1. Academics: American university systems
Required reading / viewing / listening:
None.
Homework due:
Homework 2 (2 points)
Briefly (in 250 to 400 words) describe your strengths and weaknesses as a university student, and your plans to improve the areas where you have weaknesses.
In-class assessment:
Quiz 2
Quiz questions will be drawn from the list below. Answers can be found in the UNYP Student Guide and/or lectures and class discussions.
Briefly define "continuous assessment."
The highest/best grade on the grading scale is:
The lowest/worst grade on the grading scale is:
Attendance is / is not required at all course meetings.
What information can you find in a course outline / syllabus (check all that apply)
What level is this course: UNYP 99101 Introduction to University Studies
The UNYP Honor Code specifically mentions which two offenses?
Courses in which you earn a D+ or below will / will not be accepted for transfer or counted towards a bachelor's degree by State University of New York, Empire State College or most other universities.
"GPA" stands for:
The lowest / worst GPA is:
The highest / best GPA is:
To be in "good academic standing," you must have a cumulative GPA of at least:
To be accepted by State University of New York, Empire State College as a student after your first two years of study, you must have a GPA of at least:
Define "pre-requisite course."
True / False: If you do not maintain a GPA of at least 2.00, you may be dismissed from UNYP.
If you would like to review your final exam for a course, you must contact:
A final course grade can only be changed if:
If you disagree with a grade you have received, you should contact:
An academic semester is how many weeks long at UNYP on the daily programs?
When does the withdrawal period usually end?
The exam period is how many weeks on the daily programs?
Where can you find a copy of the Academic Calendar? (Check all that apply)
Where can you find a copy of the semester's schedule of all classes? (Check all that apply)
Notes:
General Education: 10 knowledge and skill areas
* Mathematics
* Natural Sciences
* Social Sciences
* American History
* Western Civilization
* Other World Civilizations
* Humanities
* The Arts
* Foreign Language
* Basic Communication
General Education: 2 competencies
* Critical Thinking (Reasoning)
* Information Management
State University of New York, Empire State College
Prague Program Director - Evelyn Wells
From: J. Bradford DeLong, Claudia Goldin, and Lawrence F. Katz, in H. Aaron, et al., eds., Agenda for the Nation, Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution (2003).
pp. 20-21:
The United States led the world in mass education during the nineteenth century and substantially widened its lead over much of the twentieth century. It forged ahead by instituting mass secondary schooling early in the twentieth century and by establishing a flexible and multifaceted higher education system. And early in the twentieth century, the United States achieved the world's highest per capita income - a position that it maintained for the remainder of that century. The twentieth century can thus be thought of not only as the 'American century' but as the 'human-capital century.'
The twentieth century became the human-capital century because of wide-ranging changes in business, industry, and technology that increased the demand for particular cognitive skills. The early twentieth century rise of big business and or large retail, insurance, and banking operations, for example, generated increased demand for literate and numerate office workers. As technological changes - in industries ranging from petroleum refining to food processing - intensified the use of science in industry, demand increased not only for professionals and office workers but for educated blue-collar workers. The relative value of workers who could read blueprints and knew algebra, geometry, chemistry, and some physics increased enormously with electrification, with the spread of the internal combustion engine, and with the increased use of complex chemical processes. Farmers who understood chemistry, botany, and accounting had a competitive edge over their less educated neighbors. Education beyond the elementary grades was no longer just for the professionals. It was for all.
p. 27:
Changes in the wage structure are largely shaped by a race between the rising demand for skills, which is driven by technological changes and industrial shifts in employment, and an increasing supply of skills, which is driven by immigration, demographic shifts, and changes in educational investment across cohorts. Throughout the twentieth century, demand shifted toward industries and occupations that employed workers with higher than average levels of education. At the same time, technological change also increased the demand for well-educated workers, both within industries and within occupations. From 1915 to the 1970s, when increasing supply more than offset the added demand for skilled workers, educational wage differentials narrowed. Since 1980, demand for well-educated workers has outpaced supply, and educational wage differentials have been rising as a consequence.
