Syllabus

Financial  markets,  or  markets  for  financial  assets,  play  an  important  role  in the  efficient  functioning  of  a market economy.  Financial  Institutions  are  any  establishments   that  make  these  markets  function efficiently. The course studies  the  fundamental  principles  that  govern financial  markets  and  institutions.  We  attempt  to understand the workings of the Banking Industry, the Federal Reserve and the behavior of financial intermediaries.

Topics include valuation of financial assets and the characteristics of financial instruments in money and capital markets. We analyze the relationships among financial institutions, monetary policy and the stability of the economy as a whole. Financial Markets and Institutions will provide a foundation for your further study of Finance, as well as an essential component of your managerial education about the world in which business operates.

This course explores the function, pricing, and institutional structures of financial markets. Our intent is to understand the differences between these instruments and the institutions that operate in today's financial markets. Rapid changes in the composition of financial instruments and institutions mean that the content of this course must be evolving as well. Understanding the economic foundations of these intermediaries, in addition to the institutional instruments, and developing your analytical and research skills, will prepare you not only for today's job market, but will also help to increase your educational flexibility in adapting to future changes.

Students will be able to:

• Identify the functions of financial markets and institutions and examine their impact on the level of interest rates and interest differentials.
• Use information technology as a tool to do essential business tasks including performing electronic research, and creating documents, presentations and spreadsheets.
• Research and organize written and oral communication.

Course delivery will focus on ensuring that students are able to:

• Present written and verbal communication in a clear and concise manner.
• Interact with other students and the instructor to demonstrate functional skills and foundational knowledge, as well as through research, utilize your combined knowledge and skills to propose solutions for community issues and problems.
• Learn how to perform web based research and incorporate data analytics into decision making.

The College of Business cares about the quality of your education. For more information please visit the Assurance of Learning site to learn more on the College's commitment to this initiative.

Please review the FIU's Policies webpage. The policies webpage contains essential information regarding guidelines relevant to all courses at FIU, as well as additional information about acceptable netiquette for online courses.

One of the greatest barriers to taking an online course is a lack of basic computer literacy. By computer literacy we mean being able to manage and organize computer files efficiently, and learning to use your computer's operating system and software quickly and easily. Keep in mind that this is not a computer literacy course; but students enrolled in online courses are expected to have moderate proficiency using a computer. Please go to the "What's Required" webpage to find out more information on this subject.

This course utilizes the following tools:

1. Turnitin.com (Privacy Policy)
2. Respondus Lockdown Browser (Privacy Policy)

Please visit our Technical Requirements webpage for additional information.

Please visit our ADA Compliance webpage for information about accessibility involving the tools used in this course.

Please visit Canvas 's Commitment Accessibility webpage for more information. 

For additional assistance please contact FIU's Disability Resource Center.

Students must be admitted to the College of Business and have taken FIN 3403 (Financial Management), or its equivalent, (contact the department for equivalents) before taking FIN 4303. It is highly suggested that FIN 4303 be taken before FIN 4324 (Commercial Banking), FIN 4604 (International Finance), FIN 4615 (International Banking), FIN 4486 (Risk Management) and FIN 4502 (Securities Analysis) since it provides an excellent introduction to material to be covered in detail in these courses.

Review more information about prerequisites

If you are looking for help for yourself or a fellow classmate, Panthers Care encourages you to express any concerns you may come across as it relates to any personal behavior concerns or worries you have, for the classmate’s well-being or yours; you are encouraged to share your concerns with FIU’s Panthers Care website.

Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) offers free and confidential help for anxiety, depression, stress, and other concerns that life brings. Professional counselors are available for same-day appointments. Don’t wait to call 305-348-2277 to set up a time to talk or visit the online self-help portal.

Florida International University is a community dedicated to generating and imparting knowledge through excellent teaching and research, the rigorous and respectful exchange of ideas and community service. All students should respect the right of others to have an equitable opportunity to learn and honestly to demonstrate the quality of their learning. Therefore, all students are expected to adhere to a standard of academic conduct, which demonstrates respect for themselves, their fellow students, and the educational mission of the University. All students are deemed by the University to understand that if they are found responsible for academic misconduct, they will be subject to the Academic Misconduct procedures and sanctions, as outlined in the Student Handbook.

Academic Misconduct includes:

Cheating – The unauthorized use of books, notes, aids, electronic sources; or assistance from another person with respect to examinations, course assignments, field service reports, class recitations; or the unauthorized possession of examination papers or course materials, whether originally authorized or not.

Plagiarism – The use and appropriation of another’s work without any indication of the source and the representation of such work as the student’s own. Any student who fails to give credit for ideas, expressions or materials taken from another source, including internet sources, is responsible for plagiarism.

