LIBR 265-01
Materials for Young Adults
Fall 2012 Greensheet

Dr. Joni Richards Bodart
E-mail
Office Telephone: 408-924-2728
Office location: Clark Hall, 418H
Office Hours: by appointment

D2L Information: This course will be available beginning August 22, 2012. You will be enrolled into the site automatically. I will send more information about course access as we approach this date through MySJSU.

Course Description

This course will allow students to take an in depth look at materials in a variety of formats for teens, including fiction, popular nonfiction, graphic novels, movies, computer games, websites, other media, and determine how they can meet developmental needs.

Course Requirements

I expect each student to check into the D2L course site at least once, if not twice, per day. Visit the D2L class site often for course updates, resources, announcements, and other relevant information. Students are responsible for the content on the D2L course site and Greensheet. It is also the student’s responsibility to ask questions and express concerns quickly so that I can provide an answer/response as soon as possible.

I expect you to answer emails promptly and keep up with additional postings and information put on the site.

DISCLAIMER
I make every effort to proofread the Greensheet and the D2L website, but errors can occur. Please contact me with any errors you see or any questions or may have so I can correct or explain them.

Instructional Philosophy
I want each of you in this course to succeed, and I will do everything I can to help you do so, but this is a partnership. Please make sure that communication is your top priority during the semester. Ask questions when you have them, seek clarifications when you need them, and take responsibility for understanding all expectations, content and assignments for the course. You are responsible for your own learning experience. I do not make you succeed. YOU make you succeed. You also make you fail. Understanding the contents and expectations explained in the Greensheet is critical for a student’s success in the class.

This course requires a number of assignments designed to introduce students to the concepts covered in class and in the text, as well as to practical applications of methods. Students will work individually and participate in group discussions on the D2L website.

Course Assignments
This course requires a number of assignments designed to introduce students to the concepts covered in class and in the text, as well as to practical applications of methods. Students will work individually and participate in group discussions on the D2L website. Students accumulate 100 points to determine the course grade. Detailed descriptions of assignment requirements are after the course outline and on the D2L website.

• Evaluation of selection tools and review sources: 10 points, due week 7, 10/7 at 1159 pm
  • Compare at least five selection tools and review sources and rate them on their usefulness and coverage of materials for this age range, and emulating the style of one of them, write reviews on five items (SLOs 2 and 3)
• Digital resources: 20 points, due week 9, due at 10/29 at 1159 pm
  • Spend at least three hours examining and using digital resources used by older teens and at least three hours watching and interacting with teens using them, and write an informal paper based on your experiences, that compares how you and they interacted with the resources in similar and different ways (SLOs 3 and 5)
• Annotated bibliography: 10 points, due week 11, 11/4 at 1159 pm
  • Create a bibliography including fiction and nonfiction, on a topic of interest to this age group, and format it into a bookmark that would be attractive to older teens. Submit it to the appropriate discussion forum for feedback at the same time as submitting it to the appropriate dropbox. (SLOs 1, 4 and 6)
• Group research paper, 20 points, due WEEK 14, 11/25 at 1159 pm
  • Working in groups of three or four, research a topic of interest to or about teens and present your findings to the class (submit to appropriate discussion forum for feedback IN ADDITION TO submitting it in the appropriate dropbox) in the format of a research paper. Examples: genre (or a subgenre of a genre) fiction, nonfiction subjects, books into movies, teens then and now, teen characteristics, magazines, TV programs, websites or music for teens (SLOs 1, 5 and 6)
• Database of materials examined: 30 points, due week 15, 12/2 at 1159 pm
  • Develop a collection of materials including at least 50 items, with detailed information on each, including both print and nonprint sources that reflect your knowledge of the informational, recreational, and developmental needs of this age group (SLOs 1, 2, 3, and 6)
• Participation: 10 points due week 15, 12/2 at 1159 pm
  • Participate in D2L website discussions, group work, and peer evaluation (SLOs 5 and 6)
    

