Class Participation, Professionalism and Attention to Detail

1. This course requires that you participate in class discussions. This means that you contribute to class discussions by relating your experiences, asking questions, making comments appropriate to the topics being discussed. Students will be assigned readings which will be discussed from time to time on the discussion board. In order for the discussions to be meaningful, each student must have read the assigned reading and make meaningful comments. Since participation plays a role in your final grade, it is essential that you have not only read the assignment, but have drawn conclusions of your own from the reading. You will present those conclusions on the discussion board.

2. When writing homework or posting on the discussion board, the proper use of English [spelling, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, etc.] is expected. Note: The discussion board is not "text messaging" so proper English is required. See Email and Netiquette Guidelines for more information -- http://people.wku.edu/rich.patterson/e-mail.htm
3. For this online class, participation is defined at completing assingments and taking exams. Merely logging on to the BlackBoard website is NOT considered participation in this class -- you must complete assignments/discussions/exams, etc. to be considered as participating. Please note that this policy is different than the generic policy issued by WKU.

4. All students are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner while online. Unprofessional behavior such as, but not limited to, the use of inappropriate language and/or rudeness toward any person will be considered a serious violation of this standard and will lower your grade accordingly. See Netiquette Guidelines for more information -- http://people.wku.edu/rich.patterson/e-mail.htm

5. Attention to detail entails following the directions and guidelines provided in the syllabus, FAQ's, exam information as well as email messages, announcements, and other information published on the course web site This would include, but is not limited to: having the appropriate subject line for homework email messages, name on homework, making an appointment to take exams in a timely manner, keeping email account operational, etc. Attention to detail plays a role in your overall final grade. The hospitality/tourism industry is a very detail oriented industry, so it begins here.

Exams

1. There will be four examinations. Each exam will cover designated material from the following or as indicated by the instructor:
   • The textbook
   • Supplemental reading assignments
   • Class notes
   • Class discussions [on the discussion board]
   • Homework
   • Industry news

2. The exams will cover only the material since the previous exam and/or as indicated by the instructor. Exams will be taken online during an "exam week" as announced by the instructor. Please note that an exam week is Monday through Thursday only -- exams are not given on Fridays.
• You must make an appointment to take exams at the online testing center which is located in Garrett Conference Center, Room 108 (DELO) at least 24 hours in advance of the exam if you live on or near Western's campus. The testing center will not allow students to make appointments for exams less than 24 hours before the exam day. To make an appointment do the following:

  1. Log in to TopNet as you normally do
  2. Click on "Student Services"
  3. Click on "Registration"
  4. Click on the "Online Exam Reservation" link at the bottom of the Registration page.

  The system will lead you through the process of making the reservation. Hopefully, only the dates established by your instructor for the exam will be shown. However this may not be the case so be sure to only select days that have been designated by the instructor. The system will confirm your date and time immediately and you will be able to print the confirmation page as a reminder.

  Be careful! Once you make your reservation and receive the confirmation you will not be able to change the reservation. Call 745-5122 to have the system reset if you make a mistake. You must then follow the instructions as before in TopNet to schedule your exam again.

• Arrangements can be made to take exams at the Glasgow campus if that is more convenient. See "Exam Information" on the course website for details on how to make appointments in Glasgow. Please note that you do not need to make a reservation on TopNet if you take your test in Glasgow or anywhere off the main campus. You must notify the instructor a minimum of a week in advance if you plan on taking the exam anywhere other than the testing center in Garrett (see the exam information page for complete information).

• You must have a picture ID with you in order to take the exam.



• Students who do not attend classes on Western's campus will take exams at a test site in the vicinity of their residence. Those students should contact the instructor at least three weeks before the first exam to coordinate an appropriate test site. Proctored test sites could be a public library, any school (elementary, middle or high), college or university, businesses, military facilities, WKU satellite campuses in E'town, Owensboro, etc. as long as they have access to the internet and an individual who is willing to be responsible for proctoring the exam. If you plan to take your exam off-campus, DO NOT register for the exam on TopNet -- you will register only with the exam site you have chosen. You must provide the instructor with the name, phone number and email address of the person who will proctor your exam at least a week prior to the exam. You will not be permitted to take the exam off campus unless the instructor has been able to contact the proctor.

  For a listing of sites that have agreed to proctor exams for Western students, go to the following web address: http://www.wku.edu/testing/Map/home.htm. Some of the sites listed have a fee involved with proctoring the exam. You are welcome to pay the fee but there are abundant "free" options available to you. Please keep in mind that you are not limited to the test centers listed on this web site, but if you want something different, it is incumbent on the student to find it. You are responsible for determining the hours of operation of your testing center and scheduling an appointment. All sites must be approved in advance by the instructor.

