LIBR 287-17
Seminar in Information Science
Topic: Virtual Environments: Immersive Learning for Libraries and Archives
Fall 2014 Greensheet

Lori Bell
E-mail
Other contact information: (309)338-5115 cell
Office Hours: Arranged as needed

This course will be available on Canvas beginning August 25, 2014. You will be enrolled into the site automatically.

Course Description

This advanced course allows students to conduct in-depth research on virtual archival and library collections in immersive environments. Students will explore Second Life and other virtual worlds, conduct case studies, and analyze trends in the future development of these environments. Students will review literature, learn from experts, conduct individual research, and collaborate with peers to create a unique immersive environment, collection, and event based on a topic and time period of their choice. At the end of the semester, students will showcase their work in a free conference in Second Life on Teaching and Learning in Immersive Environments.

Course Requirements

Course Format
The course will meet in the virtual world of Second Life on Wednesday evenings from 6-8 pacific time. Attendance is helpful but not required. We will use spruz.com for course communication outside of Second Life.

Assignments

1. Additional field trips and report to two of six areas: Health/medicine; Science, Language/Literature, History/social science, Art/authentic roleplaying, Library or Museum attendance at an event – Independent field trips and analysis reports - 25 points each. SLO #4
2. Professional group – Each student will become a member of an educational in-world group and attend at least 3 meetings and/or events during the semester for networking opportunities. A short paper on the meetings attended and interactions with the group is due week 12 on the discussion board for 25 points. SLO #4
3. Oral and written overview of educational immersive environment – 25 points. SLO #2, #3, #4
4. Interview with community builder in SL or immersive environment – 25 points. SLO #3
5. Evaluation of 5 teaching tools in SL – 25 points SLO #3
6. Research topic - 5 points SLO #1, #4, #6
   Literature search - 30 points
   Annotated bibliography - 35 points
   Major research paper - 100 points
   Presentation at conference on paper - 100 points
7. Group proposal - 10 points SLO #1-6
   Group project - 100 - grading of artifacts, overall presentation
   Group conference presentation with group - 50 points

Total = 605 points

Late assignments
If you have a conflict which will cause you to need additional time on assignments, please contact me to arrange an alternate due date. Otherwise, there is a minimum 10 percent deduction for late assignments.

Course Calendar

Topics subject to change due to speaker availability

• Week 1- Wed. August 27
  Class meeting in SL 6-8 pm pacific. Course overview and introductions; Overview of Higher Education in SL and other immersive environments; Overview of immersive environment/education profesional groups in SL; tour of campus

• Week 2 – Wed. September 3
  Class meeting 6-8 pm pacific in sl; Health and medicine in SL and other immersive environments; field trip to health/medicine site

• Week 3-Wed. September 10
  Class meeting 6-8 pm pacific in sl; Science in SL and other environments; field trip to science sites; Discussion of research paper topics

• Week 4 - September 17
  Class meeting 6-8 pm pacific;
  Language and Literature in immersive environments; field trip

• Week 5 - September 24
  Class meeting 6-8 pm in sl;
  History and social sciences in SL and other environments; feld trip

• Week 6 - October 1
  Course meeting 6-8 pm in sl;
  Art, authentic roleplaying; field trip

• Week 7 – October 8
  Course meeting 6-8 pm in sl; Archives, Museums and Libraries in SL and other environments; field trip

• Week 8 - October 15
  Course meeting 6-8 pm in sl; Creating a presence and community in SL and other environments

• Week 9 - October 22
  Course meeting 6-8 pm in sl; teaching and learning in immersive environments; philosophies; nuts and bolts; guest speakers; groups assigned to work on group project

• Week 10 – October 29
  Course meeting 6-8 pm in sl; overview of different kinds of content creation; creating content; field trip to view different kinids of content; discussion of conference at end of semester

• Week 11- November 5
  Class will meet from 6-8 pm sl in Second Life; working professionally in a virtual world, an immersive environment, or gaming company

• Week 12 – November 12
  Class will meet 6-8 pm sl in Second Life; lecturing and hosting an event in sl - how tos, etc; We will spend time planning our conference, timing events, assigning responsibilities, etc

• Week 13 – November 19
  Class will meet 6-8 pm sl in Second Life. Work/finalize immersive environment with goup.

• Week 14 – November 25
  Note Tuesday - Class will meet 6-8 pm sl Final walk-through of projects, students critique each other's work and presentation

• Week15 - December 2
  Conference specifics to be determined

• Week 16 -December 10
  Meet in SL 6-8 pm sl - evaluation

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Course Workload Expectations

Success in this course is based on the expectation that students will spend, for each unit of credit, a minimum of forty-five hours over the length of the course (normally 3 hours per unit per week with 1 of the hours used for lecture) for instruction or preparation/studying or course related activities including but not limited to internships, labs, clinical practica. Other course structures will have equivalent workload expectations as described in the syllabus.

Instructional time may include but is not limited to:
Working on posted modules or lessons prepared by the instructor; discussion forum interactions with the instructor and/or other students; making presentations and getting feedback from the instructor; attending office hours or other synchronous sessions with the instructor.

Student time outside of class:
In any seven-day period, a student is expected to be academically engaged through submitting an academic assignment; taking an exam or an interactive tutorial, or computer-assisted instruction; building websites, blogs, databases, social media presentations; attending a study group;contributing to an academic online discussion; writing papers; reading articles; conducting research; engaging in small group work.

Course Prerequisites

LIBR 200, Other prerequisites may be added depending on content. 

Student Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

1. Identify, understand, and explain significant events taking place during a selected time period that changed the way information was created and disseminated.
2. Utilize the basic concepts and principles related to the selection, evaluation, and organization of digital items and collections (e.g., selection of artifacts that represent period costumes, architecture, and style).
3. Demonstrate communication and collaboration skills necessary to build and create community in an immersive environment reflective of the selected era (e.g., an Indian village, ancient Egypt, Renaissance Spain).
4. Demonstrate oral and written communication skills necessary to develop and deliver professional presentations and exhibits in a virtual environment.
5. Design an instructional session for a virtual conference based on research topic.
6. Conduct and evaluate in-depth research into a topic of interest and develop a high-quality, publishable report or article reflecting this research.

Core Competencies (Program Learning Outcomes)

LIBR 287 supports the following core competencies:

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Textbooks

Required Textbooks:

• Nelson, B.C., & Erlandson, B.E. (2012). Design for learning in virtual worlds: Interdisciplinary approaches to educational technology. Routledge. Available through Amazon: 0415886406

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Grading Scale

The standard SJSU School of Information Grading Scale is utilized for all iSchool courses:

In order to provide consistent guidelines for assessment for graduate level work in the School, these terms are applied to letter grades:

• C represents Adequate work; a grade of "C" counts for credit for the course;
• B represents Good work; a grade of "B" clearly meets the standards for graduate level work;
  For core courses in the MLIS program (not MARA) — INFO 200, INFO 202, INFO 204 — the iSchool requires that students earn a B in the course. If the grade is less than B (B- or lower) after the first attempt you will be placed on administrative probation.  You must repeat the class the following semester. If -on the second attempt- you do not pass the class with a grade of B or better (not B- but B) you will be disqualified.
  
• A represents Exceptional work; a grade of "A" will be assigned for outstanding work only.

Students are advised that it is their responsibility to maintain a 3.0 Grade Point Average (GPA).

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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