Welcome to Business Law (BUS-10-ON3) Online at Chabot College for Spring 2012!  In this syllabus, you will find a course overview, your class calendar--including assignments and key dates, the course grading structure, and information about your textbook.

Course Overview

Businesses operate within a clear but quite complex legal environment.  To become an effective business leader or small business owner, you need to understand that environment and be fluent in the language of business law.  In this course, you'll be introduced to the important concepts of torts, contracts, agency, business structures, and much more.  You'll develop legal research, critical thinking and writing skills, an impressive new business law vocabulary, and a solid appreciation for the benefits and constraints of our legal system.  Most importantly, you'll understand your legal rights as a consumer and employee, and your legal obligations as a businessperson.

You'll learn the basics of court and trial procedure.  You'll also learn how to minimize your business's legal risks, and how to maximize your legal protections.  You will learn to evaluate both sides of any legal issue, to carefully consider your legal options, to conduct some preliminary research before contacting an attorney.  You'll also learn important teamwork and communication skills that will be important in your career.

You'll learn all of this by studying case law, by analyzing cases and preparing legal plans, by debating legal issues with your classmates.  We'll compare the legal system as popularized by movies and television to the real legal system you'll encounter as a business leader.  You'll research a legal topic of your choice in depth to build your legal analysis skills.

This course is entirely online.  You do not need to come to campus.  The class is, however, very interactive.  You'll engage in discussions with your classmates each week, and you'll have assignments due to your instructor every week.  This will be a fast-paced, intensive, interesting class. 

You've made a good decision to focus on building your knowledge of business law.  Let's make that happen, and have some fun while we're at it!

Course Communications

You can reach me at:

• jnovak@chabotcollege.edu
• Office hours: 
  • Mondays, 2:30-3:30 p.m.
  • Tuesdays, 1:00-3:00 p.m.
  • Wednesdays, 2:30-3:30 p.m.
  • Thursdays, 1:00-2:00 p.m. (online only)
  • and by appointment

I am always in my office during office hours, and you can call me there if stopping by is inconvenient.  I'm also there many other times, so just call.  I check my email often, and this is the best way to reach me.  Also, remember to check the course website often for course materials and news.

Course Calendar and Assignments

More detail on weekly assignments is in each week's learning module.

Other key dates include:

• February 5th:  Last day to add or DROP a course if course is not to appear on transcript
• April 13th:  Last day to drop a course with a "W" on your transcript.

Grading Structure

Your grade will be determined as follows:

You may also earn up to 40 extra credit points.  You can earn 20 extra credit points by completing the Information Literacy extra credit project (week 6).  You may also earn 10 extra credit points for completing a short report on your progress in the class (week 10), and 5 extra credit points each for completing the interim (week 9) and final (week 18) course evaluations.

The grading scale is as follows:

A = 900 -1000 points

B = 800 - 899 points

C = 700 - 799 points

D = 600 - 699 points

F = less than 600 points

You'll also receive a "Get Out of Jail Free" opportunity that you can use to:

·         Drop your lowest online quiz grade

·         Drop your lowest discussion board grade

·         Earn 5 extra credit points (this is in addition to the 40 you can otherwise earn)

Textbook/Required Resources

 

Required Course Text:  West’s Business Law, 12th Edition, by Clarkson, Miller & Cross, Thomson/South-Western, 2012, Chabot College Custom Edition, ISBN:9781133046653.  This custom version contains only the chapters we cover in this course.  It is far less expensive and lighter weight than a new copy of the standard edition, but can only be purchased and resold at the Chabot bookstore.  You do NOT need an access code.  Buy online at http://www.chabotbookstore.com. This is a paperback book with a lime green cover with photos.  You can also use the standard edition (pictured to the left), which includes 22 additional chapters that we don't study in this course (the ISBN for the standard version is 9780538470827).  Please do NOT purchase the 11th edition of the book, as there have been very substantial changes in the new edition.

COMPUTER REQUIREMENTS:   Pentium II or equivalent PC, 64MB or more of RAM (128MB on Windows XP), 1 G of free disk space, 56Kbps or better modem, Windows 98SE, ME, 2000 with Service Pack 2 or later, or XP.  Java and cookies must be enabled.  If using a Mac, you'll need Mac OS 9 or OS X, 64MB of RAM, Virtual Memory turned on (set to 128), G3 233 or faster PowerPC, 56Kbps or better Internet connection.  Note to AOL users:  You must minimize the AOL browser and use Internet Explorer or Netscape to work with Blackboard.

Learner Accommodation Needs

If you are a disabled student and need special accommodations this semester, please let me know.  For more information, visit the Chabot Disabled Student Resource Center.

Academic Integrity

Teamwork is encouraged in this course, but cheating and plagiarism won't be tolerated.  Unless otherwise directed, your work should be original and the product of your OWN hard work and intellect.  Please refer to the handout on academic integrity in the Week 1 Learning Module for more information.  If cheating or plagiarism is detected on any quiz, exam, or other assignment, you will, at minimum, receive a zero on that assignment.  Note that Blackboard has tools that make it fairly easy to detect cheating.

Note

This syllabus is subject to change throughout the semester.  Any changes will be announced on the course website, and the syllabus posted on the website will always be the most current version.