CURRICULUM
by
Daniel D. Barron and Thomas B. Hubbard
This chapter contains reports and summaries of the data on curriculum
as reported by the responding schools for the 2000-2001 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
that 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 56 schools with American Library Association accredited
master’s degree programs reported this year. 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 56.
Program
Structure
Following
the practice of the past few years, Tables IV-1 to IV-29 dealing with
various structural elements are not included in the printed version
of the Report. They
may be found in the web version. Some comments about and highlights from
these tables appear below.
·
Post-Master’s Programs. A variety of labels are offered
for the program that immediately follows the master's (e.g., Sixth Year,
Specialist, Advanced Studies).
Some schools indicate that a certificate, not a degree, is awarded,
while others report that the certificate is a degree.
For convenience, all these programs are called "post master's"
in this report. Twenty-eight
schools offer such a program.
See Table III-6
(Post-Master’s Degree Academic Credit Hour Requirements). Additional information appears in the
section below entitled, "Certificate Programs."
·
Doctoral Programs. Twenty-eight
schools (up from twenty-six last year) offer a doctoral degree program. Semester credit hour or equivalent requirements
vary from 24 to 90 hours. Some
of the differences are explained by the number of dissertation credit
hours required. See Table III-7
(Doctoral Degree Academic Year Requirements).
·
Comparison of Degree Requirements.
See
Table
III-8 (summary of Degree Hour Requirements by School) for a summary of all of the degree
requirements for degree programs as reported by the respondents.
·
Certificate Programs. Forty-three
schools report one or more certificate programs. Many times the certificate program is
an optional part of the master’s degree program (e.g., school library). Two schools (Toronto and Washington) offer
a substantial number of non-degree certificates on topics like Internet
business and technology, genealogy, records management, e-business,
XML standards, and the like.
·
Program Length. Maximum
and minimum times to complete degree programs vary widely. The minimum time ranges from 8 to 24 months
for the master’s degree, from 2 to 13 ½ months for the post-master’s
and from 15 to 48 months for the doctoral degree. Maximum times range from 3 to 10 year
for the master’s degree, from 1 ½ to 7 years for the post-master’s and
from 5 to 10 years for the doctorate.
See Table III-11
(Minimum time for Completion of Degree Programs), Table III-12
(Maximum time for Completion of Degree Program), Table III-13
(Minimum and Maximum Times for Completion of Degree Programs by School).
·
Residency
Requirements. Thirty
schools report some residency requirements for the master’s degree ranging
from 9 to 48 hours. Twelve
schools report a residency requirement for the post-master’s
degree and 25 schools require residency for the doctorate. See Table III-15
(Residency Requirements for All Degree Programs by School).
·
Required Course Work. Requirements
range from 6 to 39 semester hours or equivalent for the master’s degree
with the average being 19 hours.
The average number of hourly requirements for the post-master’s
is five and for the doctoral programs 22 hours.
·
Exemption of Required Courses.
Most
schools provide opportunity to exempt courses at the master’s level;
few offer the option for the post-master’s or doctoral programs. The usual method is evidence of a similar
course taken elsewhere. Some
programs (17) allow the exempted courses to count toward the master’s
degree; one allows credit toward the post-master’s and four toward the
doctorate. More frequently,
schools do not provide credit for exempted courses. See Table III-18
(Exemption of Required Courses by Degree Program), Table III-19
(Methods of Exempting Required courses), Table III-20
(Credit Gained through exemption of Required Courses), Table III-21
(Number of Hours that may be Exempted).
·
Transfer of Credit Hours. Most
schools (30) allow six credit hours to transfer toward the master’s
degree; fourteen allow nine hours to transfer. Twelve school accept courses for
credit from non-ALA accredited
programs. See Table III-22
(Credit Hours that may be Transferred into Programs) and Table III-23
(Acceptance of Credit from Non-ALA Accredited Programs).
