MARA 295-10
Organizational Consulting Project (OCP)
Fall 2010 Greensheet

Dr. Patricia C. Franks
E-mail
Virtual Office Hours: Students and instructor will determine a day/time to meet using Elluminate.


Greensheet Links
Textbooks and Readings
Course Requirements
Resources
ANGEL
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ANGEL Information: The first day of instruction is Wednesday, August 25, and the last day of class is Thursday, December 9. The content for the course is managed through ANGEL. Students must self-enroll for this course on ANGEL between August 20 - August 28. You will be required to use a password access code. The code will be provided to you via the MySJSU Messaging system on August 20.

Course Description

Organizational Consulting Projects are submitted by an individual or organization, supervised by a professional archivist, records manager, or other division/department manager, take more than one semester to complete, and require the student to apply at a high level the knowledge and skills developed in the program. This course is repeatable to earn six credits.

Prequisites: Successful completion of 10 required courses: MARA 200, 202, 204, 210, 211, 248, 259, 243, 249, and 256. Students must be in good academic standing [3.0 CUM GPA or above], obtain a recommendation by one MARA instructor, and receive permission of the MARA academic advisor.

Course Objectives

Student Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

  1. Identify and demonstrate satisfactory fulfillment of an organizational consulting project, developed in consultation with the MARA program coordinator and the client. The scope of the Organizational Consulting Project is substantive such that the client would normally pay a substantial consulting fee for the level of work. (However, because this is a learning experience it is not expected that the student will be paid.)
  2. Analyze and discuss how the principles and practices of management, organizational culture and professional-related concerns are applied in the specific archives, records center, or information-based organization for which the student is completing the organizational consulting project.
  3. Compare theories of archival science and/or recordkeeping related to information retrieval, the records life cycle, and information policy with practices carried out at the client site.
  4. Demonstrate the ability to apply project management skills— including developing a project plan, identifying tasks and how goals will be achieved, quantifying resources needed, and determining budgets and timelines for completion—to a professional consulting project.
  5. Exhibit an understanding of the 8 Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles (GARP): accountability, integrity, protection, compliance, availability, retention, disposition, and transparency (http://www.arma.org/garp/).

MARA 295 supports the following Core Competencies:

  • D. Apply basic concepts and principles to identify, evaluate, select, organize, maintain, and provide access to records of current and enduring value.
  • E. Understand the system of standards and structures endorsed and utilized by the recordkeeping professions, particularly in the areas of electronic records and digital assets management.
  • F. Apply fundamental management theories and principles to the administration of records and recordkeeping organizations.

For your information: 9 MARA Core Competencies

Course Requirements

Course Grading
This is a Credit/No Credit course that is repeatable in order to earn 6 units over two consecutive semesters. Credit for each assignment is based on satisfactory completion. Unsatisfactory completion results in No Credit for each assignment. All assignments must be completed satisfactorily to obtain credit for the course.

Incompletes: Incompletes are considered on an indivdiual basis, and are given only for family or medical emergency situations as outlined in the SJSU Catalog at http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/soc-fall/rec-30.html.

Assignments
Each student is required to:

