LIBR 286-10
Interpersonal Communication Skills for Librarians Spring 2010 Greensheet

Mr. Brent Roberts
E-mail (Responses within 48 hours unless otherwise indicated)
Office Hours: Online - By Appointment

Angel information: This class is delivered via the Angel course management system.  A week prior to the beginning of the semester, I will be sending a message through mySJSU with the access enrollment code. 

Course Description

This course surveys the principles and practice of interpersonal communication in peer relationships and small groups, with application in both personal and professional settings. 

Course Prerequisites: LIBR 200, 204 required.

Course Objectives

Student Learning Outcomes
At the completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Apply the concepts and issues related to interpersonal communication.
• Describe the role of communication within library and information science environments.
• Distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate interpersonal communication techniques within professional and personal environments.
• Apply appropriate interpersonal communication techniques to problems within library and information science environments.

LIBR 286 supports the following MLIS Core Competencies:

• demonstrate oral and written communication skills necessary for group work, collaborations and professional level presentations.

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Course Requirements

Course Format:  Angel
This is a web-based course.  Angel will be used for all course activities.  The Angel site for this course will be open for self-enrollment on Monday, January 18.  (This is my second semester teaching for SJSU - please be patient as I continue learning all the steps involved in opening the course for enrollment, etc.)  Class begins on Tuesday, January 26.  Because assignments and discussions are due each week, and because I frequently post announcements throughout the week, be sure to log in each day or two for updates.

Due Dates
The deadline for weekly assignments, as well as for weekly discussion postings, is Sunday night at midnight.  Because assignments are all posted well in advance, you will be expected to submit the assignment and your assigned postings by that time.  It is fine to work ahead in this course, but grades for the Discussions and Journal Article postings will be given based on what has been posted by Sunday night at midnight.

Discussions
Each week there will be a discussion forum covering aspects of the readings.  For full 3 points credit, you will need to respond to the original question, and to at least two other students' postings.  Postings should be free of spelling and grammatical errors, and APA-style citations should be included as necessary. 

Assignments
Each week there will be an assignment due which requires you to think about and apply the principles covered that week.  For full 5 points credit, respond to the assignment with a Word document, free of spelling and grammatical errors, uploaded to the dropbox by Sunday night at midnight.

Journal Articles
It is important to explore what scholars have written about communication.  In Weeks 2-14 of the course, you will be required to post the citation for one journal article on the week's topic found through King Library databases.  For full 3 points credit, you will give a full citation for your article (and a link if available), as well as a paragraph outlining why you think the article was important or instructive.  Then find and read articles submitted by two classmates, and respond to their initial posts.  By the end of the semester, these threads will provide bibliographies on many communication-related topics.

Final Paper
The final paper for this course will be five pages in length, double-spaced, no title page necessary, with a one-page bibliography (for a total of six pages).  You should use at least 3 peer-reviewed journal articles from King Library databases in your bibliography.  The bibliography and in-text citations should be in APA format.  This paper will be due at the end of the semester, to be submitted in the Dropbox within Lesson 15.

Course Grading

No late work accepted without prior arrangement.

Textbooks and Readings

Required Textbook:

• Verderber, K. S., Verderber, R. F., & Berryman-Fink, C. (2010). Inter-Act: Interpersonal Communication Concepts, Skills, and Contexts (12th ed.). Oxford University Press. Available through Amazon: 0195378911.

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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