• Issue: A student concern was raised regarding D2L courses specifically that online classes are lacking in lecture depth and rely to heavily on student discussions with only minimal professor involvement and guidance of those discussions.
  • Response : Faculty have already established a blog for SIRLS professors to discuss virtual learning that will serve as a sort of methods bank and facilitate an exchange of ideas for the professors, both current and new to SIRLS. On the other side, the faculty emphasize that students are expected to lead discussions in their classes though the professors agree there must be a faculty voice as well.

• Anita Coleman has a reduced workload for the next two semesters. For those students she advises, she is still available virtually. If face-to-face dialogue is necessary, students can speak with Tom Wilding ( wilding@u.arizona.edu ).

• Internships are now being handled by Karen Bell ( khbell@email.arizona.edu ). Students' advisors must still approve specific internships, however Karen Bell will coordinate with the site supervisors. She is also working to establish a D2L site for all students in internships to facilitate an exchange in that medium.

• Plans of Study (POS) at the 18-credit point have several steps before being approved.
  • First, students need to get their advisors to approve the twelve courses (36 credits) which are being applied towards their degree. This can be done electronically.
  • Second, advisors email students and Polly Mitchell ( plmitch@email.arizona.edu ) that the courses are approved.
  • Third, the students mail or otherwise provide Polly Mitchell hardcopy of the POS with the student's signature on the form. SIRLS will then sign the approved POS and forward it to the Graduate College.
  • Students should expect the POS to remain in the Graduate College for upwards of three months before being approved there.
  • For the semester of graduation, students complete a CDR (Completion of Degree Requirements) form that contains any changes from the POS to Polly Mitchell.

• Incompletes are highly discouraged. Students should be aware that students seeking an incomplete will only be given one if they are currently passing the course, have completed the majority of coursework, and have emergency circumstances.

• Students under the ?old' graduation requirements (i.e. writing a course justification and not doing the e-portfolio is the main difference) and who want to move to the ?new' requirements should be aware that it is almost too late to make the switch. They do need to contact Leslie Kent Kunkel to get the switch approved and should contact her immediately.

• Jana Bradley is looking to have another occasion for students to meet their advisors and the SIRLS faculty during the semester, in addition to the event this Saturday. However, this will not take the obligation away from students to introduce themselves to their advisors, through email or face-to-face. If students are not getting a response from their advisors, they should contact Tom Wilding.

• Please contact me with any questions at ziaruth@email.arizona.edu

• No student issues were sent for the meeting. Faculty did want the students to be aware that their concerns raised at the last meeting are being actively discussed among all faculty and professors.

• An Information Ethics Roundtable on Indigenous Knowledge and Intellectual Property is occurs March 23 ? 25, 2007 . Kay Mathiesen is the SIRLS representative. LSO will be assisting in the Roundtable. The LSO Calendar , among other sources, will provide more information as it becomes available.

• The SIRLS website will start profiling faculty, so keep an eye out to learn more about those instructing you.

• The ePortfolio Q&A will be Monday, 18 September, in the SIRLS multipurpose room. In the meeting, Martin Fricke covered some of the history on the development of the ePortfolio:
  • It is designed to assess the education of SIRLS students therefore the ten competencies students reflect on should demonstrate their gained knowledge in the different areas. It is not intended to be a professional portfolio. The ten competencies students reflect on are determined by the accrediting process for SIRLS and should be learned in the courses students take. The competencies each course addresses should be found in the course syllabi.
  • Students perform a self-assessment in their reflections, which can cover multiple competencies and be based on different artifacts (i.e. papers and presentations).
  • The ePortfolio exposes students to content management systems and classification and cataloguing of their reflections.
  • Students can write drafts of their reflections, just put (Draft) in the post title so the evaluators do not review it. Once the reflection is posted, it is only seen by the evaluators, who then review them and then post their comments to the student.
  • The current evaluators are Martin Fricke and Leslie Kent Kunkel. They are the only ones reviewing students' reflections at this point.
  • The view of the ePortfolio is independent of the structure so students are free to manipulate it and six different skins are available.
  • A total of ten competency reflections plus the mid-course and final course reflections are required. The mid-course reflection must be submitted (i.e. posted) after the 18-credit point is reached. Students graduating in December and submitting their ePortfolios should have them to the evaluators by late October or early November.
  • Although advisors are not in the evaluation process, they are good resources for students to use and in developing their mid and final course reflections.

