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 2002-2003 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 schools reported this year. The questionnaires were received from schools that have American Library Association accredited master's degree programs. 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 the 55 responses received.

 

Program Structure

 

            The practice of the past several years has been to omit Tables III-1 to III-29 from the printed version only making them available on the web edition.  These tables deal with various structural elements that do not change frequently.  For the 2004 printed Report these tables are included.  The policy is to print the tables every three years and rely on the web version for the intervening years.

 

Academic Year Division

 

            Respondents were asked to describe the division of their academic year. Table III­-1 shows that only three schools (Drexel, UCLA, and Washington, use a quarter system of 10 weeks per quarter.

  

            Table III-2 contains data related to the academic year division by individual schools. Trimester systems are indicated with a "T" preceding the number of weeks in the "Trimester/Semester" column. The summer terms are described by combining the number of sessions with the number of weeks in each session.

Undergraduate Degree Programs

 

            Sixteen schools reported undergraduate majors in library and/or information science. An undergraduate minor is also offered in sixteen schools. 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.

 

Graduate Degree Programs

 

            Table III-5 shows the number of credit hours or equivalent a person must complete to be awarded the master's degree.  The specific degree that each institution offers is shown in Table III-8.

 

            All the schools now have web sites that describe their programs.  Table III-5a provides a convenient list of the web sites, the particular URL for each master’s degree program and the names of the master’s degree programs.  Joint master’s and dual degrees are not included here (see Table III-10) below.

 

            Post-master’s degree programs are offered under a variety of labels (e.g., Sixth Year, Specialist, Advanced Studies).  Some schools indicated that a certificate, not a degree, is awarded, while others indicated that the Certificate of Advanced Studies is a degree.  For convenience, these programs are called "post-master's" in this report.  Thirty-one schools indicated they offer such a program.  Respondents were asked if they have a post master's program and how many hours are required for it. Table III-6 contains a summary of this data.  More information follows in the section, "Certificate Programs."

             

Doctoral Programs

 

            Table III-7 contains a summary of the academic credit hour requirements reported by the schools that offer the doctoral program. Thirty-one schools offer a doctoral program.

 

Summary of Credit Hour Requirements for Degrees

 

            Table III-8 contains a summary of all of the degree requirements for all programs as reported by the respondents.

 

Certificate Programs

 

            Respondents were asked to indicate if they offer a certificate program and whether or not it is related to a degree. Table III-9 provides a summary of this data.

 

Joint Programs

 

            Table III-10 contains a summary of the data related to joint degree programs. These are programs that the Library and Information Science program shares with one or more other academic disciplines or units in the institution. In some instances, joint degree programs are reported to have been developed between separate institutions as well as within the parent institution of the LIS program. 

 

Maximum and Minimum Times to Complete Degrees

 

            Tables III-11 and III-12 contained data relating to the maximum and minimum times allowed for completion of degree programs among the schools responding summarized by minimum and maximum time limits.  As Table III-13 below organizes that data by individual school, the other two tables are omitted this year. 

 

            The minimum time ranges from eight months to twenty-four months for the master’s degree, from three to eighteen and half months for the post‑master's, and from six to forty-eight months for the doctoral degree.   The maximum time allowed for completing a degree ranges from three to ten years for the master's, from one and one-half to ten years for the post‑master's, and from five to fourteen years for the doctoral degree.

 

            Table III-14 reported methods of course revalidation after the maximum time limit had been exceeded.  Data on this question was last collected in 1998.

Part-time/Full-time Attendance Requirements

 

            Schools were asked if students are accepted on a part-time basis in each programs offered.  The overwhelming response was yes.  Exceptions are noted below.

 

·          UCLA requires full-time attendance at the master’s level.

·          Western Ontario requires full-time attendance at the master’s level for MA in Journalism only.

·          Clarion, McGill, and UCLA require full-time attendance at the doctoral level.

 

Residency Requirements

 

     Respondents were asked whether they had a residency requirement on their home campus for any or all of their programs. Table III-15 summarizes the data.

 

Required Course Work

            Tables III-16 through III-21 display data showing required course work in the various programs. Required course work is defined as that which is required for all students in a given degree program. Requirements range from six semester hours to forty-eight semester hours of courses in the master's program. The range for schools on the quarter hour system is from twenty-four to forty-four hours. The average, among schools on the semester system, is nineteen hours for accredited programs at the master's level.  The average number of required hours for the post-master's is five and the average number for doctoral programs is twenty-three hours.

