INFO 204-01
INFO 204-17
Information Professions
Fall 2017 Syllabus

Dr. Cheryl R. Dee
Email
Office Hours: Virtual Scheduled Office Hours and by appointment

Mission of the School
The School of Information (iSchool) at San Jose State University educates professionals and develops leaders who organize, manage and enable the effective use of information and ideas in order to contribute to the well-being of our communities.

Getting Started
iSchool utilizes a content management system called Canvas for class communications, submitting assignments, and grade records. This course will be available on Canvas.

Canvas Information: Courses will be available beginning August 23rd, 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 class will open on the first day that the class meets.

You will be enrolled into the Canvas site automatically.

Weekly class sessions run from Monday through Sunday of the following week. Weekly material and assignments will be visible in Canvas from the beginning of the semester for students' semester planning. Assignments are generally due Tuesday evenings by midnight.

Course Description

Examines the organizations and environments in which information professionals work. This course explores different specializations and career paths, professional communities, networks and resources, ethical and legal frameworks. This course also introduces management and leadership theories and concepts and applies them to different information environments. A special focus is placed on management responsibilities in order to emphasize the importance of these skills in the professional workplace.

Course Requirements

Complete INFO 203: Online Social Networking: Technology and Tools
This is a mandatory 1 unit course that introduces students to the various e-learning tools used in the iSchool program, including Canvas, Collaborate and Second Life. This course must be completed by all new iSchool students within the first 4 weeks of their first semester. For more information, see ischool.sjsu.edu/classes/coursedesc.htm

Assignments
More detail on each assignment will be provided in Canvas

This course will provide an overview of practical and theoretical library management using the textbook, printed and audio lectures on Canvas,  asynchronous group discussions, optional synchronous group discussions, and real-life management exercises. Each weekly assignment includes the iSchool required student learning objective and iSchool core competency related to the Assignment.

• Canvas Online Discussion/Class Participation
  As this class is completely on-line and asynchronous, participation on Canvas is essential. Assignments are due on Tuesday unless otherwise indicated according to the posted due dates in Canvas. Substantive participation in on-line discussions is a graded element in the course. (Supports CLO #1, CLO #3, CLO #6)
• Information Professions Manual
  Students will develop a creative fictitious information professions setting (of personal interest to the student) in a selected library environment. The Information Professions Manual uses management theories and practical applications to create the following sections: 1) Overview 2) Services, 3) Vision 4) Mission, 5) Diversity Statement and 6) Marketing Plan. 7) International Sister Organization. (Supports CLO #1, CLO #3)
• Management Styles and Skills
  Students will take several informal management assessments or obtain information from the published literature. Students will reflect on their current and potential management style and skills in areas such as delegating, communicating, leading, and conflict management and will discuss new or confirmed insights. Management skills will prepare students for the Team Project as well as future careers. (Supports CLO #3)
• Leadership
  The Leadership reflection will describe an admired leader from business, education, sports, information professionals, family or even a fictitious leader. The focus is on the analysis of the leaders’ traits and students will compare their current and potential leadership skills in different library environments with those of their chosen leader. Information Professional directors and leaders will guest speak via videos to share their leadership experiences. (Supports CLO #3) 
• Technology
  The technology assignment will introduce students to the management of current information technology. (Supports CLO #3)
• Cover Letter, Resume and Interviewing
  The cover letter and resume assignments, and the interviewing assignment, will prepare the student to develop a dynamic cover letter and resume, and practice interviewing skills from a management perspective.  (Supports CLO #4, CLO #7) 
• Group Project
  Students will select a type of library to create a strategic plan for an information center chosen by the team. Team building is an essential part of this project. Each team will describe the information center, develop a vision and mission statement, professional communities, networks, resources and action plans for the information center. Students will present their project to the class either on Collaborate or post on Discussions with audio format. A peer review will subsequently be conducted to assess individual team member's contributions to the project. (Supports CLO #2, CLO #5, CLO #8)
• Summary Assignment: The In-Basket
  The In-Basket will place the student in the role of a manager and requests responses to a set of management items found in the manager's in-basket. The instructions say the Director “has a plane to catch in 3 hours and an unexpected international speech to present;” however, intriguing and sometimes amusing items are in an In-Basket that require attention before a departure to Geneva. The In-Basket includes an application of management theories and practical issues discussed throughout the semester. This assignment is not a test but a learning experience which produces a subsequent lively discussion on a recommended Collaborate as the class shares their responses to the InBasket items. (Supports CLO #1, CLO #3)
• Citations
  Students will cite from the textbook, posted lectures and additional relevant scholarly sources. APA or MLA used for citations.

Assignment Points

Writing Requirement
If an instructor finds that a student's writing ability is unacceptable the instructor will require the student to sign up for online writing tutoring. The student will ask the tutor to confirm with the instructor that the student is attending sessions.

Assignment Due Date

• Assignments are due on Tuesday unless otherwise clearly noted.
• Assignments must be submitted on the date due.

Late work
Assignments submitted after the due date will be subject to a grade penalty. Contact Dr. Dee prior to an assignment deadline in case of a significant illness or emergency.

Distance Learning
Distance education is constantly evolving and is an on-going learning process for both students and instructors. Each semester this course is updated to reflect new technology to make distance education more dynamic for the student. Online classes are a two-way learning process between the instructor and the students.

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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

INFO 204 has no prequisite requirements.

Course Learning Outcomes

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

1. Describe the role of information and the information profession in various contexts, and from historical, current and future perspectives.
2. Identify and discuss the professional values and ethics of library and information science.
3. Explore a number of professional opportunities and related supports available to information professionals.
4. Identify, discuss and compare key management concepts such as leadership, change, advocacy, and decision making, as well as the roles and activities of managers and leaders.
5. Understand analytical and strategic planning processes and skills.
6. Identify various information stakeholders and the information environments that provide for their needs.
7. Experience and assess working in teams.
8. Review, use and properly cite the professional and research literature of management and leadership.

Core Competencies (Program Learning Outcomes)

INFO 204 supports the following core competencies:

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Textbooks

Required Textbooks:

• Hirsh, S. (2015). Information services today. Rowman & Littlefield. Available through Amazon: 1442239581

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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 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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