CURRICULUM

 

by

 

Daniel D. Barron and Camellia L. Harris

 

This chapter contains reports and summaries of the data on curriculum as reported by the responding schools for the 2001-2002 academic year.

 

 

For those schools on the quarter system, the notation "qt" will be used. Some schools have indicated that "units" or "courses" are used instead of a specific number of hours of credit as guidelines for degree requirements. In such cases these units are indicated as the respondents reported them. Following each table will be listed descriptive information which does not lend itself to the general reporting pattern of the table, but is important to the interpretation of the question asked.”

 

 

A total of 55 of the 56 schools with accredited master's programs reported this year; no report was received from Rhode Island. All of the questionnaires received were usable; however, as has been the case each year, respondents, in some instances did not complete each item; therefore, the totals in all tables may not always add up to 55. In a few cases there is data for Rhode Island, so the total may be 56. ”

 

 

 

Program Structure

 

Following the practice of the past few years, Tables IV-1 to IV-29 dealing with various structural elements that do not change frequently are not included in the printed version of the Report. These tables are available on the web edition (http://ils.unc.edu/ALISE/2002/Curric/). An exception is made in this report for Tables III-3 and III-4 concerning the undergraduate major and minor as it seems to be changing annually. Some comments about and highlights from these tables appear below.

 

  • Academic Year Division. Most schools are organized on a semester or trimester basis with semester length ranging from 13 to 17 weeks. Three schools (Drexel, UCLA, and Washington) employ a quarter system of 10 weeks per quarter. See Table_III-1 (Type of Academic Division) and Tables_III-2 (Number of Weeks Per Term by School).
  • Undergraduate Degree. Sixteen schools (up from thirteen last year) offer an undergraduate major in library and/or information studies/science/systems. Sixteen schools also offer an undergraduate minor. The number of hours required by each school for a major is displayed in Table III-3. The number of hours required for a minor is displayed in Table III-4.
  • Master's Degree. The number of academic semester credit hours or equivalent required for a Master's degree varies from 32 to 56 with the majority of schools requiring either 36 or 42 hours. See Table III-5 for a list of schools with number of hours for each degree designation.
  • Post-Master's Degree. A variety of labels are offered for the program which immediately follows the master's (e.g., Sixth Year, Specialist, Advanced Studies). Some schools indicated that a certificate, not a degree, is awarded, while others indicated that the certificate is related to a degree. For convenience, these programs are called "post master's" in this report. Thirty-four schools (twenty-eight last year) indicated they offer such a program. See Table III-6 (Post Master's Degree or Certificate Academic Credit Hour Requirements). More information follows in the section, "Certificate Programs."
  • Doctoral Programs. Thirty schools (up from twenty-eight last year and twenty-six the year before) offer a doctoral degree program. Semester credit hour or equivalent requirements vary widely; some include previous master's hours; some add dissertation credit. Many report that the individual nature of the program make it difficult to state a minimum number of hours. See Table III-7 (Academic Requirements for Doctoral Degree).
  • Comparison of Degree Requirements. See Table III-8 (Summary of Credit Hour Requirements for Degree) provides a comparison of degree requirements by school for undergraduate major and minor, master's, post-master's and doctorate.
  • Certificate Programs. Forty-two schools report a total of ninety-four certificate programs. The most common programs are school library media and a general advanced study certificate. A few schools offer five or more certificates in specialized areas of librarianship (Indiana and Puerto Rico), e-business and competitive intelligence (Toronto) or web technologies (Washington). See Table III-9 (Certificate Programs 2002).