• Many courses are being changed from ?Free? to ?Distributed? electives. Those changes will be reflected in the course schedule for Spring 2007. The changes are retroactive, so those currently enrolled in free electives might have credit in distributed electives.

• Please contact me with any questions at ziaruth@email.arizona.edu

• Issue: I find it rather frustrating that there is so much talk about the new IT we need to know as librarians and so few LIS classes teaching it. I spent some time trying to find a class for grad credit that I could take for my out of dept elective on streaming video, for one. The only vaguely related things are in media arts with prerequisite courses. I do feel that rather than theory we should have basic how-to courses of new IT for librarians.
• Response : The intro IT course, 571, does a great job of introducing the technologies, and 573, Technologies in Libraries, is a good follow-on.  575, User Interface and Website Design and 588/574 Digital Libraries focus on digital information. Next fall, 588 Database Management will come up again, and this spring there is 614, Information Theory and Transfer. Since the courses offered by SIRLS must be at a graduate level, there will necessarily be less instruction and practice with specific technologies.
• SIRLS is offering Tech Brown Bags that discuss technologies, which are open for students (see the SIRLS calendar for mre details). For more hands-on instruction on specific technologies, OSCR offers workshops (http://www.oscr.arizona.edu). WebJunction (www.webjunction.org) is another good source to investigate.

• Issue: The back-to-school party at Jana's was great!  I hope that the faculty plan to host more social events to allow the students to get to know them and each other.
• Response: Jana Bradley encouraged the faculty to attend the next SIRLS/LSO social event which will be at the end of the semester. More to follow on this.

• Jana Bradley will be out of town attending several conferences from 11 – 25 October but will still be available via email.

• Karen Bell has revamped with individual studies webpage (http://www.sir.arizona.edu/courses/indiv_st.html) but the process for getting internships, practicum, etc, approved remains the same. All students doing a Spring internship will be required to participate in a virtual course for all interns, which will facilitate both paperwork and sharing experiences. More information to come.

• Students are responsible for doing their Plan of Study and ePortfolio mid-program submissions when they reach 18 credits. SIRLS posts information about this and advisors and others post generic reminders. It is not feasible for SIRLS to keep track of each student’s progress toward 18-credits. See the Master’s Program, Graduation Instructions for further details. http://www.sir.arizona.edu/program/ma_graduation.html

• Registration starts next week, Oct 16. The most current listing of courses for spring is available on the SIRLS website. [Please note that the university’s listing of Spring courses is not as complete as the SIRLS list] The new list of courses that satisfy the elective distribution is now posted on the web site and also appears on the Spring 2007 matrix (http://www.sir.arizona.edu/courses/schedules/sch_sp07.htm).

Please contact me with any questions at ziaruth@email.arizona.edu

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Student-related Notes from SIRLS Faculty Meeting on October 25, 2006

• Issue: I find it frustrating that the rotation of classes does not allow for certain courses to be taken during the typical 18-month program.  
• Response : SIRLS tries to have their high-demand electives offered every year. Some courses are not always available due to instructor availability but the rotation of classes is settling down to hopefully accommodate this. Scheduling is done within tight constraints and SIRLS must make educated guesses about what courses will fill enough to be run every year and what won't so those courses that do not have as much demand are offered every other year.
• Students looking for instruction in areas not currently offered are encouraged to email Dr. Bradley directly with their requests. This will allow her to stay current with what students want to learn at SIRLS.