  1. Conceptualize (in collaboration with client) strategies and an approach to the specific problem or need that has been identified by the client.
  • Helps to fulfill student learning objectives #1, #2, #3, and #4
  • Helps to satisfy MARA Core Competency D, E, and F
  • Grading: S if proposal agreement is made as evidenced by signatures of student and client and submitted to instructor by end of week 4.
  1. Perform independent advanced –level work on an archival or records management project for a client site.
  • Helps to fulfill student learning objective #1 and #5
  • Helps to satisfy MARA Core Competency D and F
  • Grading: S if client signs off on the final project delivered by student indicating the student has conducted the project to the satisfaction of the supervisor as specified in the organizational consulting project proposal.
  1. Produce recommendations, proposals, or other products (e.g. retention schedules, training programs, metadata schema) that can be implemented or used as is by the client organization.
  • Helps to fulfill student learning objectives #1 and #2
  • Helps to satisfy MARA Core Competencies E, and F
  • Grading: S if client signs off on the final project delivered by student indicating the student has conducted the project to the satisfaction of the supervisor as specified in the project proposal.
  1. Enroll in Angel and participate in online discussion forums related to this course.
  • Helps to fulfill student learning objective #2, #3, #4, and #5.
  • Helps to satisfy MARA Core Competencies D, E, and F
  • Grading: S if student participates in each required discussion forum in the Angel learning management system and meets the basic requirements as specified in the “Evaluation of a Threaded Discussion” document in Angel (see Appendix B)
  1. Maintain an on-going record of his/her work hours and activities on a Blog in the Angel learning management system. Specific information regarding the organizational consulting project experience documentation will be available on the Angel site.
  • Helps to fulfill student learning objectives #1,#, 2, #3, #4, and #5
  • Helps to satisfy MARA Core Competencies D, E, and F
  • Grading: S if student maintains a Blog in the Angel learning management system and updates it weekly throughout the course and meets the basic requirements as specified in the “Evaluation of a Required Blogs” document in Angel (see Appendix C).
  1. Prepare a status report at the end of the first semester discussing how the learning outcomes identified for the first semester of the project were (or were not) accomplished. This report will be presented to the instructor through the Angel learning management system. It must be accompanied by a form signed by the client attesting to the fact that the consultant has performed as agreed upon in the project proposal up to this point.
  • Helps to fulfill student learning objectives #1, #2, #3, #4, and #5
  • Helps to satisfy MARA Core Competencies D, E, and F
  • Grading: S if student submits this status report. The student will be expected to submit a digital file saved as a word document unless an alternative medium, such as a website, is pre-approved by the instructor.
  1. Prepare a professional project final report (based upon the learning outcomes identified for the project) at the end of the second semester discussing how those outcomes were (or were not) accomplished. A copy of the final report must be submitted to the instructor through the Angel learning management system along with the final project or, in the case of a project that is not a document (e.g. an electronic records management system or database), along with access information so that the instructor can access the final project.
  • Helps to fulfill student learning objectives #1, #2, #3, #4, and #5
  • Helps to satisfy MARA Core Competencies D, E, and F
  • Grading: S if student submits this professional project final report accompanied by the final project or access information so the instructor can review the final project. The student will be expected to submit a word document unless an alternative medium, such as a website, is pre-approved by the instructor. The report must meet the basic requirements as specified in the Organizational Consulting Project Handbook for MARA 295 (see separate document).

Course Schedule

The organizational consulting project will span two semesters, and it must be completed by the end of the second semester. A detailed schedule with dates for submission of the required documents and discussion posts will be posted in Angel each term. All assignments are introduced Monday of the week indicated. Blogs and discussions are due the following Sunday, 11:55 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST) . Other assignments are due Sunday evening, 11:55 p.m. PST of the week in which they are listed on the schedule. The basic time frame for the fall semester will be as follows:

Week Start & End Dates Main Activity Assignment
1 8/25 – 8/29 Introduction to Course, Review of OCP Proposal Requirements. Disc #1: Introduction
Blog Entry #1: Initial thoughts on the course.
 
2 8/30 – 9/5 Prepare Project Proposal with input from client and MARA program coordinator. Blog Entry #2: Thoughts on the proposed project
3 9/6 – 9/12 Continue to work on project proposal – or acquire approval of both client and MARA program coordinator. Disc #2: Topic: project management. Relate to one topic covered in the assigned Kerzner (2009) text.

Blog Entry #3: Progress on Project Proposal

4 9/13 – 9/19 Acquire approval of both client and MARA coordinator or begin work at client site (if approval received week 3). Blog Entry #4: Progress on Project Proposal
5 9/20 – 9/26 Begin work on project if not started week 4. Disc #3: Topic: project management. Relate to one topic covered in the assigned Kerzner (2009) text.

Blog Entry #5: Initial experiences at project site.

6 9/27 – 10/3 Continue work on project. Blog Entry #6: Reflections on weekly progress.
7 10/4 – 10/10 Continue work on project. Disc #4: Topic: project management. Relate to one topic covered in the assigned Kerzner (2009) text.

Blog Entry #7: Reflections on weekly progress.

8 10/11 – 10/17 Continue work on project. Blog Entry #8: Reflections on weekly progress.
9 10/18 – 10/24 Continue work on project. Disc #5: Topic: project management. Relate to one topic covered in the assigned Kerzner (2009) text.

Blog Entry #9: Reflections on weekly progress.

10 10/25 – 10/31 Continue work on project. Blog Entry #10: Reflections on weekly progress.
11 11/1 – 11/7 Continue work on project. Disc #6: Topic: Information Retrieval – Classification systems. Relate to one article from the reading list. Example from list: “Accessioning as processing” (Weideman, 2006)

Blog Entry #11: Reflections on weekly progress.

12 11/8 – 11/14 Continue work on project. Blog Entry #12: Reflections on weekly progress.
13 11/15 – 11/21 Continue work on project. Disc #7: Information Retrieval – Standards. Relate to one article from the reading list. Example from list: “Examining metadata: Its role in e-discovery and the future of records managers” (Gable, 2009)

Blog Entry #13: Reflections on weekly progress.

