Syllabus (Revised 9/13/10)

Ecotourism and Nature Tourism - Fall, 2010

Course                     FOR 476/676, Section 1

                                  Tuesday & Thursday, 2:00 - 3:20 PM, 212 Marshall

Instructor               Dr. Diane Kuehn, 310A Bray Hall

                                  Phone: 315-470-6561; E-mail: dmkuehn@esf.edu;

                                  Office hours: Anytime before class on Tuesdays or by appointment.

Class website:        www.esf.edu/for/kuehn -- Contains the syllabus with links to class power points, as well as previous class reports.

TA                            Evisa Abolina, 411 Bray Hall; E-mail: eabolina@syr.edu

Objectives               1). To develop an understanding of the basic concepts of tourism planning for public and private sector community and regional ecotourism and nature tourism development.

                                  2). To explore the interrelationships between resource management and tourism planning and development.

                                  3). To provide a service learning opportunity to students.

Assignments          The class will be developing a tourism plan as its class project. The focus of this tourism plan will be discussed in class. Each student will be assigned a specific component of the tourism plan. Students will be responsible for an assessment report and a recommendations report. Each assessment report will provide an assessment of the existing resources related to each student’s tourism plan component. Assessment reports are due by the end of class on November 18. Each recommendations report includes the student’s recommendations concerning his/her tourism plan component, and is due by the end of class on December 9. Each student is required to give two five-minute oral presentations, one outlining the assessment report on November 11 and 16, and the other outlining the recommendations report on November 30 and December 2.

Click here for the report assignment

Cultural Resources Investigation Report

Click below for Beechwood State Park Maps:

Aerial view

Camp Beechwood (with buildings)

                                  Two homework assignments will be assigned, and are due on the dates indicated on the class schedule. Students are required to present their homework assignments to the class. Reading assignments are listed on the class schedule on the back of this syllabus.

Grad students         Each graduate student is required to give a 30-minute presentation on a specified ecotourism or nature tourism destination. The presentation will include information about how the destination is promoted and interpreted, the types of attractions existing, the economic, social, and environmental impacts of tourism at the destination, and the management strategies utilized.

Exam                        One take-home exam is scheduled during the semester. The exam is open book and in essay format. Working together on the exam is not permitted. There is no final exam.

Field trip                 One weekend field trip to the location of the final project will be scheduled during the semester. All students are expected to attend and attendance is 5% of the final grade.

Grading                   Course grades will be based on the combined score of the reports and exams. The contribution of each exam and report to the final grade is as follows:

                      Assignment                             Undergrads         Grads

                                  Take-home exam                                                         25%                            20%

                                  Assessment report                                                        30                                25

                                  Recommendations report                                              15                                15

                                  Oral report presentations (5% each)                           10                                10

                                  Oral homework presentation                                        2                                  2             

                                  Field trip participation                                                   5                                  5

                                  Class participation                                                         3                                  3

                                  Graduate student presentation                                    0                                  10

                                  Homework assignments (5% each)                             10                                10           

                                  Final grade                                                                     100%                        100%

Deductions              Any reports/homework assignments that are received after the class during which they

for lateness             are due will have the following points deducted from the grade:

• 5 points will be deducted if the report/assignment is received after class between 4 p.m. and midnight on the date it is due.
• 10 points will be deducted for each additional day that the report/assignment is late, up to a maximum of 40 points.
• All late submissions must be turned in to the instructor in person, or submitted as an attached e-mail file (save files in Microsoft Word).

Class schedule

*UG = Undergrads; G= grads