·
Thesis Requirements. Thirty-four
schools offer a thesis option for the master’s degree; six schools require
a thesis. Most of these
schools offer from 3-6 semester hours credit for the thesis. See Table III-24 (Thesis
Requirement by Degree Programs) and Table III-25
(Hours Required for Thesis).
·
Field Work. Fifteen schools
(up from eleven last year) require field work for credit; forty-two
schools offer it as an option for the master’s degree. Thirteen schools offer field work as an
option for post-master’s work and one requires it. Five schools offer field work as an option
at the doctoral level. When
the field work option is available, it is commonly awarded three semester
hours of credit. See Table III-26
(Number of Schools Offering Field Work for Credit) and Table III-27
(Number of Hours Given for Field Work).
·
Graduation Requirements. Twenty-six
schools require comprehensives for graduation with a master’s degree. Other requirements named were foreign
language experience, computer proficiency, a capstone course, a portfolio,
a master’s project , and a “culminating experience.” See Table III-28
-- Special Requirements for Graduation).
·
Program Prerequisites. Fifty-three
schools require a standardized test like the Graduate Record Exam; all
require grade point averages.
The TOEFL test is usually required for international students. See Table III-29
– Prerequisites for Entering the Program).
Distance Education
Respondents were asked to list each course title and section
number for courses offered away from the main/home campus from Fall
2000 through Summer 2001. They
were asked to indicate whether each offering was required for the degree
program, if it was offered by regular faculty or adjunct staff, 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 and
III-30a. Seventy-seven
of the responding schools offered one or more courses away from the
home campus in 2000-2001. This year forty-three schools reported a total
of 1,014 courses taught as distance education (up from 522 courses last
year). The range is from one to 79 courses and
the average is 24 courses per school (up from 12 courses per school
last year).
Thirty-seven schools indicated the use of telecommunications
to deliver some courses as compared to 35 schools for 1999-2000.
Twenty-two schools indicated they were expecting to change their
distance education programs. These
changes include:
·
British Columbia- LIBR510 now available
on the Internet; LIBR500 pending development of distance education version
·
Buffalo- Video course nexus moved from
Elmira (5 hrs away) to Rochester (1½ hrs away); Introduction of hybrid
Internet/classroom courses
·
Catholic-Continue to develop and evaluate
Internet courses
·
Clarion- Offer more Internet courses
·
Clark Atlanta- Currently offers Web-enhanced
courses, plans to add Web CT courses in 2002
·
Dominican- Plans to add sites using video
conferencing with on-site faculty
·
Emporia- Begin program in North Dakota
in Fall 2002
·
Florida State expects to integrate with
the University online learning interface and continue to add Internet
courses.
·
Illinois- Continued addition of Internet
courses and use of emerging technologies
·
Indiana- Some increase in the number of
courses likely.
·
Kent State- Begin planning distributed
learning program for SLMS
·
Kentucky- More courses via Internet and
video conferencing
·
NC-Greensboro will have a distance education
policy as part of long-range plan.
·
Pittsburgh- Expand course offerings; Include
second cohort of students
·
Queens --Plans to increase offerings.
·
Rhode Island - Plans to increase the number of off-campus
and Internet courses.
·
St. Johns- Considering feasibility of expanding hybrid-type delivery
·
San Jose- Expand classes in a variety
of technologies
·
South Carolina- Second West Virginia cohort
ends December 2001
·
Southern Mississippi- More online courses
in conjunction with Online MLIS
·
Texas Woman’s- More hybrid courses combining
Internet with face-to face
·
Washington- Planning Distance MLIS for
Fall 2002
·
Western Ontario - Plans limited access
to some courses by distance.
For all schools that reported offering courses away from the
home campus, faculty were compensated for teaching these courses within
their regular teaching load. Eleven
schools also reported other forms of compensation as listed below:
·
Clarion faculty receive additional
cash incentives or professional development funds.
·
Drexel- Faculty are given the
option to teach off campus and are compensated separately.
·
Illinois offers a reduced course-load
while faculty develop a course and during the first term the course
is taught.
