WISE Plus

WISE+ General Overview

 

The WISE+ initiative aims to expand the institutional consortium to include professional library organizations. To date, twenty-two professional library and information science associations have expressed support for this initiative, in addition to the fifteen schools of the WISE Consortium. Schools partner with LIS associations to develop and offer courses suitable for both graduate credit and continuing education. Many WISE+ instructors are practicing librarians with immense practical knowledge in their subject area, and course topics are developed to reflect current issues in the field. The result is a dynamic classroom where LIS students and professionals network and share ideas. As of spring 2009, twelve WISE+ courses will have been developed and offered.

 

Funding

The WISE+ grant provides subcontracts of $6,000 to develop and offer a specialized 3-credit course in a partnership between the library association and library science program.  The division of the $6000 is left to the discretion of the school and association offering the course. An example model: $500 to the LIS program for expenses in providing the course; $500 to the library association for marketing the course via their member distribution list or other methods; and $5,000 for an adjunct or faculty member to develop and offer the first course offering.  Funding will  be adjusted for courses offered for fewer credits over a shorter duration.

Course Development

An LIS WISE member program will work with the library association on course learning outcomes, course content, and marketing.  The LIS program will also work to identify a qualified adjunct—typically someone from the association—and provide pedagogical support for teaching in the online environment. 


Students

Courses will be capped at 25 seats, with typically 5 seats provided to students at the host school, 10 seats provided for members of the library association, and 10 seats reserved for students from other WISE consortium member schools. The seat distribution is a guide for the initial offerings of courses.  Future offerings of these courses may require an adjustment of the number of seats offered in each category.

Tuition and fees

The association members (10 seats) will be paying tuition or a fee for continuing education for enrollment.  This charge is determined by what the host university allows, what the association is comfortable with, and what will be reasonable in future semester. 

There are several possible models for charges, including:

·         Association Members pay full tuition for this course to the host school and receive full graduate credit.

·         Association Members pay a discounted tuition for this course to the host school and receive full graduate credit

·         Association Members pay for fewer graduate credits than matriculated students (to the host school), have a different work load, and receive fewer graduate credits or audit completion credit/CE

·         Association Members pay a “fee” to the partner association for registering in a continuing education course, maybe given a certificate for completion, but do not receive graduate credit.

There is a great deal of flexibility with the models and number of seats reserved for WISE/host school/association members. In the past, courses have been offered with no association members enrolled; the partnership in this case serves to forge connections between the association and potential future members, and to develop courses which prepare students for highly specialized work by incorporating issues which are relevant to the specific field.