School of Library and Information Science
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Louisiana State University
School of Library and Information Science
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This course introduces the students to (1) hardware, software, networking, and telecommunications issues relating to information technologies used in libraries information settings, (2) experience with appropriate software packages and search systems, (3) information retrieval techniques, (4) system specification and implementation issues, and (5) Website design techniques.
LIS 7008 is a service-learning course, which is defined as "a course-based, credit bearing educational experience in which students (1) participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs and (2) reflect on the service activity in such a way to gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility" (Bringle & Hatcher, 1995).
Students will work in pairs or a team of three to design a Website for a real entity (preferably a public, non-profit entity) of their choice. The rationale for working with a real entity is for the students to integrate and extend knowledge acquired throughout the course and to apply that knowledge to solve a problem of substantial scope in the real world, while providing technological assistance to our community. Many non-profit organizations need a Web presence.
| Instructor | Teaching Assistant | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name: | Yejun Wu | Tara Anderson | |
| Email: | wuyj (at) lsu (dot) edu | tande17 (at) tigers (dot) lsu (dot) edu | |
| Office: | 272 Coates Hall | 266 Coates Hall (the SLIS Lab) | |
| Office or Lab Hour: | Tu 12-1PM and by appointment | Th 12:30-2:30pm, Sat 11am-1pm, and by appointment |
The teaching assistant will conduct lab sessions at the SLIS Open Lab once or twice a week on a schedule that will be discussed in our first class. Lab sessions provide an opportunity for students to seek clarification of information contained in the reading assignments or presented in class, to seek help with hands-on computer use (including the homework assignments), to review material in preparation for exams, and to seek help with their projects and the associated materials. Lab sessions are unstructured, and students are free to come and go as they please. There will be no lab sessions if they conflict with LSU-observed academic holidays.
I am always happy to meet with students during office hours and at any other mutually convenient time by appointment. Email is the best way to reach me to set up an appointment, and it is also a good way to get a quick answer to a simple question. When you email me, please put "LIS 7008" (followed by your topic) in the Subject line (if your message is related to the course) so that you can get a quick response. If you are on campus some day and I am in my office, you are also very welcome to come to just say hello or ask a quick question.
Students wishing to discuss accommodations for unusual circumstances (such as diability issues) should contact me no later than the third week of classes.
Students are expected to demonstrate mastery of the following prerequisite knowledge through the course. These skills are not taught as a part of this course. Students concerned about their mastery of specific skills on this list are advised to take LIS 2001 Information Technologies first, and should discuss the matter with the instructor prior to the second class of the semester.
Required text books:
Recommended book:
You will need to obtain a PAWS account so that you can access Moodle LSU's wireless network and download necessary software (such as FileZilla FTP Client). Every student will be assigned an FTP account by SLIS to host his/her course Web site at http://classes.slis.lsu.edu/faculty/wu/7008/fa11/your_folder/ (where your_folder is usually your last name followed by your first initial, all in lower case, but probably not case-sensitive). You are also allowed to use commercial Web space (such as http://freehostia.com/) to host your course Web site, but we do not provide any technical support. (I am not marketing freehostia.com; I am simply using it as an example.)
It is required that students arrange for regular access to a computer with an Internet connection, either at home or at work, unless they will be on campus daily. There is a tremendous amount of detail to be mastered in this course, and experience suggests that there is no way to learn it all if you only have access to computing facilities only one or two days a week. For this reason, you should plan to use a computer in an intellectually meaningful way at least five days a week. Furthermore, since much of the information in the course will be distributed only electronically (through Moodle, on the course Web site or by email), access to a computer throughout the week will be important to ensure that you have timely access to this information. If you have a broadband Internet connection at home (cable modem or a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) connection) then you should be able to reach the University's computers through that conection. Help getting connected is available from ITS Help Desk or http://grok.lsu.edu (read Wireless at LSU and Student Section). Networked computers on compus are available at Public Access Computer Labs. The SLIS Open Lab has also some networked computers available. The current schedule of the SLIS Lab is:
M-Th: 7:30am - 8:00pm
F-Sat: 8:00am - 4:30pm
Sun: 12pm - 6pm
Note: closed on home football game days.
