hours: 8:30-9:00 MTWTh, 12:00-12:30 MTWTh, or by appointment (I'm around alot)

Classroom: Seminary Hall 210

Meeting Dates: MTWTh, June 8 - July 2, 1998

Meeting Time: 9:00 - 11:50 am (A 10-minute break per every hour and a half , 20 minutes total, is included in this meeting time; the class members will collectively decide how this break time is allocated.)

Course Objectives: The primary goal is to gain an overview of the world's major regions from a spatial perspective. The physiographic and cultural landscapes of regions are explored using systematic geographic concepts. The course provides the necessary geographic foundations to build an informed view of global current events. Recent trends in globalism and multiculturalism are also explored. Critical-thinking is stressed; the student will need to master factual information and concepts, and apply these to analyzing regional landscapes and understanding current world events.

Required Texts and Supplies:

1. Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts, 8^th edition by H. J. de Blij and Peter O. Muller. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1998.

2. An up-to-date atlas would be very helpful. A variety of atlases are available on reserve in the library.

3. Three SCANTRON Form 882 grading forms (answer sheets)

Class Attendance: Class attendance and participation are ESSENTIAL to your success in this course. Attendance will be determined on random days by signing an attendance sheet. It is your responsibility to make sure that you sign your name on the attendance sheet. Attendance is worth one point per day for a total of 10 points. You MUST contact me within four days via E-MAIL to explain each absence; otherwise no attendance point will be awarded for the absence day.

Accommodations for Students with Disabilities: If any member of the class feels that he/she has a disability and needs special accommodations of any nature whatsoever, the instructor will work with you and the university Office of Student Affairs to provide reasonable accommodations to ensure that you have a fair opportunity to perform in this class. Please advise the instructor of such disability and the desired accommodations at the first class attended.

Evaluation Procedures: There will be two exams (a midterm and a final, which is NOT comprehensive), three location (map) quizzes, an e-mail assignment, and one country report exercise. The exams will be essay format in which each answer will require one or two paragraphs. The location quizzes will be multiple-choice questions regarding place name identification on regional maps; you will need to supply your own machine-readable answer sheet (SCANTRON Form 882) for each location quiz. Following instructions carefully on each evaluation instrument is very important; points will be deducted for not following instructions. The e-mail assignment is simply to complete a student information form and to submit it via electronic mail. The country report is an oral report overviewing the physiographic and cultural landscape, population trends, economic development, and major current events of an assigned country; see "Country Report" below for more details. Exams, quizzes, e-mail, and country reports must be completed at the scheduled times unless you have an excusable absence. If you miss an assignment you MUST provide me with a written note via E-MAIL explaining your absence. You must send me the note within four days of your absence; otherwise you will NOT be permitted to make-up the assignment. ALL MAKE-UP EXAMS AND QUIZZES MUST BE TAKEN AT NOON ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 1.

Grades: Exams are worth 100 points each. Location quizzes and country report are worth 25 points each. Attendance is worth 10 points. Completing a student information form via electronic mail (e-mail) is worth 15 points. This gives a total of 325 points possible. Your grade on the two exams will be "scaled or curved" according to the highest score on each exam (but in no case will the scale be based on a score lower than 85). For example, if you scored 72 on an exam and the highest score was 90, then 72/90 = 80 would be your grade on that exam. There is no "curve" on location quizzes, e-mail, country report, or make-up exams.

Grading Scale: 90-100% = A, 80-89.99% = B, 70-79.99% = C, 60-69.99% = D, 0-59.99% = F. Given that the exams are curved, that 25 points come from a country report, that 10 points are earned by simply attending class, that 15 points are obtained by completing a simple form, NO ADJUSTMENTS WILL BE MADE TO ANYONE'S GRADE AFTER THE FINAL EXAM HAS BEEN TAKEN. THE GRADING SCALE NOTED HERE IS RIGID AND WILL BE USED FOR EVERYONE. YOU MUST MEET THESE STANDARDS.

Country Report: Each student must present an oral report (5-10 minutes) overviewing the physiographic and cultural
landscape, population trends, economic development, and major current events of an assigned country. The oral report must be accompanied by a typewritten, annotated bibliography of the sources used in the report (one paragraph of annotation per source). There must be a minimum of five sources distributed as follows: two print sources (one book or journal article and one news media--newspaper or news magazine) and three World-wide Web sources (at least two from with the assigned country). Students will present the oral reports during the second hour of class on either July 1 or 2 (which day will determined randomly). All students must be present for both days of reports.

E-mail and World Wide Web Use: This course REQUIRES the use of both e-mail and the World Wide Web (WWW). Students are required to complete an information form via e-mail (worth 15 points), and they are encouraged to use e-mail to communicate with the instructor and with fellow students regarding questions pertaining to class materials. The country report can only be completed via the WWW. Computer labs are available in the NET building 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Obtaining an NSUnet userid and password: If you have not already obtained your personal userid and passwords for using the NSUnet (computer network), proceed as follows:

• Call EXCELS at 456-5511 extension 5580.
• Select option 5 (computer access information) within EXCELS.
• Follow the instructions that EXCELS will provide.
• Carefully copy down your userid and passwords. You will have access to at least three network fileservers: Cherokee (Internet--for e-mail) and two Novell servers (DQ and one other; which one depends on where you lived when you first enrolled at NSU). Your userid will be the same on all servers, but your password may be different on each server. The original passwords are a strange collection of numbers and/or letters--be sure to copy them down carefully. You may only obtain your userid and passwords during your FIRST call. When you log-on to the NSUnet it is highly recommended that you change your password to something that you will remember. On Novell there is a "Change your Password" option on the main menu; select it and follow the instructions. On Cherokee at the $ prompt enter the command "passwd" (without the quote marks and in lower-case letters) and follow the instructions. The password must be changed on each server separately.
• Please obtain your userid and passwords AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. If you have trouble obtaining your userid or passwords, contact Microcomputing Services Center on the third floor of the NET or call their extension, 3150 or the Help Line at extension 2812.