Learn more about the academic integrity policies and procedures as well as student resources that can help you prepare for a successful semester.

This is an online course, which means most (if not all) of the course work will be conducted online. Expectations for performance in an online course are the same for a traditional course. In fact, online courses require a degree of self-motivation, self-discipline, and technology skills which can make these courses more demanding for some students.

Students are expected to:

• Review the how to get started information located in the course content
• Introduce yourself to the class during the first week by posting a self-introduction in the appropriate discussion forum
• Take the practice quiz to ensure that your computer is compatible with Canvas.
• Interact online with instructor/s and peers
• Review and follow the course calendar
• Submit assignments by the corresponding deadline

Communication in this course will take place via Messages and Announcements.

Messages is a private and secure text-based communication system which occurs within a course among its Course members. Users must log on to Canvas to send, receive, or read messages. The Messages tool is located on the Course Menu, on the left side of the course webpage. It is recommended that students check your messages routinely to ensure up-to-date communication. The professor will respond to all messages within 24 hours on weekdays and within 48 hours on weekends.

The professor will make general communication statements through Announcements. Copies of these announcements will also be sent to your FIU email.

Visit our Writing Resources webpage for more information on professional writing and technical communication skills.

Through the discussion forums you are expected to summarize what you have learned in this course pertaining to the topical issue described and investigate how the theory aligns or is negated by practice. Keep in mind that your discussion forum postings will likely be seen by other members of the course. Care should be taken when determining what to post. From time to time, additional reading material will be placed in the discussion forum. The online participation grades will be determined based on the Discussion Forum Rubric that takes into consideration the following factors:

• Did you actively participate in class discussions by asking meaningful questions, and contribute to the general understanding of others of the theoretical and practical material under consideration?
• Did you follow directives as posted in the Discussion forum including meeting all due dates.
• You must read everything from the Professor. It is advisable that you read ALL postings since if the Professor answers a student's question in the Discussion forum she will not repeat the answer if you ask it again.
• Student participation in discussions after a topic expires, while appreciated, will not contribute to the grade.

Student interaction is an important part of Active Learning and it is encouraged. Students who attempt to help by responding to other students' questions on class material especially by attempting to clarify unclear course material will be rewarded in your participation grade.

Discussion Forum Expectations:

• You must respond to the question posed in response to these topics by responding to that thread whenever required.
• There will be eight of these discussion questions posed over the course of the semester each worth 2% of your final grade.
• Your own views must be presented. Lack of academic integrity and plagiarism will NOT be tolerated.
• You must respond to them within the allotted time period for the assigned grade (due dates for these are listed in your course calendar section of this syllabus).
• You should sign into the course on a weekly basis (much like class attendance) to check for these discussions.

You should not use these Topic forums for any personal reasons. Review the closing dates of these deliverables closely, as they will not be accepted for credit beyond the dates posted on the discussion forum. Other important material is communicated on the "General Forum" within the Discussion Board. Another Discussion forum will be set up for students to solicit group members for the Project. Once you have a group you no longer need to check this forum. It is advisable that you read ALL postings from the Professor since if the Professor answers a student's question in the Discussion forum she will not repeat the answer if you ask it again. Student participation in discussions after a topic expires is appreciated but will not contribute to the grade. Students can expect to receive your grades for these forums within 48 hours of the closing date.

Instructor-student interaction is critical in this course as is student-student interaction since a significant portion of your grade depends on your performance in the group project. Every student should create his/her own student homepage using the course's Discussion Forum titled "Introduce Yourself". To access the Forum, click on the Discussion Board link, which can be found on course's left navigation menu. When forming your groups, I would highly recommend that you review these pages so that you can identify members who are:

1. Diverse, providing different perspectives and methods for solving community problems/issues
2. Have similar time availability for meetings necessary for group work (these should be online to the greatest extent possible).

In order to mitigate any issues with your computer and online assessments, it is very important that you take the "Practice Quiz" from each computer you will be using to take your graded quizzes and exams. It is your responsibility to make sure your computer meets the minimum hardware requirements.

Assessments in this course are not compatible with mobile devices and should not be taken through a mobile phone or a tablet. If you need further assistance please contact FIU Online Support Services.

The syllabus quiz contains 10 questions that test your knowledge about the content on this syllabus. You will have 20 minutes to complete the quiz and multiple attempts (you can take it as many times as you want during the availability period).

The course design survey is a very informal survey which tells me early enough to make changes, how I can improve the course. This way if I need to reinforce certain concepts I can do it early enough to facilitate your learning while you are still in the course! Be honest, all I see are general comments and I can't trace you! At this point you would have already done at least half the class so can provide honest feedback. Once you answer the questions to the survey, complete the Course Survey & Pledge quiz (which contains 1 question) in order to receive full credit for completing the course survey.

