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Course Syllabus for IRLS 630: Controlled Vocabularies

Link to Course Schedule (including Readings)

Spring 2006 Instructor: Anita S. Coleman


COURSE NAME, NUMBER, AND PREREQUISITES

Contolled Vocabularies

IRLS 630

IRLS 515 (formerly IRLS 401/501) is a pre-requisite for this course.
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COURSE DESCRIPTION

Catalog Description

IRLS 630: This course provides an introduction to knowledge organization systems that use controlled vocabularies. Principles, standards, design and maintenance of thesauri using computer software are studied. The use of controlled vocabularies in electronic information environments such as the WWW is explored.

Course Description

This course introduces the emerging field of Information Architecture and focuses on the need and use of controlled vocabularies in websites. Includes the study of the ANSI NISO standard Z39.19, Guidelines for the construction, format, and management of monolingual thesauri.  

Course History

This course has its genesis in Knowledge Structures II, but it is significantly different from KS 2 as taught in the past. You can find descriptions of how KS 2 was taught by Prof. Fallis in Spring 2000 and by me in Spring 2001. The course content was split into Classification and Controlled Vocabularies taught by me in Spring 2002 and Spring 2004. We have now separated knowledge organization processes into several courses as follows:  Organization of Information (IRLS 515, previously called Knowledge Structures I and also numbered IRLS 410/501), Cataloging and Metadata Management (offered generally in summer), Indexing and Abstracting, Theory of Classification (offered Spring 2004), Controlled Vocabularies (taught first in Spring 2003), and Knowledge Structures (TBA). You can read about this in an article titled, Interdisciplinarity: The Road Ahead for Education in Digital Libraries.
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COURSE OBJECTIVES

Broad and intended learning outcomes include:

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REQUIRED COURSE MATERIALS

Required Texts:

1. ANSI/NISO Z39.19 - 2005 Guidelines for the Construction, Format, and Management of Monolingual Thesauri. 172 pp. ISBN: 1-880124-65-3 Price: $59. URL: http://www.niso.org/standards/resources/Z39-19-2005.pdf
Note: The full-text of this standard can be downloaded from NISO site for free as an Adobe file or purchased from NISO. Check the date to make sure you're downloading the 2005 standard.

2. Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, 2nd Edition By Peter Morville, Louis Rosenfeld 2nd Edition 2002 0-596-00035-9, 486 pages, $39.95 US. URL: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/infotecture2/toc.html

IMPORTANT NOTE: These have not been ordered at UA Bookstore and this means that you can purchase them from anywhere that you choose to do so. You are responsible for having them in hand by the end of the first week of classes.

Online Resource: Knowledge Structures Toolbox

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COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Requirements and specific assignments/activities  include:
Details will be given within D2L Assignments. To see what students have done for this course, visit the Spring 2003 student submissions in the Learning Showcase. You can also see what Spring 2002 students did.
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COURSE POLICIES

Academic Code of Integrity

Students are expected to abide by The University of Arizona Code of Academic Integrity (one theme of which is that The guiding principle of academic integrity is that a student's submitted work must be the student's own.). If you have any questions regarding what is acceptable practice under this Code, please ask an Instructor.

Accommodating Disabilities

The University has a Disability Resource Center. If you anticipate the need for reasonable accommodations to meet the requirements of this course, you must register with the Disability Resource Center and request that the DRC send me, the Instructor, official notification of your accommodation needs as soon as possible. Please plan to meet with me by appointment or during office hours to discuss accommodations and how my course requirements and activities may impact your ability to fully participate.

General Policies/Methods of Instruction

The classroom environment for this virtual course is D2L . Here are guidelines to help schedule learning:

Do not expect to do too much within D2L itself until after Feb. 1. Read your text, this syllabus, etc.

Complete weekly readings by the end of the day they are scheduled and discuss them publicly.

Adhere to the UA codes of student conduct and academic integrity.

Use the opportunity to work with plenty of practical tools from the KS Toolbox . Discussions and final project will require you to be familiar with many of these tools. Get a head start by browsing, reading, and interacting with the resources assembled here.

I generally try to limit my push of information to you (either by lecture notes, etc. or discussion posts) to Fridays and Mondays.

I try to use constructivist principles in my teaching. I try to give learners control of their own learning (while I sequence and time to a certain extent), encourage discussions and exploratory learning (you'll have opportunity to explore and discuss bibliographic databases and websites), and believe that learners 'construct' knowledge.

This means that you don't just receive information from text or me passively. You question, explore, reflect, and actively do something (create web pages, etc.). All four are important aspects of your learning in this course.

Incompletes

The 1997-8 University of Arizona General Academic Manual, p.23 reads

The grade of I may be awarded only at the end of a semester, when all but a minor portion of the course work has been satisfactorily completed. The grade of I is not to be awarded when the student is expected to repeat the course; in such a case the grade of E must be assigned. Students should make arrangements with the instructor to receive an incompete grade before the end of the semester ...

If the incomplete is not removed by the instructor within one year the I grade will revert to a failing grade.
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GRADING

Grade Breakdown:
Assignment 1: 40%
Assignment 2: 60%
Total: 100%

Grade Assignment:
All work must be done and turned in on time to get a passing grade in this course. Course grades will be assigned as follows:
A=90+ (Superior work)
B=80-89 (Very Good)
C=70-79 (Marginally satisfactory)
F=0-69 (Failed)

D2L will contain the final, definitive syllabus and record of all work to be done for this course.
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CONTACTING ME

Instructor: Anita S. Coleman
Office Hours: By D2L email & chat
D2L Technical Support: TBD
GAT: TBD
Mode of Instruction: Virtual via D2L
First day of classes: 11 January 2006; First day for IRLS 630: 11 January 2006
Course Listserv: Forthcoming by 01/15/06 [Note: You MUST susbscribe to this list and MUST have UA account to subscribe - if you don't have one, you can get UA email and web account online by visiting https://account.arizona.edu/.]

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