First Year Seminar.

Confidentiality and Ownership. All materials you submit in this course may be used to demonstrate computer-enhanced instruction. I am often called upon to speak to other universities and various Wake Forest constituencies. My points carry greater impact when they include real life examples from the classes I teach. I’m careful about the material used, and whenever possible aliases are cited. In fact, you are not likely either to become embarrassed, or famous. In any case, enrollment in this section represents permission for me, with discretion, to use in these presentations the materials you submit to the class. Of course I will keep confidential your grades, your private communications with me, and your interview summary. When submitting materials, please use your initials or only your first name.

1. To introduce Wake Forest Freshmen to the liberal-arts idea that they are in college to learn how and why different people think & decide in different ways. Specifically, their job is to figure learn the basic concepts used by the 40 professors with whom they will be studying. This is a course about the liberal arts. Economics is used to illustrate the point.
2. To maximize the opportunity of "my" students to learn the campaign process---especially poll taking and financing---as a consequence of Wake Forest’s hosting of one of the Presidential Debates.
3. To increase students’ appreciation of the many different but valid views that different cultures have of the same events.
4. To encourage students to become proficient in the use of the computer as a tool to enhance their learning, especially via the building of stronger communities.
5. To grow the capacity to apply in everyday life, the basic concepts from the field of economics.

My belief is that students learn best when encouraged to apply basic concepts (in this instance the concepts used by economists) to their daily lives. Our approach in this course is to provide brief overviews of the concepts, send folks out to apply the concepts they’ve just learned, re-study the concepts in greater detail, and finally re-send folks to apply their now more sophisticated understandings to real world situations.

When we re-study the economic concepts there is a "cycle of activity" that is repeated four times, for the four concepts. Students first read the assigned text, and read my lecture notes (usually distributed in advance). Then, while in class, after a brief lecture, students craft their own 1-2 sentence definition of the concept-of-the-day, and collaborate with classmates to perfect each others’ definitions. After class each student locates a newspaper story that reflects the use of the concept-under-study, writes a one page essay that relates the concept to the story, submits the draft essay for suggestions-for-improvement to a subgroup of classmates (and an alumni volunteer), redrafts the essay on the basis of these suggestions and submits the final essay to the professor. The essay is graded and returned, with the professor’s comments, to the entire class.

Another educational believe I have is that students learn more when they work collaboratively: thus, there are within the course many team assignments and one’s final grade is partly dependent upon how much help has been given to classmates. And I believe that students learn more when they are interested in the material: thus, the linkage to Wake Forest Presidential Debate.

This course is intentionally "front-loaded." You will typically need to spend more time on the course at the beginning of the semester and less toward the end. This "design" should complement the work demands in other courses, where work requires tend to increase toward the end of the semester.

Wed, Aug 30—Presentation re Course Concept. Review of Future Assignments. Team Building. Explanation of our Course File-Cabinet-in-the-sky (Course Info). Prior to class send me by email a short profile about who you are, one that you would like me to share with the rest of the class. Included in the profile might be your hometown, major extra curricular interests in high school, summer job, Wake Forest address, intended major (if known), and other information that could help your colleague students get to know you better.

Fri, Sept 1---Teams meet with Dr. Brown to discuss their Web-Page Assignment. Times will be arranged so that every member of every team can make "their" meeting. Dr. Brown’s office is in 210 Reynolda Hall. His assistant’s name is Janice Schuyler.

One of the more comprehensive sites re the campaign is at c-span. This may be a helpful resource at http://www.c-span.org/campaign2000/ There are also many interesting citations in Dr. Allan Louden’s course syllabus: at http://www.wfu.edu/~louden/PresDebateClasssyl.htm

---http://ingrimayne.saintjoe.edu/econ/introduction/scarcitynchoice.html

---Paragraph titled, "There’s No Such Thing as a Free Lunch" at http://woodrow.mpls.frb.fed.us/pubs/region/98-12/dahl.html

Wed, Sept 6--- Comparative Advantage, Marginal Benefit & Cost

---Paragraph titled "Trade Promotes Growth" at http://woodrow.mpls.frb.fed.us/pubs/region/98-12/dahl.html

---Paragraph titled "Thinking Incrementally" at http://woodrow.mpls.frb.fed.us/pubs/region/98-12/dahl.html

Wed, Sept 6---Campaign Finance Team Only. Submit a rough draft of your proposed web page. This page does not need to be in final form. It will not "go public" until October 4^th.

