This Week in Library School

The fortunate GSLIS students that are starting in Spring 2009 will benefit from a new format for Advising Day. First off, it will be scheduled *before* they have to register for classes; secondly, there will be tables set up in the Paresky center and groups of new students will have their lunch together with a super-duper experienced GSLIS student - um, that is, you - if you choose to volunteer :)

So, save the date (Wednesday, November 12) and keep an eye out (although I recommend 2, lest you want it to pop right out) for updates.

Not everything is set yet, but this how is supposed to work:

There will be:
* The exhibit part - when the student groups (like LISSA, ALASC, etc) need to be there - is from 1:00-4:00.
* Paresky will be set up with round tables and one current student will be assigned to each table.
* Campus tours at 2:00 & 3:00

More details coming soon!

Posted by Adrian Mitescu at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For the past few weeks I've been soliciting information from other LIS schools around the country about their course/instructor evaluations. Of the 15 schools that I've sent emails to, I've got responses from 9 of them (so far). It's interesting to note that only one of these 9 allows their students to view the completed evaluations (and with heavy restrictions). The rest of them don't even allow a view of the final reports.
I think we should consider ourselves lucky for having access to both the paper evaluations (outside the Lounge) and the LISSA website (http://gslis.simmons.edu/evaluations).

More details:

I took the top 15 LIS schools from the US News & World Report (yes, yes, I know about the criticism about their methodologies, but I had to start from somewhere; also whether we like it or not, I think some people use them when deciding which school to attend; as a final argument, it should be noted that Simmons College has no qualms in using the USNWR ranking for promotion purposes on their homepage).

The questions have been sent to the leaders of the student organizations (similar to LISSA), or if contact info was not available, to the admission office of the School.

Here are some of the questions:

1. Is there a way for students of the school to evaluate their instructors at the end of the semester?

2. If yes, is this process done online or on paper forms?

3. Do students have access to the completed forms (do they have the option of comparing the ratings of their instructors)?

Personally, I was surprised to see that so few LIS schools allow their students to view past evaluations. Also, most of the schools are still doing the evaluations on paper - although some of them have plans in place to transition to a online format.

I think we owe a debt a gratitude to our past and current Faculty members - for allowing and encouraging these evaluations. I think this is one of the strengths of the School and one of the main reasons that makes Simmons GSLIS stand out among its peers.

Posted by Adrian Mitescu at 10:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We have made improvements to the LISSA's Online Evaluation website (available at gslis.simmons.edu/evaluations): an extra column was added with a simple average for all the instructors teaching a course (surprisingly, it is called "Course average") and the averages for Question no. 9 have been tweaked to make them a little bit more descriptive (and hopefully, more useful).

Check them out, (ab)use them, let me know what you think!

More details:

The scores in the new "Course average" column are calculated fairly straightforward: adding up all the scores for a particular course and a particular question, and dividing them by the number of valid answers to that question.

Question number 9 was a little bit trickier: so far we have also made averages for the scores assigned to the answers: "0-3" means 5, "3-6" means 4, and so on. However, the results did not seem to be too helpful. So we have devised a "weighted average" for the answers to the questions 9a, 9b and 9c:

• For any checkmark put in the "0-3" column we assigned a score of "1.5".
• For any checkmark put in the "3-6" column we assigned a score of "4.5".
• For any checkmark put in the "6-9" column we assigned a score of "7.5".
• For any checkmark put in the "9-12" column we assigned a score of "10.5".
• For any checkmark put in the "12+" column we assigned a score of "13.5".

We have then multiplied the number of answers for a particular interval with the number assigned for that interval. After adding all the scores for all the intervals, the number obtained is divided by the number of valid scores.

I would like to point out that the scores for question 9 are supposed to give you an idea of the amount of required for a particular class; you should NOT take these numbers at face value - they are only relevant when compared with other sections.

Some disclaimers

The scores in LISSA's online tool are meant to be complementary (which means they have little relevance in and of themselves; you should also seek the counsel of your advisor, talk to your fellow students and check the comments on the paper evaluations - available outside of the GSLIS Lounge when choosing your classes/instructors).

