Lab #1 Agricultural And Resource Economics (ARE 201 ) This lab assignment is not to be submitted to Moodle. You are to complete this assignment as instructed by the first assignment sent to you via email and posted on the course website. Please let me know if you need any help with this assignment. Any email package and internet browser can be used to complete this assignment. Just modify the directions to fit your particular computer environment and email package. Good Luck! Purpose of Lab: This assignment will assist you in learning to work with the course's Listserv, polish your email skills, and familiarize you with the course's web page. I have already subscribed you to the listserv. Your Unity Account: What is it? All students at NC State receive Unity computing accounts. Your Unity account is automatically generated when you register for classes. Your Unity account gives you access to the Unity realm, NC State's campus-wide computing network. With your computing account you receive your own network file space and personal e-mail address. You can use the computers and software in computing labs, access the Internet, and publish Web pages. Your computing account and file space is accessible from locations on and off campus. All students must abide by the Computer and Network User Policy, which you can view on the web at the following URL: http://www.ncsu.edu/it/rulesregs/. What's my login ID and password? Before you can access your account, you need to know your Unity login ID and password. Your login ID is based on your first and middle initial and the first six letters of your last name (use lowercase, as the system is case-sensitive). Your unity login ID is also called your Username and User ID. Your initial password is the last four digits of your student ID number and the four digits of your birth month and day. For further information and an example go to: http://www.ncsu.edu/it/essentials/your_unity_account/password.html You may want to change you password at the conclusion of lab today and often. To change your password, fire up your web browser and go to http://www.ncsu.edu/password This page will assist you in changing your password. Many of you are probably working on a computer in your residence. Due to the many different internet service providers (ISP’s) and how your personal computer is
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configured, there is no way for me to provide personal instructions to each of you in a document such as this.
What's my e-mail address? Your e-mail address starts with your unity login ID, in the following format:
[email protected] ALL STUDENTS are required to use their NCSU email address for all official University correspondence including classes. Assignments: 1. If you were registered for class on January 7, 2013, I have subscribed you to the Listserv for Agricultural Economics (ARE 201). A Listserv is a group of people who can send email to all of the other subscribers on the Listserv by sending an email message to one address. When you send an email message to a Listserv, everyone on the list will receive a copy of your message. If you reply to an email message that is sent to you on a Listserv, everyone on the list will receive your reply. Please keep in mind that a Listserv is not intended for private discussions since everyone on the list receives your mail. I will use the Listserv to communicate with the class as a whole. For example, I may send you newspaper articles related to the subject matter of this course. You can use the Listserv to communicate with other students. For example, you may want to use the Listserv if you are having trouble understanding a topic in this course and would like help from your classmates, or from me. If you were not registered for this class on January 7, 2013 and added the class after the first day of class, you need to contact me. I am not automatically notified of your registration to the class. LOOK!!!! I will or have subscribed you to the class listserv using the email address you have on file with Registration and Records. Remember, your ncsu.edu email address is your official NCSU correspondence address.
2. Familiarize Yourself with the Course's Web Page. Open your internet browser and open the web page for ARE 201: Agricultural and Resource Economics. The easiest way to get to this page is by typing the URL for the course in the address box of your browser. The URL for this course is: https://harvest.cals.ncsu.edu/are201/
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You may want to “bookmark” this address for future reference You may also access the course website through Moodle, at https://moodle1516courses.wolfware.ncsu.edu/ find our course, and click on the “course website link”. 3. Answer the questions below to familiarize yourself with the web page for this course. All of the answers are found in the links off the course's web page. Answer these questions for yourself. You don’t have to submit anything. However, you will learn what is available on the website and how to access the information.
a) Pull up Assignment #1 from the Course Assignments and Due Dates link. When is Assignment 1 due?
b) What topic is covered in Lecture Series 11? Click on the Class Notes link from the course home page. What is the relationship between the income from wages and age? Draw a sketch of this relationship.
c) Pull up Practical #2 Help Sheet. Click on the Practical Exercises, Help Sheets, and Answers link from the course home page. What is the purpose of the Practical #2 Help Sheet?