Fri, Sept 8 & Mon, Sept 11--- Actively participate in the discussion of the "issue of campaign finance" with Advanced Placement Students from 77 high schools around the country. At a minimum, enter three different substantive comments in to the threaded discussion. [Place duplicate copies of your responses in our Course Info Discussion Forum. Come prepared on Monday to comment in class upon your reaction to this form of discussion.] Some of the more interesting web sites relating to the "campaign reform" as an issue in the Presidential Campaign have been identified by Wake Forest’s Professor Jack Fleer as—

---algore2000.com and www.georgewbush.com (for remarks and proposals on campaign

finance eform by major party presidential candidates)

--- http://www.policy.com/ explores major issues and proposals in the campaign finance

debate in an objective and informed manner;

--- http://www.brook.edu/GS/CF/CF_HP.HTM Brookings Institution/campaign finance reform project, is a major academic "think tank" that explores various dimensions of campaign finance as a public policy issue;

---http://www.destinationdemocracy.org examines "routes" to campaign finance reform

and presents pros and cons of various proposals;

---http://www.aclu.com a major individual rights organization that expresses First

Amendment "free speech" objections to major campaign finance regulations;

---commoncause.com a major advocate of significant reform of the campaign finance system, including public financing of congressional campaigns and significant restrictions of soft money and issue advocacy

---Campaign finance information for recent elections for president, U.S.

House and U.S. Senate cam be found at the sites of Federal Elections Commission (http://www.fec.gov/) and Center for Responsive Politics (http://www.opensecrets.org/home/index.htm ).

---Paragraph titled "Markets Coordinate Consumption and Production" at http://woodrow.mpls.frb.fed.us/pubs/region/98-12/dahl.html

---Description of basic method at http://www.wmich.edu/bios150/investigation.html

Wed, Sept 13---Hypothesis Testing, Risk and Return, and Stock and Flow.

---Meaning of Rick & Return and Present Value at http://ingrimayne.saintjoe.edu/econ/MaximizingBeha/PresentValue.html

---Special Assignment #3 (available only to registered Wake Forest students in the CourseInfo file at Communication/Discussion/Special Reading Assignments)

About stock and flow, read

---Description of a Balance Sheet at http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~ohioline/cd-fact/1154.html

---Description of a Profit & Loss Statement at http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~ohioline/cd-fact/1153.html

Fri, Sept 15—All class members (including members of the International Perspectives Team) should submit (via email) at least one question they hope to ask Canadian students during class on Monday. Questions should be submitted to all five members of the International Perspectives Team & Dr. Brown. (Sometime over the weekend members of the International Perspectives Team should meet to decide how they plan to conduct class on Monday.)

Mon, Sept 18—A Canadian Perspective on the Campaign. Canadian students (and one of their professors) will join Professor Brown in Nova Scotia (at Acadia University) to discuss, via two-way video conference, questions raised by the class in W-S. In preparation for this class, each student should prepare a question for our guests. Also, please search through Sept 2000 Canadian newspapers and share the URLs of the commentaries (on the US presidential campaign) with all members of the class, including your professor. This class session will be led by the International Perspectives Team. This class will be held in the DeTamble Room in Tribble Hall. DeTamble is reached by entering the middle doors (across from Benson) and walking straight through the lobby to the "back" of the building.

Wed, Sept 20—How to Create a Web Page. Giz Womack from the Library Staff will teach this class. After the class you should submit a web page that is a portfolio of your achievements. It is anticipated that this portfolio will be supplemented throughout your four years at Wake Forest so that it might be useful in gaining summer jobs, additional scholarships, admission to graduate and professional schools, as well as after graduation jobs. This web page is due September 25, no later than 6 P.M. You may submit the page as an email attachment, or in the dropbox within CourseInfo, or simply email a URL at which the page can be found.

