INFO 204-01
INFO 204-17
Information Professions
Spring 2021 Syllabus

Dr. Cheryl Dee
E-mail
Office Hours:
Virtual office hours via Zoom.

Canvas Information: Courses will be available beginning January 27th at 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 in the Canvas site automatically.

Course Description

As they respond to the information needs of clients and communities, information organizations face complex and exciting challenges. This course will help prepare students to take on these challenges by providing them with an understanding of the organizations and environments in which information professionals work, traditional and emerging professional roles, and core management and leadership theories. This knowledge will help students understand the similarities and differences amongst information organizations, explore different specializations and career paths, apply professional values to ethical decision-making, and to develop core management and leadership skills. This course prepares students to be active participants in their professional communities and networks and to become collaborative professionals ready to take on management and leadership roles.

Note: iSchool requires that students earn a B in this 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.

Course Requirements

Complete INFO 203 Online Learning: Tools and Strategies for Success. This is a mandatory 1 unit course that introduces students to the various e-learning tools used in the iSchool program, including Collaborate.  For more information, see INFO 203 Online Learning.

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 Zoom lectures on Canvas, asynchronous 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 online and asynchronous, substantive participation in online discussions is a significant graded element in the course.
• 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) Mission, 4) Diversity Statement and 5) Marketing Plan. 6) International Sister Library/Organization.
  • Course Learning Outcomes: (Supports CLO #1, CLO #3)
  • Core Competencies: A, B, D, N
• Management Styles and Skills
  Students will take several informal management assessments or research the published literature and will discuss insights into their current and potential management style and skills in areas such as delegating, communicating, leading, and conflict management. Management skill assessment will prepare students for the Team Project as well as future careers.
  • Course Learning Outcomes: (Supports CLO #3)
  • Core Competencies: A, D
• Leadership
  The Leadership reflection will describe an admired leader from business, education, sports, information professionals, family or a fictitious leader. The focus is on the analysis of the leaders’ traits and students will compare their current and potential leadership skills with those of their chosen leader. Information professional directors and leaders via videos will share their leadership experiences.
  • Course Learning Outcomes: (Supports CLO #3) 
  • Core Competencies: A, B, M
• Cover Letter, Resume and Mock Interview
  The cover letter and resume assignments, and the interviewing assignments will prepare the student to develop a dynamic cover letter and resume and to practice interviewing skills from a management perspective. 
  • Course Learning Outcomes: (Supports CLO #4, CLO #7)
  • Core Competencies: B, D, M
• Group Project
  Student Teams will select a type of library to create an Organizational Analysis/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 mission statement, professional communities, networks, resources and action plans for the information center. Students will present their project to the class either on Zoom or post on Discussions with audio format. A peer review will subsequently be conducted to assess individual team member's contributions to the project.
  • Course Learning Outcomes: (Supports CLO #2, CLO #5, CLO #8)
  • Core Competencies: A, B, D, M, N
• In-Basket Case Study
  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 that produces a subsequent lively discussion as the class shares their responses to the InBasket items. Course Learning Outcomes: (Supports CLO #1, CLO #3) 
  • Core Competencies: A, B, D, M, N  
• Citations
  • Students will cite from the textbook, posted lectures and additional relevant scholarly sources. APA used for citations.

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.

Course Calendar

Assignment Points

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 similarities and differences between various information organizations and professional roles from historical, current, and future perspectives.
2. Recognize the roles and activities of managers in information organizations.
3. Explain strategic planning processes and skills.
4. Identify and choose appropriate assessment tools for evaluating organizational effectiveness.
5. Synthesize (including reviewing, using and properly citing) the professional and research management and leadership literature.
6. Demonstrate leadership abilities through collaborative teamwork.
7. Analyze and assess their own and others leadership abilities through self-reflection and peer review.
8. Apply management theories and principles, professional values, and ethical frameworks to organizational issues and decision-making using scenarios and case studies.
9. Create and deliver high quality reports, presentations and organizational documents that communicate to internal and external stakeholders organizational values, missions, and priorities.

Core Competencies (Program Learning Outcomes)

INFO 204 supports the following core competencies:

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Textbooks

Required Textbooks:

• Hirsh, S. (Ed.) (2018). Information services today: An introduction (2nd ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. Available as free eBook through King Library

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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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