Supplement to the Syllabus of COMM150
“Introduction to Information Literacy”
Spring 2010
Caroline Da Silva
Essential Attachments
Official Syllabus
Tracking Calendar
Receipt of Syllabus & Calendar
Instructor Contact
Caroline DaSilva
Email: comm150dasilva@gmail.com
Phone and voicemail: 757-499-7900
Course Goals
• To develop and apply research skills relevant to preparation for a career by:
o Using the highest quality resources
o Searching with the most efficient techniques
o Evaluating information sources with standard criteria
o Citing sources according to a professional standard
o Using and communicating the results in an intellectually honest manner
• To acquire research skills of future use for the workplace and personal interests
•
What is Information Literacy?
“Information literacy is the set of skills needed to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information.”
An information literate graduate of Bryant & Stratton College “will be able to recognize when information is needed, and to locate, evaluate, effectively use, and understand ethical issues related to information in its various formats.”
Outcomes for COMM150
These outcomes of the course are listed in the official syllabus from the system office of the College.
1. Assess how modern society represents, processes, and communicates information through technology-driven
channels. This will include a study of how society has used technology in the past to communicate specific
messages.
2. Evaluate how technology can represent findings in a variety of textual and graphic methods that rely on low,
medium, and high technology communication platforms.
3. Effectively use public access catalogs, bibliographies, and full-text and bibliographic databases.
4. Develop and refine search techniques for electronic, print, and Internet resources.
5. Identify different information formats and then choose the most appropriate format(s) for each research need.
6. Demonstrate an awareness of political, social, legal, economic, and intellectual property issues relevant to print
and electronic resources and successfully avoid plagiarism and copyright infringement.
7. Evaluate information for reliability, validity, accuracy, authority, timeliness, and point of view.
8. Cite bibliographic references in APA format, properly instructing bibliographies and reference lists in research
papers and assignments.
9. Investigate personal and professional interests, strengths and skills.
10. Perform research on career development and lifelong learning opportunities.
11. Complete a written career related research project. Present research findings on career development and lifelong
learning through discussion and other oral presentation formats
Diagnostic Assessment & Proficiency Examination
A brief diagnostic assessment is given at the first and final class meetings. The diagnostic assessment does not affect a student’s grade. A student may elect to take a fee-based electronic Proficiency Exam for waiving the COMM150 requirement. The Proficiency should be arranged with Student Services before the term starts. The drop/add deadline is in the 2nd week.
Assessment Categories & Point Distribution for a Grade
Categories of Evaluation Description of Evaluation Points available out of
the course total of 100
Quizzes There will be 6 quizzes. Quizzes will be short answer, multiple choice, or “pop.” You may or may not know when to expect one. The instructor can inform you of the next quiz
Scheduled, but also may choose not to. You are responsible for all material covered and required for class.
The content of a quiz for a particular week is usually derived mostly from the previous class meeting. It may not always be. It may also come from ‘News Relevant to Information Literacy, which is discussed below.‘ Quiz content may also come from the textbooks, and from Web sites visited during our activities.
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Participation
a) You must answer and all questions asked by the instructor to the best of your ability, even if you think the answer is wrong.
b) You participate in group work positively and cooperatively.
Your participation grade can and will be given at any time throughout the quarter, in one point increments, at random by your instructor. You may not know when you are being graded, but it will be five different times. Actual dates/grades will be provided at progress reports.
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Student Learning
Portfolio Three short research essays are submitted and scored successively with rubrics. An additional rubric for English & Presentation is applied to the whole portfolio upon submission of the last Process Essay.
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Portfolio Development Day
Participation in a workshop on Portfolio Development Day
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Final Test There will be a Final Test with 20 multiple choice questions from the textbooks, and the materials covered in class..
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Oral Presentation
Share orally your experience with the Student Learning Portfolio. (The Oral is due in your last class meeting.)
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Total regular points: 100
Extra Credit NONE. If you fulfill course requirements, there is no need.