• Make your appointment early since students from all online classes across campus will be "competing" for the same time slots and the testing center can only test a limited number of students at the same time [limited by the number of computers they have]. You will need to be flexible because when they reach their limit in a certain time slot, you will need to choose another time. It is to your advantage to make a reservation early.
  
  
3. Exams in this course are typically multiple choice, true/false, and/or short answer questions. However, there is the possibility of having essay questions as well.

4. Students must take all exams during the designated exam week [again, Monday through Thursday only]. Students who miss exams for reasons other than those approved by the instructor, will automatically lose points off the make-up exam score for every day or part of a day the exam is not made up (see course requirements above). After three business days, the exam will be assigned a grade of zero and the exam cannot be made up. Students who fail to make an appointment to take their exam in a timely manner and require special accommodations will lose ten points off the exam if the exam is taken during the exam week, otherwise the schedule indicated in "course requirements" above will apply. Additional exam information can be found can be found at -- http://people.wku.edu/rich.patterson/271exams.htm.

5. Exam dates are as follows:* **
   • Exam 1--September 20 - 23, 2010 -- Chapters 1, 3, 4
   • Exam 2--October 18 - 21, 2010 -- Chapters 5, 6, 7, 8
   • Exam 3--November 15 - 18, 2010 -- Chapters 10, 11, 12, 14
   • Exam 4--December 13 - 16, 2010 -- Chapters 16, 17, 19
     *Exams dates are subject to change
     **Exams will be administered by appointment in Room 108, Garrett Conference Center for on-campus students or as coordinated with the instructor for off-campus students.

Evaluation and Determining Course Grade

• Exam 1 -- 14%
  Exam 2 -- 14%
  Exam 3 -- 14%
  Exam 4 -- 14%
  Project -- 15%
  Homework -- 15%
  Class Participation, Professionalism and Attention to Detail -- 14%
  
  Note: You might see a "points" score on the course website. Do not use the points score to determine your average in the class. Your average in the class is a "weighted average" based on the percentages above and the grades you receive for each item. If you use the points to calculate your average, you will typically get an average much higher than you actually have -- you think you have an "A" when you actually have a "D"!!!

• The due date for the Semester Project is no later than midnight Friday, December 3, 2010. Papers submitted after this date will be considered late (papers can come before this date -- this is the latest they can arrive). Late papers will automatically lose points for every day or part of a day they are late -- 10 points for one day late, 30 points for two days late, 70 points for three days late and an automatic zero after three days.
  
  

The grade for this course will not be determined by effort i.e. how hard you had to work on the course requirements or how many hours you had to work. The grade will be determined based on achievement and performance -- your meaningful accomplishments.

Grades when submitted are final and will not be changed unless there was a computational error or other error on the part of the instructor. If you need a certain grade in this course to maintain or increase your grade point average, you must put the appropriate amount of effort into the course requirements to earn that grade.

Academic Honesty

The following list describes the types of academic misconduct that will not be tolerated in any way in this class:

1. Cheating: Use of an unauthorized "aid" while taking a test, having another person take an exam or quiz in the place of the student, stealing an examination, using group work as an individual student's work, or unauthorized use of assistance from a lab or computer technician. Note: If a proctor at a test site sees/finds a paper or electronic device with course information during the exam, this will be considered as cheating and the student will receive a zero for the exam and possibly an "F" in the course. It is incumbent on the student to assure that all books, papers, notes, and electronic devices that contain course information are securely stored away -- there is a no tolerance in this area.
   
   
2. Fabrication: Falsifying data in laboratory results, inventing information for a report, falsifying citations to sources of information.



3. Facilitating Academic Dishonesty: Aiding another student in committing academic misconduct. This would include, but is not limited to, providing another student with answers for any graded assignment.



4. Interference: Stealing, changing, destroying, or impeding another student's work. Impeding includes stealing, defacing, or mutilating resources to deprive someone the use of resources.



5. Plagiarism: Using the ideas, words, or statements of another person without giving credit to that person. A student shall give credit to the works of others if the student uses another person's words, ideas, opinions, or theories or borrows facts, statistics, or other illustrative material unless the information is common knowledge. Student work may be checked using plagiarism detection software.



6. Online Courses: When taking an exam, only one browser window/tab can be open - the exam. If you have another browser window open or another browser tab open, this would be considered cheating regardless of what is in the second window/tab.
   
   
7. Violation of Course Rules: Not following course rules as outlined in the course syllabus, other course documents, email messages, and as instructed on the course website.

