ABUS 321: Agribusiness Management

Course Description

ABUS 321 is an upper-division undergraduate course. It covers the application of economic and management principles to the planning, control, and organization of agribusiness firms.

Commitment to Equality and Respect

I strive to create a learning community that is safe, respectful, and inclusive of all identities. Students are encouraged to speak up and participate during class meetings with respectful consideration of others’ beliefs, backgrounds, and experiences. At any time during the semester, I welcome you to provide feedback on how the learning experience in this course can improve.

This is a required course in the agribusiness major.

Course prerequisites: ABUS 101 or equivalent

Course Modality

This course is implemented in person and meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:00 am to 9:50 am.

The schedule for each week is included in the course schedule. Attendance and participation is expected. In-class activities (handouts, group discussions, quizzes) are designed to help students understand class materials, relate theories with real-life examples, and promote in-person attendance. Each chapter is followed by a in-class quiz. Five chapters requires the completion of an assignment.

Lecture notes, in-class quizzes, assignments and other materials are all available on Canvas.

Course Design

The course materials on Canvas are organized into modules identified by Chapter and week. Each Chapter starts with lecture notes, follows with in-class activities in the forms of excel practices or handouts, and ends with a quiz and/or an assignment.

Email and Internet Access Requirements

Internet access is required to participate in this course. Class materials and announcements will be posted on Canvas. In addition, many tasks will be completed electronically. Students will need access to outlook account and Canvas to access course materials and complete course assessments.

Student Engagement

Student engagement with the course material is facilitated by in-class activities that require students to apply what they learned by completing practice, quizzes, and assignments.
Student-instructor interaction is encouraged by offering extra credits for answering quiz- or assignment-related questions.
Student-student interaction is facilitated by group discussion to help students understand class materials and relate theories with real-life examples.
Results of group work are recorded on whiteboards in class and then posted on Canvas.

Assessment of Student Learning

Course Learning Objective and Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to outline different functions of management, purpose of management, and the process of decision making in management.

Students will be able to apply economics principles to production, calculate revenue, cost, and profit to determine profit-maximizing input and output levels. Furthermore, students will be able to use marginal concepts to find profit-maximizing input and output levels.

Students will be able to assess financial status of agribusiness and reevaluate business strategy for future business.

Student will be able to apply concepts, principles and tools to real-world examples.

Survey

A midterm evaluation (not graded) is distributed after Exam 1 to help students self-evaluate their progress and help me identify students’ challenges towards this class.

Methods of Assessment, Grading Policy and Grade Breakdown

Handouts

Handouts will be given in class during the semester. Handouts are not graded.

Quizzes (100 points)

Quizzes will be given during the semester. Quizzes come in the form of in-class activity and group activity. There will be ten quizzes in total. You can re-take or makeup two quizzes of your choice before May 12th.

Assignments (100 points)

Assignments will be given throughout the semester. They are designed to prepare you for the exams and will be similar in style and content to both mid-term exams and the final. Feel free to ask questions as needed or work with other students, but you must turn in your own work. We will review assignments during class time. In addition, written feedbacks will be provided on canvas. Late assignment will not be accepted.

Exams (300 points)

There will be two exams during the semester, each covering approximately 1/3 of the course material. These exams will include multiple choice, fill-in, and graphing questions. The final exam is comprehensive-it will cover the last 1/3 of course material as well as all material learned during the semester. Late submission of exams will not be accepted.

Exam 1: Week 6; Online Exam (75 points)

Exam 2: Week 10; Online Exam (75 points)

Final: Week 16; Online Exam (150 points)

Extra Credits

If you participate solving questions from quizzes and assignments in class, you will earn extra 10% of quizzes or assignments points. For example, if you help solve quiz question, you will earn extra 1 point. 10 points maximum. You do not have to have the correct answer to participate.

Technology & Tools

Accessibility & UDL

Canvas:

Students have access to all class materials on Canvas.

Ally is promoted in this course.

This allows me to choose a more accessible format to present course content.

Zoom:

Office hours are available both in person and zoom.

Pronto:

Pronto is enable for less formal communication.

Google Form:

A google form is created for students to submit anonymous comment anytime during the semester.

Excel:

Excel is encourage to use to solve questions more efficiently.

Use of Canvas and Ally features to improve accessibility.

Canvas survey (student information survey) and anonymous midterm written evaluation are available for students to express comments for this course.

Class materials are offered in various formats (on paper and on Excel). Students have options to choose their preferred format in the exams.

Excel is used for this class. A step-by-step instruction on how to install excel is provided on the syllabus.

Opportunities for Active Learning

Group activities are designed throughout this course to engage students learning.

Data from local community are used to relate to real-world example.

Training in Course Design

I am participating the Quality Learning and Teaching (QLT) workshop currently. I applied Bloom’s cognitive taxonomy on students learning outcomes, learnt how to provide feedbacks on Canvas quizzes, and I am in the process of creating an introduction video for this course.

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