Course Outline

• Week 1
• Defining older teens or adolescents
• Societal perspectives
• Psychological perspectives
• Information processing styles
• Social interaction styles
• Weeks 2-3
• Adolescent Psychology—Understanding the Teen Brain
• Week 4
• Defining literature/materials for older teens
• Impact of technology
• Print and online materials, including but not limited to books, magazines, websites, blogs, and wikis
• Multimedia materials, including but not limited to computers, movies, television
• Developing trends
• Radical or controversial titles
• Adult titles
• Week 5
• Selection tools and reviewing
• Defining quality in materials for older teens
• Publishers’ imprints for older teens
• Mock Printz Committee
• Mock Alex Committee
• Evaluating selection tools for print, nonprint and online materials and resources
• Writing reviews
• Collection development
• Week 6
• Developing trends in technology
• Computer games or programs, including but not limited to social networking software, blogs and wikis
• Audiobooks
• DVDs
• CDs
• Television programming
• Movies and book tie-ins
• Other digital resources, including but not limited to iPods, cell/camera phones, other MP3 players, and handheld games
• Week 7
• Censorship and intellectual freedom
• Selection policies
• Reconsideration policies and procedures
• Hot button topics
• Resources for IF
• Week 8
• Types of materials
• Realistic fiction
• Controversial materials
• Week 9
• Types of materials
• Romance
• Adventure
• Week 10
• Types of materials
• Mystery
• Thriller/suspense
• Week 11
• Types of materials
• Verse novels
• Multicultural materials
• Week 12
• Types of materials
• Short story collections
• Historical fiction
• Week 13
• Types of materials
• Fantasy and science fiction
• Graphic novels and comics
• Award winners
• Weeks 14-15
• Types of materials
• Nonfiction
• Materials specifically designed for teens, such as sexual information, social interaction, sports, careers, college prep, psychology, religion and other topics.
• Poetry
• Biography
• Magazines

DETAILED INFORMATION ON ASSIGNMENTS

Expectations for Success Applied to All Assignments

• This Greensheet is the course contract. Please read it and understand it.
• 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 and 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.
• There may be a few additional readings that I will choose from newly-published articles relating to this course's subject matter.
• Title pages: All course assignments must have a title page.
• Prepare all assignments in MS Word 2003/Word 2007, either single or double-spaced;
• All pages must have a header with your name and the page number (assignment pages must be consecutively numbered);
• Students must proofread written assignments (including discussion forum postings) for correct spelling, grammar, and usage. I encourage you access the SLIS Writing Resources site. You are also welcome to peer edit each other's work.
• Use the following file name convention when you attach your work to the assignment drop-boxes: YOURLASTNAME_KEYWORD-FOR-ASSIGNMENT;
• Students should use the Manual of the American Psychological Association, (6th ed.) as the standard for all bibliographic citations.
• Students and faculty are bound by the U.S. copyright regulations and need to cite the sources of the intellectual property of others, including information, images, or ideas that do not belong to us. Follow the regulations located in the Fair Use of Copyrighted Materials policy at http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/copypol2.htm;
• Because this is an online class, students must pay particular attention to the Distance Learning (SJSU), Copyright, and Fair Use, and Plagiarism Guidelines athttp://www.sjlibrary.org/services/distance/fac_copyright.htm. Students need to pay special attention to the third bullet item at the website: Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia;
• If you submit work with words, images, or ideas that are not their original ideas, words, or images, you must cite the sources of those words, images, or ideas. It is important for students in library science courses to develop a respect for the work of others and to be responsible users of the work of others. Although the work of students does have some fair-use protection, you are never safe in using words, images, or ideas of others in a course in which we share our work with one another. Not only will you need to remember this when you are posting to the discussion forums, you must also practice responsible use of resources in your projects that you will be sharing with your colleagues.

DESCRIPTION OF DATABASE ASSIGNMENT
You must create a blog (has all the elements included in a research paper but in blog format – you will need to include all the information you would have in a title page on the banner of the blog or in a predominant place on the homepage) for this assignment. Choose the blog creation software carefully. Start the blog creation early in the semester (first weeks). Warning: START EARLY on this assignment. Poor planning on your part does not necessitate an extension beyond the due date on mine. All work on this blog must be your own, not quoted from published sources, either in print or online.

Students in past classes have used the following (there may be others):

• Live Journal (livejournal.com)
• Blogger (blogger.com
• Blogspot (blogspot.com)
• Weebly (weebly.com)
• Word Press (wordpress.com)

Please review criteria for this assignment described in the list below and make sure you follow the directions and understand the assignment. This research project must include all types of materials for teens aged 15-18.

COMPOSITION: a minimum of 50 items/entries are required. You must read/view/listen to/play each item in its entirety. These materials must be items that can be acquired by a library for a YA collection. Games available free online are not part of your collection. Games that you can checkout of the library or play using the library’s website or computers are part of the collection. Databases that are purchased by the library are part of the collection. Online databases accessible outside the library website are not. You must include a variety of materials in your database—print, nonprint and electronic.

