Prepare your school budget so you will have funds available for textbooks, tuition
and technology.Financial Aid Resource Page
Become familiar with the iSchool web site
(https://ischool.sjsu.edu ).
In particular, look over the "The Master's Degree in
Archives and Records Administration (MARA) "
and "Student Resources "
sections as they contain a lot of information that you will need to know while you are enrolled.
Update your
home computing environment to meet the standards required by the school. Two Factor Authentication: All students taking iSchool classes are required to have a smartphone that supports the free DUO Mobile App for two factor authentication login to the one.SJSU portal.
2. Registration and Enrollment
Check your MySJSU messages through one.SJSU . Please log on to your MySJSU account regularly and check it for messages,
especially in the week before classes begin.
SJSU Email Account. Login to your new @sjsu.edu email address .
(learn about this by seeing SJSU's Email, Calendar, and Google Suite page and scrolling down to the FAQs.)
The university will set up a new email address for you no later than 6 weeks before the start of the semester. Once it is created, it will automatically become your preferred email address for university communications.
It is very important that you check it regularly or set up forwarding to a personal email address .
Read iSchool Guidelines for Mapping Degree Progress
and create your plan on the Unit Planning Tool .
This helps the iSchool anticipate enrollment demand and will help you create a focused plan. Get started
with the iSchool Advising pages
to access advising FAQs .
Class Registration and Tuition Payment Register for classes .
If you are taking two courses in the fall, register for MARA 200 and MARA 204.
(See MARA Class Rotation
Schedule .) If you plan to take more than two courses, discuss your third choice with your academic
advisor, Dr. Darra Hofman . Check class information on
the iSchool class schedules
rather than in MySJSU. Important details are included in the iSchool schedules which are not found in MySJSU.
For any classes you are considering, review the course topic (and dates of variable unit classes) which are
listed in the "Note" field of the schedule. Then locate your tuition payment deadline in the "Finances" section
on your MySJSU Student Center page and see
Methods of Payment . After the
close of Advance Registration you will need to wait to add until the first day of instruction for the semester.
Note : The courses in this program are difficult and require substantial work and time. The course workload is normally three hours per unit per week with one of the hours used for lecture. Some courses may require more time depending on the complexity of the material. Most students carry between one to three courses per semester. Other obligations such as work and family should be carefully considered when deciding how many courses to take. Dropping classes after the deadlines can be problematic and expensive. We recommend that you be conservative in the number of classes you take during your first semester .
SJSU policy states that students must be active in their course sites within the first day of instruction of a class, or have contacted the instructor in the first 48 hours after the first day of instruction, or the student is at risk of being dropped from the class.
Pay your Special Session Tuition Fees Methods of Payment . Please note that
tuition payment deadlines may be as short as a few days after you register for a class. The University does not send bills or reminders for payment. Make sure to check on MySJSU for fees and due dates. If you do not pay on time, you may be dropped from your classes. Keep in mind that the drop deadline has nothing to do with refunds! For refund policy, including prorated fees owed, based on the date dropped, see: https://ischool.sjsu.edu/refund-policy . If you drop your classes after the refund deadline, or during the prorated refund period, you would still owe tuition for the classes you were enrolled in. After the close of Advance Registration you will need to wait to
add until the first day of instruction for the semester.
3. Prepare for Learning
Complete the Online Title IX Training/Sexual Violence Prevention for Undergraduate/Graduate Students
Complete the Getting Started with Canvas Guide (PDF) a few days after you register in order to prepare for the semester. iSchool students will receive access to Canvas (our Learning Management System) after registering for classes on MySJSU and before their MARA Tech Prep class begins. You can access Canvas from the menu at the top of the School of Information's Web page . All students will be enrolled in the iSchool Advising and Administration Canvas course site, your "home room" for administrative processes, help forums, resources and more. Browse the site and get comfortable using Canvas.
New Student Technology Workshop: MARA Program Technology Preparation
Complete the MARA Program Technology Preparation self-paced course offered in Canvas. You will receive access to the self-paced course after registering on MySJSU for your first class and several weeks before the start of the semester. If you log in to Canvas before the first day of the semester, you will not yet be able to see links to the classes for which you are registered. But you will see tools for learning to use Canvas. You will automatically be joined to the Canvas site, MARA Program Technology Preparation. The site contains a number of self-paced modules containing information to help you get off to a good start, including: Canvas basics, Zoom, the MARA LibGuide, and ISO Database for MARA students.
Read your course
syllabus
Spring 2024 semester syllabi (look for the MARA classes at the bottom of the list).
Obtain your class
textbooks Fall 2025
Textbook Selections page, choose the courses for which you have been registered.
Your courses will begin with "MARA". For example, if you have been
registered in MySJSU for MARA 200-10, look for MARA 200-10 in the Textbook Selections. Follow the same procedure to locate the
required textbooks for your INFO elective course. Make sure you have budgeted for the purchase of required textbooks for the classes you are choosing.
Prepare for MARA Welcome Session , TBD
to get you started with MARA. This welcome session will be held on the Zoom Web conferencing platform.
If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, register with the
Accessible Education Center (AEC) as soon as possible. The AEC will
communicate with your instructor(s) at the start of the semester.
See iSchool Accessibility Policy
for more information.
4. Information, Communication, Career Development
See the School's Facebook page .
It includes news updates, event announcements, and links to other sites.
You do not have to be a Facebook user to view the page. Facebook users can post questions and comments on the Wall.
Also check out the iSchool X feed .
To keep in touch with MARA students and faculty, join the
iSchool MARA Facebook group . And for information specific to MARA students, read the MARA blog .
Consider joining a student organization such as SAASC.
SAASC Facebook group .
Bookmark iSchool Career Development and begin reading
through the wealth of information and resources presented. Refer to these web pages early and often while you are a student.
Learn about emerging trends, and develop effective job search strategies.
5. Semester Begins
Read Academic Advising guidelines and Advising FAQ .
If you have other questions, you can email MARA Coordinator Dr. Darra Hofman .
https://calendly.com/darra-hofman/mara-student-advising ) to set up an advising appointment.
Restricted Materials Access . The School protects some material on this Web site by keeping it password protected. The iSchool Restricted Materials user ID and password change each semester. Students should obtain this information from their advisors or instructors at the beginning of each semester.
Obtain a Student ID Card (Tower Card) (optional).
Students can use this ID card to obtain discounts. The ID card must be renewed each semester.