·
Kentucky, Missouri, NC-Central-
Faculty are paid on overload basis.
·
Long Island- Travel expenses and
a stipend.
·
Oklahoma- Compensated separately
for summer courses.
·
South Carolina- Extra compensation
on a per student basis for WV, GA, and ME.
·
Southern Connecticut- Additional
salary if taught in summer.
·
Southern Mississippi- Through
separate budgets for Continuing Education, Gulf Park Campus.
Individual Course Offerings
Respondents were asked to indicate the number of courses each
school lists in its catalog and what percentage of those courses were
taught during 2000‑2001. Table III-32 presents
that data.
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-33contains
a summary of those responses. Regular, full‑time faculty taught
73% of the required courses and 64% of the elective courses. Adjunct
faculty taught 25% of the required courses and 33% of the elective courses.
Other faculty accounted for 3% of the required courses and 2% of the
elective courses offered.
·
Dominican used Emeritus for 2
electives.
·
Illinois had advanced doctoral
students, staff, and emeritus teach 9 required and 31 elective courses.
·
Iowa had visiting faculty teach
5 elective courses.
·
Michigan uses one Affiliate to
teach 1 elective.
·
Montreal had lecturers teach 1
required and 10 elective classes.
·
NC Chapel Hill
had 16 required and 3 elective courses taught by Ph.D. students.
·
Western Ontario had 5 required and 6 elective courses taught by Ph.D.
students.
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-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. Tables III-37 and
III-38 present
the data related to these responses. Several schools specified staff and others
as committee members. Titles of additional members, where provided,
are noted beneath Table III-37.
·
Arizona- Program Manager
·
British Columbia- Graduate Secretary
·
Cal-Los Angeles- Student Affairs
Officer
·
Dalhousie- Graduate Coordinator,
ex officio Director, Student Association Co-chair
·
Indiana- Director of Admissions
and Placement
·
Iowa- Faculty serves as committee
of the whole
·
Kent- Academic Program Coordinator
·
Long Island- Assistant Dean
·
McGill- Professional Associate
and Sessional Lecturers
·
NC Central- Librarian
and Computer Director
·
San Jose- Library representative
·
Simmons- Assistant Dean, Director
of Admissions, area employers
·
Texas- Assistant Dean, Scheduling
Coordinator
·
Toronto- Registrar, Faculty Librarian
·
Washington- Senior Administrator
Curriculum Changes
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 listing 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 Changes
to Curricula
·
Alabama started a 21-hour undergraduate
minor in Information Science in Fall 2000; had a total program review
of the MFA program conducted by a consultant; began the review of off-campus
courses; discontinued the Educational Specialist in Library and Information
Studies degree.
·
Alberta reviewed the core requirements
in the technology area; moved the required management course to third
term from second.
·
Arizona reviewed the MA program with particular
attention paid to core requirements; added requirement of management
course and information evaluation course.
·
British Columbia added PhD’s in Archival
Studies, Library and Information Studies; added MA/MED in Teacher Librarianship.
·
Catholic reviewed the core curriculum.
·
Clarion reviewed the MSLS program and
revised management courses for specific areas.
·
Dalhousie approved an MLIS/MBA and an
MLIS/MPA degree; reviewed one core course and one elective; approved
new course syllabi for four courses; changed two electives from experimental
to regular status.
·
Dominican reviewed the Law Librarianship
and Health Sciences curricula; revised the administration course requirement;
revised computer competencies for new students.
·
Drexel added a graduate level Instructional
Technology Specialist Certification program in collaboration with the
School of Education.
·
Emporia added a Bachelor of Information
Resource Studies degree in Fall, 2000, and an undergraduate Library
Services Certificate program in Summer 2001. A review of the MLS is still in progress.
·
Florida State agreed to offer a joint
MS in Information Studies and JD with the College of Law.
·
Illinois added a combined MS in LIS/K-12
Media Specialist Certification Program.
·
Wisconsin-Madison has completed review
and revision of the core curriculum.
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.
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