Chapter quizzes are available as a resource to assist the students in understanding how questions may be framed in the actual Exams. It is highly advised that you do them during the weeks assigned. Feel free to collaborate in groups on quizzes, however it is expected that you work individually on the Exams.

• Quizzes contain 15 questions from the chapter (both multiple choice and true and false questions)
• You will have 15 minutes to complete the quizzes
• You have 2 attempts to complete the quiz for each chapter - though you will get different questions each time you take the quiz
• Once you complete a quiz, you will be able to see your submitted answers as well as the correct answer for each question

While the Chapter quizzes are not for credit they will be an invaluable resource for the Exams. I will NOT reopen these once the availability period has passed; this is because once reopened for a few students, the students who followed directions will not have access to them. You are welcome to share quiz resources with your classmates.

Finance is a continuously evolving subject, students will receive a bonus point if they identify an incorrect answer from another reputable source – send this to me by course messages. I will let you know if/when this happens on the open forum and the test bank will then be corrected in time for an upcoming Exam, so if you blindly copy an answer from the quiz and it subsequently proves to be incorrect you will not get credit for it under exam conditions. Use the opportunity to study from the quizzes as a way to hone your critical thinking skills. If you disagree with either the text or the questions because of your other studies, please email me. Finance is NOT a static subject. Fed policy and otherwise change sometimes daily! In an instance where you or I have identified this situation, I will post it in the Discussion Forum, so you MUST read these in their entirety especially correspondence from me.

To find the dates for ALL assessments including quizzes, review the Assessment Course tool in your Course Menu. Note only the first page of assessments is shown by default. If you miss the quizzes, you will have to read the Chapter content much more closely and take extensive notes.

This course requires the use of the Respondus LockDown Browser to take assessments.

• Review the Respondus LockDown Browser Instructions on how to install, access your assessments and view your grades.
• After installing the browser, please take the Practice Quiz to familiarize yourself with the testing environment and to ensure that you have downloaded the Respondus Lockdown Browser correctly.

Exams will be administered online and will be equally weighted. The relevant dates are listed on this syllabus. Any changes will be detailed in the discussion forum. They will only be reopened under critical circumstances and with appropriate documentation. There are three exams each associated with the various modules of the course.

Exam dates are listed the Course Calendar section of your syllabus. Once you complete the Exam, you will know the score of your exam immediately. NOTE THE DATES CAREFULLY. A MISSED EXAM CANNOT BE REOPENED AT ALL AND THE GRADE WILL BE AFFECTED ACCORDINGLY.

Exams contain 36 multiple choice questions from the Chapters specified in each module. The multiple choice questions will come directly from the chapter quizzes.  Some questions are computational in nature while others assess your understanding of the topic material. The professor reserves the right to use technological tools like Turnitin.com to detect plagiarism and lack of academic integrity or require the student to come on campus for an oral interview on the material. To learn more about what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it please review this site:  http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QPA_plagiarism.html

• You will have 1 ½ hours to complete each Exam.
• You have only 1 attempt to complete the Exam during the specified time period.
• While the exams will be open book it is recommended that you make good notes of formulae and definitions to assist you. The period for each exam will be such that you will need to know the material very well and be able to analyze it for the solution of the multiple-choice answers.
  • Exam I will cover 7 Chapters: 1 - 7
  • Exam II will cover 10 Chapters: 8-17
  • Exam III will cover 9 Chapters: 18-26
• While the material covered in subsequent exams is not cumulative, it is important to grasp the original concepts covered for the understanding of the remainder of the topics. It is imperative and expected that you read the assigned chapters weekly. It is very easy for the material to overwhelm you if you do not complete the readings as required. There are quizzes for each chapter available in Canvas. While these are not assigned a grade, they are vital for good performance in these exams. They will not be available outside of the weeks assigned.
  
  NOTE AVAILABLE EXAM DATES CAREFULLY IN YOUR SYLLABUS AND DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE, REMEMBER MURPHY’S LAW... FIU ONLINE SUPPORT MAY NOT BE ABLE TO HELP IF YOU RUN INTO PROBLEMS ON THE LAST DAY.

Students will perform the Assignments using Bloomberg Market Concepts. Bloomberg Market Concepts (BMC) is an 8-hour, self-paced e-learning course that introduces students to the financial markets. BMC consists of four modules - Economics, Currencies, Fixed Income and Equities - woven together from proprietary Bloomberg data, news, analytics and television. The course is available through the Bloomberg Institute website or on the Bloomberg Terminal through the function BMC <GO>.