 

  • Joint Programs. Thirty-two schools report offering ninety joint degree programs. History, law, business, English and music are the most common joint degree offerings. Schools offering more than five degree programs include Catholic, Hawaii, Indiana (offering 12 joint degrees), Michigan, Southern Connecticut, and Wisconsin-Milwaukee. See Table III-10 (Joint Degree Programs Academic Hour Requirements 2002).
  • Program Length. Thirty-three of the fifty-six schools report a minimum time of 12 months to complete the accredited master's degree; the range is from 8 to 24 months. The maximum number of years allowed for the master''s degree ranges from 3 to 10 years with most schools reporting 5-7 years. Of the thirty schools supplying data on the post-Master's degree, most schools require a minimum of 9 to 12 months with a range from as low as 3 months to as high as 19. Nineteen of the schools allow either 5 or 6 years to complete the post-Master's with a range from 2 to 8 years. Eleven of the thirty doctoral granting schools require a minimum of 36 months to complete the degree with the range from 8 to 48 months. Sixteen of these schools allow either 5 or 6 years to complete the doctorate with the range from 5 to 14 years. See Table III-11 - Minimum time for Completion of Accredited Master's and Other Degree Programs by Number of Schools, 2002 and Tables III-12 - Maximum time for Completion of Accredited Master's and Other Degree Programs by Number of Schools, 2002. Table III-13 provides data by school for minimum and maximum times for completion of degree programs.
  • Residency Requirements. Thirty-two schools report some residency requirements for the master's degree ranging from 6 to 48 hours. Twelve schools report a residency requirement for the post-master's degree and twenty-six report a residency requirement for the doctoral degree. The latter ranges from 8 to 64 months. See Table III-15 - Residency Requirements for All Degree Programs by School 2003.
  • Required Course Work. Required course work hours range from 9 to 28 for the accredited master's degree with most schools reporting 15 (13 schools) or 18 (12 schools) hours of required course work. Of the schools offering a post-master's degree all require either 0 or 6 hours except Drexel requires 32 quarter hours and Illinois requires 12 semester hours. The thirty doctoral granting schools vary widely in the number of required hours from 6 hours up to 51. See Table_III-16 - Hours of Required Course Work for Accredited Master's, Post-Master's and Doctoral Degrees by School, 2002 and Table_III-17 - Required Course Work by Hours and by Degrees, 2002.

 

  • Exemption of Required Courses. Most schools provide an opportunity to exempt courses at the master's level; few offer the option for the post-master's or doctoral program. The usual method is evidence of a similar course taken elsewhere. Some programs (16) allow the exempted course to count toward the master's degree; two allow credit toward the post-master's degree and six toward the doctorate. More frequently, schools do not provide credit for exempted courses but require students to substitute another course. See Table III-18 (xemption of Required Courses by Degree Program), Table III-19 (Methods of Exempting Required Courses), Table III-20 (Credit gained through Exemption of Required Courses) and Table III-21 (Number of Hours that may be Exempted).
  • Transfer of Credit Hours. Of the 54 schools reporting number of hours accepted in transfer for the master's degree, twenty-seven will accept up to 6 hours, thirteen will accept up to 9 hours, and the remaining schools range from 0 to 24. Fifty-two schools responded to the question of whether they would accept for transfer credit work done at a non-ALA Caccredited school. Nineteen responded affirmatively and thirty-three said they would not accept transfer credit from a non-ALA school. Twenty-two schools reported the number of hours allowed for transfer credit; nine allow 6 hours; the rest range from 0 to 15. Twenty schools reported the number of hours allowed for transfer credit for the doctoral degree; the range is 0 to 33 with no See Table III-22 (Hours That May be Transferred into Programs by School 2002). Note: Table III-22 includes information formerly separately reported in Tables III-22 and III-23. This is the first year the information is reported by school.
  • Thesis Requirements. Only four schools have a thesis requirement at the master's level, either for 3 hours of a range from 2-6. Eighteen schools have no thesis option. Of the thirty-two schools who offer an optional thesis, eleven allocate 6 hours for it and the rest range from 1 to 12 hours. At the post-master's level, of 23 schools reporting, eleven do not have a thesis requirement; six have an option ranging from 3-12 hours; and six have a requirement that ranges from 0-12 hours. Of the twenty-nine schools reporting at the doctoral level, two report no thesis requirement (North Texas and Washington) and twenty-nine report varying levels of credit hours required for the thesis from 3 (British Columbia) to 32 (Illinois). Many schools simply report that a thesis is required but do not provide any number of hours. For a school by school reporting see Table III-24 (Thesis Option or Requirement and Number of Hours by School 2002). Note: Table III-24 includes information formerly separately reported in Tables III-24 and III-25. This is the first year the information is reported by school.