Posted by Adrian Mitescu at 10:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Helen Boos, Shanti Freundlich, Molly Caple (Student-Faculty representatives) and Abi Sweeney (Secretary) are the new LISSA officers. Please join me (in thought or in action :) in welcoming them to the Library and Information Science Student Association. I hope that you will use them, as well as the other members of LISSA, as "sounding boards" for your suggestions, concerns, and issues - big and small - during your time at GSLIS.

Welcome aboard !

Posted by Adrian Mitescu at 10:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Professor Smith has dedicated many years to the students of GSLIS; his commitment to the teaching profession has been absolute and the hundreds of students that have taken his classes can bear testimony to his excellence.

Please consider making a donation to the 'Professor Allen Smith' Scholarship Fund; you can make a check payable to:

Simmons College
Memo: Professor Smith Scholarship Fund

Checks can be mailed to:

Simmons College GSLIS
Attn: Professor Smith Scholarship Fund
300 The Fenway
Boston, MA 02115

Posted by Adrian Mitescu at 11:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As an experiment ...

... I am thinking of putting some information on the weekly announcement /blog about the most recent Faculty Curriculum meeting. For example, one of the interesting things was the update on the Simmons College's project of putting the student evaluations online (some of you have taken part in this pilot this summer). More details are available on the LISSA wiki: http://gslis.simmons.edu/mw/lissa/Summary_of_09/10/08_Meeting

For those that don't know ...

The GSLIS Faculty meets every month to discuss issues related to School - for example, reports from the Rank and Tenure and Technology Committees, hiring of new faculty members, potential collaboration with other schools, etc.

There are also a number of Curriculum meetings, where the focus is on the curriculum evaluation and development (and also Advising Day issues). The students (represented by LISSA) are invited to take part in these meetings and we are also asked to relay any feedback from you to the Faculty.

So, if you have any questions/concerns/comments about the School, do let me know and I will make sure that your voice will be heard.

Posted by Adrian Mitescu at 11:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It seems that very few incoming students are aware of the evaluations that we are all filling at the end of the semester, available in paper format in the binders outside the Lounge, and in electronic format on the companion website (at http://gslis.simmons.edu/evaluations). Take a look at the binders, explore the website, let us know what you think - what you like, what you dislike, what do you find the most useful, etc.

Also ...

We (that is, LISSA) strongly believe that you have the right (and responsibility) to make an informed decision when choosing your courses. These tools (along with your adviser and your fellow students) are an invaluable source of information that will make choosing a course a lot less stressful.

...

Posted by Adrian Mitescu at 09:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This year we have decided to try something new, and we will have a "standing appointment". During the month of September, 2 LISSA officers will be available in the Lounge, every Monday from 5 to 6 PM (umm, 5:55 PM, we have classes too :) ). In the beginning, myself and Kim Giedd (LISSA Treasurer) will be there to answer any questions that you might have about all things LISSA (and anything else).

Furthermore...

... starting with the month of October we will change the date when the LISSA officers will be available. This way, we are hoping to "catch" as many of the GSLIS students.

Depending on the level of interest from the students, we will consider expanding these meetings to twice a week.

.

Posted by Adrian Mitescu at 09:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We are recruiting for a secretary and 2 faculty-student representatives.

Take a look at the descriptions for positions (available here: http://gslis.simmons.edu/mw/lissa/LISSA_Elections). If you'd like to be a part of LISSA, or if you know someone interested, fill out the information on this nomination page.

If you need some more arguments...

Both of these positions offer great visibility in GSLIS, not to mention that you get to talk to the Simmons faculty members outside of the classroom and take a closer look at the inner workings of the School. These positions are excellent stepping stones for bigger and brighter things in LISSA (wink-wink).

For the secretary position, the amount of work required is fairly small and distributed all throughout the semester. Hannah Sears is our current secretary and she can give you some more information.

For the student-faculty representatives positions, the work involves attending the Faculty meetings (always on Wednesdays) and occasional meetings with the Curriculum Advisory Committee. If you want more information on this position, you can contact me (Adrian).

Volunteer early !

Posted by Adrian Mitescu at 08:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)