• Graduation for Fall 2006 students is set for 1pm on Saturday, 16 December 2006. The date for the SIRLS/LSO social will be either 2 December or 16 December.

• The mid-program and final reflection in the E-portfolio will have the most in-depth review and responses from the reviewing faculty and staff. However they are currently reviewing all submissions by the students.

• Student participation at SIRLS events was discussed again. After reviewing the scheduling for next semester, SIRLS found Wednesdays afternoons and evening relatively free from courses so is considering having its Brown Bags and other events scheduled at that time. Options for making the events available to distance students were discussed, including hosting a D2L space for the podcasts to allow students access to presentations that might not otherwise be posted on the website. If students have other suggestions for increasing participation, please let me know.

• SIRLS is looking at having 12-week virtual summer sessions for Summer 2007. There will be two 12-week courses and four 8-week courses offered.

• Registration is now handled by Geraldine Fragoso. Students fill out the registration form online which is automatically sent to her. If you have questions or concerns, email her directly at sirls@email.arizona.edu. SIRLS is exploring WebReg for next registration next semester.

• The SIRLS Policy Committee is revising the policies for students receiving a “C” in either 504 or a second “C” in other classes, more to follow once the policy is approved. For now, students finding themselves in that situation should be in communication with their faculty advisor on their obligations.

Please contact me with any questions at ziaruth@email.arizona.edu

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Student-related Notes from SIRLS Faculty Meeting on November 29, 2006

•  Issue: Graduating students have requested the chance to do Exit Interviews with SIRLS.  

•  Response : SIRLS sends Exit Surveys to all students graduating. In the survey sent this semester, students can indicate if they are interested in doing an Interview. SIRLS will look at a mixture of individual, group, and distance forums for these interviews.

•  Students graduating this semester who do not receive a survey can contact Polly Mitchell.

•  Graduation for Fall 2006 students is Saturday, 16 December 2006 . The celebration is from 1 ? 3 pm in the SIRLS courtyard. Refreshments will be served and Gladys-Ann Wells is the speaker.

•  The date for the SIRLS/LSO/SLA social is this Saturday 2 December, http://arizona-lso.wikispaces.com/RSVP

•  General advising notes and suggestions geared for new students, and relevant for all SIRLS students, will be posted on the SIRLS Advising site at http://www.sir.arizona.edu/program/masters/advising.htm .

•  The new course Information and Group Rights, offered for the first time in Spring 2007, will get a new course number and count towards the Cultural Diversity Elective requirement.

Please contact me with any questions at ziaruth@email.arizona.edu

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Notes from SIRLS Faculty Meeting on March 7, 2007

• Issue: Online classes vary in type of materials – written, audio, and visual
• Response: Faculty take into consideration different learning styles for online classes
• Response: Students with any course accommodation needs in online format are to let professor know at the beginning of semester
• Issue:  Request for additional date and deadline reminders regarding SIRLS requirements, policies, and deadlines sent over the listserv
  • Response: General advising notes are posted on the SIRLS Advising site at http://www.sir.arizona.edu/program/masters/advising.htm
  • Response: A few additional reminders regarding SIRLS student requirements will be posted throughout the semester. SIRLS student services staff will include more announcements regarding SIRLS dates and deadlines, but students must take responsibility for reading and noting them
• Issue: Request for additional course availability for School Librarians
• Response:  Issues in School Libraries will be offered this summer in Phoenix over 3 weekends – IRLS 527, Summer Session II
• Response: This is a combination problem of lack of instructors and lack of student enrollment
• Response: Students should continue to offer feedback regarding course availability so SIRLS can assess additional course needs

Please contact Cindy Elliott at celliott@email.arizona.edu, or Cecilia Tovar at ctovar@email.arizona.edu with any questions. You can provide feedback or submit issues for presentation at faculty meetings at http://www.sir.arizona.edu/lso/feedback.htm

