Spring 2026 Course Syllabus
Course: BUSI-1301 (Section: 70D, CRN: 11707)
Business Principles 		LSCPA Logo Image
Instructor Information
Instructor Kara Booth
Email boothkn@lamarpa.edu
Phone (409) 984-6418
Office Umphrey Industrial Technology Center - Room: 201A
Office Hours Virtual
Additional Contact Information
Course Information
Description This course provides a survey of economic systems, forms of business ownership, and considerations for running a business. Students will learn various aspects of business, management, and leadership functions; organizational considerations; and decision-making processes. Financial topics are introduced, including accounting, money and banking, and securities markets. Also included are discussions of business challenges in the legal and regulatory environment, business ethics, social responsibili
Required Textbooks Textbook Purchasing Statement: A student attending Lamar State College Port Arthur is not under any obligation to purchase a textbook from the college-affiliated bookstore. The same textbook may also be available from an independent retailer, including an online retailer.

Introduction to Business, by OpenStax.

Authors: Gitman, McDaniel, Shah, Reece, Koffel, Talsma, Hyatt

Book Versions
Free link: https://openstax.org/books/introduction-business/pages/1-introduction

Hardcover ISBN: ISBN-10: 1-947172-54-9, ISBN-13: 978-1-947172-54-8
Paperback ISBN: ISBN-13: 978-1-59399-548-5
Digital ISBN: ISBN-10: 1-947172-55-7, ISBN-13: 978-1-947172-55-5

OpenStax is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution License v4.0
Additional Materials/Resources None.
Corequisites/Prerequisites TSI complete in reading
Learning Outcomes Upon successful completion of this course, students will:
* Identify major business functions of accounting, finance, information systems, management, and marketing.
* Describe the relationships of social responsibility, ethics, and law in business.
* Explain forms of ownership, including their advantages and disadvantages.
* Identify and explain the domestic and international considerations for today's business environment: social, economic, legal, ethical, technological, competitive, and international.
* Identify and explain the role and effect of government on business.
* Describe the importance and effects of ethical practices in business and be able to analyze business situations to identify ethical dilemmas and ethical lapses.
* Describe basic financial statements and show how they reflect the activity and financial condition of a business.
* Explain the banking and financial systems, including the securities markets, business financing, and basic concepts of accounting.
* Explain integrity, ethics, and social responsibility as they relate to leadership and management.
* Explain the nature and functions of management.
* Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of information technology for businesses.
Core Objectives Critical Thinking Skills: Students will engage in creative and/or innovative thinking, and/or inquiry, analysis, evaluation, synthesis of information, organizing concepts and constructing solutions.
 
Communication skills: Students will demonstrate effective written, oral and visual communication.
 
Social Responsibility: Students will demonstrate intercultural competency and civic knowledge by engaging effectively in local, regional, national and/or global communities.
 
Personal Responsibility: Students will demonstrate the ability to connect choices, actions and consequences to ethical decision-making.
Lecture Topics Outline TOPICS
Understanding Economic Systems and Business
Making Ethical Decisions and Managing a Socially Responsible Business
Competing in the Global Marketplace
Forms of Business Ownership
Entrepreneurship: Starting and Managing Your Own Business
Management and Leadership in Today's Organizations
Designing Organizational Structures
Managing Human Resources and Labor Relations
Motivating Employees
Achieving World-Class Operations Management
Creating Products and Pricing Strategies to Meet Customers' Needs
Distributing and Promoting Products and Services
Major Assignments Schedule Week # ASSIGNMENTS
Week 1 Discussion Board: Intro, Chapter 1 Quiz, Discussion Board: Business Mission
Week 2 Chapter 2 Quiz, Discussion Board: Ethics
Week 3 Chapter 3 Quiz, Discussion Board: Global Trade
Week 4 Unit 1 Exam - Chapters 1-3
Week 5 Chapter 4 Quiz, Discussion Board: Franchises
Week 6 Chapter 5 Quiz, Discussion Board: Entrepreneurship
Week 7 Chapter 6 Quiz, Discussion Board: Management Style
Week 8 Unit 2 Exam - Chapters 4-6
Week 9 Chapter 7 Quiz
Week 10 Chapter 8 Quiz, Discussion Board: Unemployment Rates
Week 11 Chapter 9 Quiz, Discussion Board: Motivation
Week 12 Unit 3 Exam - Chapters 7-9
Week 13 Chapter 10 Quiz, Discussion Board: Supply Chain
Week 14 Chapter 11 Quiz, Discussion Board: Target Markets
Week 15 Chapter 12 Quiz Discussion Board: Promotion Campaigns
Week 16 Unit 4 Exam - Chapters 10-12
Final Exam Date May 11, 2026 - 12:1 AM   Through  May 12, 2026 - 11:59 PM
Grading Scale
Determination of
Final Grade		 Quizzes 20%
Discussion Boards 20%
Unit Exams (4) 60% (15% each)
Course Policies
Instructor Policies

Response Time Policy
Quizzes and exams are automatically graded by Blackboard and will be available to you immediately. Discussions will be graded in 7-10 days after the due date. Emails will generally be answered within 24 hours (emails after 7pm will usually be answered the next day).

