Our Ability Jobs

Pratt Institute School of Information seeks visiting assistant professors to teach the following courses, which are offered August 26, 2024 to December 16, 2024:

INFO 601 Foundations of Information

This foundational course focuses on the intersection of people, information, and technology and the theoretical and conceptual foundations of the information field. Students will be introduced to ideas and ethical and inclusive principles that will inform future specializations in their course of study and provide them with concrete strategies for ongoing professional growth and development in their area of interest. Through analysis of professional and scholarly discourse, students will practice expressing their points of view on issues vital to the field.

INFO 628 Data Librarianship & Management

The world of data is seemingly a new frontier for libraries, yet in some ways, data and data sets are comparable to other print and electronic resources that librarians historically have been charged with locating, teaching, collecting, organizing, and preserving. This course asks how best we can serve the needs of a burgeoning community of data users/producers while meeting the new challenges that data present to our existing skillsets, workflows, and infrastructure. Topics will include data reference and literacy; archives and repositories; formats and standards; ethics and policy. Statistical/GIS software and research data management are also explored.

INFO 631 Academic Libraries & Scholarly Communication

This course will provide a survey of scholarly communication past and present with a particular emphasis on the changes in scholarly communication in the past ten years. Students will examine the interaction between society, technology and scholarly communication, the theory and practice of the communication of knowledge in academic and research environments and how these trend developments of publishing and communication are affecting changes in scholarly communications

INFO 637 Programming User Interfaces

This course will introduce students to designing and building web-based user interfaces in a user-centered context. Students will learn common techniques for web design including: Web page markup and styling, responsive web design, and programming languages for building interactive user interfaces. Students will apply universal design and accessibility principles, as well as iteratively evaluate and revise their designs through usability testing. Students will have the opportunity to create and usability test an interactive project website.

INFO 644 Usability Theory & Practice

This course provides the theoretical and practical foundations for evaluating digital interfaces from a user-centered perspective. Through lectures, in-class activities, readings and individual and group assignments, students will learn and apply usability principles and gain hands-on experience with several common usability evaluation methods, including traditional user testing plus inspection- and field-based methods. Because the goal of evaluation is always to improve the underlying usability of an interface, the course will focus on effectively communicating evaluation results. At the conclusion of this course, students will possess the knowledge and skills necessary for successfully planning, conducting, and leading usability evaluations in a variety of settings and organizations.

INFO 645 Advanced Usability and UX Evaluation

This course covers advanced concepts, techniques and tools to conduct usability research and user experience (UX) evaluation. Students will gain hands-on experience with several common usability advanced evaluation methods, including eye tracking, digital analytics, heatmaps, A/B and multivariable testing and usability benchmarking studies. Students will develop skills in the usage of these tools working with real data and running their own studies in the Usability Lab. The course will have a strong focus on the communication of user research and evaluation results and a range of reporting methods will be explored and practiced during the course.

INFO 648 Mobile Interaction Design

This advanced course covers the fundamental concepts, techniques, practices, and guidelines associated with the design of mobile applications. Students will learn and apply user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) guidelines for popular mobile operation systems, as well as best practices for conduction formative evaluations of interactive mobile prototypes. Interface and interaction patterns for each platform are also examined. Through hands-on exercises and assignments, students will apply an iterative, user-centered process to create unique, engaging mobile interfaces that take into account relevant content requirements, device/platform limitations, and use cases.

INFO 649 Practical Ethnography for UX

This advanced course focuses on applied qualitative research methods used to inspire and shape the design of digital products and services. Students will gain hands-on experience with several ethnographic research methods commonly used in the User Experience profession and also learn how to form appropriate design research questions, analyze qualitative data to identify human-centered insights, and effectively communicate research finding to various stakeholders.

INFO 652 Reference & Instruction

Librarians serve individuals and their communities by providing information sources and teaching users to navigate information environments. This course prepares students to work directly with users in a variety of formats, including in one-on-one interactions, in instruction-based interactions, and through information products such as digital tools. This course aims to prepare students for their role of providing communities with equitable information access and promoting justice by applying ALA standards, resisting censorship, rejecting neutrality, demystifying open, identifying place, interrogating the librarian standpoint, and responding to community needs.

INFO 673 Literacy & Instruction

This course examines literacy theories, including critical literacy, digital literacy, media literacy, information literacy and trans literacy. Students will explore the implementation of literacy-related programs in public libraries, academic libraries, archives, museums and other cultural institutions with a focus on assessing patron needs and using culturally relevant pedagogy.

INFO 676 Programming, Resources and Services for Early Childhood

The course explores the specialized skills and knowledge needed to design and develop library programs, services, and resources for infants and young children (0-8 years) The course will follow the literacy continuum, from language development through to independent reading writing, with a special focus on the first three years of life, early literacy, and the role of family and community. This course will interest students who want to work with young people in different contexts and need specialized knowledge of early childhood, the social dynamic of families, and the early education environment.

INFO 679 Museums & Digital Culture: Theory & Practice

This required course introduces students to the theory and practice of museums and digital culture and to current research in the field. Students learn how digital culture is transforming museums across the full range of museum functions and activities and become familiar with the digital tools and technologies that engage and inform museum visitors. The course gives a broad overview of field's development, which importantly is grounded in information science and the related fields of museum informatics and digital cultural heritage, fields that find commonalties of practice with libraries and archives. The course examines the issues and challenges museums face today and moving into the future. It surveys digital culture across the museum from the perspectives of digital technology and social contexts including digital information behavior, user experience, digital exhibitions and museums on the Web. Students experience and engage with museum digital culture through lectures, engaging with museum professionals, field observation, and by doing a final digital project drawn from coursework and class presentation.

INFO 681 Community Building & Social Engagement

This course examines the notion of community within cultural heritage institutions such as the public library and the museum. Particular emphasis is placed on community building, social advocacy, and activism through the use of community informatics. Topics include outreach to diverse populations, including families, children and youth, and the hard-to-reach; data sources, user studies, and participatory methods; community partnerships; digital identity and information ecologies, social media adoption and use as a tool for communication; technology in service to culture, community, and democracy; and evaluation of community engagement.

INFO 682 Projects in Information Experience Design

With a theoretical foundation that combines aspects of information science and user experience (UX) design, this course covers practical, hands-on approaches for working with information organizations to conceptualize and implement user centered tools, services, and/or information spaces. Throughout the course, students will explore and apply theories and principles of the emerging field of Information Experience Design (IXD) through applied, collaborative projects with partner institutions (e.g., libraries, archives, museums, or similar organizations). Topics will include design thinking, research and discovery, and project planning and implementation, with an emphasis on designing an information experience that meets the needs of both internal and external stakeholders.

The School of Information at Pratt Institute is a graduate school based in Manhattan enrolling 309 students across masters programs in Library & Information Science, Information Experience Design, Data Analytics & Visualization, and Museums and Digital Culture.

Please note that the courses are primarily taught in-person from Pratt Manhattan Center at 144 West 14th St. near the corner of 7th Avenue in New York City.