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Notes from SIRLS Faculty Meeting on March 28, 2007

• Issue: Online classes vary in type of materials – written, audio, and visual
  • Response: Faculty will be reminded to indicate in the online class syllabi which type of material format they will be using.  
• Response: Students with any course accommodation needs in online format should register at the Disability Learning Center and provide the professor with the appropriate paperwork at the beginning of semester. Check the SIRLS webpage for more information of accommodations for disabilities.
• Response:  Remind students to read the “Hints” section of syllabi for types of materials.
• Issue:  Summer classes need to be meet enrollment minimums or risk cancellation
  • Response:  Faculty and LSO need to advertise summer classes to make students aware of course opportunities. Some special classes are only offered during summer sessions. 
  • Response:  Remind out of state students that they pay in-state tuition for summer classes.
  • A flyer for summer courses is coming out soon
  • Summer tuition and fees are still at pre-increase rates
• Issue:  ABOR passed the increase in student fees, effective fall 2007
  • Response: For Arizona residents, the fee will be $500 for a 3-credit course. For non-residents, the fee will be $1200 per 3-credit course.
  • SIRLS is now hiring 2 faculty members anticipating increased fee income; this would not have been possible without the fee increase.
  • Response:  In order to help students with program fees SIRLS offers a scholarship called “Helping Hand Scholarship” the deadline is April 2nd
• Issue:  Fall Class Schedule:
  • Response:  The SIRLS Fall Schedule of Classes is now posted on our website at: http://www.sir.arizona.edu/courses/schedules/index.html
  • Response:  Do not use the UA Schedule of Classes--it is not updated as quickly as the SIRLS Schedule of Classes. To register for your courses, please use the University's WebReg system. 
• Issue:  Students can now enroll in both the master’s program and the digital information certificate program concurrently:
  • Response: Students must apply to both programs. Students in one program cannot count courses for the other program until they have been admitted.
  • Response: It is the student’s responsibility to maintain the both Plan of Studies (POS) for the programs. 
  • Response:  Students can “double dip” 6 credits with advisor approval.

Please contact Cindy Elliott at celliott@email.arizona.edu, or Cecilia Tovar at ctovar@email.arizona.edu with any questions. You can provide feedback or submit issues for presentation at faculty meetings at http://www.sir.arizona.edu/lso/feedback.htm

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Student-related Notes from SIRLS Faculty Meeting on April 18, 2007

 

•  Issue: When is graduation?

•  Response: SIRLS Graduation is planned for May 12, 10:30 -- 12:30, SIRLS Courtyard. Information will be sent out soon.

•  U of A Graduation will be held May 12 at 1:30, and the College of Social and Behavioral Science Graduation will be held on Friday, May 11 from 2-5pm -- See http://www.sbs.arizona.edu/commencement/index.php for details.

 

•  Issue: Summer Advising Needs

•  Response: Advisors are to contact advisees if advisor will be unavailable during the summer. Students can also contact SIRLS to find out if advisor is out. If advisor is out, Tom Wilding and Leslie Kunkel will be available for assistance.

 

•  Issue: Class Availability: Need for a second online searching class in the Fall semester.

•  Response: Students to contact Polly to be added to wait list for optional second class. If enough students sign up on the wait list, a second course will be considered.

 

•  Issue: Class Availability: Request for wider selection of classes for the fall semester both in person and online. 

•  Response: Course availability is always a balancing act, between enrollment,
online/virtual, and instructor availability.

•  Response: One way we judge need is by waiting lists.

•  Response: Alert Polly Mitchell or Jana Bradley directly of request

•  Response: If we know specific courses that students want, then we can assess how
often they are offered.

 

•  Issue: Overload of Units -- students to take only 9 units during semester, require advisor permission to take a fourth course.

•  Response: Students should register for 9 units only during semester, and are required to get advisor permission to take 12 units during the regular semester. If student does not get permission from advisor, student will be dropped from 4 th course prior to the start of the semester.

