Syllabus - Web-based Class - Section 40
Fall 2007

Textbook: John T. Rourke, International Politics on the World Stage, Tenth Edition, McGraw-Hill/Dushkin, 2005. (Available in the UW-Whitewater Textbook Rental Library. Used copies are available at Amazon.com and other booksellers online starting at $10.00)

Course Description: This course introduces students to the fundamental principles of international relations and politics. Students will be required to learn about a number of current international events in their political, economic, and geographic contexts. The course also presents a number of theoretical approaches to help understand current events.

This is an "online" course. With the exception of the textbook noted above, all materials and assignments will be distributed in a Web-based environment called "Desire2Learn." (We will refer to Desire2Learn most of the time simply as "D2L.") Also, class discussions, homework delivery, and examinations will be conducted in the online environment. It will be important that students check D2L on a daily basis for announcements, discussion postings, and course related email.

If this is your first online course, please note that taking an online course is quite different from a traditional in-class course. The major difference is that the online course requires much more self-discipline. Reading and doing assignments is much more self-directed than in a traditional course. For this reason it is important that you check your email, assignments, and announcements on a daily basis for this course. I will use your campus email unless you change it inside D2L. For assignments and test dates be sure to look at the "Readings and Assignments" document under Content.  There you will find a calendar of your weekly assignments.

Assignments and Expectations: More detailed descriptions of all assignments will be provided as they are made. Any writing assignments should be posted to the D2L digital dropbox. Briefly, the assignments and expectations for the course are as follows:

• Discussions:
For four weeks during the semester special readings on major international or foreign policy issues will be assigned for discussion. The required readings for these discussions are available online in the week's assignment in which they are due. Students must post at least twice to the discussions. The first posting will be due on Thursday of each week by 9:00 p.m. The final posting will be due on Sunday of each week by 5:00 p.m. You may, of course, post more than twice. These discussions will be worth 20% of the course grade.


• Exams: Students will complete four objective exams during the semester. These exams will be conducted online, and together, they will be worth 80% of the total grade for the course. Test dates for this course will be:
  
  Test 1 - Tuesday, September 25th
  Test 2 - Tuesday, October 23rd
  Test 3 - Tuesday, November 20th
  Test 4 - Tuesday, December 18th
  
  Current Events: Students will be expected to keep up with international current events in this course. Reading newspapers online is an effective way to do this. Twenty five percent of the questions on each test will address current issues in international politics.

Grade Summary: As indicated in the section above, grades for the course will be calculated as follows:

University Related Announcements

Academic Misconduct: The University believes that academic honesty and integrity are fundamental to the mission of higher education and of the University of Wisconsin System. The University has a responsibility to promote academic honesty and integrity and to develop procedures to deal effectively with instances of academic dishonest Students are responsible for the honest completion and representation of their work, for the appropriate citation of sources, and for respect of others' academic endeavors. Students who violate these standards are subject to disciplinary action. UWS Chapter 14 identifies procedures to be followed when a student is accused of academic misconduct. For additional information, please refer to the section in the Student Handbook itled, Student Academic Disciplinary Procedures.

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