Capping Project (LIS 600)
Calendar Description
LIS 600 - Capping Exercise ★0.1 (fi 1)(EITHER, 12 HOURS) The required capping exercise for the MLIS degree is an ePortfolio representing examples of the student's course work, leadership and innovation potential, communication skills, and involvement in professional life. Normally students are expected to begin developing their ePortfolio during their second semester. The ePortfolio must be completed and submitted during their final term of coursework. It will demonstrate that the student has met the Program Level Learning Outcomes (PLOs) of the MLIS degree.
Course Objectives
- To give students an opportunity to synthesize what they have learned in the MLIS program,
- To demonstrate students' competence in the current digital information environment,
- To provide students with a representation of their work that supports both academic and employment purposes,
- To fulfill Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies requirements for the course-based master's degree.
Orientation to LIS 600 Capping Exercise (Instructions)
Content
The capping exercise consists of two assignments:
- Tracking of Artifacts to meet PLO competencies: 10 artifacts in total, and a brief (approximately 50-100 words) explanation for each artifact in relation to the PLO.
- SLIS Values Reflection: Approximately 350 words.
Artifact Tracking - PLO Competence
SLIS' Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs) are a translation of SLIS' values into practical and measurable learning objectives. Course-based students must demonstrate competence in each of SLIS' 10 PLO areas in order to complete their MLIS studies.
SLIS' PLO areas are:
- LIS - Organizations, Society, and Values
- LIS - Ethics, Issues, and Trends
- Critical Thinking and Evaluation
- Leadership and Management
- Professional Communication
- Production of Knowledge
- Information Retrieval
- Research
- Information Technologies
- Professional Engagement
To demonstrate their competence in these learning areas, students will submit one artifact for each PLO, a total of 10 artifacts. An "artifact" may fall into one of two categories:
Programmatic Artifacts
The products of a student's learning in academic courses that are taken as part of the student's MLIS program. The courses are mapped to the PLOs in the LIS 600 PLO to Course Mapping document. Students should refer to the table within this document in order to identify courses from which they can choose artifacts associated with individual PLOs.
- Three (3) PLOs must make use of Programmatic Artifacts taken from core courses.
- Three (3) PLOs must make use of Programmatic Artifacts taken from elective courses.
- One (1) PLO must make use of Programmatic Artifacts taken from an IT course.
Artifacts are substantive course assignments (assignments worth at least 10% of the overall course grade) and can take a variety of formats (text, presentations, video, etc…).
Experiential Artifacts
The products of experiences that occurred during the student's MLIS program that demonstrate their leadership, communication, and professional skills in LIS. Three PLOs must make use of Experiential Artifacts taken from professional and leadership activities. Artifact examples may include:
- leadership roles in organizations,
- academic or professional journal articles,
- research presentations,
- conference attendance (e.g. FIP),
- engagement in professional activities (e.g. Partner's Week),
- practicum,
- attending or viewing recordings of special events (i.e. Speaker's Corner, public talks),
- SLIS, Faculty and University level committees or initiatives.
For the three PLOs for which experimental artifacts are used students must write a 300 word reflection for each PLO (i.e., one reflection per PLO) that addresses the following questions:
- Provide a brief description of the experience and the way you were involved in it (include a link if possible)?
- What did you learn from the experience?
- How does the learning connect with the PLO?
Optionally students may also include an artifact that embodies the experience (e.g. a copy of a journal article written by the student) if appropriate.
SLIS Values Reflection
The School's core mission and values are the foundation of the School's operations. Students at SLIS are expected to have had experiences while in their MLIS program that relate to SLIS' values. To demonstrate this, students must write a brief statement (approximately 350 words) that articulates how their experience at SLIS has allowed them to engage in SLIS' values.
SLIS Values
A diverse, inclusive, dynamic and collegial School which honours:
- Integrity, fairness, and respect;
- Equity, diversity and inclusion;
- Indigenous worldviews and bringing truth and reconciliation to our education;
- Excellence in teaching, research and scholarship, and citizenship;
- Mutual sense of responsibility and accountability;
- Pride in our history, traditions, communities, students, and alumni; and,
- Intellectual curiosity, academic freedom and intellectual freedom, imagination, and creativity.
Other Information
Assessment Criteria
The completed ePortfolio will be assessed using the LIS 600 Capping Exercise ePortfolio Rubric using six identified criteria. The instructor may require changes to further improve your overall ePortfolio prior to giving the final approval. Students are required to meet a minimum of three criteria at the exemplary level, with the remaining to be met at a satisfactory level. If any of the criteria is met at an unsatisfactory level, the instructor will make suggestions for improvement and resubmission.
LIS 600 Instructor
The instructor of your Capping Exercise will be the course instructor.
Group Coursework
Students may include artifacts that represent group coursework without permission of other group members.
Google Sites as ePortfolio Platform
Google Sites is SLIS' platform for the LIS 600 Capping Exercise course. The University of Alberta students have access to a number of apps in Google Suite including Google Sites, the ePortfolio platform. Students can access Google Sites (apps.ualberta.ca) by using their ‘My CCID’ and related password.
Course Relationships and Deadlines
Students must complete LIS 600 in the same term as their final course. In the event that a student finishes all other coursework but has not registered for the capping exercise, LIS 600 will be the last course completed. Students need to complete the Capping Exercise Agreement Form and submit the completed form to the SLIS Graduate Program Administrator. Deadlines for the Capping Exercise Agreement form, the Data Collection form and ePortfolio completion are listed on the form.
The expectation is that students will begin work on their ePortfolio during their second semester of full-time studies or at an equivalent point during a part-time course of studies. At that time, they will begin to assemble their collection of artifacts, and they are expected to add to it and refine it over the remainder of their time at SLIS. Students are strongly encouraged to retain copies of all of their assignments throughout the program for consideration for inclusion in the ePortfolio.