14 11/22 – 11/28 Continue work on project. Blog Entry #14: Reflections on weekly progress.
15 11/29 – 12/5 Present Progress Report and statement signed and dated by client attesting to progress as described in report to the instructor. Disc #8: Share thoughts on status of project. Address ways in which the learning outcomes agreed upon by client and MARA instructor were or were not achieved by the end of this term.

Blog Entry #15: Summary of experiences at project site this term.

Wrap Up 12/6 – 12/9 Course Completion: Last official day of instruction is 12/9. I will use between 12/6 and 12/9 to grade work and compile final grades. Please complete a SOTE (Student Opinion of Teaching Effectiveness) by 11:55 p.m. on 12/9. Course grades will be available in Angel by 12/10 – or earlier if all work is submitted and graded early. SOTE (Student Opinion of Teaching Effectiveness) due by 11:55 p.m. on 12/9 – Optional but appreciated.

Note: Each student is expected to devote 135 hours to this project this term and a minimum of 185 hours the 2nd term, for a total of 320 hours.

Textbooks and Readings

An Organizational Consulting Project Handbook is also provided in Angel as a resource for students. In addition to detailed information on the course, the Handbook contains samples of the forms to be used throughout MARA 295 (see separate document). 

The following resources will be found in Angel:

  • MARA 295 Sample Reading List
  • Evaluation of a Threaded Discussion (Rubric)
  • Evaluation of Required Blogs (Rubric)
  • MARA 295 OCP Handbook

Required Textbook:

  • Kerzner, H. (2009). Project management: A systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling, 10th ed. John Wiley & Sons. Available through Amazon: 0470278706 arrow gif indicating link outside sjsu domain


Grading

This is a Credit/No Credit course. Incompletes are considered on a case-by-case basis, and are given for family or work emergency situations.

University Policies

General Expectations, Rights and Responsibilities of the Student

As members of the academic community, students accept both the rights and responsibilities incumbent upon all members of the institution. Students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with SJSU's policies and practices pertaining to the procedures to follow if and when questions or concerns about a class arises. See University Policy S90-5 at http://www.sjsu.edu/senate/docs/S90-5.pdf. More detailed information on a variety of related topics is available in the SJSU catalog at http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/catalog/departments/LIS.html. In general, it is recommended that students begin by seeking clarification or discussing concerns with their instructor. If such conversation is not possible, or if it does not serve to address the issue, it is recommended that the student contact the Department Chair as a next step.

Dropping and Adding

Students are responsible for understanding the policies and procedures about add/drop, grade forgiveness, etc. Refer to the current semester's Catalog Policies section at http://info.sjsu.edu/static/catalog/policies.html. Add/drop deadlines can be found on the current academic year calendars document on the Academic Calendars webpage at http://www.sjsu.edu/provost/services/academic_calendars/. The Late Drop Policy is available at http://www.sjsu.edu/aars/policies/latedrops/policy/. Students should be aware of the current deadlines and penalties for dropping classes.

Information about the latest changes and news is available at the Advising Hub at http://www.sjsu.edu/advising/.

Consent for Recording of Class and Public Sharing of Instructor Material

University Policy S12-7, http://www.sjsu.edu/senate/docs/S12-7.pdf, requires students to obtain instructor's permission to record the course and the following items to be included in the syllabus:

  • "Common courtesy and professional behavior dictate that you notify someone when you are recording him/her. You must obtain the instructor's permission to make audio or video recordings in this class. Such permission allows the recordings to be used for your private, study purposes only. The recordings are the intellectual property of the instructor; you have not been given any rights to reproduce or distribute the material."
    • It is suggested that the syllabus include the instructor's process for granting permission, whether in writing or orally and whether for the whole semester or on a class by class basis.
    • In classes where active participation of students or guests may be on the recording, permission of those students or guests should be obtained as well.
  • "Course material developed by the instructor is the intellectual property of the instructor and cannot be shared publicly without his/her approval. You may not publicly share or upload instructor generated material for this course such as exam questions, lecture notes, or homework solutions without instructor consent."

Academic integrity

Your commitment, as a student, to learning is evidenced by your enrollment at San Jose State University. The University Academic Integrity Policy F15-7 at http://www.sjsu.edu/senate/docs/F15-7.pdf requires you to be honest in all your academic course work. Faculty members are required to report all infractions to the office of Student Conduct and Ethical Development. The Student Conduct and Ethical Development website is available at http://www.sjsu.edu/studentconduct/.

Campus Policy in Compliance with the American Disabilities Act

If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, or if you need to make special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please make an appointment with me as soon as possible, or see me during office hours. Presidential Directive 97-03 at http://www.sjsu.edu/president/docs/directives/PD_1997-03.pdf requires that students with disabilities requesting accommodations must register with the Accessible Education Center (AEC) at http://www.sjsu.edu/aec to establish a record of their disability.

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