SYLLABUS
U101 - Society, Culture, and Environment
Summer, 1998/99
Instructor: Dr. Tom L. Martinson, Professor of Geography
Office: 104B Tichenor Hall
Office Hours: MW 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. and anytime by e-mail
Electronic Mail Address: martitl@mail.auburn.edu
Homepage: www.auburn.edu/~martitl
Telephone and Voicemail: 334/844-3414

Lecture/Project Topics:

Introduction
What are the Social Sciences?
Geography as a Social Science
The Applied Geography Project: A Virtual Tour of Your Home Town
Exam 1 (July 7)
Society and Technology
Europe's Rise to Prominence
Movement and Communications
Implosion in the Pacific World
Population and Resources
Population Issues in Latin America
Exam 2 (August 2)
The Global Environment
Africa's Environmental Issues
Making a Living: Agriculture
Asia: Agriculture and Industry
Summary
Exam 3 (August 18)

U 101 (Society, Culture, and Environment) meets for lecture on Mondays and Wednesdays from June 16 through August 18 (except for the Independence day holiday) and labs will meet weekly on the Internet. Students are expected to attend and participate in all classes and labs. In lecture and lab, our objective is to introduce several aspects of the social sciences and offer examples of each in the contemporary world, emphasizing "place," which is the strength of Geography.

The main text for this course is the book Society, Culture, and the Environment. You will also need to use a camera for our virtual field trip applied geography project. If you do not have a camera, you can buy a small disposable one at a local discount store for less than $10, or less than $5 on sale. To do your Internet lab work you will also need an IBM formatted 3 ½ inch floppy computer disk.

We will make extensive use of computer multimedia in lecture and lab to develop a visual sense of the themes and places studied. In addition, students are expected to be familiar with computers, or at least willing to learn how to use electronic mail, and how to save files, use ftp, search the Internet, and develop a homepage, as part of this course. More information on these subjects also is available in the latest Survival Guide, a free publication of the Division of University Computing.

Attendance is essential for a good grade in this course. If you are not in class to take lecture notes from the multimedia presentations, your grade will suffer. If you do not participate in lab exercises and projects, your grade will suffer. Manage your time well. Consider this as a job where you will not be paid if you do not show up for work. Even if you miss class with a valid excuse (such as a broken neck) this does not mean that you are not responsible for the information presented in class or lab the days you were gone. If you think you will have conflicts that will prevent you from attending class or completing our on-line lab exercises regularly, it would be smart to drop the course as soon as possible.

Grades are based on exams, labs, and a special project, "A Vision of Auburn." There are three multiple-choice examinations, each with 50 questions. The percentage distribution for grades on examinations is: A = 90 percent or better; B = 80-89 percent; C = 70-79 percent, D = 60-69 percent, and F = below 60 percent correct answers. We keep records on points earned, percentages, and letter grades for each examination. There are no opportunities for extra credit. Makeup exams, which are essay and considerably more difficult than the regular exams, are available to students with valid excuses on Dead Day near the end of the quarter. Students also need a valid excuse to make up a missed lab. Valid excuses include illness (with a physician's supporting statement) or death of a close relative (with a copy of the newspaper announcement). Students must take part in all evaluations (including all lab exercises) or receive a grade of F for the course.

Lab times are printed on your schedule of classes, but as of now the Core lab computers in Haley Center 3223 do not have Internet connections, and we must use the Internet for lab. Therefore, it is preferable to use a computer in a public lab or your computer at home if it has an Internet connection to complete the exercises. Wherever your computer is based, you must observe the scheduled times to complete your lab exercises. These times are listed later in this syllabus.

