Published: March 15, 2017

Yes, it’s that time again folks! Time for Major League Baseball’s Spring Training, time for spring flowers to bloom, allergies to bloom along with them and most importantly, it’s time for all you new and continuing students to enroll for fall courses.

SJSU’s School of Information is offering some fun and wonderful classic MLIS course offerings such as Info 200, 202 and 204 and Info 285 Research Methods along with many other required course and some new and exciting topics to pique your interest. As you plan, be sure to look at the course syllabi for the most recent semesters and track your core competencies with the student advising pages and the planner you’ll find there. Being thoughtful and thorough in selecting your course work will make your last class, your eportfolio, much easier.

Fall Registration Details
Registration dates are as follows, and remember that you need to register through MySJSU, but pick your course numbers from the course schedules on the iSchool website.

• Continuing regular session students—May 2- August 20 by appointment
• New regular session students—June 19- August 20 by appointment
• Continuing special session students—open registration May 9- August 20
• New special session students—mid June (TBD)—August 20
• Continuing MARA students—May 9- August 20
• New MARA students—mid June (TBD)—August 20

Course Offerings and Highlights
This coming semester, Research Method topics include the general overview course and historical research for regular session students. Special session students will have the options of historical and the general overview as well as Action Research and Evaluating Programs and Services. I took the latter course topic with Dr. Cheryl Stenstrom and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I was able to combine a couple topics near and dear to my heart and do a data analysis of my community and write a brief literature review on early childhood literacy topics. Stenstrom picked a great textbook for the class and our discussions really helped us understand both the topic and develop our assignments. As I’ve said before (but failed to put into practice) take Info 285 early on in your graduate studies, because it will serve you well in your research habits and writing throughout your curriculum.

One of the beauties of the iSchool online program is that not only can you do your schoolwork in your pajamas or at the local café (but hopefully not both at the same time) you can also take some courses for only part of the semester. Courses offered either as intensives (piling up 15 weeks of work in half the time, thus face-paced and um, intense) or as shorter one or two unit courses that offer a smaller sampling of a certain subject and lasting only five to ten weeks enable students to experience a class without a significant time commitment and the ability to structure course work around work, family and busy lives.

Both regular and special session are offering a two-unit course Info 287 Seminar in Information Science in Health Infographics for those inspired to follow a course in medical librarianship. Also for special session students, there is an Info 220 Resources and Information Services in Professions and Disciplines course in Medical Librarianship. The iSchool’s Director of Online Learning Debbie Faires will also be offering an Info 287 course in Web Conferencing Platforms for Online Teaching and Virtual Conferences for regular session students only.

Dr. Linda Main who is the iSchool’s associate director will be teaching a few sections of Info 284 Seminar in Archives and Records Management on the topic of Medieval Manuscripts, which includes two-unit courses that focus on Genres and Paleography, and a one-unit course in Codicology. If you are enrolled in your eportfolio class or go through the registration process for a virtual or archival internship then Dr. Main is your point of contact.

The iSchool will again be offering its two-unit course in Scratch, the easily accessible and fun programming application. This Info 287 Seminar in Information Science will be taught by Dr. Debbie Weissmann. For Info 281 Seminar in Contemporary Issues, topics for the fall 2017 semester include a two-unit course entitled Examination of Global Library Issues Using Project Based Learning taught by Melanie Sellar and a two-unit Intercultural Communication course with Debra Buenting.

MARA students are able to take a variety of MLIS electives (the form opens on March 20, 2017) and will also be able to enjoy scheduling flexibility with a one-unit course in Digital Forensics for Archivists.

Classes for the fall semester 2017 begin on August 23 and end on December 11. I wish you all the best and send you on your ways without me because this will be the first time in nearly six years that I won’t be joining you. Graduating is lovely, but I will miss signing up for classes and anticipating all the thought-provoking discussions with my classmates. Happy course shopping!

 

For related content and other interesting reads, be sure to check out:
Fund Your Achievements and Your Aspirations and Apply for iSchool Scholarships and Awards– Now Open for Fall 2017

A Closer Look at MLIS Core Courses– Info 200 Information Communities

A Closer Look at MLIS Core Courses– Info 202 Information Retrieval System Design

A Closer Look at MLIS Core Courses– Info 204 Information Professions

 

image courtesy of Stuart Miles