INFO 281-15
Seminar in Contemporary Issues
Topic: Information Ethics
Summer 2017 Syllabus

Susan Maret, Ph.D.
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Office Hours: Office hours and contact information are located on course materials available through Canvas.


Syllabus Links
Textbooks
CLOs
Competencies
Prerequisites
Resources
Canvas Login and Tutorials
iSchool eBookstore
 

Canvas Information: Courses will be available Monday, June 5th, 6 am PT unless you are taking an intensive or a one-unit or two-unit class that starts on a different day. In that case, the course site will open on the first day that the class meets. 

You will be enrolled into the Canvas site automatically.

Course Description

Following “four ethical issues of the Information age” framework of privacy, accuracy, property, and accessibility, we will examine the philosophy, policy, and cases underlying information ethics as it relates to librarianship, archival and general information work.

Course Readings

The course readings list is available on our Canvas course site.

Course Requirements

Assignments

Additional information is available on our Canvas course site.

Codes of ethics comparison Supports CLOs #1, #2 & #3 15 points
Article analysis Supports CLOs #1, #2 & #3 15 points
Final (research) paper Supports CLOs #1, #2 & #3 40
points
Participation

See the course assignment document for further information on participation.
Supports CLOs #1, #2 & #3 30 points
No extra credit available.
There is no late policy for assignments.
Consult the assignment doc on Canvas for additional details.
   

Course Calendar
See course materials in our Canvas course site.

Course Grading
See course materials in our Canvas course site. San Jose State Stae's grading scale is located here.

Textbooks and Readings
There is no formal textbook for this course. Course readings will consist of articles and book chapters from the research and professional literature.

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

INFO 281 has no prequisite requirements.

Course Learning Outcomes

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

  1. Demonstrate an understanding of information policy issues and services from an ethical standpoint, as well as noting the differences between professional ethics and legality.
  2. Build the skills needed to make decisions on complex cases related to information access, services, technology and society.
  3. Analyze the importance of professional conduct in the workplace, including those elements related to interpersonal interactions, sensitivity to organizational culture, ability to take initiative and risks, and socially responsible behavior as it relates to ethical (professional) dilemmas.

Core Competencies (Program Learning Outcomes)

INFO 281 supports the following core competencies:

  1. A Demonstrate awareness of the ethics, values, and foundational principles of one of the information professions, and discuss the importance of intellectual freedom within that profession.
  2. C Recognize the diversity (such as cultural and economic) in the clientele and employees of an information organization and be familiar with actions the organization should take to address this diversity.

Textbooks

No Textbooks For This Course.

Grading Scale

The standard SJSU School of Information Grading Scale is utilized for all iSchool courses:

97 to 100 A
94 to 96 A minus
91 to 93 B plus
88 to 90 B
85 to 87 B minus
82 to 84 C plus
79 to 81 C
76 to 78 C minus
73 to 75 D plus
70 to 72 D
67 to 69 D minus
Below 67 F

 

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 or undergraduate (for BS-ISDA);
    For core courses in the MLIS program (not MARA, Informatics, BS-ISDA) — 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 if you wish to stay in the program. 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.

Graduate Students are advised that it is their responsibility to maintain a 3.0 Grade Point Average (GPA). Undergraduates must maintain a 2.0 Grade Point Average (GPA).

University Policies

Per University Policy S16-9, university-wide policy information relevant to all courses, such as academic integrity, accommodations, etc. will be available on Office of Graduate and Undergraduate Programs' Syllabus Information web page at: https://www.sjsu.edu/curriculum/courses/syllabus-info.php. Make sure to visit this page, review and be familiar with these university policies and resources.

In order to request an accommodation in a class please contact the Accessible Education Center and register via the MyAEC portal.

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