Mon, Sept 25—Student Opinion Re the Campaign and the Debate. Prior to class consult the site at http://speakout.com. Spend some time with the site, especially on the "results" page. The Student Opinion Team will be responsible for conducting this class. The session will highlight a speaker from the company, Speakout.com. This person will highlight concepts used in the construction of their site. Come to class prepared to ask questions about how and why they have constructed the site the way they have. Before leaving class, email brown@wfu.edu several sentences about at least one of the concepts that you believe our speaker has used to guide the development of the speakout.com site.

Wed, Sept 27--- How to Use Electronic Resources Available in the Library. Elizabeth Leonard from the Library Staff will teach this class. During class you will be asked to locate specific resources within the library. If you do not complete the exercises in class, you must complete them by no later than Midnight, Sunday, October 1^st.

Mon, Oct 2—Class discussions re the debates. Class participants will attend one of several specified lectures during the "week of study about the campaign" which is being sponsored by our Dept of Politics. Each participant is to submit a one page summary of insights gained as a consequence of attending "their" lecture. These submissions, due by 10 AM on Monday, will be the topic of discussion in class.

Tues, Oct 3---Final Web Pages are due. Each team should submit for approval by Dr. Brown their final web page (or web pages). The intent is to have these pages up and available to the public by no later than October 4^th.

Wed, Oct 4—Same as Oct 2, with different specified lectures and a Wed by 10 AM due date. Also, final web pages will go public.

Mon, Oct 9—Guest appearance by one or two of our interviewees. Each will be asked to speak for 15 minutes on his/her "way of thinking". Each speaker will be asked to speak to the issue of "what principles do you use when making decisions about the campaign and/or what to ‘cover’ about the campaign?" Question-answer will follow. During class, each student will be responsible for authoring a paragraph re an insight he/she has gained during this session (the guest speakers will be asked to respond to the insights). The guests will be people who are in town because of the Debate, probably foreign journalists.

DURING THIS CLASS 42 ELDERHOSTEL PARTICIPANTS WILL JOIN US AS OBSERVERS. THEY WILL GET THEIR TURN TO ASK QUESTIONS OF THE GUEST-PRESENTORS AFTER 3:15 PM. THIS CLASS WILL BE HELD IN THE IS BUILDING, ROOMS 224 AND 225. BRING YOUR COMPUTERS, AS USUAL. [If you are willing and able to stay around after class, both the speakers and some of the Elderhostel people will likely want to talk with you. However, if you need to move on, fine.]

Also, on Monday, Oct 9, from 6-8 PM, attend the Presidential Election Symposium, held in the Large Courtroom at the Law School. This room is in Worrell Hall, in the back right-hand corner of the building. Plan to arrive by 5:45 in order to get a seat. This symposium will be moderated by Jack Ford (ABC NEWS 20/20). Panelists will be distinguished law professors from Yale, Wake Forest, Virginia, and Duke.

Wed, Oct 11—Same as Oct 9, with different guests. Whether we go with one or two guests, depends upon the guests who are available. Be sure to watch the Debate!

Mon, Oct 16—Aftermath: What were your impressions of the debate? Before class (by 10 AM) submit a poem, a picture-with-commentary, or a one –to-two page essay about the debate as you experienced it. Our class discussion will focus upon these comments. It is not necessary to link comments to "ways of thinking" but when such linkages are natural, they should be made.

Wed, Oct 18—Best Web Sites. Student teams of two are each responsible for searching and annotating up to 5 web sites that they judge to be the most useful when attempting to learn "their" economists’ concept (e.g. comparative advantage). Each team will be assigned one of our seven concepts. During class, three of the teams (opportunity cost, comparative advantage, marginal cost and benefit) will be given 20 minutes each to "teach" the rest of the class while using their one or two favorite sites. Within 48 hours after class each class member is expected to add a comment to the course discussion file that helps other students use each set of sites productively (i.e. three comments are expected, one for the sites relating to each concept).

