LIBR 246-02
LIBR 246-12
Information Technology Tools and Applications – Advanced
Topic: Web 2.0
Summer 2012 Greensheet

Meredith Farkas
E-mail
AIM: librarianmer
Office Hours: By appointment 

Classroom info: Class begins June 6 in our classroom (http://sociallibraries.com/su12) which uses Drupal, an easy-to-use online content management system that allows for the creation of multiple blogs in a single space. Students will receive their registration information via email and can begin using the course site on May 29th. D2L will be used as well, but only as a mechanism for checking grades. D2L tutorials are available.

Course Description

Social software is rapidly changing the way we all work and play online. Social technologies have turned the web into a participatory medium where everyone can add their own creativity and knowledge to the whole. It is also opening up new opportunities for reaching out to patrons and providing library services in the online medium. This course is focused on developing the skills and knowledge necessary to evaluate, implement and maintain Web 2.0 technologies. We will examine the social technologies that comprise Web 2.0 and how libraries can capitalize on these tools to improve communication between the library and its patrons, build online communities, and better share information.

Many social software tools are quite easy to get started with. It takes mere minutes to create a blog or a wiki and start adding content to them. This has led many libraries to dive into these technologies without properly planning for their ongoing use and maintenance. Blog posts must be made engaging so that people will read them. Wikis must be made inviting so that people will contribute. While the technologies are not difficult to learn, the challenge is to make them effective, engaging and useful in your library. This course will focus on social software best practices, highlighting successful examples and discovering what makes them so effective.

This course will involve a hands-on experience with the technologies as well as frequent reflections on how to apply what you've learned in a professional setting. You will have the opportunity to explore social software from an academic standpoint and a practical standpoint; understanding how communities form through these tools and how you can capitalize on them in a library setting.

Top of Page

Course Requirements

Course Format
This course will primarily take place in Drupal. Please be aware that what you will write for this class will be openly available on the Web and open to comment from your classmates and the public. The goal is to make the experience of using social technologies in this course much like the experiences you would have using the same technologies in a library setting. If you are concerned about the public nature of writing in this class, you do not have to identify yourself in the classroom with your full name.

Collaborate
There will be one Collaborate session at the end of the course (8/7/12), which will require your participation. You will need to have a USB headset or microphone to participate in Collaboate sessions and to create an instructional video for the class. If you don't have a headset, you will need speakers (built-in or external) or headphones to hear the session (as well as to hear some of the class lectures). Be sure you have had Collaborate training or have taken a tutorial. For more information, see the Student Guide at http://ischool.sjsu.edu/software/bbcollaborate/webconferencing/

Technology Requirements
You will need a current and fast internet connection like DSL, Cable, or FIOS. Please see the home computing environment requirements at:
http://ischool.sjsu.edu/ecommunication/homecomputing.htm

You will also need to be able to access sites like Facebook and Twitter and so must have access to a network that doesn't block popular social networking sites.

Assignments

• Exercises (25 points)
  There will be five exercises that will allow you to practice what you learned about that week. Exercises are due on Sunday at 11:59 pm PST.
• Exercise 1: Assignment supports SLO #2 and SLO #3
• Exercise 2: Assignment supports SLO #2 and SLO #4 
• Exercise 3: Assignment supports  SLO #1 and SLO #4
• Exercise 4: Assignment supports  SLO #1
• Exercise 5: Assignment supports SLO #1 and SLO #4
• Marketing critique (15 points): Assignment supports SLO #2 and SLO #3 
  You will write a 1200-2000 word paper critiquing the effectiveness of a library’s online marketing/outreach/branding efforts.
• Group Project (25 points): Assignment supports SLO #1, SLO #4 and SLO #5
  You will form groups to develop a detailed proposal for implementing a specific tool or group of tools in a specific library type or related setting.
• Participation (35 points): Partipation activities support  SLO #1,  SLO #2,  SLO #3 and SLO #4   
  Participation is measured based on fulfillment of your weekly expectations of blogging, bookmarking resources in delicious and Twitter and commenting on your classmates' blog posts.

Course Calendar
(subject to change with fair notice)

Late Assignments
Assignments that are up to two days late will only receive a maximum grade of 75%. Assignments that are two days to one week late will only receive half credit. I will not accept any assignment more than 1 week late. If there is an extreme situation that requires you to turn in an assignment late, you must contact me in advance of the due date to make arrangements.

Textbooks and Software
There is no required textbook, though you may benefit from reading some of the chapters in my book Social Sofware in Libraries. All required readings will come from articles, book chapters and blog posts on the Web or through library databases. They are all resources freely available to students.

top

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 202, other prerequisites may be added depending on content. 

Student Learning Outcomes

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

1. Define the basic syntax of coding PHP programs.
2. Use HTML forms with PHP.
3. Use standard PHP functions and be able to write their own custom functions.
4. Demonstrate a basic understanding of MySQL and be able to use it in a PHP program.
5. Build and maintain a small Web application.
6. Identify the features of JavaScript.
7. Incorporate JavaScript/Jscript into HTML using current versions of popular Internet browsers.
8. Identify the types of data and operators in JavaScript.
9. Incorporate variables in JavaScript.
10. Declare functions and add objects along with their methods and properties in JavaScript.
11. Manage JavaScript events by using event handlers.
12. Create interactive HTML forms by applying the properties and methods of form objects and elements.
13. Implement loops in JavaScript programs.
14. Manipulate the images displayed on a Web page.
15. Identify how information about a Web page is stored.
16. Identify the functions of cookie attributes; create and manipulate cookies.
17. Identify information provided by navigator object properties.
18. Manipulate strings using the string object method.

Core Competencies (Program Learning Outcomes)

LIBR 246 supports the following core competencies:

top

Textbooks

Recommended Textbooks:

• Farkas, M. G. (2007). Social software in libraries: Building collaboration, communication, and community online. Information Today. Available through Amazon: 157387275X.

top

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.

Download Adobe Acrobat Reader to access PDF files.

More accessibility resources.