Geography 353 (3): Geographies of migration and settlement

 Course Schedule: Tuesday and Thursday: 3:30-4:45
Location: Geography Building, Room 147
Instructor: Dan Hiebert
Office location: Geography 140e
Office phone: 604 822 4500
Office hours: 11:00-11:45 Tue&Thu
Website address:  connect.ubc.ca

 Course Description: Theoretical and applied perspectives on international migration and settlement. Includes analysis of: international regulation of migration; changing global demographics and their impact on migration; immigration policies of nation states; international migration patterns; settlement policies and outcomes; Canadian immigration policy.

Prerequisites and/or Course Restrictions: None

Format of the course: Two 75 minute meetings per week

 Required Reading: The cost of textbooks annoys me, particularly that these high prices are charged to students who are usually accumulating debt. Therefore I have selected readings that are available through the e-resources of the UBC Library. I also believe that we should all reduce our use of paper and therefore have not made paper copies of the readings. They are all available as downloadable files through the library, on the Connect website. See the course schedule for a complete list of readings.

Course Assignments and value:
First assignment (30%); Policy brief (35%); Final exam (35%)

Course Policies:
The calendar says: Regular attendance is expected of students in all their classes. … Students who are unavoidably absent because of illness or disability should report to their instructors immediately on return to classes.

Note that I only expect this to take place if you must miss more than one week of classes.

Last date for withdrawal without a W on your transcript: 22 September, 2015

Last date for withdrawal with a W instead of an F on your transcript: 16 October, 2015

 “The University accommodates students with disabilities who have registered with the Disability Resource Centre. The University accommodates students whose religious obligations conflict with attendance, submitting assignments, or completing scheduled tests and examinations. Please let your instructor know in advance, preferably in the first week of class, if you will require any accommodation on these grounds. Students who plan to be absent for varsity athletics, family obligations, or other similar commitments, cannot assume they will be accommodated, and should discuss their commitments with the instructor before the drop date.”

 Academic Dishonesty: Please review the UBC Calendar “Academic regulations” for the university policy on cheating, plagiarism, and other forms of academic dishonesty. The simple principle behind these regulations is that all of the work you submit for this and every other course must be yours, and yours alone, and you cannot submit material for a course that you already submitted in another course. If you learn from the work of others, which is a good thing, you must document those sources.

 Students should retain a copy of their submitted assignments (in case of loss) and should also retain all their marked assignments in case they wish to apply for a Review of Assigned Standing. Students have the right to view their marked examination with their instructor, providing they apply to do so within a month after receiving their final grade. This review is for pedagogic purposes. The examination remains the property of the university.

E-mail etiquette: E-mail is excellent for conveying simple information but not a good medium for complex information. Feel free to send messages to me when you can realistically expect the answer to your question to be one or two sentences. But questions like “what sources should I use for the assignment?” or “what are you looking for on the exam?” are inappropriate for an e-mail format. For this kind of complex information, either use the phone or come in person—in both cases please either use an office hour or make an appointment. I am happy to speak with students!

Intellectual property: Lectures are the intellectual property of the instructor, and cannot be audio- or video-recorded without the formal consent of the instructor. To obtain this consent, students must apply in writing and explain their reason for recording the lecture, and plans for the recording once it has been made. This is also true of the powerpoint slide sets accompanying lectures. These will be posted (without graphical material) on the course website but are only for the use of students while taking this course; all of these files must be deleted once the course is over, and cannot be forwarded to anyone outside this class.

Similarly, the assignments are the intellectual property of the students who have written them, and cannot be copied, traded, or archived by the instructor without the formal permission of the author. The one exception to this rule is that the instructor has the right to check assignments for plagiarism, by any means necessary, since plagiarism is a serious academic offence.

Class notes and etiquette: Students are expected to attend class and take notes as they see fit. Powerpoint slides (in pdf form) will be posted on the course website, but detailed lecture notes will not be released. Learning the ability to listen to a lecture and to gather and process the important points is an integral part of university training. Students who are ill and miss class are expected to obtain detailed notes from a colleague.

As an instructor I am offended when students check email, receive or send text messages, or play electronic games in class (even when done surreptitiously, behind books, under the table, and so on), just as students would understandably be offended if I would take phone calls or respond to text messages in the middle of giving lectures. This is rude behavior and disturbs your classmates; moreover, as an instructor I can’t help noticing when students are only pretending to listen (or only half-listening) and it puts me in a bad mood. For any of these activities, feel free to leave the room and return when you are done. The ringing function of cellphones must be turned off in the classroom. Taking notes on a computer, iPad, etc., in class is ok.

Note: The assignments will be graded by  the Teaching Assistant for G353. The instructor will grade the final examination.