Syllabus

Instructor: Dr. Shirley Todd McLaughlin
Phone: 919-649-7505(cell)
Email: stmclaughlin@ncwc.edu

Boone, Louis E. and David L. Kurtz (2006). Contemporary Marketing. 12th Ed. Ohio: Thompson Southwestern.

Course Description: This is a writing intensive course that serves as an introduction to marketing which is a vital business activity in the American economy. The course focuses on developing an understanding of basic principles and fundamental marketing issues and describes the marketing environment, marketing analysis and strategy, and the marketing program.

COURSE & LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the conclusion of the course students will be able to identify and intelligently discuss the following:

Course Calendar

Specific due dates for written assignments and discussion questions will be posted on CampusCruiser.

Absenteeism: This course utilizes the official NCWC 20% absenteeism rule, which means that a student can be administratively withdrawn from the class without their permission or consultation if they miss 20% of the time period for the class in any given length semester. Because NCWC offers courses in so many different semester lengths, the 20% has been created as a standardized way of measuring absenteeism.

LENGTH	20% EQUIVALENT	20% EQUIVALENT
5-week courses	1 week of absences	1 meeting
8-week courses	2 weeks of absences	1.6 meetings
12-week courses	3 weeks of absences	2.4 meetings
15-week courses	3 weeks of absences	3 meetings

The above table tells you that if you are planning to be away (for vacation or whatever) in an 8-week course, then if you are gone more than a week and a half (the 1.6 EQUIVALENT), then you may be administratively dropped. Any exceptions must be approved by the instructor prior to the absences.

Contact requirements: The primary and most reliable means of communicating with the instructor in an online course is WWW-level contact, which means through web pages on the Internet viewed through a browser. Your web page visits are not tracked or monitored or anything like that, but you will find that the online instructor has provided you with numerous opportunities to establish your contact with them at web pages which contain, for example, discussion board opportunities, chat room features, announcement pages, and/or integration with other course management systems such as NCWC's CampusCruiser. At the WWW-level of contact, an online student should be making a browser visit to the instructor's website and course-related websites at least once every 48 hours (every two days or three times a week which is 3 contact hours). Your secondary means of contact is by E-mail. This means of communication will be used when you are receiving any secondary instructions or announcements from the instructor about particular assignments, or when you are submitting your completed assignments to the instructor, which means that you turn your work in via the E-mail-level of contact. Please avoid using this level of contact with the instructor for matters that are not work-related.

Two (2) other matters are extremely important when using e-mail contact with the instructor: (1) Always be certain to put your name (the full name under which you registered) in all your e-mail messages, for example (a) in the subject line of the message along with the course number, (b) in the message body or bottom of the text field of your email message as if you were signing the email, and (c) in the text body, not running head or hidden properties, of any and all attachments sent along with your email; (2) Always be certain to wait at least 48 hours for the instructor to provide feedback or grading of assignments before sending the instructor any additional e-mail. Do not, for example, send the instructor an assignment and then less than 48 hours later, send another email asking if the instructor received or has graded the assignment. It is the student's responsibility, not the instructor's, to check the Sent Mail (Outbox and Inbox) features of their own e-mail program to make sure any attachments sent are properly named, formatted and readable (in MS Word), truly attached, and have not bounced back as undeliverable.

Taking Examinations: Since this is a writing intensive course you will find that your exams are discussion questions. You should prepare your exam in a word document making sure that you reference all material according to the APA format as necessary. Remember that all material should be referenced that is not specifically your own. You are encouraged to use outside sources such as the internet, journals, or texts, making sure that you reference this material. You will be given 4 exams: week 2, week 4, week 6, week 8. Please send your exam answers, reference page, and bibliography as a MS Word attachment to an email.

Grading rubrics for essay (or subjective exam items) include the REOS method, where R stands for Reasoning - how well the student uses logic, E stands for Evidence - how well the student uses citation or the ideas of recognized authorities, O stands for Observation - how well the student synthesis their personal insight or creativity with course material, and S stands for Substance - how well the student discovers or finds something significant. There will be no disputes over grading matters in this course because the instructor's word is the final authority.