 

•  Issue: How to resolve concerns with SIRLS regarding course, professor, students, etc.

•  Response: Students can send concerns to LSO Student/Faculty Liasion. This liaison works to resolve issues between students and SIRLS.

•  Response: Students can discuss issue with Jana Bradley directly through email, or office hours.

 

•  Issue: Where can I find UA Policies -- Grade Appeals, General Petitions,

•  Response: Students can find UA Policies at http://catalog.arizona.edu/2006-07/policies/aaindex.html.

•  Response: Students can discuss issues with Tom Wilding for direction on specific policies. Please contact me with any questions at celliott@email.arizona.edu , or Cecilia Tovar at ctovar@email.arizona.edu . You can provide feedback or submit issues for presentation at faculty meetings at http://www.sir.arizona.edu/lso/feedback.htm

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Student Notes from Faculty Staff Meeting 10.17.07

Comment:
Some students expressed concern about not getting enough feedback on their ePortfolio
Response:

• Currently, comments on ePortfolios have been coming after the initial reflection, at the midway, and at the final reflection. Students are more than welcome to ask their advisor or Tom Wilding for more feedback on their ePortfolio progress at any time. 
• Keep in mind that although completion of the ePortfolio is a required component of the degree, it remains primarily a self-evalauation/reflection tool.
• Karen Drake has been brought on to review ePortfolio entries and students' progress as well as answer any questions students might have about their ePortfolios. She will likely assume this post in January 2008.

Comment:
Expressed a request for clarification of what roles GAs are supposed to fill with regards to grading other students coursework ( i.e. does SIRLS have an official policy on this).
Response:

• SIRLS GAs should be working in accordance with the UA Policy Handbook, which states: "Duties of GAs involved in graduate level classes should be restricted to non-subjective grading, lab setup, web site maintenance and general advising."
• If you are a GA with questions about whether your work is outside of this scope, you are strongly  encouraged to talk with Polly or Leslie to address this issue.
  

Comments:
Expressed request for some courses to be added to the distributed electives list ( i.e. Special Collections and Collection Development) and for some courses to be renamed to reflect their actual content (i.e. Corporate Libraries)
Responses:

• The Special Collections course will likely be added to the distributed electives list as soon as it has been reviewed by the Curriculum Committee and then the faculty.  
• SIRLS will approach Corporate Libraries instructor to discuss changing the name to "Special Libraries."

Additional Notes:

• Faculty voted to have the SIRLS's Undergraduate Committee begin examining ways to expand reach and offerings of the SIRLS undergraduate minor.
• Dr. Bradley will be distributing notes from the Knowledge River Steering Committee meeting to KR students and alum in the near future. The notes outline main threads of conversations from the recent meeting.

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Student-related Notes from SIRLS Faculty Meeting on January 23, 2008

Issue: Why do some professors in SIRLS require that D2L assignments be
written in HTML?

Response: The format of the assignments depends on the professor's
preference and/or the course being taught. Some professors indicated that
they have moved to requiring HTML to ensure that the assignments could be
opened since there are no conversion problems involved. Be sure to check
with your professor about what formats are preferred or required if you do
not already know.

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Faculty meeting February 13th, 2008

Information from the faculty to us:

 

• Annie Smith, Linda Epps, Janet Allen, and Ally Krebs will give a presentation on tribal libraries at the 21st Annual Graduate Student Colloquy on February 28th .
• Reminder that students can only take 12 hours per semester.
• Please do not forget to change your NET ID password if you have not done so already.
• Leslie attended a risk management workshop and asked me to tell you that anytime we attend a SIRLS-related or SIRLS-sponsored activity that we should consider our own personal responsibility and the UA Code of Conduct. More information will be forth-coming after an additional meeting occurs. Any policy changes will affect all SIRLS organizations, including LSO, SLA , and the up-coming PLG.
• Graduation information : The SIRLS Graduation Celebration will be Friday, May 16 th 10:30-12:30 am .