• NET 212 and 213 * This is the recommended lab for this class. *
• Practical Arts 128 and 129
• Leoser Center (for dorm residents only)
• Hastings Hall (for dorm residents only)
• Education 116 (may be limited to Education majors)
• Science 105

Computer Use Demonstration: I will demonstrate in class the use of the computer for accessing e-mail via NSUnet and the
World Wide Web. We will probably go to NET 307 for an hour demonstration within the first couple of days of class.

Accessing the WWW: To access the World Wide Web, go to any of the above mentioned computer labs and do the following:

• Using Windows95, double click on the Netscape Navigator or Communicator icon (if on your screen) or choose Start -- Program --Netscape. You will now be in the Netscape Navigator or Communicator browser. A browser is your "window" to the Web; it displays information that you access at various sites on the WWW.

• WWW material for this class will be on my homepage at the following URL (Universal Resource Locator):

• Within Netscape move the mouse cursor to the Location dialog box and enter my URL exactly as given above (lower-case letters with no spaces between characters; that's a tilde before the first ziehr; it's found in the upper lefthand corner of the keyboard) and press Enter. OR from NSU's home page click on "NSU News & Events" then under "People; Personal Pages" click on "Faculty" then click on "Dr. Chuck Ziehr."
• Once you have arrived at "Chuck Ziehr's Home Page" move to the area entitled "Ziehr's Geography Courses at NSU" then go to the GEOG 3253 section.
• Here you'll find a number of essential items for this class including "E-Mail Assignment," "Country Report," and "Exam Study Guide" among other items.

Using Cherokee for E-Mail: You may contact me via E-mail on the Cherokee server with any questions or comments that you may have, and you MUST use Cherokee to complete the E-mail student information assignment (see my WWW home page for instructions).

• In the NET computer labs follow the "NET Labs Logon Process".
• Click on the NSUnet icon and then the Cherokee icon.
• Maximize the screen by clicking on the full screen icon in the upper right hand corner of the screen on the control bar.
• When prompted, enter your password (for the Cherokee fileserver).
• At the $ prompt type the letters "elm" (lower-case, without the quote marks) and press the Enter key. This puts you into

• To send a message press the F2 function key (Mail Msg--mail a message). The computer will respond with:

To:

At the "To:" prompt enter the e-mail address of the person to whom you want to send a message and press enter. In my case it is: ziehr@cherokee.nsuok.edu (actually the userid, ziehr, is enough for messages to other users on the Cherokee server; the full address is required for off-campus locations).

• Next the computer responds with:

• Then it responds with:

• Now you'll see a blank blue screen (you're in WordPerfect for UNIX). Type in the message that you want to send and press the F1 function key followed by the number 7 to end your document. The computer responds with:

• It now asks you to please choose Edit your message, edit your Headers (the To:, Subject:, etc.), Send, or Forget your message. (If this "please choose" option did not appear and your e-mail message is still displayed on the screen, again press F1 function key followed by the number 7).

• You'll now be back to the main elm screen with:

• To read a message get back into Cherokee following the procedure outlined above. After entering elm, move the cursor to the message that you want to read (if there is one) and press the F1 function key (Read Msg).

PLEASE GIVE PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO ALL TOPICS IN BOLD; THEY ARE REQUIRED OF ALL STUDENTS.
All reading assignments are in the de Blij & Muller textbook.

Topic or Assignment                                     Reading Assignment                                             Due Date

Introduction and Demographic Overview         Introduction and Appendices B & C

Europe                                                           Chapter 1

Russia                                                            Chapter 2

North America                                               Chapter 3

LOCATION QUIZ 1         Locations List 1 (general world locations)                                           Mon., June 15; first ½ hr.

Middle America                                             Chapter 4

E-MAIL ASSIGNMENT         Complete information form (see WWW for details)                         Tues., June 16

South America                                              Chapter 5

MID-TERM EXAM     Covers lectures, Introduction, Chapters 1-5,and Appendices B & C Thur.,       June 18; first hour

LOCATION QUIZ 2     Locations List 2 (Europe; Russia; North, South, & Middle America)         Mon., June 22; first ½ hr.

North Africa/Southwest Asia                         Chapter 6

Subsaharan Africa                                         Chapter 7

South Asia                                                    Chapter 8

LOCATION QUIZ 3     Locations List 3 (Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Realm)         Mon., June 29; first ½ hr.

East Asia                                                     Chapter 9

Southeast Asia                                            Chapter 10

Australia                                                     Chapter 11

The Pacific Realm                                       Chapter 12

COUNTRY REPORTS                            Oral Reports                                                          Wed. & Thur., July 1 & 2

ALL MAKE-UP EXAMS AND QUIZZES TO BE TAKEN                                               Wed., July 1, Noon

FINAL EXAM         Covers lectures since midterm exam Chapters 6-12                                  Thur., July 2, first hour

Please feel free to come by my office (or phone or e-mail) at any time to discuss any questions or problems that you may have with the course material from lecture or the textbook, with the computer, e-mail, WWW, or any other matter that you'd like to discuss. I'll be glad to try to help you find solutions. Please note that SMOKING, TOBACCO CHEWING, SNUFF, FOOD, and DRINKS are prohibited in our classroom. BEST WISHES FOR A GREAT SUMMER SESSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!