Sat, Oct 21—Opportunity Cost Rough Draft Paper Due at 6 PM. (Submit rough draft paper to your group in CourseInfo at Discussion Board.) Your comments on papers-submitted-by-others-in-your-subgroup are due by Monday, Oct 23, at 6 PM. Your revised paper is due to me (attach to an email) by 6 PM Tuesday, Oct 24. (Name your Saturday submission as oppcostrdb, using your own initials instead of db. Name your Monday submission as oppcostfdb, again using your own initials instead of db.) Your paper grade for the week will be based upon the quality of your final paper (not the rough draft) and the quality of the comments you make on the papers of others in your subgroup.

Mon, Oct 23—Best Web Sites. Student teams again present, this time four teams present re supply & demand, stock & flow, risk & return, and hypothesis testing. After class comments are again due within 48 hours after class. Also, actively participate in the discussion of the "issue of Internet regulation" with Advanced Placement Students from 77 high schools around the country. At a minimum, enter three different substantive comments in to the threaded discussion. [Place duplicate copies of your responses in our Course Info Discussion Forum. Come prepared on Monday to comment in class upon your reaction to this form of discussion.] If you prefer, you may enter the threaded discussion on Friday, October 20^th.

Sat, Oct 28---Comparative Advantage Rough Draft Papers Due at 6 PM. Use titles of compadvrdb and compadvfdb, using your own initials for db. Comments are due Oct 30 and final papers are due Oct 31.

Mon, Oct 30---Three Computer Tip Talks. Assignments that follow up on the talks will be due one week after each talk.

Sat, Nov 4---Stock and Flow Papers Due at 6 PM. Use titles of stockflowrdb and stockflowfdb, using your own initials for db. Comments are due Nov 6 and final papers are due Nov 7.

Mon, Nov 6---Three Computer Tip Talks. Assignments that follow up on the talks will be due one week after each talk.

Tues, Nov 7---Election Night. Dinner at the home of Lin and Dave Brown, 4541 Chinaberry. 6:00-8:30 PM.

Wed, Nov 8—Discussion of campaign in relation to the election outcome. Stock and Flow Papers Discussed.

Sat, Nov 11---Paper re Marginal Benefits and Costs is due at 6 PM. Use titles margrdb and margfdb, using your own initials for db. Comments are due Nov 13 and final papers are due Nov 14.

Mon, Nov 13—Three Computer Tip Talks. Assignments that follow up on the talks will be due one week after each talk.

Wed, Nov 15---Special Presentation by Cliff Clarke. Mr. Clarke founded a company that trains business executives how to think and behave in unfamiliar countries & cultures. He has spent much of his life in Asian cultures and now lives in Hawaii. This class session will focus upon contrasting the ways people think in different cultures.

Tues, Nov 29—Three Computer Tip Talks. Paper re Parents’ Way of Thinking is due in final draft. (You may, at an earlier date, share your rough draft with your group but it is anticipated that the final paper will be submitted to me by 6 PM.)

Wed, Nov 30—Three Computer Tip Talks. Assignments that follow up on the talks will be due one week after the talk.Boston

Mon, Dec 11 (2PM) or Sat Dec 16 (9AM)--- Final Exam (Class will vote re preferred alternative.)

1. Each team will prepare a web site that is accessible by the public.
2. The purposes of this assignment are (a) to provide practice in applying the economists’ way of thinking and (b) to improve the quality of this and future presidential debates & campaigns.
3. The economic principles that are likely to be especially relevant in this project are hypothesis testing, comparative advantage, and marginal (benefit vs cost) thinking. (It is not necessary to relate all 9 economic concepts to the project.)
4. All web pages should be designed to be useful to a broad spectrum of the public. They should include interesting graphics, and load relatively quickly.
5. Giz Womack, Information Technology Specialist in the Library, has agreed to be available for special consultation re the construction of your web pages. He can be especially helpful in giving advice about where to locate certain items on the Internet and on the mechanics of the web page itself. [It is not his job, however, to actually construct a web page for your group. The way you will learn is to do it.] To access Giz’s advice, there are several simple ground rules: think ahead and don’t expect anything to get done at the last minute. Mr. Womack has kindly agreed to advise members of our class at certain specified hours. Your team must sign up in advance if you wish to meet with him (Go to the CourseInfo file under Communication/Discussion/Womack to see the hours available and to sign up. Mr. Womack’s office is in the Technology Services Area of the Reynolds Library (from the front door it’s "straight ahead" on the same level as you enter).
6. Each team is responsible for submitting a Final Draft Page to the instructor (for approval to publish) by no later than 6 PM, Monday, October 2^nd. The web pages are to be up and available for public viewing by no later than 6PM, Wednesday, October 4^th. (It is expected that additional materials will be added to websites after Oct 4.)

