Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2014 11:39:18 -0500
From: "Taylor, Joan B" <[log in to unmask]>
To: Open Lib/Info Sci Education Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: most demanding courses in LIS

My students probably wish I assigned two page exercises in lieu of the 
15-20 page papers I assign and I have never given a multiple choice exam. 
Admittedly I often replace the final exam with a large project but I have 
given an essay test now and then. Our syllabi are not available for 
general consumption so you may not have UIowa in the mix here, but I doubt 
any of our classes meet your description. Also, our students are required 
to present on an original research project to graduate, but that 
culminating piece is not represented in a specific syllabus as it is not 
tied to a single course.

Thanks,
Joan
Joan Bessman Taylor
Assistant Professor
School of Library and Information Science
The University of Iowa
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On Feb 23, 2014, at 7:12 PM, Gretchen Whitney wrote:

> Greetings,
>  Readers have been asking for more discussion in this community, so here's a set of questions to work with.
>  I have been cruising around LIS programs recently, and noticed that in many syllabi that I can find, many courses ask (in terms of workload) a few exercises, two-page essays, and a multiple-choice final exam.
>  Here are my three questions:
>  1) Is this workload requirement graduate education? If so, why (as opposed, for example, to the composition of a twenty-page term paper).  If not, why not?
>  2) Are university graduate students supposed to feel "comfortable" in their educational experience (as reported in the local newspaper), and not feel challenged to "exceed their grasp"?
>  3) What are the five most challenging classes offered to LIS students across the LIS discipline (school doesn't matter), and why?  Answers could include challenging thinking, workload, tasks, original research, information technology skills, work within the community and support of community efforts.
>  This could be a really tough question.  If there are any responses I'll put together a committee of respected individuals and there will be a collective decision. But the question is really intended to stimulate conversation.
>   --gw
>
> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
> Gretchen Whitney, PhD, Retired
> School of Information Sciences
> University of Tennessee, Knoxville TN 37996 USA           [log in to unmask]
> http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/
> jESSE:http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/jesse.html
> SIGMETRICS:http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/sigmetrics.html
> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
>