LIBR 202-02
Information Retrieval
Fall 2012 Greensheet

Dr. Jeremy W Kemp, Ed.D.
E-mail
Office: Clark Hall, 418E
Phone: (408) 393-5270
Office Hours: By phone or appointment virtually

The Greensheet is a course syllabus which may be revised before or during the semester.

Students will be automatically enrolled in the D2L course site on the first day of the semester. Students need to logon to the course site no later than the second day of the semester.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course covers principles of information retrieval and database design and their application to information systems and services. Emphasis is on models of user information seeking behavior, human information processing, and their relationship to information retrieval systems.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Starting Requirements
Please do the following before August 23 at 12 noon PST:

• Complete the Course Intake Survey: http://ischoolapps.sjsu.edu/phpq/phpq7/fillsurvey.php?sid=21
• Obtain the required texts.
• Buy a microphone headset for your computer: http://ischool.sjsu.edu/software/elluminate/students/equipment.htm

General Requirements

• Check the course site at least every two days for announcements and discussion posts and subscribe by email to appropriate discussion areas.
• Submit assignments by the due date - always Thursdays at noon. Late assignments are not accepted.

Technology Requirements

• Have the minimum home or work computing environment:
  http://ischool.sjsu.edu/current-students/technology-support/home-computing-environment
• Meet the SLIS Technology Literacy requirements:
  http://ischool.sjsu.edu/admissions/tech.htm
• This includes being able to zip (compress) and extract zipped files. In addition, you will need to be flexible and innovative in your use of various tools for designing and producing your information products; including capturing, annotating and sharing views of your desktop.
• Load Inmagic DB/TextWorks. This software is required for the two major assignments. Students must ensure that their computers are equipped to use the software. If you are a Mac user, be sure to read through the options available to you. See the instructions here: http://ischool.sjsu.edu/current-students/technology-support/software-downloads-and-tutorials/downloads-inmagic-dbtextworks
• Review the Collaborate training resources:
  http://ischool.sjsu.edu/current-students/technology-support/blackboard-collaborate

Assignments

Course Grading

Assignments will contribute to your final grade as follows:

• Quizzes (30 points)
  The three quizzes are open-book, untimed, and all questions may be viewed at once. Students are given several days to complete each quiz. The quizzes are designed to review the material covered and offer students a semi-structured way to apply new knowledge.
   
• Homework (30 points)
  Students submit three documents including text and images to convey understanding of the core topics in the class. Each assignment document builds on skills developed in the previous activities. These follow the quizzes and allow students to demonstrate  mastery of the course learning objectives. Work will be assessed on how well it integrates concepts from the readings, supplementary materials (lectures) and class discussions. Homework 1 includes small group activities and project deliverables, with 5 of the total points based on a group grade; the remaining points are based on individual assignments submitted separately.
  
  Exemplary work displays obvious mastery of the learning concepts addressed in the assignment. Descriptions are thorough and illustrated well with the appropriate combination of text and visuals. The submission is closely tied to material from the reading. The student has commented on work by fellow students with depth and helpful insights.
   
• Participation (30 points)
  Each week, students will interact with the learning community using the class message board and optional synchronous meetings in Collaborate. The instructor will post questions occasionally and students should comment on posts from colleagues.
  
  Exemplary contributions correctly apply course concepts, theories, or materials and then provide substantive and encouraging feedback to fellow learners. Posts apply relevant professional, personal, or other real-world experiences and tie in applicable resources beyond assigned reading.
   
• Presentation (10 points)
  Student will prepare brief reports on various IR topics and present them live to classmates in the Collaborate meeting room. Students may choose a time that best suits their schedule.

Course Calendar

A complete course calendar is available from the course site at the start of the semester.

• Aug 22 - First day of instruction and class opens for access
• Aug 23 - (6-7:30pm) optional class meeting in Collaborate. Access instructions will be emailed to students.
• Aug 30 - Due date for Discussion Forum introduction post (noon)
• Oct 18 - (6-7:30pm) Guest speaker & optional class meeting
• Nov 15 - Nov 21 - Required live student presentations in Elluminate. (Slots will be arranged by survey to accommodate everyone’s schedule.)
• Dec 10 - Last day of instruction

Readings
Materials in addition to the required textbooks will be made available on the course site, YouTube and on Course Reserves: http://library.sjsu.edu/course-reserves/course-reserves

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 has no prequisite requirements.

Student Learning Outcomes

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

1. Define metadata, both structure and representation, and identify standards such as the MARC record, LC Classification, Dublin Core, and NISO 39.19.
2. Create a user model, articulate the information needs of the intended users, and design a database information retrieval system to meet those needs.
3. Use Boolean logic to query the databases they create as class projects. with effective searches in both natural language and controlled vocabulary fields
4. Evaluate a database information retrieval system, including its indexing, using standard measures such as recall and precision.
5. Articulate fundamental concepts of information-seeking behavior and their application in the design and evaluation of systems.
6. Explain basic principles of good interface design and be able to evaluate interfaces using those principles.
7. Define terms reflecting fundamental concepts of information retrieval, apply them in analyses of their projects, and use them in class discussions.

Core Competencies (Program Learning Outcomes)

LIBR 202 supports the following core competencies:

top

Textbooks

Required Textbooks:

• Morville, P. (2005). Ambient findability: What we find changes who we become. O'Reilly Media. Available through Amazon: 0596007655.

• Rowley, J. & Harley, R. (2008). Organizing knowledge: An introduction to managing access to information (4th ed.). Ashgate. Available through Amazon: 0754644316

Recommended Textbooks:

• Takahashi, M. (2009). The manga guide to databases. No Starch Press. Available through Amazon: 1593271905

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.