Brian Carroll carrbm0@wfu.edu

Billy Cobb cobbwm0@wfu.edu

Kelly Mahan mahakm0@wfu.edu

Dylan Morris morrdt0@wfu.edu

Sarah Poupalos poupsb0@wfu.edu

Bob Mills millsrd@wfu.edu (consultant)

Mike Riley MikeRi@roanoke.com (consultant)

Offer Extended (mentor)

1. Your specific task is to produce a web page that relates to student opinions re the candidates, the campaign and/or the Wake Forest Debate. It is expected that your team will update the page when new data become available.
2. Your mission is to increase public understanding of student opinions regarding the candidates, the campaign and/or the Wake Forest Debate. The relevant students may be only Wake Forest, only college (including other universities), or include HS students as well. You may collect your own data but I believe you will be better off giving visibility to data collected by others, and by analyzing-interpreting those data.
3. You should take advantage of the opportunity to help out with the Wake Forest student effort. Here the contact person is Nancy Crouch in IS. (If you do volunteer, be sure to let me know about your experience.)
4. Your team will be responsible for leading the class session on September 25^th (check out the syllabus for that date).. At that time I hope to have a leader from Speakout.com interact with the class. I will be joining the class from Moncton, NF, CA. (if the appropriate arrangements can be made). Be sure to check out the site at http://speakout.com.
5. A major part of your task will be to develop specific hypotheses that can be confirmed (or denied) by the data available. You will also want to provide links to websites that provide data re the student perspective.
6. Within Wake Forest’s administration, the main contact with speaker.com is Mr. Robert Mills in the Development Office. You should feel free to contact him for advice.
7. A short (several paragraphs) essay re how the Gore and the Bush Campaigns are using polling data could be very interesting. Background for such a paragraph could be developed by talking with someone from each campaign staff.

Dave Barrett barrda0@wfu.edu

Nate Burns burnnf0@wfu.edu

Kimberly Gaulin gaulka0@wfu.edu

Mary Lyn Marquardt maraqml0@wfu.edu

Daniel Niccum niccdm0@wfu.edu

Ed Turlington eturlington@brookspierce.com (consultant)

Bobby Burchfield (consultant)

Patty Stiles pattystiles@symbius.com (mentor)

1. Your specific task is to create a web page that helps "thinking individuals" determine for themselves the extent to which the Bush and Gore Campaign strategies are shaped by the availability of dollars. (This topic differs from the one studied by the Advanced Placement Classes: they have been considering "campaign financing" as one among many issues on which the two primary candidates have differing views).
2. Your team will play a leadership role in the discussion of campaign-financing-as-a-campaign-issue. Very early in the course (on September 8^th and 11^th) you will interact with Advanced Placement students from 77 high schools across the country. This early date (one set by others) will push this group to do its work early. Specifically, I hope to meet with the group on August 30^th (the day after our first class).
3. You will find it very helpful to attend a special session re the creation of web pages. This will be led by Giz Womack in 204 Reynolds Library at 4 PM on Tuesday, September 5^th. Please go in CourseInfo to Communication/Discussion Board/Giz Womack in order to indicate that you will in fact be attending that special session. You are to submit a non-public, rough draft of your web page (that will eventually be posted for public review on October 4^th) by September 6^th.
4. The "Campaign Financing Web Site" should include an annotated list of quality sites that relate to the topic, a summary of the facts about campaign finance, links to thoughtful commentaries on the topic, hypotheses re the impact of funds upon the campaign, (where possible) an assessment of hypotheses, an analysis of where the two candidates have so far spent their monies, and other matters as deemed appropriate by the team.
5. The team will wish to visit the website developed by Wake Forest Professor Jack Fleer. Indeed, you may wish to arrange a visit with him about your webpage.
6. An early meeting with Giz Womack, advisor re the development of web pages, would be wise.
7. It will be particularly important that this particular website reflect an impartiality in respect to the two major political campaigns.
8. You are urged to seek advice re what to include on your page from your alumni mentors. [To be named soon.] Prior to contacting them, we suggest that you develop, as a team, a list of questions. They expect a contact from you. Please check with Janice Schuyler to get their phone or email.
9. You may wish to try to stimulate a discussion of campaign financing within a portion of the Wake Forest student body (e.g. one of your residence halls). Or, you may wish to approach the topic in some truly imaginative ways.

