INFO 281-04
INFO 281-16
Emerging Technologies and Impacts on the Information Experience (1-Unit)
Fall 2019 Syllabus

September 25 - October 23

Christy Confetti Higgins
Email
Phone: 720-201-6451 (You can IM me)
Office: Virtual, IM me via Zoom anytime
Office Hours: As needed

Canvas Information: Courses will be available beginning August 21st at 6 am PT unless you are taking an intensive or 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.

This 1-unit course runs from September 25th - October 23rd. It will open on Canvas on September 25th.

You will be enrolled in the Canvas site automatically.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This seminar course introduces students to a variety of emerging technologies that have the potential to impact the information experience and awareness. From chatbots, AI, 3D printers, mobile apps, social media, and more, this course will get students thinking strategically and creatively about new ways for users to access, use, and interact with information across all types of information environments.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Assignments

Final Course Assignment – Creative Use Case 

This assignment provides a foundation in thinking strategically about how to create a plan for improving the information experience for a specific audience leveraging technology – the audience could be libraries, hospitals, organizations, or governments, or it could be that your audience is a cause that you are looking to help through awareness or access to information through the use of a technology.

The idea is to raise awareness of these technologies and have students immerse themselves into thinking about how they could drive improved information access and/or awareness using emerging technologies

This will be a paper, presentation, or video on how a technology (existing, or something not yet created) can help the information experience (ex. information access or awareness) for a specific audience (what is the need, how will it help, what is the impact, what are the key messages for the users).

Discussions

Each weekly discussion could include one of two types of discussions:

1. “Consider this…” scenario type question to get students to really think about the technology and how it could impact the information experience or their views on that technology with a specific audience in mind. 
2. “Your thoughts….” comments/questions section based on the specific reading/video for that week.

There will be a total of 6 discussions. 

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

1. Understand the definitions and current uses of chatbots, machine learning, and AI, and how to explore their use in an information environment.
2. Think strategically about how cutting-edge technologies could help drive improved information experiences for different audiences.
3. Think creatively about the impact that various types of technologies such as 3D printers, virtual reality, IBM Watson, and Sophia can have on libraries, information organizations, publishers, etc.
4. Create a plan for improving the information experience for a specific audience leveraging technology. The audience could be libraries, hospitals, organizations, or governments, or it could be that your audience is a cause that you are looking to help through awareness or access to information through the use of a technology.

Course Calendar

Each week we focus on different articles and videos related to emerging technologies and discuss potential impact to the information experience. There will be a total of 6 discussions throughout the 4 weeks. Final project is due the last day of class.

Grading

• 40 points for discussion
• 60 points for final assignment
• Late work will miss 1 point for each day late

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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 281 has no prequisite requirements.

Course Learning Outcomes

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

1. Understand the definitions and current uses of chatbots, machine learning, and AI, and how to explore their use in a learning and information environment.
2. Think strategically about how cutting edge technologies could help drive improved information experiences for different audiences.
3. Think creatively about the impact that various types of technologies such as 3D printers, virtual reality, IBM Watson, and Sophia can have on libraries, information organizations, publishers, etc.
4. Create a plan for improving the information experience for a specific audience leveraging technology. The audience could be libraries, hospitals, organizations, or governments, or it could be that your audience is a cause that you are looking to help through awareness or access to information through the use of a technology.

Core Competencies (Program Learning Outcomes)

INFO 281 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 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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