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d) What is the "Rule of Thumb for a Typical Student" regarding studying time? (Hint: Click on "Developing A System of Study for This Course" from the home page of the course web site.). e) Try to answer question 1a) on Exam 1 during the spring 1996 term using information you can find on the course web site.
f) Find the article entitled, "Study Finds College Costly, But Worth It" at the Supplementary Readings Link of the course home page. If you have trouble accessing this article, let me know immediately so that we can make sure you have access to the Electronic Reserves at D.H. Hill Library. You will need access to the Electronic Reserves when you do Lab #3. So let us find out now if there is any access problems so there will be no panic. According to the article, what are the average salaries for high school graduates, college graduates, and for people with advanced degrees in 1992? Check the web to see if there is any updated information on this subject.
g) Find the article entitled, “College Grads Expand Lead in Job Security” at the Supplementary Readings Link of the course home page. This is again at the D.H. Hill Electronic Reserves site. If you don’t do this one, I will know when you start asking me questions about the Electronic Reserve and how to access it. This exercise also alerts me to any trouble you may have in accessing the reserve site.
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According to the article, what other advantages are there to college graduates? h) Click on the “Class Notes Available” link on the course home page. Then click on the “Lecture Series 1” link to open the first lecture series. NOTICE: The lecture notes are provided in two formats. PowerPoint format and Adobe PDF format. Scroll down the page to see the PDF format. What is a negative externality? What is a positive externality? Use the definitions given in the lecture notes. Why do you think that we are studying externalities in economics?
4. Now we are going to take a little test. That's right, a little test. The National Council on Economic Education has developed a twenty question multiple choice test to assess the economic literacy of the general population. You are to take this test. Your test will be instantaneously graded and the results will be sent to me by email. I will then determine the class average. We will take this test again at the end of the semester, and I hope that grades will improve significantly. a) Go to the home page for the course or access the “little test” from the Moodle site. b) Scroll down to the bottom of the course home page, and click on National Council on Economic Education, Economic Knowledge Exam appropriate for your class section. c) Read each question and select the best answer by moving your mouse to the little circle to the left of the answer you want, then click. d) If you change your mind about an answer, that's fine. Just put your mouse on the new answer and click. g) Submit your test. h) THIS “LITTLE TEST” HAS NO AFFECT ON YOUR GRADE IN THE COURSE!
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5. Submission of Class Labs a) Go to the Labs page on our course website. b) Click on the “Lab #2” link. A PDF version of the lab will come up. If you do not have the Adobe PDF reader, simply install it. The link is near the top of the home page of our class website. c) Print Lab #2 out and work through the lab. The responses are multiple choice for the most part, but you will need to do some reading and computations to determine the answers. I would circle the correct choice. d) When you have completed the hard copy of the lab, you are ready to submit your responses. On the Labs page of our course website, under Lab #2, you will see a “Moodle” link. Click on that link and you will be taken to Moodle. e) Login to Moodle and go to our course. You can click on “Quizes” and then “ARE 201 Lab #2”, or you can click on “ARE 201 Lab #2” in the weekly outline. f) The process from here is pretty intuitive. Record your responses and submit. g) You will be given two attempts for submitting labs. Before the most recent budget cuts, we used humans to grade the labs, students were given partial credit on some questions based on their work and computations. Partial credit and compassion is hard to do with computer grading. In order to mitigate that disadvantage to the student, I have decided to give students two attempts. The attempt with the highest grade will be recorded for grading purposes. h) After your first attempt, you will be give a score and told which questions were correct, and which questions were not correct. You will not be given an answer to the incorrect questions. But, you will know what questions you got wrong so that you can go back and figure out what you did wrong. i) Lab submissions will be opened at the start of an assignment and closed at the due date and time. If there are mitigating circumstances that result in you not being able to finish the lab on time, you need to email me ASAP so that we can negotiate and allow you to submit the lab a bit later. j) With any type of technology, I am sure there are going to be “snafus”. If you are on the receiving end of a “snafu”, don’t panic, don’t email me “hot and bothered”. I know this technology stuff is not perfect, some think it is, but it ain’t! I’ll work with you as long as you are being upfront and honest with me. I have no reason to doubt your word. If we don’t have some trust in this world, then transactions become very very expensive for all parties concerned. I trust someone until they
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give me a reason not to trust them. And, I did not fall off the turnip truck yesterday.
k) Do the labs and put in the effort to do the labs. If you don’t, the first exam will certainly wake you up. If you work the labs, read the lectures and do what I asked you to do, you will do just fine. Take some short cuts, you will just be shooting yourself in the foot. l) Things may seem a bit overwhelming at first, but they really are not, so don’t get scared off.