These are the maximums of materials that you can include in your blog/database project:

• Adult Titles - "cross-overs" for teens aged 15-18 – Up to 5
• Single Series (Example Harry Potter) – No more than 2 books in an individual series. You can have more than one series in the database but remember that you want to include a diverse collection so don’t include more than 3-4 series
• Individual Author – Up to 3 titles by an author is suggested – again you are to provide a diverse look at materials not just materials by one or two specific authors.
• Individual Genre – Be careful to include as many genres/sub-genres as you can, focusing on those with which you are not familiar. You need to know something about all the various genres. Read at least two books per genre as listed in greensheet plus at least two nonfiction. Suggestions are in a separate document.
• Games - Up to 3 games (See above for types of games to include).
• Magazines that are marketing primarily to teens – Up to 5
• Music CD’s – Up to 3
• Movies – Must be primarily focused on teen audience (Clueless, Twilight, etc.) – Up to 3
• Audiobooks are considered in the book count
• You must include all types of materials available to teens 15-18.

The project MUST include the following elements, however, other elements of the student’s choice may be included. Use the names of the individual parts of the assignment as the headers throughout your blog.

• All of the same components included on regular paper’s title page must be included at the top of the homepage of the blog.
• Cover Art
• Create a list in alphabetical order of the material titles you included. This list must either appear on the side margin of the blog or if you chose a blog software that does not allow alphabetical listings create the list as your last blog entry thus placing it at the top of the blog. The instructor must be able to see what titles you are including easily. You can create a blog entry as your last entry putting it first in the blog chronology and simply type an alpha list of the titles in the blog. Most software will allow you to create an index but the individual blog entry is a work around that has worked for students in the past.
• Each element must be a separate entry and not combined with another element. For example do not combine Plot Summary and Critical Evaluation. They are two separate required elements. Please do not include fields within an entry on separate blog pages – this makes it a nightmare to read and creates an un-necessarily long blog. Keep the elements with the title in one entry.
• Bibliographic information (at a minimum Title, Author, ISBN/any other identifying numbers present on DVD's, Publisher, Copyright Date, page numbers or other indications of length. Bib information will be specific to type of material so check out an entry from your local library catalog to see what is included for non-print materials.
• Plot Summary (compose in your own words) Does not have to include the ending in specific terms, but must summarize whole plot. This is not to be a “teaser” but should include enough information to help you recall the title in the future (say a year from now) with enough detail to recommend it to a teen in an RA setting.
• Critical Evaluation (compose in your own words).
• Reader’s Annotation (compose in your own words)
• Information about the author that teens might be interested in, including address for website/blog
• Genre (See Herald for information on genres and subgenres. Also see document on appropriate genres and limits below)
• Link to Author website. If author has no website, include “No website available.”
• Awards won and lists included on
• Booktalking Ideas (compose in your own words).
• Reading Level and Interest Age (these may be two different ages – look at respected review sources)
• Challenge Issues, if any, and brief idea of how you would prepare to defend the title, and what materials you would want to have available in a challenge situation
• Why did you include this book in you’re the titles you selected? “It looked good” is NOT a good reason. What is the appeal of the book, the cover, the annotation, etc.?

DATABASE ASSIGNMENT GENRE SUGGESTIONS

Starred titles are required

All titles should be appropriate for teens 15-18 old. Most middle school titles are not appropriate. Adult crossover titles (adult titles teens would enjoy), such as Alex Award winners are acceptable.

Titles in the two textbooks are all appropriate, unless they are listed in review sources as middle school. If you have questions, please ask me if a title(s) is appropriate.

Classics

• *The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
• The Contender by Robert Lipsyte
• The Pigman by Paul Zindel
• *Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block
• *The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
• *Forever by Judy Blume

Realistic Fiction

• By the Time You Read This I’ll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters
• Marcello in the Real World or Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X. Stork
• Purple Heart by Patricia McCormick
• Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
• Whatever Happened to Good Bye? By Sarah Dessen
• *Wintergirls or Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
• * at least one title by Chris Crutcher—Chinese Handcuffs, Whale Talk, Athletic Shorts, Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, Deadline are recommended, but any of his titles are acceptable

Award winners and Best Books

• Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Sir Terry Pratchett (Discworld Series; Edwards Award winner, 2011)
• The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak (BBYA, 2007, Printz Honor Book + at least 7 more)
• Freak Observer by Blythe Woolston (Morris Award, 2011)
• Monster by Walter Dean Myers (Nat’l Book Award for Young People, 1999, Printz, 2000)
• Room by Emma Donoghue (Alex, 2011)
• Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi (Top 10 Fiction for YAs, 2011)