In addition to a networked computer, you also need a computer microphone for recording an audio message (see
homework 4).
| Component | Percentage | Computation |
|---|---|---|
| Midterm and Final | 35% | Best=25%, the other=10%. |
| Term Project | 40% | Project will be graded together with report, with higher weight to the project (e.g., 30% project, 10% report). Your project report will help me understand your project better. |
| Homework/Quiz | 15% | 3% each for best 5. |
| Class Participation | 10% | Active contribution to discussions (in class and/or on Moodle). Class participation will be credited based on general impression on quantity and quality. We will also count intellectually meaningful posts that advance discussions on Moodle. Any post fewer than 25 words, or expressing an opinion without evidence or reason will be ignored when grading. However, recommending good learning materials will be credited. Online discussion postings will be counted up to the time when the final exam is due. The formula for calculating online postings is: 50 + [(short_posting_count * 0.5 + long_posting_count)/average_count] * 40, where long_posting_count is the nubmer of meaningful postings longer than 100 words, and short_posting_count is the number of meaningful postings with a length between 25 and 100 words. In a face-to-face course, in-class discussions will also be credited based on the instructor's impression on your participation. |
Scores for each course requirement (homework assignment, exam, document, project, class participation) will be assigned on a 100 point scale (with 90-100=A, 80-89=B, 70-79=C, etc). No curve will be used when assigning final grades. Historically, about one-third of the students have earned at least an A-, and a small number of students (varying between zero and three each semester) have received grades below B-.
There will be one quiz and two exams (i.e., one midterm and one final). The principal purpose of the quiz is to support self-assessment and demistify the mid-term exam. More credit will be given for the better of the two exams. Quiz grading is described below.
Students will post their homework on their own course Web sites (except for the first homework). Homework is usually due before 9AM each Tuesday unless otherwise specified. Solutions will be posted electronically or discussed in my lecture slides after the assignment is due. There will be 6 assignments. Credit for partial work will be given. Late assignments will be corrected, but will receive no credit. The lowest 2 homework/quiz grades will be dropped, so only the best 5 of these 7 grades will be used to compute the average. All material included in the homework is testable, however, so skipping an assignment is a bad idea.
For the term project, teams (preferably three-person teams) will design and implement some type of application in a way that makes substantial use of advanced technologies learned in this class. Team work is required. Two-person teams are allowed. Four-person teams are usually not allowed. Each group will be asked to discuss their project ideas and plans on Moodle before (or after) right after the midterm exam. Groups are highly encouraged, however, to get an earlier start, they may submit a one page description of their plans by email to solicit feedback at any time. The project together with a written report describing the project, a project evaluation form (signed by the client), is due on Nov 30th (see the Syllabus page).
Each group will submit one project (including one project report) and each member of the group will receive a same grade for that project. However, please do not think of not contributing to the project because the project will be tested in the final exam. In addition, a self-evaluation and cross-evaluation sheet for the project will be distributed to the class to collect how much everybody has contributed to the project.
Online discussions on Moodle will count towards your grade of class participation. Recommending interesting learning materials, asking questions and answering questions are all positive contributions. See the "Grading" section of this page for how your online discussions will be credited.
Students may work together on the homework assignments, but all of the material that is turned in for grading must be produced individually. For example, students may form study groups and work out solutions together on a whiteboard, but it would not be permissible for one student to create a computer file containing the answers and then for other students to copy that file and submit it as their own work. The goal of this policy is to encourage the use of homework as a learning aid. A concentration on grades to the exclusion of learning when working on the homework can be counterproductive, since each exam is worth at least as much as all of the homework assignments together.
Students are not allowed to consult any other living person in the quiz and exams. Any instances of academic misconduct will be reported to the Dean of Students.