Announcements
I will post announcements weekly, usually early in the week. These announcements indicate upcoming due dates and notes important to your success in this course. You should READ these Announcements every week.

Exams
Exams will be provided within a Blackboard examination window. The exams will be timed. There is no pause button. The timer will continue to run if you leave the exam.  Exams must be completed in one attempt. 
Access codes are required to begin the exam. Exams will not be reopened for accidental starts. Redos on exams will not be given. Make-up exams will not be given. Missed exams will receive a score of zero.
Your exam will be graded immediately by Blackboard. Feedback on specific exam questions will be given 24 hours after the exam is due. You must work alone while taking the exam. Cheating on exams is not acceptable and will be subject to violations of the Academic Dishonesty policy.
Dates for exams are listed on the Course Calendar. Each exam counts for 15 percent of your final grade. 

Quizzes
Weekly quizzes will be given covering the chapter studied that week. Dates for quizzes are listed on the Course Calendar. There will be no makeups for missed quizzes. Missed quizzes will receive a score of zero. The 2 lowest quiz grades will be dropped. Combined, these quizzes will count as 20 percent of your final grade.

Discussions
Discussion boards are in place to add to your classroom community and emphasize important skills that prepare you to enter the workforce. Additionally, by requiring you to comment on other’s threads, you are learning to communicate with other learners from different generations, ethnicities, locales, and backgrounds.

Furthermore, in this course, students are required to master the following Core Course Requirements:
  1. Critical Thinking Skills
  2. Communication Skills
  3. Empirical and Quantitative Skills
  4. Social Responsibility
These skills are of the most valued soft skills by employers, and discussion boards are meant to provide a low-stakes opportunity to develop and practice these skills. An effort to provide thought-provoking discussion prompts that promote both learning and creative thinking has been made. Therefore, it is expected that all students submit work that is entirely their own.

However, due to the fact that almost all discussions are now being influenced by AI to some extent, despite previous clear rules against it, students must declare all use of AI in all discussion posts, including the extent of its influence. Just like citing a source to prevent plagiarism, failure to disclose will result in a zero for the prompt. See discussion prompts for specific guidelines.

AI Warnings:

  • Please be aware that uncritical use of AI can hinder your learning and impact your grade.
  • AI-generated content can sometimes use copyright material without the authors’ permission or approval, risking plagiarism.
  • AI-generated content may also produce false statements and made-up references.
  • Students are responsible for reviewing all statements and facts presented.
AI Notice: Using any AI-generated content in an assessment without proper acknowledgment and presenting it as your own work constitutes academic misconduct. Violations will be reflected in your grade and/or overall academic record, dependent on severity of violation.

Finally, original discussion threads should FULLY answer the prompt with personal experience and/or specific observations, while comments should advance the discussion or stimulate further thought with personal experience or specific observation. Threads and comments should contain appropriate economic terms and be written using proper grammar, including proper capitalization.

A rubric for discussion boards is available. There will be no makeups for missed discussions. There will be 12 discussion sessions. Combined, these discussions will account for 20 percent of your final grade. The lowest 2 discussion will be dropped from the overall grade calculation.

Use of Instructional Materials

Instructional materials, such as PowerPoints and concept videos, are provided in Blackboard for each chapter. These will be useful in understanding concepts as presented in the chapters.

Virtual Sessions
Virtual sessions are offered at the request of the student. These sessions can be utilized to discuss course concepts, to prep for exams, or to clarify assignment directions. Requests for a virtual session must be submitted via email to the instructor 24 hours in advance for scheduling purposes.

Due Dates
All due dates are listed on the Course Calendar – found by clicking on the Calendar Menu button. Due dates are also announced in the weekly announcements. Quizzes, exams, assignments, discussion boards, and research projects will NOT be accepted nor reopened. Instructor reserves the right to change, alter, omit, or add to the tentative course outline and calendar due to school closings or other unavoidable obstacles.

Make-Up/Late work
All due dates are firm. Due dates are listed in the Modules and Syllabus lists and on the course calendar. Due dates are also announced in the weekly announcements.