Jeanne Slater slatjm0@wfu.edu

Cliff Clarke CHClarke@Clarke.com (consultant)

1. Your specific task is to produce a web page that makes people in the United States aware of how our presidential campaign is being viewed by people in other countries. Providing links to some of the more significant literature will be an important first step. It will be equally important to categorize and organize some of these materials around a set of hypotheses.
2. During the week of the Presidential Debate we anticipate that a number of journalists from other countries will be on campus. As a team, you should seek out interviews with two or three of these people. It is likely that the most productive focus will be upon contrasting and comparing the US campaign with the campaigns most familiar to their countries. You probably should develop a list of questions for the journalists, such as "what is the hardest point you have to get across to your readers?" To get access to the reporters, you should contact the Office of New Service (which is headed by Kevin Cox). This should be done prior to Debate Week. [You should anticipate that some of the journalists you interview will, in turn, want to interview you.]
3. On September 18 our class will interact with a group of students from Acadia University (in Nova Scotia, Canada). Your instructor will be in Canada with the Acadia students. You will be responsible for leading the class. Consult the list of assignments under September 18^th for more detail. For our class with Acadia, what do you believe you must tell them in advance? What questions are you going to ask? How do you plan to analyze their answers? How will their answers contribute to your web page? Are you going to encourage them to ask questions of our class?
4. Two "friends of the university," both of whom have considerable international experience, have been contacted about advising your group. I expect a response soon. Both are currently living outside the U.S. In your initial contact I would suggest that you explain the mission of your group. Then, after you have rough drafted you web page, it will be good to get their reactions. Remember that they will need some time to react: you cannot expect instant turnaround.
5. Because the views of those outside the U.S. are likely to change over time, it will be important for your team to update your web page around October 25^th.
6. It will probably make sense for your team to divide up the tasks. An early meeting with Giz Womack would be wise.

Each student is responsible for teaching the rest-of-the-class about a specific use of our computers. The focus should be upon those uses that are most likely to increase learning. Each student will choose one of the following topics (without duplication):

• PowerPoint with Audio

• Web Search Engines and Strategies

• Portfolio Design and Tips

• Chart Wizard

• Lotus Screen Can

• Excel Spreadsheets

• Photo Editor

• File Management

• Create & Monitor Web Listserv

• Special E-mail features

• WIN features

• Free Graphics
• Back Up Strategies
• Show how a site can be developed for a committee or special interest group
• Course Info System
• My.Yahoo and My.Wake Forest

Each computer tip talk should---

• Motivate fellow-students to learn the technique covered
• Relate to software loaded on our computers or downloadable free
• Run between 10-15 minutes
• Be accompanied by a one-page step-by-step description of what to do
• Have a "hands on" component
• End with a 5-20 minute practice exercise to be completed by all students after class

In preparing your talk, consultation with friends, RTAs, library trainers, and other computer experts is encouraged. At least 24 hours prior to each talk, a one page tutorial must be submitted to me. (This one page tutorial may be accompanied by hyperlinks and/or lotus screencam tapes, etc.)

When developing your speech I recommend that you---

• Identify and assemble materials that will be useful.
• Select no more than three main points to be made.
• Decide what evidence (or information) you need to support each point.
• Don’t overestimate how much your audience knows.
• Relate your subject to things that interest class members.
• Remember to get each class member involved
• Summarize what you have taught at the end of your speech.