 

  • Fieldwork. Of the fifty-five schools reporting, forty-three offer fieldwork as an option for the master's degree ranging in credit from 0 to 8 hours with many offering variable credit. Nine schools require fieldwork (in the case of British Columbia and Dalhousie for 0 credits; the other range from 2 to 8 credit. For the post-master's degree sixteen reported four do not provide a fieldwork option, one school required it and the other eleven offer it as an option with 2-6 hours of credit. Three schools reported offering a fieldwork option at the doctoral level. Illinois specifies it is for a teaching practicum. Seventeen other schools reported that fieldwork was not an option for this degree. See Table III-26 (Fieldwork for Credit by Degree Programs and by School 2002). Note: Table III-26 includes information formerly separately reported in Tables III-26 and III-27. This is the first year the information is reported by school.
  • Graduation Requirements. Fourteen of the fifty-five schools reporting require a comprehensive exam. Only three schools (Montreal, NC-Central, and Puerto Rico) report having a foreign language requirement. Several schools require a portfolio or a culminating independent study project of some kind. Two schools (Oklahoma and Queens) ask for an exit interview. See Table III-28 (Special Requirements for Graduation for Accredited Master's Degree by School 2002).
  • Admission Requirements. All the schools reporting (55) require the undergraduate grade point average (GPA) for admission and forty-two schools also require the Graduate Record Exam or an equivalent. Forty-one schools report requiring a TOEFL score from non-native speakers. Only five schools require a personal interview before admission although it is optional for three other schools. No schools reported asking for library or information science work related experience. In the other category, most schools asked for letters of reference and a personal statement. See Table III-29 (Admission Requirements for Accredited Master's Degree by School 2002).

Distance Education

Respondents were asked to list each course title and section number for courses offered away from the main/home campus from Fall 2001 through Summer 2002. They were asked to indicate whether each offering was required for the degree program, if it was offered by regular faculty or adjunct staff, how the faculty was compensated, and the method of course delivery such as on-site/off-campus or some form of telecommunications. The data for these responses is contained in Tables III-30 , III-31, and III-31a.

 

Eighty-eight percent of the responding schools offered one or more courses away from the home campus in 2001-2002. This year forty-six schools reported a total of 1,155 courses offered as distance education. This does not count two schools who offer their entire Master's programs through distance education. The range is from 1 to 164 courses and the average is 25 courses per school.

 

A total of 42 schools indicated the use of telecommunications to deliver some courses as compared to 37 schools for the prior school year. Some courses were taught by both regular and adjunct faculty which is why total number of courses does not always equal number for the combined faculty numbers.

 

  • Twenty-six schools indicated they were expecting to change their distance education programs. These changes include:
  • British Columbia -- LIBR500 now available on the Internet; LIBR540 Internet version under development.
  • Catholic -- Continue to develop and evaluate Internet courses
  • Clarion -- The option of a total web-based delivery degree
  • Clark Atlanta -- Offering of web-based courses dependent upon university approval.
  • Dominican -- Plans to add sites using video conferencing with on-site faculty
  • Drexel -- For MS(LIS) plans to add additional specialization, number of online courses, and online cohort entering Spring 2003; For MSIS possibly increase number of online courses.
  • Emporia -- Will develop additional Internet classes and begin new cohorts in Utah and Oregon.
  • Hawaii -- More web-based content with TV delivery.
  • Illinois -- Continued addition of Internet courses and use of emerging technologies
  • Kentucky -- Add new course available on the Internet
  • Long Island -- Continue to expand course offering at Suffolk County campus.
  • Louisiana -- May add an additional site.
  • NC-Chapel Hill -- Offering core School Library Media Certification courses via the Internet.
  • North Texas -- Continue to migrate courses to a Web format. Continue to develop courses and to offer both delivery methods for the same course.
  • Queens -- Plans to increase the number of courses offered, but the GSLIS does not intend to offer its entire program through this mode of delivery.
  • St. Johns -- New IT instructional designer will work with faculty to develop and improve multimedia instruction online.
  • South Carolina -- Virginia cohort begins Jan. 2003.
  • Southern Mississippi -- Streamline administration of admissions and course management.
  • Texas Woman's -- Decrease in face-to-face supplemental meetings.
  • Washington -- A distance MLIS was launched autumn 2002.