Instructor Support in an Online Course: Make sure that you read the assigned material and understand how to use the APA format for referencing your material. Fee free to contact the instructor via telephone or email regarding any questions. My advice for doing well on exams is to read the book with a view towards understanding and total comprehension. Almost all exam questions, regardless of what materials they might be based on, require comprehensive understanding.

Institutional Support Resources in an Online Course: After you have officially registered for the course, you will be entered into the college portal system called CampusCruiser. This is not done by the instructor, and do not contact the instructor if and when your name is not showing up on the roster in the course-related CampusCruiser website or any other sections of the instructor's website which lists by code or otherwise who is officially enrolled. Please contact the school's IS (Information Systems) help desk at help@ncwc.edu or 252-984-5000 for any and all matters relating to your enrollment, CampusCruiser email address, or other technological problems you may be experiencing.

For matters relating to your admissions status at the college, please contact the school's admissions office at adm@ncwc.edu or the site director at the location where you were first processed for admission to NCWC. For matters relating to financial statements, credit hours, transcripts, articulation and transfer credit, please contact the school's business office or the school's Registrar by calling the Business Office during regular working hours at 252-985-5104.

For anything relating to advising, scheduling, what courses are upcoming, or need to be taken to complete degree requirements, please contact your assigned advisor or the appropriate advisor at the ADP site where you were admitted. These advisors include, for Rocky Mount SMDavis@ncwc.edu, for Goldsboro LKinney@ncwc.edu, and for Triangle Campus RFatteh@ncwc.edu or Jfruit@ncwc.edu.

If you think you need tutoring, it is available by appointment Mon-Thurs 8a.m.-9p.m. and Fri 8a.m.-5p.m. at the school's student support center at the Rocky Mount campus. Their webpage is located at http://www.ncwc.edu/Offices/Student_Support/. You may also contact blwingo@ncwc.edu for tutoring appointments. Any student with a disability that is within the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act must inform their instructor at the beginning of the term of their special needs, including equipment that they feel are essential for completing the requirements of this course. Students with disabilities must self-identify before any accommodations can be made. The Disabilities Coordinator in Student Support (at 252-985-5269 or wsmcfarland@ncwc.edu) is the appropriate party to contact and prepare an accommodation plan. The instructor will make every effort to provide reasonable accommodations when and where appropriate.

If you need assistance or help at writing assignments, please look at NCWC's online writing lab website at http://annex.ncwc.edu/writing_lab/ or contact writinglab@ncwc.edu. The Lab also serves the Adult Degree Program by providing online resources for students who, for various reasons, may not be able to visit the Lab in person. These resources, which include a databank of instructional materials, email tutoring, and synchronous, online tutoring, can be found at the NCWC Online Writing Lab (OWL) http://annex.ncwc.edu/writing_lab.

For library help, please look at NCWC's library website at http://annex.ncwc.edu/Library/ where you may find course-specific, site-specific, and discipline-specific resources which help you in doing research, finding sources of information, and utilizing school-specific media such as NCLive, a database of journals and periodicals. Please contact the library administrator or any of the library staff to obtain any needed passwords.

Plagiarism and Cheating (as per the College Catalog) are prohibited. Plagiarism is defined as taking or using the thoughts, writings, or inventions of another as one's own. It also means using direct quotations without credit and quotation marks, as well as using the ideas of another without proper credit. Some ideas in the field, however, are so general that credit need not be given. Ask your instructor when in doubt. Cheating is defined as any intent to deceive the instructor in his or her effort to grade fairly. Anything that can possibly effect the fairness of grading is cheating, which I interpret to include any collaborative, mischievous, or disruptive behavior. In this course, pay special attention to gleaning information off the Internet, and do NOT pass it off as your own, or without proper citation. Learn to paraphrase ideas in your own words. Do not purchase, borrow, or revise another student's work. Do not "double dip" an assignment you did in another class to turn it in for this one. The following penalties are applied, as per the College Catalog.