Immediately following each computer tip talk, all members of the class are to send an e-mail to the speaker commenting upon the clarity, competency, and credibility of the presentation. Your responsibility is to help the speaker grow, so that next time his/her speech can be even more effective. Without passing judgment re whether the speech was an "A" or a "D," write a paragraph to the speaker with a copy to the instructor. Included in your comments might be (a) your reaction to the speech, (b) whether you learned the computer technique that was being taught, and (c) whether you are excited to learn more.

Speaking Opportunities. Throughout the semester I will likely be asking each of you if you would like to talk about your educational uses of the computer to various outside groups with whom I work. These are excellent opportunities to practice speaking and to make contacts. Please keep me informed re whether you would like more or fewer of these opportunities. (Participation or non-participation in these outside speaking events will not directly affect your grade.)

Parent Interview. This interview is to take place over Thanksgiving Break and to be submitted soon thereafter. The interview should focus upon the principles that one of your parents often use to make decisions. These principles may have been learned while studying for a profession, may have been acquired while growing up in your grandparents’ home, may have been consciously adopted from heroes or mentors, may reflect the convictions of a group to which they belong, etc. It is likely that your interviewee will not have thought a lot about these principles, at least not in the way we focus upon them in this course. Yet, it is virtually certain that there are principles and concepts that are called forth when making many difficult decisions.

The essay you write should not exceed two pages. Unlike your other papers, this one is not to be submitted to your classmates (unless you want to).

If you will not be in a position to interview your parents over Thanksgiving Break, please seek permission from me to interview another person who you propose. [Such substitutions should be approved in advance of the interview.]

Identifying Best Web Sites. You will be paired with a classmate to prepare rated and annotated list of five internet sites that are particularly helpful in understanding one of our economic concepts. Your submission must include a statement of the criteria used to select and rate the sites. Each site should be annotated in 25 words or less (per site). Your rating (five stars is best) should be upon "the extent to which consultation of this site is likely to increase student understanding of the concept." You may wish to start your search by----

1. Simply entering the "opportunity cost" (substitute the concept you are researching) in several of the more popular search engines;
2. Consulting an economics reference site such as

http://www.econ.duke.edu/Quicklinks/econ.quicklinks.html

[For fun, at the Duke site, check out "jokes about economists!"]

3. Checking out the web sites identified by previous classes. Check in the "course documents" drawers that relate to your topic! Materials for previous courses are at the following URL’s: http://courseinfo.wfu.edu/courses/FYS100K and http://courseinfo.wfu.edu/courses/S2000_FYSK/. To reach these sites, copy one of the addresses, open Netscape Navigator, paste the copied address into the address box at the top of the page, click within the address box. When prompted for your ID-name and password (when trying to access these courses), you will need to use special procedures that are detailed in the "Course Information" drawer of our CourseInfo file.

Portfolio. You are expected to initiate a "professional portfolio" that includes statements about and samples of your work. This portfolio may be useful when applying for summer jobs, competing for graduate school admission, assessing career objectives, etc.

As with many things connected with our class, we are at the frontier of the Portfolio Movement. I predict that within five years almost all colleges will expect their graduates to leave with a portfolio, much like art students now leave with a collection of their works and reflections upon them.

Simply put, a portfolio is a collection of your reflections about the past, intentions about the future, and evidence regarding achievements. Its purposes: (1) to encourage thoughtful strategic planning for you-as-a-person, and (2) to help you communicate to others who you are, what you have done, and what you are capable of doing.

For our First Year Seminar class you will build a very simple portfolio. In your portfolio, please complete the exercises below. When you have completed them and incorporated the results into a web page, please send me a copy or point me to the correct URL. Here are the exercises:

A/ Reflect upon what you have learned during your first several months at Wake Forest! What experiences have most impacted "why you are?" In what ways?

B/ Reflect upon where you are headed (e.g., career or academic major)!

C/ Place in the electronic folder associated with your portfolio web page 3-10 documents that you would like preserved for the prupose of (perhaps) showing them to a future graduate school admissions committee, prospective employer or counselor!