 

Exemption of Required Courses

 

     Respondents were asked to indicate whether or not students could exempt required courses for their various programs. Tables III-18 and III-19 present a summary of that data.   The majority of master’s programs allow for exemptions, while the majority for both post master’s and doctoral programs don’t allow exemptions.

 

Methods of Exemption

 

            The most common method for exemption is evidence provided with a transcript and/or syllabus from another program. Other exemption requirements include "approved" projects, written examination or a combination of approvals from the dean, the student's committee, or advisor. Frequently, all of these options were indicated as being available to the student. Other methods reported included oral examinations, written petition, substitution of selected courses based on the student's experience, or courses from another ALA accredited program.  Table III-19 is a summary of the methods by which students may exempt courses.

 

Credit for Exempted Courses

 

            In programs that allow exemption of required courses, nineteen allow the exempted courses to count toward the master's degree, two count exempted courses for the post master's, and six for the doctorate. Usually schools do not provide credit for exempted courses. Table III-20 displays the data related to this question.

 

Number of Hours that may be Exempted

 

            Table III-21 displays the data showing the number of credit hours that may be exempted in programs reported in this survey.  For some schools the number of courses that may be exempted from the program is determined by the director. Others indicate that it depends upon the work experience of the student and/or the approval of the student's committee or advisor.

 

Transfer of Credit Hours

 

            Respondents were asked whether they allow transfer of credit hours into their various degree programs. Table III-22 and III-23 presents their responses.

Thesis Requirements

 

            Respondents were asked about their requirements for a thesis or dissertation for their degree requirements. Table III-24 presents their responses. Table III-25 displays information related to number of hours required for thesis.

Field Work

            Supervised experience for academic or program credits is known generally as field work, or occasionally as a practicum or internship.  Tables III-26 and III-27 present the data related to the responses. Table III-26 shows the number of degree programs offering field work for credit and Table III-27 shows the number of credit hours given for field work.

 

            Most field work requirements involve a practicum for School Media students and often that requirement involves more than one practicum.

 

Special Requirements for Graduation

 

            Table III-28 contains information related to the special requirements that respondents indicated are necessary for students completing their programs. The dissertation is assumed to be a common requirement among all schools offering the PhD.   Each degree program could have more than one response for its special requirements.  The two general requirements were examinations to show competency in discipline and another language requirement.  Other specific requirements are listed by the program, then by school after this table.

 

Prerequisites for Entering the Program

 

            Table III-29 shows data related to the requirements made of students who enter the various programs. The most frequently indicated tests required were the TOEFL for foreign students and the GRE and MAT tests for general admission.

Distance Education

 

            Respondents were asked to list each course title and section number for courses offered away from the main/home campus from Fall 2002 through Summer 2003.  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-30a, and III-30b.

 

            Most (88%) of the responding schools offered one or more courses away from the home campus in 2002-2003. This year forty-six schools reported a total of 1155 courses taught as distance education.  This does not count two of the schools who offer entire Master’s programs through distance education.  The range is from one to 164 courses and the average is 25 courses per school that were offered.

 

            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 the 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 “blended” 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.
  • Rhode Island- Plans to increase the number of off-campus and Internet courses.
  • St. Johns- New IT Instructional Designer will work with Faculty to Develop & 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, their faculty was compensated for teaching these courses within their regular teaching load.  Nine of these also offered overload compensation.   Ten schools also 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 & 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 2002‑2003. Table III-31 presents data related to 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-32 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 was the regular teaching load for faculty during the academic year, the summer load, and the maximum number of hours a faculty person might be able to teach as an overload. Table III-33 contains a summary of these data.

 

Courses Cross-Listed with Other 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-34 contains the data related to the courses for which the Library and Information Science unit had the major teaching responsibility. Table III-35 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-36 and Table III-37 present the data from 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.

 

Curriculum Changes

 

            Respondents were asked to indicate the nature of reviews or revisions of their curricula during the past year. Table III-38 contains a summary of those responses.  Table III-39 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.

 

Other Specific Changes to Curricula

 

  • 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 PhD’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)
  • NC Greensboro reviewed licensure for “Instructional Technology Specialist Computers”
  • 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-40 contains a summary of those responses.  Following the table are the specific changes being considered.