Schedule of Academic Dishonesty Penalties
A. First offense B. Second offense C. Third offense	A. Instructor gives no credit for assignment B. VPAA withdraws student with grade of F C. VPAA suspends student from college

There is a two day (48 hours) grace period (with minor penalty) after all deadlines. Try not to fall into this extension period, as there is a 1/2 letter grade penalty per day for each day into this period. Students are also discouraged from turning in assignments too early. The announcements page always indicates the start and end of an assignment period. The assignments page gives you clear instructions and tips on how to do assignments. An "X" on the grades page means the student hasn't yet done the assignment and is perhaps in the extension period. A "0" means the extension period has elapsed, and too late to turn anything in. A series of periods or other symbol, such as "..." means I have received your work and not graded yet. Any "0" grade may be replaced by the instructor with another number at the instructor's discretion, and permission to do any makeup work must always be with instructor permission.

Incompletes (a grade of "Inc") and Withdrawals (a grade of "W") are not automatic, and never given as a substitute for missing makeup periods or low scores. To receive an incomplete, a real emergency must exist for which the student misses a series of adjacent assignments, such as the last quiz, final exam, and last assignment, but this is only an example, as circumstances vary, and in all cases must involve notice beforehand and instructor approval of the emergency. Incompletes must be removed before eight weeks after the semester ends (otherwise they convert to a grade of "F"). In some cases, the instructor supports extensions beyond the eight week period, but a Work Needed for Incomplete form should be filled out, and the student must request such extension (in writing) to the VPAA. Instructors can also change a grade of "F" to some other letter. Students with incompletes are ineligible from registering for Independent Study, Unscheduled Courses, and Special Topics courses.

Withdrawals arranged between the student and Registrar are allowed up to the midpoint of a semester (or whenever scheduled in the college's Academic Calendar). After that date, any withdrawal is processed as a grade of "F" unless extenuating circumstances exist which are discussed with the instructor, the Registrar, and/or VPAA. Withdrawals do not compute into grade point averages, but do appear on transcripts, and may affect academic standing and/or financial aid. Tuition refund policies are set by the Business Office, with strict deadlines.

If pass/fail, audit, or other grade notation scheme is chosen by the student at registration (up to the end of the Drop/Add period), then it should be understood that the instructor expects that student to complete ALL assignments that the regular students have to do. This also applies to any ADP, Online, Non-Degree, or High School students in the course. Work must be turned in by the same deadlines, and all policies (including absenteeism) are in force. Even though the College Catalog says a grade of "D" is passing, the instructor reserves the right to require an average of "C" work for a grade of "P" or "AU."

Most assignments will come from the book and/or websites. At times, however, some assignments and exams may make use of other website features, such as chat, email, and the discussion board. The book must be purchased. All websites and website access are free. Students are expected to not only meet the contact hours requirement, but devote significant out-of-class time to reading, checking websites, and using other college resources. NCWC Student Library privileges are expected, and must be initiated by the student. Students must also have access or possession to a computer equipped with Microsoft office (Word), Internet access, and a web browser such as Internet Explorer will need to be obtained by the end of the first week of class. Attachments should formatted in Word (not Works or WordPerfect), and they should be spell-checked and virus-free. Students are also expected, at their own initiative, to obtain a CampusCruiser email address, and/or keep the instructor continually informed of any email address changes (e.g., Hotmail, Yahoo, etc.) and should know that outside email addresses are not supported by college distribution lists. Students should make a habit of checking the announcements page for the course for pertinent information at least once every 48 hours.

Examination Requirements and Description: The exams for this course will consist of several discussion questions which you will answer in complete sentences making sure that your work corresponds to good APA format. You will reference any material that is not directly your own. You are encouraged to research outside material to increase your comprehension in this course. You will double space all work and indent all paragraphs at least 5 spaces. The instructor reserves the right to override any disagreement over right answers. Exams are not proctored and open book, open note, and open internet. You are NOT allowed to work together, work in groups, or receive any outside help on exams. Violation of this honor code will result in a final letter grade drop each time it is suspected. Exams are generally posted online as an Instructional Supplement every four weeks (every two weeks in ADP) according to the following Schedule of Exams and Weights, with a deadline of a week from posting to submission. Grades are posted on the grades page after submission, with online grade posts serving as your only receipt.