For more information re the building of a portfolio, you may wish to refer to two excellent web sites: http://www.kzoo.edu/pfolio/manual/goals.html and http://www.kzoo.edu/pfolio/manual/outlining.html.

Class Council. The Class Council is made up of two members of the class. It serves as a liaison between students and professor. Its responsibility is to keep the professor aware of student attitudes toward the course, the assignments, etc. and to serve as an advisory body upon those issues referred to it by the professor or other students. All students are encouraged to speak with members of the class council, and to join the rest of us in taking responsibility for the success of our class. Class Council leaders are to be elected by the class.

We are especially fortunate that several loyal Wake Forest alums and friends have agreed to serve our class as Alumni Mentors and Adjunct Instructors. These successful, experienced alums are volunteering their time to help out on our projects and papers. You are urged to get to know them!

Serving as project advisors are—

• Ed Turlington (Campaign Finance). WF Alum. Raleigh Attorney. Former Deputy Campaign Manager for Bill Bradley. Former Executive Assistant to Governor James B. Hunt

• Bob Mills (Student Perspective). WF Alum. WF Assc VP for Institutional Advancement. WF Steering Committee for the Debate.

• Mike Riley (Student Perspective). WF Alum. WF Board of Visitors. Editor, Roanoke Times.

• Robert Eichfeld (International Perspective). WF Alum. Managing Director, Saudi American Bank, Riyadh.
• Chris Bernbrock (International Perspective). Marketing Specialist, Asia Pacific Region, IBM. Will be travelling through SE Asia for most of September.
• Cliff Clarke (International Perspective). WF Alum. Founder of a company that trains executives on how to behave in unfamiliar cultures. Orients WF Tokai students. Lives in Hawaii.
• (Campaign Finance)--- invitation outstanding

The project advisors expect to be consulted in early September. Hopefully, they will help you generate ideas concerning your web page. It may also be that they will be able to provide access to materials and people who might otherwise not be easy to reach. Each project team should contact their two project advisors no later than September 15^th.

The project advisors also expect to review and comment upon your "draft web page." Your team should plan to send a draft-for-comment to them several days prior to the October 2^nd deadline (when the draft page is due to the instructor).

Serving as economic-concept advisors are the following people---

• International Perspective Team: Dale Walker. WF Alum. WF Board of Visitors (Chair). Former President of both the Personal Financial Services at Ford Motor Credit and AIG Consumer Finance Corporation, New York.

• Finance Team: Patty Stiles. WF Alum. VP of several technology start-up companies. Former IBM Manufacturing Engineer. Cybrarian at Symbius Corporation (the Source for B2B Supply Chains), Chicago
• Student Team: (invitation outstanding)

The economic-concept advisors will, along with four students from your subgroup, comment upon each of your rough drafted economic concept papers (due in late October and early November). You should also feel free to email them for advice

Many Wake Forest students are helping out with the debate. All types of volunteer jobs are available. If you are interested, I suggest that you contact Nancy Crouch (crouch@wfu.edu) immediately. Indicate that you’re in my class and willing to work. Getting the most out of college involves getting involved! You may also sign up as a volunteer to help with the logistics of the debate itself at http://debate.wfu.edu/volunteer.html.

Members of the Student Perspective Team will find this volunteer service to be quite closely related to their overall tasks, and I therefore suggest with extra encouragement that they get involved.

20% Team Project (all members get same grade)

30% Papers (5% for each of 5 papers + 1% for comments on each paper)

20% Class Participation (5% best website bibliography + 5% questions for speakers + 5%

5% general + 5% helpfulness to others)

7% Debate Weeks (5% paper reacting to debate + 2% commentaries on speakers)

3% Portfolio

10% Computer Tip Talk (8% talk itself + 2% follow up)

10% Final Exam

Bonus--- At the end of the course I will ask each member of the class to name up to three other members of the class who have helped them most to learn the material. Those students who are named most frequently will receive "the benefit of the doubt" when their grade is borderline! Students who are not among those most frequently mentioned will not be penalized.