Grading at Bryant & Stratton: A 90 – 100; B 80 – 89; C 70 – 79; and F < 70
Progress Reports
A mid-term progress chart is distributed to each student in weeks 7 – 8. The last progress chart is distributed about week 13. The later report is more informative and predictive of grade outcomes, because much more of your work will have been completed and scored.
Missed Quizzes/Test
You may be absent during a class in which a quiz is administered, or you may have left a class before the administration of the scheduled quiz. When you miss a quiz, prepare for the quiz before the class in which you make-up the quiz – (a) Retrieve the relevant handouts, which cover the subjects of the quiz, from the drive for data-files or from the course Web site; and (b) Do the activities on the handouts, and read any pages from a textbook, as specified on the handouts.
IT IS UP TO YOU TO INFORM THE INSTRUCTOR WHEN YOU RETURN TO CLASS THAT YOU NEED TO MAKE UP A QUIZ, WHICH YOU CAN TAKE DURING YOUR BREAK. You have until the next class to make up a quiz. There will be no make ups beyond the next week’s class.
Handouts of Weekly Activities Weekly handouts provide hands-on learning, and instructions for submitted assignments. You pick up the handouts at the start of the class meeting for the week. If you miss the hardcopies, print the computer-version of the handouts. Don’t ask me for them, as I won’t have any to give you, nor will I email them to you. Each handout has objectives, readings, a background, and instructions for four to seven activities each week. Students receive personal assistance from the instructor and from peers on the activities. You should make notes on the handouts as you progress through the activities.
Digital copies are available in these places: (1) THE COURSE WEBPAGE http://vl.bryantstratton.edu/Default.aspx?tabid=401
and (2) The campus drive for data-files (“G” drive).
It is your responsibility to acquire your handouts from the Internet or from the data-file drive of the campus network immediately upon missing a class. The class will continue on, so it is up to you to catch up. There is no class time for makeup work. We do not delay a regularly scheduled class agenda to catch you up with classmates.
How do I find the class handouts and activities on the course Web page?
Start at the College Web site. Select the link to the page for Student Services (= Student Success). Click the link to the Virtual Library on the page for Student Services. Log-in to the Virtual Library. The instructor provides the username and password for the Virtual Library early in the term. If you forget the username and password, you can e-mail me a request for them. Choose the link for Virginia Beach in the list of campus libraries. The Web page for the Virginia Beach campus library opens. The link to the Web page for COMM150 is in a module for “Career Core: Information Literacy” in the Right panel. Click on the plus-sign in order to expand the module and use the link. You can access all handouts, syllabi, projects, etc., without a password anywhere and anytime you have an Internet connection from the course Web page. Early in the term I recommend that you book-mark the course Web page as a “favorite site,” or create a desktop shortcut for that Web page.
You can access the course Web page by clicking the following link – http://vl.bryantstratton.edu/Default.aspx?tabid=401
Alternatively you can type (or copy and paste into your browser’s address bar) this URL-- http://vl.bryantstratton.edu/
How do I find the same handouts and activities on the campus network?
The drive for data-files in the campus network contains copies of the handouts. The campus network is an intranet, which is accessed on campus. You can logon to the network from labs, from the campus library, and from some of the classrooms. Select “My Computer” and then click the drive for data-files. “G.” The files of handouts are in the weekly folders inside a folder labeled, “COMM150, DaSilva or Spivey.”
Purpose of the Weekly Activities
The activities help to produce the course outcomes, which are listed on the first page. The outcomes are research skills and concepts, which you acquire and then apply for the essays of the Student Learning Portfolio.
Academic and Intellectual Honesty
The copying of ANY person’s work with the intention of submitting it as your own is penalized. If it is not your work, don’t turn it in, period. If you aren’t sure, ask. Cutting and pasting IS copying. We will more about ways to avoid plagiarism and infringement of copyright, and on the Fair Use Guidelines of U.S. Copyright Law. The course prepares you for the ethical use of sources as a student and as a professional after graduation.