The introductory lab will require the use of electronic mail. Every student enrolled at Auburn University has an electronic mail account, and to participate in this exercise, you must first activate your electronic mail account. To do this, call the Auburn Voice Automated Information System (VAIS) by dialing 844-5800 and selecting option 6, "To activate your e-mail and computer password userid." Carefully follow the instructions and be sure to write down your personal userID and password. You have only one opportunity to log on to your account using this process. Afterwards, if you have any problems using your e-mail account you must go to the Division of University Computing in Room 26 of the L Building on campus. Bring your Auburn University picture ID card with you. It now costs $4 to re-set your password if you lose it. Remember that successfully completing this exercise using e-mail is your responsibility, not the professor's. One way to doublecheck if your electronic mail was delivered is to type your own e-mail address in the "CC" line in your mail message as you send it to the professor. That way, you will receive a copy as the professor receives his copy. If you don't receive a CC copy of your e-mail message, the professor did not receive your e-mail either. Read the section on e-mail in the Survival Guide and try again. Keep your successfully-sent copy as proof of your completing the exercise and provide it when requested. Important: Messages sent by someone else in your name, or sent from someone else's electronic mailbox, or with someone else's e-mail identification, will not be accepted. You must do your own lab work. Even if you are working with someone else or in a group to complete the lab exercises, your work must be different from all others. You alone are to do your own thing, and to copy the work of others is cheating. Anyone cheating on exams, lab exercises, or other aspects of the course will be subject to university disciplinary action, probably leading to failing the course and perhaps expulsion from school. Academic dishonesty is an offense that will be reported to Auburn's Academic Dishonesty Committee.

Many labs are based on the development of a homepage. If you are an experienced computer user and already have your own homepage on the Auburn University system, you can save your current homepage elsewhere and start over with our lab exercises, or you can add to your homepage with our materials if the connection is clear and unambiguous. The Internet-based lab exercises we will introduce are new this quarter and may be difficult for you at first, but with patience, persistence, and a good attitude, you will prevail. I will look at your work and grade it weekly, with the maximum points going to the most complete work. Each lab exercise is worth 25 points.

We will also have one project on applied geography, a virtual tour of your home town, using an Auburn map and photos you take with your camera. To gain the 25 points maximum available for this exercise, you must submit at least 5 clearly-visible photographs (not slides) of 5 different locations in your home town, taken over the Independence Day holiday, or of Auburn if you choose not to go home. More photos are welcome but not necessary. Each photo must illustrate some aspect of our course (Technological Change, Movement and Communications, Population Issues, Environmental Issues, and/or Agriculture) set in your home town or Auburn and vicinity. Do not submit 5 photos of Toomer's Corner! On the back of each photo write your name and the specific location of the photo. For example, do not write "Opelika Road," but write "Photo 1: The Intersection of Opelika Road and Shug Jordan Parkway, illustrating the movement of traffic through the intersection, with Flint's Crossing Shopping Center in the background." If you take your pictures in Auburn, use the map on the last page of this syllabus to locate each photo site, using an x for location and then numbers or text to associate the photos with the map. Submit these photos and the map to me no later than class time on July 12. We will use selected photos to produce a virtual map of selected cities in Alabama, including Auburn. Plan to take your photos over the Independence Day holiday if you are going home then, or start taking your photos now if you will be staying here. Late or improperly presented photos and map will be discounted in grade, and failure to participate in this project will mean an F for the project and perhaps an F for the course. Your photos and map will not be returned.

Any student needing special accommodations for this course should contact Dr. Kelly Haynes, Director of the Program for Students with Disabilities, located in 1232 Haley Center. We will make every effort to make your learning experience as full as possible.

I'm glad you enrolled for this course and I want to make it a very rewarding experience for you. I will be happy to talk with you about any aspect of the course at a mutually agreeable time. Please do not call me at home. Please use my e-mail address, listed on the front page of this syllabus, to contact me at any time.

This course has a homepage on the Auburn University computer network. To find our homepage, type the URL

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/classes/univ/0101/index.html

on the "location" line of your computer's Netscape Navigator or your browser in any appropriate Auburn University public lab computer or on your home computer if you have Internet access. On our homepage you will find another copy of this syllabus, notes on class organization, a sample exam, and other interesting information.