Written Assignments Requirements and Description: There is a final paper due in week 8 which is the Marketing Plan. It will be submitted in parts so that the instructor can review your progress, advise, and make suggestions for improvement. The final paper will count 35% of your grade and should include a powerpoint presentation. As this is Marketing, you are encouraged to use visuals to support your ideas. Students are expected to incorporate feedback given by the instructor on each part, and to show progress on the next part by incorporating comments on each previous part. Strict penalties apply to any sign of NOT incorporating feedback or any skipping or missing parts of the paper assignment. NCWC requires all writing intensive classes provide intensive feedback on at least 3000 words of writing, and this amounts to about 10-12 pages.

Grading rubrics, detailed instructions, and templates are usually provided on the assignments page. General evaluation criteria for term papers are Neatness (always typed) and application of the REOS grading rubric (Reasoning, Evidence, Organization, and Substance). There is a schedule to be followed on the Marketing Plan with the different sections to be turned in according to the specifications in the Syllabus.

There are three sections to your grade: exams, case analysis, marketing plan. The points assigned for each section are noted below.

Week	Material Covered	Assignments and Quizzes
1	Chapters 1-2 of the required text. Overview of a Marketing Plan	Read chapters 1-2 of the required text. Review the PowerPoint presentations of chapters 1-2 posted on Campus Cruiser. Read the lecture notes for chapters 1-2 posted on Campus Cruiser. Decide the product or service that will be the subject of your Marketing Plan. Post your decision and title on Campus Cruiser.
2	Chapters 3-4 of the required text.	Take the test on chapters 1-2 on Campus Cruiser. Read Chapters 3-4 of the required text. Review the PowerPoint presentations of chapters 3-4 on Campus Cruiser. Read the lectures for chapters 3-4 posted on Campus Cruiser. Add the Situational Analysis and Swot to your Marketing Plan.
3	Chapters 5-6 of the required text.	Read chapters 5-6 of the required text. Review the PowerPoint presentations of chapters 5-6 on Campus Cruiser. Read the lectures for chapters 5-6 posted on Campus Cruiser. Add the Marketing Objectives to your Marketing Plan
4	Chapters 7-9 of the required text.	Take the test on chapters 3-6 on Campus Cruiser. Read chapters 7-9 of the required text. Review PowerPoint presentations of chapters 7-9 on Campus Cruiser. Read the lecture notes for chapters 7-9 posted on Campus Cruiser. Add the Segmentation/Target Marketing Strategy section to your Marketing Plan.
5	Chapters 10-11 of the required text.	Read chapters 10-11 of the required text. Review PowerPoint presentations of chapters 10-11 on Campus Cruiser. Read the lecture notes for chapters 10-11 posted on Campus Cruiser. Add the positioning strategy section to your Marketing Plan. Post your analysis of the case, #11.2, "Curves: A New Angle on Fitness" from the Video Cases found at the end of the text on Campus Cruiser. Make sure that your analysis includes the discussion of the 4 questions at the end of the case.
6	Chapters 12-14 of the required text.	Take the test on chapters 7-11 and post on Campus Cruiser. Read chapters 12-14 of the required text. Review PowerPoint presentations of chapters 12-14 on Campus Cruiser. Read the lecture notes for chapters 12-14 posted on Campus Cruiser. Add the marketing mix strategy section to your Marketing Plan.
7	Chapters 15-17 of the required text.	Read chapters 15-17 of the required text. Review the PowerPoint presentations of chapters 15-17 on Campus Cruiser. Read the lecture notes for chapters 15-17 posted on Campus Cruiser. Add the implementation schedule and executive summary to your Marketing Plan. Post your analysis of the case, "Ride the White Wave with Silk Soymilk", #16.2, from the Video Cases found at the end of the text on Campus Cruiser. Make sure that your analysis includes the discussion of the 4 questions at the end of the case.

	MKT-205 Online Marketing
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