1. Select a small city or town which doesn't currently have an organized tourism program. (Places like Bowling Green, Louisville, Nashville etc. have an organized tourism program.) Your selection should be based on some marketable characteristic like a natural resource (which might need to be developed further) or some other attraction which could be brought in but would work well and draw people to the area. This place can be anywhere in the world, but should be an area with which you are familiar such as a hometown or a nearby town. For locations outside the United States, you must acquire approval from the instructor first.
   
   
2. Design a plan to develop tourism in the town for the next five years. This is to be a detailed description on what you would envision for this town to include: a description of the town as it now exists, why you think tourism would benefit the town, what you would do to attract tourists, how you would fund the project, how you would "sell" your idea to the local townspeople, how you would assure that the environment is protected (as appropriate), how you would attract support industry such as hotels, restaurants, shopping etc. and how tourists would get to the city (transportation).
   
   
3. The purpose of the paper is for you to use your creativity and to take a town and develop a tourism plan based on the characteristics of the town. Your grade on the paper will be determined as follows:
   • 75% -- Your creativity and ability to formulate a plan which is possible to do.
   • 25% -- Spelling, punctuation, grammar, sentence structure (you know, English)

   When developing your plan, keep in mind that a well thought out plan of limited scope, but is realistic, and can be implemented is better than a grandiose plan which may be too extensive and/or expensive to implement.

4. The contents of the paper must address the following areas/issues:
   • Start with a description of the town as it now exists. This description should be no more than one page.
   • Describe how your tourism idea blends in with the town as is currently exists -- why are you choosing this town as a destination and what attraction will it have for tourists. (Chap. 8)
   • Describe your tourism idea in detail to include what would attract an individual to travel to your destination. (Chap. 9, 10, 11)
   • What additional infrastructure is needed in the town to accommodate the tourists? (Chap. 12)
   • Who are the "stakeholders" and how would you "sell" your idea to the local townspeople? (Chap. 16)
   • How would you fund the project? (Chap. 16)
   • Transportation -- how tourists will arrive at this destination. Are current transportation systems (such as roads and highways, trains, buses planes, taxis etc.) adequate to accommodate tourists or will you need to develop them further? (Chap. 5, 16)
   • Are other hospitality services available to adequately accommodate tourists (hotels, restaurants, shopping)? How will you develop these areas if they are not adequate? (Chap. 6)
   • What would be the economic impact on this town if your plan were implemented. (Chap. 13, 14)
   • How would your plan impact on the environment and the culture of the town? What steps would you take to protect the environment? (Chap. 17)
   • How would you market the plan? (Chap. 19)

5. Develop your plan in enough detail that I can see your thinking behind the project. The purpose of the project is to apply the concepts you learned in this class and to think beyond what currently exists. For every action there is a reaction, so how this plan will impact on the environment and the culture of the town will be a major issue
   
   
6. Format of the paper:
   • The paper must be typed/saved in Word format (.doc or .docx). If you use another word processor such as Works, you must save your document as a Word file. [Go to the following web address to learn how to do this if you don't already know -- http://people.wku.edu/rich.patterson/works.htm.] I cannot read Works files or files from other word processors so please don't send a file unless it is in Word format. You will then ATTACH the file to an email message and send it to the instructor. Do not "copy and paste" the paper into an email message -- it must be attached as a complete file. The subject of the email message must be: CFS-271 / Your Name / Semester Project. If you do not know how to attach a file or how to save a Works file in Word format, contact the instructor for assistance.
   • The paper is to be double-spaced with 1" margins on all four sides. (Note: if you use Word 97 or 2003, the default margins are set for 1.25 inches so you will need to adjust the margins to 1". Note: Do not use the sliders at the top of Word to adjust the margins -- us the "page layout" options. If you need assistance, please ask for help from the instructor.
   • You must use the Arial type-face only -- no other font-faces are acceptable. Also, the font size must be 11 points -- no bigger or smaller. Note: Word typically defaults to Times New Roman, 12 points -- you must change the defaults for this paper.
   • Your paper must include a cover page with a title for your project, your name and date. This is the first page in the file -- do not put the cover page as the last page or as a separate file -- everything must be in one file.
   • Papers should be written using good grammar, sentence structure, punctuation and spelling since English usage will count 25% of the grade on the paper. 75% of the grade will focus on how much you learned from your observations.
   • Short papers will detract from the content grade so be sure you have at least four (4) FULL pages (not counting the cover page, 5-year plan or any attachments) with the correct margins and font size. If I have to make any adjustments -- such as font-face, font size, margins, etc. you will lose five points for every adjustment I have to make. Attention to detail is an important part of this assignment.
   • Include a five-year plan as the last part of your paper. This plan should include a heading such as Year One, Year Two, etc. and a listing of the tasks (bullets are best) that would need to be accomplished during that year -- year five being your implementation year. The five-year plan is the last page of the paper but does not count toward the minimum number of pages required for the paper.
   • All papers are to be sent to the course email address (hospitality.classes@gmail.com) as an attached file to an email message -- paper copies are not acceptable. The subject line of the email must be: CFS-271 / Your Name / Semester Project. Only one file may be attached -- the cover page and any attachments must be in one complete file.
   • Use the following format for your paper -- to include the headers indicated below exactly as you see them. You should have nine "headers" with your narrative below each header. Using the headers makes the paper easier to write and to read.
   
