00.+Class+Overview

Administration of library media center (LMC) call upon all of our skills. I can’t think of another job that covers so many areas that demand we have expertise in all of them. Woolls covers a lot of ground in her book, //The School Library Media Manager//, now in its fourth edition (2008). During this class we will cover some additional material as well – mainly from practitioners in the field.
 * PHILOSOPHY**

A fundamental guiding philosophy is also provided by the American Association of School Librarian's //Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs.// We will be looking at this carefully throughout the semester as well.

One of my abiding beliefs is that as an administrator who is also an educator, we must – **must** – be learning on a continual basis. If you do not get some kind of professional development every single day, you will always be behind. Technology has been a blessing and a boon. There is so much information pouring out onto the Web every day that keeping up with even a small portion of it is a daunting task. Fortunately (or not) there are many ways to help us filter the good stuff and keep us (somewhat) from being overwhelmed.

**FORMAT OF THE CLASS** Each week there will be an assignment due. One week you will be doing a blog on the assigned readings (dealing more with the philosophy of librarianship) and on the alternate week you will be doing a project (dealing with real-life processes of library administration.) The focus and content of the school library is in a state of change as is the field of librarianship. A major philosophical change is the library as a learning commons. While we are looking at the major aspects of administering a library we will be pay particular attention to how a library might become or make steps toward becoming a learning commons.

I have purposely constructed the class to accommodate students who have a heavy work load during the week and who wish to concentrate their efforts for completing the assignments for this class on the weekend. Keep in mind that sometimes events occur which prevent you from working on assignments and if you leave them until the last minute you may run out of time. Also keep in mind that there is a 10% penalty for each day that the assignment is late. If the assignment is over five days late, I will not accept it.

Each week there will be assigned readings from a variety of sources besides your textbook.

All assignments are due by midnight on Monday.
 * Assignments Due**

If for some reason Blackboard is down and you cannot post successfully in this manner, you will need to e-mail your assignments to my e-mail account . Like the postal service, you not let the vagaries of the technology or rain, sleet, or snow deter the delivery of your assignments by the time stipulated in the syllabus.
 * IF BLACKBOARD IS DOWN – THE WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT IS DUE ANYWAY**

Late work will not be accepted for full credit without previous arrangement. If work is late, 10% reduction will be taken for each day the assignment is late.
 * LATE WORK**
 * Incomplete grades will NOT be issued upon request.
 * All assignments must be posted by midnight on Monday. You may, of course, turn in the assignments early.
 * Each day that an assignment is late means a loss of 10%.
 * If an assignment is over 5 days late of being turned in, you will get a zero on that assignment.


 * Reflection and Discussion Assignments (55 points)**

BLOGGING: There will be two parts for the reflection and discussion assignments. On your blog you will reflect on your in-the-trenches reading and listening: podcasts, LM_NET postings, and postings from 3 blogs you are following, as well as answering the reflection question of the week which will be your synthesizing the text and assigned readings on the topic. (30 points)

SKYPE SESSION: During the Skype session we will discuss the reflection question more closely, in particular the articles assigned to that topic. Your grade will be dependent on your participation during the Skype session and how it reflects what you have learned from the assigned readings. (25 points)


 * The Skype sessions are not voluntary and are an integral part of the class. Options for readings/reflections due as a result of not participating in a Skype discussion are only for emergency purposes; otherwise you are to clear your calendar for these sessions as you would attend a class in a face-to-face class session.**

PROCEDURE
 * 1) Set up a blog for your reflections as a tool to reflect on in-the-trenches administrative issues. Suggested sites to use as a source for setting up a blog are listed on this great site http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/Blogs+(Weblogs) set up by Donna Baumbach and Judy Lee from the University of Central Florida. If you need help in setting up a blog, here are three videos that cover three of the most popular blogging software [].
 * 2) //(There is a blogging tool in the new version of Blackboard which you can use. The disadvantage is that you will lose all of your reflections as soon as the class is over. I recommend setting up a blog using external applications.)//
 * 3) You will have a week to read and listen and post to your blog. On the following Monday we will have a Skype session to go in more depth about the information that you have posted in the previous week. If you are unable to join the Skype session you will need to **find three additional articles that correspond to topics that you read or listened to during the week and post reflections on these articles with citations to Blackboard.** If you miss the Skype session and do not post the extra articles you will be penalized the twenty-five points that the Skype session is worth.
 * Each week you will select 3 LM_NET postings that deal with administrative issues in the library and reflect on the posting (6 points)
 * Be sure to give the name of the person posting as well as the date of the post (e.g. Pentlin, 8/3/2010)
 * Briefly discuss the posting and reflect on the implications for administering a library.
 * Reflect on one posting from three blogs you are following. Since you are required to reflect on three postings, it would be good to subscribe to more than three blogs as not all bloggers post daily or even weekly. You can also go back to previous postings in the blog. (6 points)
 * Reflect on a podcast you are listening to. (3 points)
 * Reflect on the discussion question of the week which will incorporate all of the assigned readings. It is **very important** that you signify within the discussion question posting which articles you are referring to. I need to know that you have read/viewed each of the assigned components to the reflection question. (15 points)
 * As soon as you are through with your reflections, post a link to your blog on the DISCUSSION BOARD indicating that you are ready for others to look at your reflections as well as make comments.
 * Blog reflections
 * podcast (audio) or vodcast (video) (3 points) (5 points)
 * 3 LM_NET postings (6 points)
 * 3 blog postings (6 points) (9 points)
 * Reflection question (15 points) Texts reflection (10 points)
 * Skype discussion: Question of the week and readings (25 points)