Countries in which increases in educational attainment have recently slowed - including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada - have experienced greater increases in educational wage differentials, especially for younger cohorts, than have countries where educational attainment has continued to expand rapidly, such as France, Germany, and the Netherlands.
p. 29:
For nearly fifty years, economic analysis has shown that an increase in the quality of the labor force will boost output. [...]
Analysts disagree on the precise importance of the different channels by which education affects economic growth, but they concur that the overall effect of education on growth is large. Research comparing economic growth among different countries has found that per capita output increases more rapidly in nations that have both a high level of educational attainment and rapid growth in educational attainment.
p. 31-32:
Although the contribution is difficult to quantify precisely, increases in educational attainment also made a large indirect contribution to economic growth by fueling innovation and the diffusion of new technologies into the work place. Businesses with better-educated workers adapted new technologies sooner and showed greater productivity benefits from investments in information technology. Furthermore, highly educated labor is the primary input into research and development (R&D), and some estimates suggest that the intensity of R&D has been a significant (and possibly the largest measurable) contributor to growth in U.S. labor productivity over the past fifty years.
* Critical Thinking (Reasoning)
* Information Management
State University of New York, Empire State College
Prague Program Director - Evelyn Wells
From: J. Bradford DeLong, Claudia Goldin, and Lawrence F. Katz, in H. Aaron, et al., eds., Agenda for the Nation, Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution (2003).
pp. 20-21:
The United States led the world in mass education during the nineteenth century and substantially widened its lead over much of the twentieth century. It forged ahead by instituting mass secondary schooling early in the twentieth century and by establishing a flexible and multifaceted higher education system. And early in the twentieth century, the United States achieved the world's highest per capita income - a position that it maintained for the remainder of that century. The twentieth century can thus be thought of not only as the 'American century' but as the 'human-capital century.'
The twentieth century became the human-capital century because of wide-ranging changes in business, industry, and technology that increased the demand for particular cognitive skills. The early twentieth century rise of big business and or large retail, insurance, and banking operations, for example, generated increased demand for literate and numerate office workers. As technological changes - in industries ranging from petroleum refining to food processing - intensified the use of science in industry, demand increased not only for professionals and office workers but for educated blue-collar workers. The relative value of workers who could read blueprints and knew algebra, geometry, chemistry, and some physics increased enormously with electrification, with the spread of the internal combustion engine, and with the increased use of complex chemical processes. Farmers who understood chemistry, botany, and accounting had a competitive edge over their less educated neighbors. Education beyond the elementary grades was no longer just for the professionals. It was for all.
p. 27:
Changes in the wage structure are largely shaped by a race between the rising demand for skills, which is driven by technological changes and industrial shifts in employment, and an increasing supply of skills, which is driven by immigration, demographic shifts, and changes in educational investment across cohorts. Throughout the twentieth century, demand shifted toward industries and occupations that employed workers with higher than average levels of education. At the same time, technological change also increased the demand for well-educated workers, both within industries and within occupations. From 1915 to the 1970s, when increasing supply more than offset the added demand for skilled workers, educational wage differentials narrowed. Since 1980, demand for well-educated workers has outpaced supply, and educational wage differentials have been rising as a consequence.
Countries in which increases in educational attainment have recently slowed - including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada - have experienced greater increases in educational wage differentials, especially for younger cohorts, than have countries where educational attainment has continued to expand rapidly, such as France, Germany, and the Netherlands.
p. 29:
For nearly fifty years, economic analysis has shown that an increase in the quality of the labor force will boost output. [...]
Analysts disagree on the precise importance of the different channels by which education affects economic growth, but they concur that the overall effect of education on growth is large. Research comparing economic growth among different countries has found that per capita output increases more rapidly in nations that have both a high level of educational attainment and rapid growth in educational attainment.
p. 31-32:
Although the contribution is difficult to quantify precisely, increases in educational attainment also made a large indirect contribution to economic growth by fueling innovation and the diffusion of new technologies into the work place. Businesses with better-educated workers adapted new technologies sooner and showed greater productivity benefits from investments in information technology. Furthermore, highly educated labor is the primary input into research and development (R&D), and some estimates suggest that the intensity of R&D has been a significant (and possibly the largest measurable) contributor to growth in U.S. labor productivity over the past fifty years.
