10 Things you need to know...
UNCG School Library Program FAQ's
Welcome
This newsletter contains extremely important program information. Please read it closely, refer to it for the future, and respond as appropriate.
Dr. April Dawkins
Email: amdawkin@uncg.edu
Tammy S. Gruer
Dr. Heather Moorfield-Lang
Email: hmmooref@uncg.edu
Meet Lori Sands...
10 Things you need to know to get started in the program
1) Create your account
2) Working Plan of Study
3) Advising Period
Prior to registering each semester as a continuing student, you will need to contact your advisor during the advising period to discuss your working plan of study and to get your advising code. If you want to be able to register on time when you have the best chance to get into the classes you want/need, it is prudent to contact your advisor during the advising period prior to registration.
There is a two-week advising period each semester for continuing students prior to registration. During those two weeks you will meet with your advisor in a manner appropriate for your circumstances (face to face, virtual, or via email). Please note that your instructors and advisor generally will respond to email within 48 hours during the regular work week. We are all engaged in research, conferences, grading, instruction, and administration work which may delay our response time. We will do our best to respond as promptly as possible.
It is important to keep up with dates for advising and registering for classes. Some classes tend to fill up immediately and if you are not conscientious in registering, you may not be able to take the classes you need in a timely manner.
The UNCGenie information system is how students register and complete many other transactions at UNCG. UNCGenie is web-based. Please see UNCG Registration Guide for complete user instructions. The list of courses for each semester is posted in Banner.
To access UNCGenie, you are required to use certain unique personal data such as User Identification Number (UNCG ID); Personal Identification Number (PIN), assigned by the University; and a semester advising code, provided by faculty advisors to students during the advising period before registration each semester. You must have this information to register, drop/add, send and receive e-mail, check your financial aid status and account, view grades, and complete many other transactions. Your ID Number, PIN, and advising code are confidential information and should not be shared with others.
4) Course Load
The course load for a full-time graduate student is now considered 3 courses or 9 semester hours for full federal financial aid. Most of our students take two classes per semester. If you are a MLIS student, you will still qualify for partial financial aid by taking a minimum of 4.5 semester hours. Unfortunately, licensure-only students do not qualify for federal financial aid. The department does have some scholarships available. You will need to check the LIS website to find out how to apply for these.
Graduate courses are intense and demanding and require a significant amount of reading and writing. How many courses you take per semester is something you should definitely discuss with your advisor. If you are working full time, especially as a provisional school librarian, we would strongly advise you to take no more than 2 classes per semester. If you are working under a provisional license, you should have five years to complete the requirements for licensure.
All graduate students (whether taking online courses or not) should be aware that academic excellence and scholastic achievement usually require a significant investment of time in study, research, and out-of-class projects. (For licensure, MLIS students must have an overall 3.0 GPA.) New students should understand and expect that the academic workload at the graduate level per semester hour exceeds that of the undergraduate level per semester hour. Students should plan course work accordingly with their academic advisor. Workload expectations are an estimate of the amount of work needed for an average student to be successful in graduate coursework. Course grades are based on the quality of the work submitted, not on hours of effort. Workload expectations per semester hour do not vary with the method of delivery of the course or the length of the academic term.
In general, students should plan to devote between 4-6 hours outside of class for each hour in class. Thus, students with a 9-semester hour course load should schedule between 36-54 hours weekly for completing outside-of-class reading, study, and homework assignments.
5) Taskstream
Students in any licensure program at UNCG are currently required to archive specific assignments in an electronic database/portfolio called TaskStream for continued accreditation of our licensure programs with the Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP).
You will not be responsible for uploading any assignments to TaskStream until the last semester of your program and you will learn more about TaskStream during LIS 693. It is important, however, that you use a secure backup system (preferably cloud-based) to archive all of your course assignments both for Taskstream and for use in your Capstone class that you will take at the end of your MLIS program. UNCG provides students with unlimited cloud storage space both through Google Drive and through Box (http://its.uncg.edu/box/ ). You are strongly encouraged to store all course assignments in one of these cloud-based spaces.
6) AASL Standards:
The National Standards for School Librarians is a required text for all licensure students. You will refer to it for most of your school library classes and will use it for assignments for many of your school library classes. Currently ALA is offering a special pricing of $99 that will include a year of membership in AASL. I will be sharing information about how to take advantage of this offer in the next couple of weeks so please watch for an email from me shared to the LIS listserv.
7) Online Course Information
Most of our classes delivered online follow pedagogical best-practice and incorporate both synchronous and asynchronous instruction. So, for many if not all of our online classes you will be expected to meet during specified times. Typically, synchronous classes are recorded and you will be allowed to watch the class later if you are unable to meet at the specified time. This will vary by course and instructor.
To be successful in an online class, you should attend all scheduled class sessions as often as possible or watch the recorded sessions if you must miss a class, complete your class readings and assignments prior to class meetings each week, keep a calendar or other organization method to track assignments, submit work on time, participate in class, and communicate with the instructor especially when there are issues that are impeding class progress. The best way to succeed in the online environment is to build it into your schedule just as you schedule your work commitments and other responsibilities. More suggestions for success as an online learner are attached.
The learning management system we use is Canvas (canvas.uncg.edu). This is where you will find the course syllabus, assignments, and other relevant information. Eventually, your classes for the upcoming semester will be available on Canvas but this will vary by each individual instructor. Some instructors “open” their courses earlier than others. Some courses will not “open” until the days right before classes start. Some instructors will send you course information by your UNCG email.
It would be advisable for you to familiarize yourself with Canvas ahead of classes starting.
8) School Library Forms
As mentioned in your LIS department welcome letter, there are several documents that the program needs to have on file from students taking the school library concentration. They are as follows:
- School Library Declaration of Intent form (Linked in the School Library Application/Declaration of Intent)
- School Library Candidate Agreement form (Linked in the School Library Application/ Declaration of Intent)
- If you are a licensed teacher, you must also submit an initial disposition assessment to the school library program coordinator from your school administrator (principal or assistant principal) as soon as possible after you are admitted.(Linked in the School Library Application/Declaration of Intent)
- If you have no teaching license, you must take LIS 692 in one of your first two semesters in the program. It requires that you work 120 hours in a school library on multiple days in a week for multiple hours per day that you are at the school. If you work full-time, you will need to consider how you will be able to meet the time requirements of this class.
- In LIS 692/693, you will also be required to submit to the UNCG criminal background check for this class even if you are employed in a school already. This class meets four times during the semester and in addition to working under a school librarian supervisor, you have several class assignments you must complete while doing the field experience. This class requires an application before you can be added to the class . You may suggest schools in your area that would be convenient to where you live, but ultimately the decision for placement will be determined by the school program coordinator in consultation the school district placement personnel. If you are working in a school library, you will be allowed to complete your field experience or school library practicum in that school library.
9) Portfolio
UNCG provides several cloud based storage locations you can use for this. Box, GoogleDrive, Office 365 all will allow you to log in with your UNCG information to store projects there.
10) Additional Resources
Below are helpful links for graduate students are as follows:
- Academic Calendar
- FAQ Registrar
- The Graduate School
- UNCG Information Technology
- LIS Student Forms
- Digital Act Studio
- (TRC) Teaching Resource Center
- Jackson Library has a helpful site for online/distance students:
- Instructional Technology Toolkit:
- Digital Media Commons has resources and tutorials:
Contact information
Email: gruert@uncg.edu
Website: https://soe.uncg.edu/academics/departments/lis/
Location: 1300 Spring Garden Street, Greensboro, NC, USA
Phone: 336-334-3477
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2396095030408253/
Twitter: @technerdgeek