 

Respondents may have chosen more than one choice for compensation. For the forty-one schools that reported offering courses away from the home campus, faculty were compensated for teaching these courses within their regular teaching load. Nine of these schools also offered overload compensation. Ten schools reported other forms of compensation as listed below:

  • Alabama -- Pays adjuncts on a per course basis.
  • Clarion -- Faculty receive additional cash incentives or professional development funds.
  • Drexel -- Faculty receive additional compensation for teaching online within their normal teaching load.
  • Illinois -- Offers a reduced course-load while faculty develop a course and during the first term the course is taught.
  • Iowa -- Additional compensation from the Center for Credit Programs.
  • Long Island -- Travel expenses and a stipend.
  • Missouri -- Extra compensation for summer teaching.
  • Oklahoma -- Both regular and adjunct faculty compensated separately for summer courses.
  • Puerto Rico -- Indicates compensation as "other".
  • South Carolina -- Extra compensation on a per student basis for ME sections.
  • Southern Connecticut -- Per contract, additional compensation if taught in Summer.
  • Southern Mississippi -- IVN (TV) instructors receive stipends from Continuing Education or the remote campus Long Beach. Hybrid and Internet instructors will be granted consideration for these in the tenure process.
  • Wayne State -- Part-time salary with some expenses depending on location.
  • Wisconsin-Madison -- Hired colleague from a sister faculty who participates in their consortium; she was paid as part of their load.

 

Individual Course Offerings

Respondents were asked to indicate how many courses they list in their catalog and what percent of those courses were taught during 2001-2002. Table III-32 presents data on their responses.

 

Regular and Adjunct Faculty

Respondents were asked to indicate the number of required and elective courses taught by regular and adjunct faculty on the home campus of their school. Table III-33 contains a summary of those responses. Regular, full-time faculty taught 69% of the required courses and 61% of the elective courses. Adjunct faculty taught 26% of the required courses and 35% of the elective courses. Other faculty accounted for 5% of the required courses and 4% of the elective courses offered.

Faculty Teaching Load

Respondents were asked what the regular teaching load for faculty was during the academic year, summer, and the maximum number of hours a faculty person might be able to teach as an overload. Table III-34 contains a summary of these data.

Courses Cross-Listed with Other Academic Units

Respondents were asked to list courses that were cross-listed with other units in their respective institutions and to indicate which unit had the major teaching responsibility for the individual courses. Table III-35 contains the data related to the courses for which the Library and Information Science unit had the major teaching responsibility. Table III-36 contains the data related to the courses for which another unit in the institution had the major teaching responsibility.

Curriculum Committees

Respondents were asked to describe the composition of their standing committees on curriculum. Table III-37 and Table III-38 present the data related to these responses. Several schools specified staff and others as committee members. Those specifications are noted beneath Table III-36. Following the table are the specific members of the committee, usually staff members, as indicated by the respective institutions.

 

Other Specific Changes to Curricula

 

Respondents were asked to indicate the nature of reviews or revisions of their curricula during the past year. Table III-39 contains a summary of those responses. Table III-40 lists specific courses added or dropped and courses offered on an experimental basis. Following the tables are other changes as indicated by the individual schools.

