Designing Doctoral
Education for iSchools:
A Case Study
Jennifer Golbeck, Allison Druin, Paul T. Jaeger,
Kenneth R. Fleischmann, Jimmy Lin, Yan Qu,
Ping Wang, and Bo Xie
Challenges for iSchool Education



Core of any one field is insufficient for iSchool
doctoral education
Students need to be knowledgeable about all
related fields
Students should recognize how their research
relates to other topics, even if they are very
different
2/10
Lenses





People
Systems
Environments
Information
Together the lenses provide a way to
understand research topics
3/10
The Modular Method


Modules are 2-week mini-courses on a variety
of topics
Each module includes





A description of the research topic
Discussion questions
Lenses perspectives on the topic
5-8 readings related to the topic
Faculty members create modules on their
areas of expertise
4/10
Sample Module

Information Economics
5/10
Module Topics (semesters 1&2)










Cloud Computing
Information Economics
Lifelong Users
Multicultural Identity
Organizations
Computing with Social Relationships
Social Visualization Systems
System Design for User-Centered Information Sharing
and Access
Universal Access and Usability
Values and Ethics
6/10
The Doctoral Seminar




Five modules
Broad range of topics
May choose one main lens for the whole
semester, or different lenses based on the
modules available
Discuss papers, how the lenses apply to each
paper, and discuss the issues specific to the
paper and as they relate to information
studies more broadly
7/10
Student Participation



Lead a discussion on a paper from a module
Build your own module
The Integrative Paper
8/10
Student Module Topics











Educational Technology
Alternative Approaches to Copyright Protection
Culture and Learning Styles
Information Privacy Online
Personal Learning Environments
Social Geolocation
Software Licenses and Agreements
Value Perspectives in Net Neutrality
Video Games and Learning
Virtual Communities and Communication
Web Search
9/10
Conclusions




Lenses of people, systems, environments, and
information form a coherent language to describe
and discuss the field
Modules provide a broad coverage of topics
representing the faculty expertise
Students learn how to think about many problems from
a variety of perspectives
Allison Druin, Paul T. Jaeger, Jennifer Golbeck, Kenneth
R. Fleischmann, Jimmy Lin, Yan Qu, Ping Wang, and Bo
Xie. 2009. The Maryland Modular Method: A Case
Study in iSchool Doctoral Education, Journal of
Education for Library and Information Science (JELIS).
to appear.
10/10