General Syllabus
Information Access – IT 100 – Fall 2007 / Spring 2008
NOTE: This section is a general description of the course. The complete and most up-to-date version of the syllabus,
including specific dates and course policies, is available online at http://ia.juniata.edu/syllabus.htm.
Welcome to the Information Access course. This one credit course is designed to prepare and/or assess your
information technology skills for your academic career at Juniata. It will acquaint you with the campus network and
computer applications you will need to use for courses at Juniata. In addition, you will learn about research methods
and formal citation procedures using the L.A. Beeghly Library's resources.
The IA Web Site: http://ia.juniata.edu
The course materials must be accessed through Moodle: http://moodle.juniata.edu
Email Contact: ia@juniata.edu
Use this address for any questions about the course, or other technology related questions.
Required Text
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This guide: Juniata College Information Access Guide, 2007-2008 printing. It was written for this course
and all of the modules refer to it. You must bring it to class every week.
Recommended Text and Materials
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A pen drive (memory stick) or some other storage media is recommended. You are required to keep
electronic copies of all of your work in the course. How you choose to do so is up to you, but you must be
able to access your work at any point in the semester.
General Organization
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There are 11 required modules to be completed. Each module represents a topic in Information Access.
There are 9 required assignments, and 2 required quizzes. (not including library assignments or quizzes)
There are also six required modules that focus primarily on understanding Information Literacy and the use
of library resources. All students must complete these modules before attending the library session during
week six in the Library Instruction Lab (located in the basement of Beeghly Library). Five quizzes and one
assignment will be required regardless of personal progress on the other modules. Be sure to follow the
timeline for the course in order to be fully prepared when you come to the library.
Students work at their own pace to complete most of the modules. There are deadlines for each modules,
however. Students are expected to make progress on one or more modules during class time. The IA
assistant is available for one-on-one help during the class time. Do not hesitate to ask your assistant
questions.
Student material for Information Access is accessed via Juniata’s course management system “Moodle”
(http://moodle.juniata.edu). The pages outline the modules, their activities, and refer to corresponding
sections in the IA guide. There are practice exercises on many of the web pages to help you become
comfortable with the material.
Students must attend an IA session during summer orientation and complete a lab activity during that
session. Students who miss this session must contact ia@juniata.edu to make arrangements to make it
up.
The deadlines for the required modules are given in Moodle. Modules completed after their deadlines are
given half credit. The final deadline for any credit is Tuesday, December 11, 2007 at 5 p.m. NO credit
will be given for modules after this date.
Any incomplete modules may result in failure of the course.
Attendance
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Weekly attendance to your regularly scheduled class is required until you complete all the required and
elective modules. You cannot skip a week even if you've had worked ahead of schedule.
Absences will affect your grade. The second and subsequent unexcused absences each result in a deduction
of a full letter grade for the course.
Progress on completing modules must be made each week. You must complete one or more modules at
each class or it will be counted as an absence.
You must attend the first four classes, regardless of how many modules, assignments, or quizzes you have
completed during the summer. These are the opening, and library activities.
If you know you will be missing class for a legitimate reason, please contact your assistant prior to the class
you will miss (either by email, phone, or in person). Attendance is taken at the beginning of each class, and
you will be marked for an unexcused absence if you are not present when attendance is taken and you have
not previously contacted your assistant with a legitimate reason. Unexcused absences will not be
negotiated.
Please note it may be difficult, if not impossible, to arrange make up sessions for the library modules.
Course Withdrawal Policy
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As the course is required of all new Juniata students during the first semester, students are not permitted to
withdraw from the course at any time without permission from the IA Supervisor, their advisors, and the
Office of Academic Support. As this course is a graduation requirement, such permission is granted only in
rare cases (e.g. medical leave of absence), and in these cases, the student must register for the course in the
next semester. Students who fail the course must repeat it in their next semester.
Policy on Collaboration and Plagiarism
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While working with others is a valuable learning experience and is encouraged in many contexts, the
Information Access course is designed to develop individual computer and library skills. Thus, all IA work
is to be done by the individual.
Because of the electronic, digital nature of the assignments required in this course, it is easy to
"share", "borrow", and turn in work of others. This will not be tolerated and will be considered a violation
of academic honesty. Assignments, library research or competencies done by groups of students will not be
accepted and may lead to charges of academic dishonesty.
Be careful of the "use" of your work by others, even while being helpful. Do not give your work to be
"used as an example". If your work is submitted by others, you can be charged with academic dishonesty as
well.
You may not reuse an assignment from another course as an IA assignment.
Cite all sources you use, including handouts from EO and other courses. Failure to cite resources will be
regarded as plagiarism.
All instances of cheating will be handled by the IA Supervisor and will result in a score of "0" for the
assignment for the first violation. Subsequent instances will result in failure of the course and other action
taken by the college as outlined in Juniata's Academic Dishonesty Policy. In all cases, the incidents are
filed with the office of Academic Support Services.
Course Content Outline
I.
Orientation Sessions
A. Required Summer Orientation Session
B. Topics and competencies covered at these sessions
1. IA course Introduction
2. Accessing the training materials
3. EagleNet network drives and resources
4. Exchange Email
a.
b.
c.
II.
Microsoft Office Competencies (You may complete starred competencies over the summer.)
A.
Required Modules
1. Windows File Management and Networking*
a.
b.
c.
2.
3.
5.
6.
Basic file operations in Word
Formatting text and paragraphs.
Page layouts, headers and footers
Lists
Footnotes
Tables
Columns
Drawing tools and text boxes
Microsoft Excel*
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
4.
Parts of a computer
Drives
Windows XP File Management
Microsoft Word*
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
III.
Reading and sending mail
Replying and forwarding
File attachments
5. Moodle file submission
Spreadsheet structure and entering data
Formulas
Graphs
Sorting data
Multiple worksheets
Advanced formulas
Microsoft PowerPoint *
a. Creating Slides
b. Adding text and graphics
c. Printing and presenting PowerPoint slide shows (required in-class competency)
d. Presentation features
e. Custom animations
Windows Movie Maker*
a. Importing a clip
b. Adding sound
c. Exporting a clip
Web Page Development (Macromedia Dreamweaver 8)
a. Making web pages accessible
b. Creating pages and adding text, links, and graphics
c. Lists and tables
d. Additional page formatting
Library and Technology Resources
A.
Library Modules (with in-class activities)
1. Basic Library Skills (Library Tour, WebCat, Library of Congress system)
2. Intermediate Library Skills (Periodicals, Online Resources)
B.
Outside Library Assignments
1.
Library Skills Assessment
IV. Sustainability at Juniata College