Series

Action Series

• Angel Experiment (Maximum Ride Series #1) by James Patterson
• City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments Series #1) by Cassandra Clare
• Lockdown: Escape from Furnace 1 by Alexander Gordon Smith
• The Secret Hour (Midnighters Series #1) by Scott Westerfeld
• Stormbreaker (Alex Rider Series #1) by Anthony Horowitz ( also a graphic novel)

Chick Lit/Girl Series

• Gossip Girl (Gossip Girl Series #1) byCecily Von Ziegesar (TV series)
• The Clique (The Clique Series #1) byLisi Harrison
• Only the Good Spy Young (Gallagher Girls Series #1) by Ally Carter
• Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard (Pretty Little Liars Series #1)
• TTYL (Internet Girls Series #1) by Lauren Myracle

Graphic Novel and Manga Series

• Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto
• Bleach by Tite Kubo
• Fables by Will Willingham and Lan Medina
• Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya
• Fushigi Yuugi by Yuu Watase
• Hetalia by Hidekaz Himaruya
• Sandman by Neil Gaiman
• Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O'Malley

Nonfiction

• A. D.: New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld
• Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
• How to be a Zombie by Serena Valentino
• King of the Mild Frontier by Chris Crutcher
• Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
• This is Why You’re Fat: Where Dreams Become Heart Attacks by Jessica Amason and Richard Blakeley
• Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland by Sally M. Walker
• Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri (Top 10 Great Graphic Novels for Teens, 2011)

Science fiction

• Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
• Feed by M. T. Anderson
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (trilogy)
• The Maze Runner by James Dashner (trilogy)
• Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (available as free download on his website)
• Uglies by Scott Westerfield

Fantasy and horror

• False Princess by Ellis O’Neal
• Firestarter by Stephen King
• Hex Hall by Rachel Hakwins
• Iron King by Julie Kagawa (RITA winner, 2011)
• Nightshade by Andrea Cremer
• Soulless by Gail Carriger (series)
• Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
• Any of the series in my book They Suck, They Bite, They Eat, They Kill

Sexuality and gender identity

• Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher (Stonewall, 2011)
• Boy Meets Boy by David Leviathan
• First Part Last by Angela Johnson (Printz, 2004)
• Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
• Am I Blue? by Marion Dane Bauer
• Gravitation by Maki Murakami
• Loveless by Yun Kouga
• Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
• Sold by Patricia McCormick
• Survival Guide for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Teens by Kelly Huebel.

Humor

• Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
• Dr. Slump by Akira Toriyama
• Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
• Notes from a Midnight Driver by Jordan Sonnenblick
• Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie or Dunk by David Lubar
• Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman
• The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz (Alex Award winner/crossover)

Mystery/suspense

• Case Closed by Aoyama Gosho
• Cover Up: Mystery at the Superbowl by John Feinstein
• Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon (crossover)
• Girl, Stolen by April Henry
• GodChild by Kaori Yuki
• In the Path of Falling Objects by Andrew Smith
• The Killer’s Cousin by Nancy Werlin (Edgar Award winner)
• What Happened to Cassie McBride or Right Behind You by Gail Giles

Multicultural

• Absolute Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
• America by E. R. Frank
• American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (Printz winner)
• Behind You by Jacqueline Woodson
• Criminal Minded by Tracy Brown
• Hush by Eishes Chayil (Morris finalist)
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (crossover)
• Push by Sapphire (made into a movie named Precious)
• A Step from Heaven by An Na (Printz winner, 2002)

Adventure

• Down River by Will Hobbs
• Jump by Elisa Carbone
• Peak by Roland Smith
• Trapped by Michael Northrup

Historical Fiction

• Shackleton’s Stowaway by Victoria McKernan
• Warriors in the Crossfire by Nancy Bo Flood
• Sources of Light by Margaret McMullan
• Chains, Forge, or Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Andersen
  

DESCRIPTION OF DIGITAL RESOURCES PAPER

The research paper (BODY) must include:

• An Introduction
• An Interview/Observation Overview (include examples of the questions you asked and your observation conclusions – do not include your journal entries or interview scripts – this is a synopsis of them)
• A Critical Analysis and Description of the technology you observed and the technology you discovered beyond your observations through additional research into the topic. You should spend a minimum of 2 hours researching and trying out digital resources used by older teens.
• A Discussion (in detail) about the trends you see in digital resource use by older teens.
• A Conclusion (synthesis of all parts of your paper)
• A Reference Page(s) (there are no excuses for not having references for this assignment).

