LIBR 267-02
LIBR 267-11
Seminar in Services to Children and Young Adults
Topic: Children and Information Technology
Fall 2013 Greensheet

Dr. Debbie Weissmann
E-mail
Office Hours: Available via email, Blackboard IM, and Collaborate

This course will be available on D2L beginning Wednesday, August 21. You will be enrolled into the site automatically. Please log in no later than Friday, August 23 and familiarize yourself with the course materials.

Course Description

This course examines issues related to young children's use of information technologies from multiple perspectives.  We will investigate the new and old information technologies used by children ages 6 months to 12 years at home and in the classroom.  Our discussions will consider library policies, parental responsibilities, educational considerations, and corporate obligations. Our course topics will include:

• pre-digital information technologies as learning tools
• digital information technologies as learning tools
• information technologies in children's services
• learning theory relevant to information technology in education
• open online access to children and protective policies
• screen time and other current developmental debates
• information literacy curricula

Student Learning Outcomes
Young children being exposed to information technologies is a relatively new concept with parents, educators, and policy makers grappling to make good decisions in light of daily practicalities. Therefore, the overarching goal for this course is to provide students with contextual information, current research findings, and the tools to conduct their own investigation with critical introspection so that students of this course can provide knowledgeable guidance to others in their professional capacities.  Meeting this overarching goal will be measured with the Student Learning Outcomes.

Core Competencies
The overarching goal of this course prescribes not only the Student Learning Outcomes but the Core Competencies as well.  As part of providing students with contextual information, current research findings, and the tools to conduct their own investigation with critical introspection, this course supports the students' personal educational growth in mastering the professional standards of our field by developing or strengthening the core learning competencies.

Course Requirements

Mode of Instruction
Lectures will be presented asynchronously. We will use D2L for online discussions, submission of assignments, and accessing course materials. 

Assignments
In addition to completing weekly readings and listening to the weekly lectures, this course involves creating two presentations, one early in the term and the other as a culminating project, and several writing assignments.  

• Small Group Presentation. Working in small groups, students will provide a short presentation of the main points of a week's readings and 5 additional resources related to that week's readings. Supports SLO#1 SLO#2 SLO#6 SLO#7 (5% of total grade)
   
• Definitions.  For an assignment that tends to be fun and is meant to bring us together all on the same page, students will provide their own definitions to 10 concepts related to children and information technologies. Supports SLO#1 (10% of total grade)
   
• Interview with a Stakeholder. Becoming knowledgeable about a topic-in-motion such as children and information technology, one often needs to seek out information from those working in the field or related fields.  This assignment asks students to contact stakeholder (i.e. a teacher, children's librarian, politician/policy maker, game developer, watchdog group member, or parent), conduct an interview, and write it up as a 2-3 page memorandum.  Supports SLO#1 SLO#3 (20% of total grade)
   
• Policy Position Paper. Children's use of information technology is in large part informed by policies.  To gain a greater understanding of the role of policy, students are asked to research a federal, state, or local policy that regulates children's use of information technology and to write 4-6 page paper arguing for or against that policy. Supports SLO#1 SLO#2 SLO#4 SLO#7 (20% of total grade)
   
• Assess An Information Technology. With the opportunity of having been inspired by our interviews, policy issues, theoretical foundations, and students' own learning objectives, students are asked to research and assess an information technology (device, app, or program) designed for, or of particular interest to, children. Using the model of an online conference, students will create a 10 minute presentation of their findings and recommendations to share with their classmates. Supports SLO#1 SLO#4 SLO#6 SLO#7 (35% of total grade) 
   
• Peer Review & Self Evaluation.  Continuing the model of the online conference, students are asked to provide constructive feedback on their classmates' presentations and a thoughtful evaluation of on their own presentation. SLO#1 SLO#2 (5% of total grade)

• Class Participation. Interaction among the students and with the instructor is an important component to this curriculum.  Students will be asked to take an active role in class discussions each week by providing relevant comments or thoughtful reactions to the small group presentations, the weekly readings, and the weekly lecture. SLO#1 SLO#2 (5% of total grade)

Course Calendar
A course calendar will be available in D2L at the start of the semester.

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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 204, LIBR 260A or LIBR 261A. 

Student Learning Outcomes

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

Core Competencies (Program Learning Outcomes)

LIBR 267 supports the following core competencies:

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Textbooks

No Textbooks For This Course.

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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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