Critical Workplace Skills
The following are “critical workplace skills,” or “competencies.” The course helps you develop these skills in the context of being information literate. The exercise of these skills in the academic environment of the College is described, below. You will conduct research about the exercise of some of these skills in the workplace environment for the Narrative Essay. .
Taking Responsibility:
You assume responsibility for your level of performance in the course after examining the course schedule, the requirements, the scoring and grading criteria, the opportunities for assistance, the due dates, and the extra credit.
Working in Teams:
You are encouraged to work with classmates on most of the weekly activities, although a specific group project with a common grade is not defined. Particular activities, such as the weekly oral sharing of news, and the extra credit for use of a wiki to collaborate about a news item, are opportunities to engage with your peers.
Persisting:
LIBS100 rewards with good grades those students who display self-discipline, time management, and study skills through 15 weeks. The short-answer quizzes, the longer, constructive projects of essays, and the glossary challenge you on different cognitive levels. A habit of persistence through presence during the entirety of a class is rewarded.
A Sense of Quality:
The course focuses on developing your awareness of quality and your critical evaluation through specific exercises in evaluation of sources.
Lifelong Learning:
A major goal of Information Literacy is to equip you with skills of research and of ethical communication for the workplace and for leisure interests.
Adapting to Change:
The heavy dependence on information technology in LIBS100 requires that you anticipate and adapt to change, such as the transition to new operating systems, software platforms, Internet tools, and databases.
Problem Solving:
You will evaluate models for research. You will determine how a model can expedite problem solving, which depends on filling an information need through an effective research strategy.
Information Processing:
LIBS100 provides you with skills for evaluating the relevance and quality of information sources in different formats and technologies. The course helps you to communicate your findings according to a professional standard of providing credit for sources, and according to copyright law.
Systems Thinking:
The research processes in Information Literacy require that you keep your objective, the final product, and audience in mind as you progress through the following stages: Initiating an assignment, selecting a topic, exploring Information, formulating a focus,
collecting information, citing sources, and preparing for the submission of your project.
LATE ASSIGNMENTS LATE ASSIGNMENTS LATE ASSIGNMENTS LATE ASSIGNMENTS LATE ASSIGNMENTS
Late work is ANY assigned work that is not turned in at the beginning of class or emailed by 6:00pm that same day.
After 6:01pm- work that is emailed, or turned in at any point during class time will automatically lose 50% of the possible 100 points, less your actual grade deductions.
Work must be turned in within 24 hours of due date/time or IT WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED AT ALL.
• Late work must be signed-in, dated, and timed at the receptionist’s desk. You assume the risks associated with failure to submit your work in person in class on the due date. If there is an illness, you must provide upon return to class, a doctor’s signed excuse, which indicates cognitive impairment for the entire week of preparation and the late period, waives the deduction and provides an extra day. The failure, or the absence, of a computer and software at home is not an excuse for late or incomplete work. The campus has several computer labs, and the library has computers.
I recommend that you submit work ahead of its due date.
Business Connections
Students should try to communicate with persons and businesses that are representative of areas in which they might be employed. Two points are available for a project that consists of an interview with a professional in your career area in regard to procedures for doing research in her/his workplace.
Recommended Computer Access & Support
• A logon account for the campus network is essential. You gain access to the network drives, word-processing applications, the Internet, the Virtual Library, and to your private partition of the S-drive. We practice access to these resources in the first three weeks.
• A familiarity with Microsoft Office Word is helpful. Stations on campus are loaded with the latest 2007 edition of the Office applications. Save your files in compatibility mode – “Word 97 – 2003 document.” If you still use Office 2003 at home, or if you might send files via email to someone with only Office 2003, the compatibility mode is necessary to viewing your files. We spend only the first three weeks with elementary computer skills. If you have Corel WordPerfect instead of MS Office Word at home, save your files in rich text format in order to retrieve it in Word on campus. Do not use “Microsoft Works.”