APPENDICES

• The Journal
• The Interview Script

Interview/Observation

• Observe OLDER teens wherever you can find them (malls, coffee shops, your neighborhood, libraries, friends, etc).
• Observe/Interview for a minimum of 1-2 hours.
• Observe your own children if they are the age we are studying this semester or your children’s friends.
• Interview at least two teens as part of this assignment. The questions must elicit answers that will be relevant to the subject of the assignment – using digital resources. Teens must be in the age group we are studying (15-18 years of age).
• You may have to try more than one location to find teens to observe and interview.

Length of Paper (approximately 20 pages MAXIMUM, including the appendices, but not including the title and reference pages)

• Make sure you write clearly and concisely, in order to include all the necessary information within the allotted length
• Reference page in APA style.
• Journal – a detailed record of where, when and what you observed in journal format.
• Interview script

DESCRIPTION OF SELECTION TOOLS EVALUATION PAPER

You are to examine a number of selection tools and review sources for young adult materials, and choose the five best of them. Review sources publish professional reviews of new material currently being published. However, review sources that publish reviews by readers or fans should be examined very carefully to ensure that those reviews are thoughtful and unbiased. Selection tools do not have reviews, but do have recommendations for important titles. Examples could be annual awards, annual “best of” bibliographies, and books that recommend titles, but don’t specifically review them. The Youth Media Awards are examples of selection tools. So are the various lists of top books—BBYA, BBFA, Teens’ Top Ten, and so on. Organize your list of tools in order of preference, and explain in your introduction to the bibliography why ordered them that way.

Information on each tool should include:

• complete bibliographic information, including price and frequency of publication
• a detailed evaluation of the item, including what it reviews, average number of reviews per issue, whether or not they are signed, and length of the reviews. If it is a selection tool, without reviews, then explain how/why the items are included.
• a statement about its usefulness in terms of supporting collection management
• your opinion of the item, and its importance—is this an item you would want to have for selection purposes?
• if the item is a print resource, does it also have a web presence? Is all the info available online a duplicate or an extension of the print resource, and is there web content not reflected in the print resource?

DESCRIPTION OF GROUP RESEARCH PAPER

The research paper must include:

• An Introduction explaining the topic you intend to explore and the aspects you will focus on, the reasons why you chose it—why is it important or interesting—and the process used for your group’s formation
• A discussion of the history of the topic as it as it has been presented in YA literature in the past or a biography of the author(s) you are examining
• An in-depth discussion and analysis of the topic of your paper, which may be accompanied by graphic material of some kind
• A Conclusion (synthesis of all parts of your paper, including the new knowledge your research has created, and how/why that knowledge will be useful to you and to others)
• A Reference Page(s) based on citations within the body of the paper. Footnotes and endnotes not required.
• Appendices as necessary. (bibliography of author(s)’s works, bibliography of titles in the genre or subgenre studied, etc.)

Length of Paper (approximately 20 pages MAXIMUM, not including the title, optional graphics, and reference pages) Make sure you write clearly and concisely, in order to include all the necessary information within the allotted length. Reference page must be in APA style.

Readings
Information on outside readings is available under Content on the D2L website for this course.

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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 200, LIBR 260A or LIBR 261A. 

Student Learning Outcomes

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

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the external (societal) and internal (developmental) forces that influence teens' choices of recreational and informational sources and materials.
2. Evaluate selection tools, and use appropriate resources to develop a collection of materials for older teens, including all appropriate formats (print, nonprint, computer software, music, etc.).
3. Critically examine representative materials designed for older teens, including print and nonprint formats, books, graphic novels, television, movies, music, and a wide variety of computer software, including social networking software; apply criteria to evaluate materials in relation to developmental needs, multicultural concerns, and meeting the informational and recreational needs of this age group.
4. Create an appropriate materials collection for older teens, including print and nonprint materials and a variety of the digital resources currently available for this age group.
5. Exhibit knowledge of published resources about print and nonprint materials for older teens, such as reference materials, selection tools, and Web sites.
6. Assist parents and caregivers with questions about appropriate materials for their older teen children.

Core Competencies (Program Learning Outcomes)

LIBR 265 supports the following core competencies:

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Textbooks

Required Textbooks:

• Cart, M. (2010). Young adult literature: From romance to realism. ALA. Available through Amazon: 0838910459

• Herald, D. T. (2003). Teen genreflecting: a guide to reading interests (2nd ed.). Libraries Unlimited. Available through Amazon: 1563089963.

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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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More accessibility resources.