In lieu of late work, 2 discussion boards and 2 quizzes will be dropped from the overall calculation when the final grade is calculated. This allows students to miss an occasional assignment without impacting the overall grade.


Additionally, ONE missed deadline extension will be granted per student, per semester. Deadline extension requests must be submitted via email to the instructor. The missed deadline request must be made within 5 days of the missed assignment. Students will NOT receive more than ONE. The last exam is not eligible for deadline extensions.
 
Units, exams, quizzes, and discussion boards will not be reopened once closed. 

AI use: 
If the instructor believes that AI was utilized in the course, a recorded video call will be required to discuss learned learning objectives. 
Attendance Policy To be successful in this online course, the student MUST purchase the assigned textbook and log into BlackBoard 4-5 times weekly. Regular, reliable access to BlackBoard via Internet is required for this online course.
Additional Information Incomplete Grades
Assigning the grade of incomplete (I) requires prior approval of the Department Chair. An I is assigned only when the deadline for dropping the course has passed, the student is passing the course, and course requirements, including the final examination, cannot be completed because of unavoidable circumstances. To receive an incomplete, a student must be in good standing to pass the class and must have completed most of the course work (75%).

Withdrawing from the course
It is the responsibility of the student to properly withdraw from the course. The withdraw process will not be initiated by the instructor.

Changes in Calendar
Instructor reserves the right to change, alter, omit, or add to the tentative course outline and calendar. This course continues to be a work in progress. Assignments, due dates, etc. can and usually do change.

Technical/computer/Internet/software/hardware/Blackboard Issues
It is the responsibility of the students to ensure that any and all technical/computer/Internet/software/hardware/Blackboard issues are handled in a timely manner and that all tech support personnel are contacted to correct the problems. These issues do not excuse a student from assignments or exams.
Institutional Policies
MyLSCPA Be sure to check your campus email and Course Homepage using MyLSCPA campus web portal. You can also access your grades, transcripts, academic advisors, degree progress, and other services through MyLSCPA.
Academic Honesty Academic honesty is expected from all students, and dishonesty in any form will not be tolerated. Please consult the LSCPA policies (Academic Dishonesty section in the Student Handbook) for consequences of academic dishonesty.
ADA Considerations The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal anti-discrimination statute that provides comprehensive civil rights for persons with disabilities. Among other things, this legislation requires that all students with disabilities be guaranteed a learning environment that provides for reasonable accommodation of their disabilities. If you believe you have a disability requiring an accommodation, please contact the Disability Services Coordinator, Room 117, in the Student Sucess Center. The phone number is (409) 984-6241.
COVID 19 Information The Lamar State College Port Arthur (LSCPA) Student Code of Conduct COVID 19 Policy requires students who have been diagnosed with COVID 19 to report their condition directly to their local health department. Students should also contact their course faculty to report their quarantine status. In addition, this policy requires all students to wear face coverings when directly exposed to COVID 19 in compliance with the criteria included in the policy. For more information please refer to the COVID 19 link on the LSCPA website.
Facility Policies No food or tobacco products are allowed in the classroom. Only students enrolled in the course are allowed in the classroom, except by special instructor permission. Use of electronic devices is prohibited.
HB 2504 This syllabus is part of LSCPA's efforts to comply with Texas House Bill 2504.
Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse and Neglect As per Texas law and LSCPA policy, all LSCPA employees, including faculty, are required to report allegations or disclosures of child abuse or neglect to the designated authorities, which may include a local or state law enforcement agency or the Texas Department of Family Protective Services. For more information about mandatory reporting requirements, see LSCPA's Policy and Procedure Manual.
Title IX and Sexual Misconduct LSCPA is committed to establishing and maintaining an environment that is free from all forms of sex discrimination, including sexual harassment, sexual violence, and other forms of sexual misconduct. All LSCPA employees, including faculty, have the responsibility to report disclosures of sexual misconduct, including sexual harassment, sexual assault (including rape and acquaintance rape), domestic violence, dating violence, relationship violence, or stalking, to LSCPA's Title IX Coordinator, whose role is to coordinate the college's response to sexual misconduct. For more information about Title IX protections, faculty reporting responsibilities, options for confidential reporting, and the resources available for support visit LSCPA's Title IX website.
Clery Act Crime Reporting For more information about the Clery Act and crime reporting, see the Annual Security & Fire Safety Report and the Campus Security website.
Grievance / Complaint / Concern If you have a grievance, complaint, or concern about this course that has not been resolved through discussion with the Instructor, please consult the Department Chair.
Department Information
Business and Industrial Technology
Chair:Cristina Lawson
Email:lawsonac@lamarpa.edu
Phone:(409) 984-6381