   
   

   ---

   Cover page. -- This is the first page in the file -- do not send the cover page as a separate file -- everything must be in one file. This page has your name, the name of your project, semester, course number and date. Do not include any of this information on any pages of your paper -- it goes on the cover page only. The cover page does not count toward the minimum number of pages required for the paper.

   ---

   Note: You MUST divide your paper using the nine headers exactly as you see them below. After each header, write your narrative that is associated with that header.

   Description of the Town

   Describe the town as it currently exists. What is currently there in terms of natural resources, attractions, infrastructure, superstructure, and transportation. Discuss why you are choosing this town and what attraction it will have for tourists.

   Tourism Enhancement Plan

   Describe your tourism idea in detail to include how the idea will blend in with the town. In other words, just don't say you are going to add a strawberry festival, tell me what this festival will entail. What would attract a tourist to this town -- what does this town have or do that you can exploit to attract tourists? Come up with something new/innovative but not so aggressive (hotels, restaurants, shopping centers, a lodge all at one time) that it would be impossible to implement in five years. You want something new and innovative, but doable. (See chapters 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12).

   Your tourism idea has to be more than just advertising, designing a website, repacking what is already there, just building a restaurant and/or hotel. If you want to build a lodge, there has to be more than just giving the tourist serenity, relaxation and piece of mind -- there has to be more to do.

   Infrastructure/Superstructure

   Describe the additional infrastructure and superstructure that would be needed to accommodate tourists. Are more hotels and restaurants needed? How about shopping? Are utilities available to support this venture? Please keep in mind that, if you do a one time event, you may not need new hotels and restaurants. You will fill them during the event, but would they be able to sustain themselves the rest of the year. See chapter 6 and 12 for information on what would be included in this area.

   Stakeholders

   How would you sell your idea to the townspeople? How disruptive would you plan be to their everyday activities (more traffic, congestion, crime, trash, etc.)? You need to be able to convince the townspeople that your idea is a benefit to them so you can implement the idea -- describe how you would convince them you have a worthy idea. (See chapter 16).

   Financing the Project

   How do you propose to fund this project -- where is the money coming from? If you are planning on adding a hotel or restaurant, where does the money come from to build these facilities -- would they be able to make money over the course of a year? If you are trying to attract a chain, how will you convince them to invest money in your town? Asking people to donate money to your project is OK but can't be a prime source of funding -- people just won't donate that much. If you want to raise taxes in the town to support your tourism idea, you are in for a fight -- people don't want their taxes raised, especially if they don't see how the idea will benefit them directly. (See chapter 16)

   Transportation

   Describe how tourists will arrive at this destination. Are current transportation systems (such as roads and highways, trains, buses planes, taxis etc.) adequate to accommodate tourists or will you need to develop them further? If they need to be further developed, where will the money come from to develop what is needed. (See chapters 5 and 16).

   Economic Impact

   What would be the economic impact your idea would have on this town if your idea were implemented. Be realistic on your assessment, just because you build something, that doesn't mean people will flock to your town. Also, if the event is a one time deal, will the effort to do the event be worth the additional revenues?(See chapters 14).

   Impact on Culture and the Environment

   Describe how your idea will impact on the environment (ecotourism and sustainability). What steps will you take to protect the culture and the natural environment of this town? How disruptive will your idea be to the everyday life of the citizens of your town? (See chapters 1 and 19).

   Marketing the Plan

   Describe in detail how you would market this plan and get the "word" out regarding tourism in your town. Where will the money come from to pay for marketing? If you are going to advertise, where will you advertise and do you have money to do this? (See chapters 7 and 17 for ideas).

   ---

   Five-Year Plan -- Include a five-year plan as the last part of your paper. This plan should include a heading such as Year One, Year Two, etc. and a listing of the tasks (bullets are best) that would need to be accomplished during that year -- year five being your implementation year. The five-year plan is the last page of the paper but does not count toward the minimum number of pages required for the paper.

   ---

   
   

   The schedule and procedures in this course, as outlined in this syllabus, are subject to change in the event of extenuating circumstances and/or as deemed appropriate by the professor.