MLIS Special Session Student Checklist - Spring 2025

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Spring 2025 Incoming Special Session Students Checklist
1. First Steps
Prepare your school budget so you will have funds available for textbooks, tuition and technology. Financial Aid Resource Page
Get comfortable with the contents of our web site. In particular, look over the "Student Resources" section which contains links to information you will need to know during your time as a student.
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 in to your MySJSU account regularly and check it for messages from the University and from your instructors, especially in the week before classes begin.

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 important details about INFO 203, a required one-credit class you will take in your first semester. Note the early start date for this class.
ead 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. Understand the Choose your Own Advisor model used at iSchool and how Student Services is able to assist you with all administrative questions. Browse welcome recordings from iSchool Faculty Advisors. Finally, 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.

Register for classes. For your first semester, you must register for the required one-unit course INFO 203 (see details about INFO 203 enrollment). You should also register for some combination of the core classes, INFO 200, 202 or 204. 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.

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. Locate payment deadlines in the "Finances" section of your MySJSU Student Center web page and see 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. When adding a class on the first day of instruction through the last day to add of the semester.
3. Prepare for Learning
Your Canvas account will be activated by the university after registering for your classes and before the start of your INFO 203 course. Complete the Getting Started with Canvas Guide link goes to non-SJSU web site in order to prepare for the semester. 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.
Complete the Online Title IX Training/Sexual Violence Prevention for Undergraduate/Graduate Students
All incoming graduate students must complete the federally mandated course. It is a 60 minute online training course. Check your MySJSU account for a message with instructions needed to complete the course. You MUST complete the course by the deadline given in the message to avoid having a hold placed by the University on your registration for future semesters. This is a CSU and federal directive that is not administered in any way by the School of Information. Questions regarding your completion status with the requirement can be directed to: titleixeducation@sjsu.edu 408-924-6202. For additional information, see https://www.sjsu.edu/wellness/grow-your-wellbeing/online-training.php
Obtain your class textbooks. Six weeks prior to the beginning of semester you will be able to find out which textbooks (if any) are required for your classes. Make sure you have budgeted for the purchase of required textbooks for the classes you are choosing.
Read your course syllabus. Syllabi will be available no less than two weeks prior to the first day of class. You may be able to access your course syllabus early to find out how the course will be run, what the assignments are, etc. If your class isn't linked yet, you can check again at a later date or you can look for your instructor's course in a previous semester.
Participate in New Student Orientation TBD. Meet iSchool Director Anthony Chow, Associate Director Linda Main and other faculty and students. This event will be held via Zoom web conferencing. Details will be distributed to all new students.
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. Semester Begins
Start INFO 203 on January 6th. INFO 203 is a required one-unit, credit/no credit class which introduces you to the School's online technologies, tools and success strategies. It takes about four weeks to complete the course. You are strongly encouraged to begin on the first day that this class is available, which is a couple weeks before the start of the semester. If you accelerate your pace, you can complete the course before your three-credit classes begin. All incoming students must successfully complete INFO 203 by February 19th or an administrative hold will be put on their records which will prevent them from continuing in their second semester.
Obtain this semester's Restricted Materials login from your advisor or instructor.
Obtain a Student ID Card (optional). Students can use this ID card to obtain discounts. The ID card must be renewed each semester.

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