To learn more about what Bloomberg has to offer students read here:
https://www.bloomberg.com/professional/expertise/universities/students/

As a student in FIN 4303 you will need to register here:
https://portal.bloombergforeducation.com/register

FIU Business has paid for multiple Bloomberg terminals so that our students will be ready to “Hit the Ground Running” in your career preparation. Because of this investment, our students not only have access to these terminals in our Capital Markets Lab (https://business.fiu.edu/capital-markets-lab/index.cfm ), but you can also do the BMC Course Online free and get certified (note this is a $149 value)!

To get access to the course online you will need to register here:
https://portal.bloombergforeducation.com/register

Sign up as “Learner” using the course code LCN5MB3S8V. Using this code is important for two reasons:

1. It will tell me what your score is for each module so that I can assign grades in this course – this is important since I assign grades based on your performance in THIS (not previous courses!
2. Please do not share this code with other students as it is reserved for Professor Butchey’s FIN 4303 students

Some students may have taken the course before or been certified in other classes. Note that I will be assigning grades based on your scores in each component, so unless you earned 100% in each of Economic Indicators, Currencies, Fixed Income or Equities previously it is worth your while repeating the modules!

Due dates for Assignments are below:

1. Economic Indicators due February 3^rd
2. Currencies due February 24^th
3. Fixed Income due Mar 17^th
4. Equities due Mar 28^th
5. Group and Individual Research paper due on Apr 21^st, 2019

Research Paper on Bloomberg

At this session students were introduced to Bloomberg and other software available in the Lab. http://bizstreams.fiu.edu/Mediasite/Catalog/catalogs/2015SpringFIN4302FinancialSoftware

The research project that is due by each group at the end of the semester is as follows:

1. Write a report on the five most important capabilities that are possible using the technology in the Lab. At least four should come from Bloomberg. While you are doing the Bloomberg assignments, I would highly advise you to get Bloomberg certified, it can take between 3-6 hours. However this is not a requirement of this class!
2. For each capability describe the type of company that may use it and the types of job positions that require the use of that technology. Try to think outside of the box and consider companies not only in Miami but across the world.

The above group task is worth 10% of each student’s total grade.
Each student individually will submit a report on the last day of class that answers the following questions:

• What research did you personally perform to determine what technology needs are important in a finance related industry?
• What data did you personally access from Bloomberg?
• How can you use what you learned in the rest of your academic career?
• How can you use what you learned for your future dream job?
• Write two questions that would help clarify the uses of the technology that are still unclear to you after completing this project?
• Why does this research matter - how does this relate to your course, major, degree, personal goals, career objectives etc?)?
• Complete the following statement:
  • In light of what I learned about this software I will………(make specific action oriented decisions that has the potential to advance your career).

The individual student report is worth 4%.

Adobe Connect is an online meeting room where you can interact with your professor and fellow students by sharing screens, sharing files, chatting, broadcasting live audio, and taking part in other interactive online activities. You may use this tool to conduct and record your group meetings.

Requirements for using Adobe Connect:

• Disable any window pop-up blocker.
• Adobe Flash Player is required to successfully run your Adobe Connect meeting. You can test your computer to make sure your computer and network connections are properly configured to provide you with the best possible Adobe Connect meeting experience.
• Use of a combination headset and microphone with USB connection is recommended to ensure quality sound and reduce technical difficulties.
  
  Reference Adobe Connect (Tutorials & Help) to learn about the tool, how to access your meeting rooms and recordings.

The class agenda is as follows:

• Use the Power point slides as notes that supplement your required textbook reading. They will help you to focus on what is important or what you should ensure you understand.
• Use the quizzes to help you prepare in a timely manner for the Exams.
• You should also check into the course for any messages or discussion at least once per week so that you will become aware of any developments. The Discussion forum can tend to get very busy, so make sure you change your settings so that you read EVERY email/posting that comes from me! You should try to cover the readings for each session at the beginning of the week so that you can attempt the quizzes at the end.
• Sign into your course on a weekly basis. Not doing this is similar to missing class and can lead to you missing important course activities. Keep up with the weekly schedule.

Occasionally circumstances may force moderate changes in the information presented on the syllabus. Consequently it is VITAL that you keep yourself aware of changes by reading ALL postings from the Professor. In an Online class not reading a Professor’s postings is akin to not attending class for which the appropriate penalty in class participation will affect your final grade.

FIU and The College of Business Administration take the issue of Academic Misconduct very seriously. University policy suggests professors require students to come on Campus to be proctored for at least one assessment. Therefore the Professor/Online Support staff reserves the right to require a proctored assessment on an individual basis even if it is not described in the syllabus. The Research Project is intended to circumvent the need for on-campus assessments.