• A high speed thumb (flash, stick) drive is ideal portable storage for your files. Practice in using a new thumb drive so that you are familiar with any peculiarities early in the term.
• Use the campus e-mail system regardless of whether or not you have a personal e-mail account.
• You can submit work and questions AT ANY TIME (before due date) to comm150dasilva@gmail.com.
Attendance and Childcare
The College policy in regard to attendance is the following –
“Bryant & Stratton College believes regular class attendance is necessary for you to receive the maximum benefit from your education, as well as to develop the professional work habits and attitudes highly valued by the business community. In order to successfully attain your college degree, you must be committed to your course of study and demonstrate that commitment through regular class attendance, active participation in the learning experience, and completion of all assigned work. It is your responsibility to make arrangements with your instructors to receive any assignments you may have missed as a result of absences. … Absences are recorded daily, become a part of your permanent record, and may be referred to by future employers. Attendance is taken in all classes and labs, at your internship site, and during all mandatory skills assistance sessions.”
You must provide childcare for a boy or girl who is not of age for the “Children’s College.”
The campus does not allow children in classes.
PLEASE NOTE:
The instructor will leave class in the eventuality that no students appear during the first half-hour . If that occurs, please look for the instructor’s note about the relevant assignments and homework on the marker-board. The last meeting of COMM150 is relatively short, and includes oral presentations. A student, who arrives after the students are dismissed in the last class, will not receive credit for a presentation and for attendance. If you enter a class after its first meeting in a term, you assume responsibility for catching-up with classmates. The instructor does not hold-up classmates for late entrants or arrivals. Make an appointment with the instructor for limited assistance should you fall behind due to a late entrance into a section, or missed classes.
Textbooks
Required texts (order from the online bookstore by the 1st week):
• Internet Research (5th ed.) by Barker, Barker, & Pinard
• Research Strategies for a Digital Age (3rd ed.) by Tensen
Optional sources for aide in using the APA standard:
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition
Location: Library reserves
Bryant & Stratton’s Guide to APA-Style Citations
Location: Logon to the Virtual Library page; select the tab for “Reference Desk”; and choose the 1st menu option for
“Citing Sources.”
Sources used in the Syllabus Supplement
American Library Association. (2005, June 1). ALA: Information literacy: Introduction to information literacy. Retrieved from
http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlissues/acrlinfolit/infolitoverview/introtoinfolit/introinfolit.htm
Plattsburgh State University of New York. (2003, September 12). Definition of information literacy. Retrieved from
http://www. www.plattsburgh.edu/library/instruction/informationliteracydefinition.php
Student Learning Portfolio
Remember, there are THREE essays
NARRATIVE
• Identify two possible career specializations. Explain how your interest in the positions developed, and why you consider those jobs to be important. Explain why at least two of the nine workplace competencies (presented in class and in the handouts) are especially desirable in the two specializations.
• Cite with APA References and in-text a minimum of two articles about relevant workplace competencies from trade or peer-reviewed articles in the Virtual Library or in the physical library. Explain how an author’s discussion of a competency might be applied to your career.
• Use SmarThinking.
DESCRIPTIVE
• Describe characteristics of a career specialization (job) of greatest interest to you, such as: The duties, skills, training, working conditions, employment and wage trends, and conditions for advancement in the chosen specialties.
• Cite four career-related Web sources in APA References and in-text at the places at which you use the sources in your essay.
• Annotate and evaluate each source with a minimum of two of the objective criteria presented in class and in the handouts.
• Use SmarThinking.
PROCESS
• Describe the ethical dimensions of doing research.
• Explain how to avoid plagiarism by using citations and References;
• Summarize the purpose of U.S. Copyright Law, and the five legal rights provided to authors/artists;
• Explain how you would follow each of the Fair Use Guidelines with examples of fair and unfair uses.
• Cite a source relevant to crediting sources, to copyright, or to Fair Use. Provide the in-text citation and Reference for the source. Use a source, which does not appear in your handouts or in an earlier essay.
• Use SmarThinking .
