INLS 777
Perspectives
I taught this course for the first time in Fall 2022. My vision for this course is to introduce students to the field’s theoretical and philosophical foundations, while placing those theories within the context of practical applications.
The primary assignment for this course is the “dream job” assignment, which has four sub-assignments.
The first assignment is an individual research paper where students identify the job or career path that led them to enroll at SILS. This is the job they hope to have in 5-10 years, rather than the job that they’re going to get upon graduation. They then conduct structured research on that job - by finding job announcements, making lists of required skills and expertise, and identifying people who have that job, whose work they admire. The purpose of this paper is to have students think strategically about their time at SILS. I want them to make lists of classes the can take and skills they should develop while they have our resources and expertise. I want them to identify leaders in the field and figure out how to emulate that sort of career.
The second group assignment is typically created in collaboration with the class, but I mostly want students to be able to abstract away from their dream job. Typical questions include: If your “dream job” for whatever reason wasn’t available to you upon graduation, what other jobs could you be happy doing, that have the same skills and requirements? How is this job similar to and different from what other people do with a degree from SILS? Given the rate of technology development, what will the job look like in 25 years? What kinds of skills and expertise can students develop now, in order to be ready for any new developments in the field?
The third group assignment is to create an annotated bibliography of their field. What are some of the issues and concerns inherent in their subfield right now?
The final group assignment is to create some sort of visualization of their findings from their previous work, and host a “shift and share” (sort of like a proto poster session) where they have a guiding question for their work, and other students visit to discuss what they’ve found.
Credits
Much of the reading for this course is based on an old version of INLS 201 developed by Ryan Shaw and Diane Kelly, with some additions by Melanie Feinberg.