Curriculum Changes

  • Alabama renamed LS 500 from Bibliographic Organization and Control to Organization of Information. They also reviewed the entire PhD program in the College.
  • Albany changed requirement for school library track in MSIS to two internships effective Spring 2003 to meet new state certification requirements. The combined degree programs with MLS were changed to combined degree programs with MSIS.
  • Alberta continued to examine technology area and implemented in-house Internet course.
  • Arizona reviewed and revised the core curriculum.
  • British Columbia reviewed Ph.D.'s in Archival Studies, Library and Information Studies.
  • Buffalo revised course description for LIS 505 & 506 to ensure consistency.
  • Catholic revised Special Topics courses.
  • Clarion reviewed Management, Technology, and School Library Media curriculums.
  • Dominican agreed in February 2002 to begin a review of core curriculum in the Fall of 2002. They approved the Knowledge Management Master's Degree Program.
  • Drexel recommended a new course sequence for the online MS (LIS) Mgmt of Digital Information (MDI) specialization.
  • Emporia added a Legal Information Management Certificate for credit. They reduced required hours from 21 to 13 for the MLS.
  • Florida State created 5 concentrations for the Master's curriculum.
  • Illinois was approved for LEEP online delivery for the CAS. They redesigned 2 core courses for the MS program.
  • Iowa increased 4 courses from 2 semester hours to 3 semester hours and made Reference a required course.
  • Kent State reviewed and is revising the Culminating Experience.
  • Long Island reviewed the core requirements.
  • Louisiana reviewed the required courses and revised prerequisites for field experience.
  • Maryland revised courses unique to school media track to be in accordance with state and national certification standards. They are considering reducing total credit hours for 4 core courses from 12 to 9 to allow 3 more elective credits.
  • Michigan added MSI and MSW (Master of Social Work).
  • Missouri reviewed the MA program, but made no changes.
  • NC Chapel Hill adjusted prerequisites to reflect new courses and added an Undergraduate Major in Information Science (BSIS)
  • North Texas reviewed and revised General Practice Program of Study.
  • Oklahoma is continuing to review core requirements for MLIS degree.
  • Pratt redesigned core by reducing from 18 to 12 starting in Fall of 2002.
  • Puerto Rico is continuing to evaluate new curriculum begun in August 2000.
  • Queens offered GLIS 763 in on-line and traditional classroom modes and added a Certificate in Children, and YA Services in the Public Library.
  • Rutgers added a 39 credit hour undergraduate program in Information Technology and Informatics (ITI).
  • St. John's added new concentration in Digital Libraries. They also dropped a "type of literature" course and replaced it with either Reference or Information Organization.
  • Simmons added a Competitive Intelligence Center for new program area.
  • South Carolina is reviewing their curriculum in the core requirements.
  • Southern Connecticut added a sixth-year concentration in Art of the Oral Tradition.
  • Southern Mississippi is continuing the review of the master's program.
  • Syracuse modified TNM program, effective Summer 2002.
  • Tennessee reviewed and revised the required course sequencing.
  • Texas overhauled the total curriculum of the MSIS.
  • Texas Woman's revised course rotation schedule allowing for students attending FT to complete degree within three semesters. They also added two seminars, one of which is required for new doctoral students.
  • Toronto added a new one-year Diploma of Advanced Studies (post MISt degree). They also revised Enhancement of Research Option to a Thesis Option and added a new collaborative program, Knowledge Media Design.
  • UCLA added the MA program of Moving Image & Archival Studies.
  • Washington approved a new prefix (ITA) for professional courses offered in certificate programs to highlight uniqueness of these offerings and approved distance MLIS.
  • Wayne State is continuing ongoing review of MLIS curriculum and specifically the areas of concentration.
  • Western Ontario added an MA and PhD in Media Studies.
  • Wisconsin-Madison is developing a whole new range of electives and adding a number of cross-listed courses.

Respondents were asked to indicate the nature of curriculum changes under serious/active consideration within their schools. Table III-41 contains a summary of those responses. Following the table are the specific changes being considered.