The SBS graduation Ceremony will be Friday, May 16 th and start at 2:00 pm .

The UA commencement will be on Saturday, May 17 th at 1 pm .

 

Issue : Many classes require readings from articles.  Instead of having to print them all out at home, could there be an option to purchase the copied readings from the bookstore or SIRLS?

• Response : The faculty tried to use course packets in the past but found that they were actually more expensive than us printing out the material ourselves. Also, the copyright issues became problematic in some instances. If more students are interested in pursuing this issue, I can bring it back to the faculty again.

 

Issue : Many students are posting information into discussion boards in D2L several weeks, or months, after the topics were finished being discussed. Is there any way to close the discussion forums?

• Response : Yes there is a way to do this. The faculty has been alerted that this is a possibility in D2L. When a discussion board is locked, you will still be able to see the discussion, but no more students can post to the discussion board further. This information will also be passed along to the adjunct faculty members as well.

 

Issue: As a means to make the D2L environment seem less impersonal, can the faculty members help in the bonding process by suggesting meeting for a cup of coffee on a given day or even hosted something at his/her office?

• Response : Some of the faculty members are not in Arizona or do not have offices, which is problematic. The faculty members felt that while this was a good idea, it excluded long-distance students. The faculty members appreciate the comment that the D2L environment needs to build a greater sense of community and is a subject that they are working on. Faculty members also encouraged students to drop in during office hours if they have that opportunity or desire.

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Faculty Meeting March 26, 2008

* Mentioned that many students seemed to be complaining about the
lack of timely responses from professors in D2L. Jana, on our behalf, again
reminded the professors that they needed to get back to us as students in an
efficient and timely manner. If, after looking at the guidelines
(http://www.sir.arizona.edu/lso/feedback.htm), you think that you have a
legitimate complaint, please let Rachel know via email. As always, your identity
will be confidential.

* Martin Frické also needs a student to help provide feedback on
themes for the new SIRLS website. This will be an ongoing project in which
you will be working with Martin, Polly, Heshan Sun, Bruce Fulton, and
Martin’s GA’s. If you are interested, please email Martin
(mfricke@u.arizona.edu) and let him know.

 

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Faculty Meeting April 16, 2008

Question:
* Why can we only do one internship or practicum per degree when “I feel like I have gotten more out of my practicum than I have gotten out of any of my classes thus far?” Why can we not have one complete year or two semesters’ worth of practical experience?

Answer:
* The SIRLS MA Program curriculum provides students with a balance of both theory and practice within the library and information science field. The SIRLS Individual Studies Program, of which internships are a part, offers opportunities for students to gain practical experience within our field.

Since the MA Program requires only 36 credits of coursework to graduate, it was decided by the SIRLS faculty that only one semester of an internship or practicum would count towards graduation requirements. In this way, students will have enough theory before they join the library field.


Question:
*How can SIRLS be more pro-active in ensuring that we have work experience at UA campus libraries? It seems like undergraduate work-study programs have a leg up on us as Master’s students. While work-study programs are important, we should have some access.

Answer:
* We recognize that this is an issue. Jana will talk with the person in the library who is in charge of hiring and speak on our behalf.


Question:
* If you are planning on graduating in less than two academic years (starting in August), you aren’t able to take cataloging. We are told in 504 not to take 515 during the first semester, but if we don’t take 515, then we cannot take Cataloging in the Spring if we plan on graduating in December of next year. It would have been nice to have that practical skill before graduating.

Answer:
* Students are now encourages to take 515 in the first semester. Unfortunately, we can only offer Cataloging once a year due to a lack of instructors. If there is an interest in this as an option, please let me know by emailing me directly at rcannady@email.arizona.edu

Jana and Leslie also encourage students to complete the faculty reviews that will be coming out soon. Jana reads all of them and values YOUR input.

 

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