These assignments will be applications of various administrative issues.
 * Project Assignments (point values vary per assignment)**

The University Writing Center helps students who would like additional assistance with their writing assignments, particularly undergraduate students; however, online help is available to anyone at http://www.ucmo.edu/ae/writing/. In addition, I will gladly answer questions and review your major writing assignments before the due date.
 * Writing Assistance**

08.16-22 08.23-29 08.30-31; 09.01-06 09.07-12 09.13-19 09.20-26 09.27-30; 10-01-03 10.04-10 10.11-17 10.18-24 10.25-31 11.01-07 11.08-14 11.22-27 |||| Fall Break – Yahoo! || 11.15-20, 28 11.29-30; 12.01-05
 * **Date** || **Activity** || **Assignment Due** ||
 * **Week 1**
 * Getting Started** || Set up your introduction to the class; Set up your blog, and personal learning environment ||  ||
 * **Week 2**
 * Current Educational Environment** || Post in-the-trenches reflections to your blog plus reflection question.
 * Woolls, chs. 1 and 2
 * //Empow. Learners//, ch. 1
 * 3 articles || Skype – 8/29 ||
 * **Week 3**
 * AASL Standards** || Create a presentation for understanding the “Standards for the 21st-century learner”
 * //Empow. Learners//, ch. 1 || Project – 9/06 ||
 * **Week 4**
 * Learning Commons** || Post in-the-trenches reflections to your blog plus reflection question.
 * 5 articles || Skype – 9/12 ||
 * **Week 5**
 * Design and the Library** || Read and view five items listed on the class wiki and redesign four areas of a library.
 * Woolls, ch. 6 || Project – 9/19 ||
 * **Week 6**
 * Budget Discussion** || Post in-the-trenches reflections to your blog plus reflection question.
 * //Empow. Learners// ch. 3
 * Woolls, ch. 9
 * 5 articles || Skype – 9/26 ||
 * **Week 7**
 * Budget Project** || Construct a budget for your proposed redesign of the library. || Project – 10/03 ||
 * **Week 8**
 * Library as Places** || Post in-the-trenches reflections to your blog plus reflection question.
 * Woolls, Ch. 7
 * //Emp. Learners//, ch. 3 (pp. 32-34)
 * 2 articles
 * 1 video || Skype – 10/10 ||
 * **Week 9**
 * Advocacy** || Read and view 8 items listed on the wiki syllabus and create four advocacy projects
 * Woolls, ch. 12 || Project – 10/17 ||
 * **Week 10**
 * Work Week** |||| No class this week. This week will be given to working on your Currents project. ||
 * **Week 11**
 * Current Issues in Library Administration** || Continue working on Currents research project. || Project – 10/31 ||
 * **Week 12**
 * Access to Information** || Post in-the-trenches reflections to your blog plus reflection question.
 * //Emp. Learners//, chs. 2 and 3
 * Woolls, chs, 8 and 10
 * 2 articles and 1 video || Skype – 11/07 ||
 * **Week 13**
 * Policies** || Update a library media policies and procedures project
 * //Empow. Learners//, ch. 3
 * Woolls, ch. 5
 * 3 additional articles || Project – 11/14 ||
 * **Week 14**
 * **Week 15**
 * Leadership** || Post in-the-trenches reflections to your blog plus reflection question
 * //Empow. Learners,// ch. 4
 * Woolls, ch. 14
 * 4 articles || Skype – 11/28 ||
 * **Week 16**
 * Screencast** || Download Jing and create a screencast project || Project – 12/05 ||