Published: August 20, 2018 by Priscilla Ameneyro

You should already be familiar with the suite of tools available to help you develop your focused plan as part of the Advising Toolkit, including the Unit Planning Tool and MLIS Course Tracker. These tools can help make your life easier as you plan each semester towards completing your degree. With a wealth of classes to choose from and multiple career pathways, it can sometimes be overwhelming to narrow down your class decisions, not to mention checking if the class is intensive, how many units it is and whether or not there are prerequisites. Luckily, a new tool has been developed to save you time when trying to figure out which advanced classes you can take, based on what core courses you still need to complete

Have you ever found yourself excited to enroll in a class only to find you haven’t taken the necessary prerequisites yet? This new tool, called Find an Elective Without a Core Course Prerequisite, is for students who have taken one or more MLIS core courses and want to see what electives they are eligible for while finishing their core class(es). No more surprises or disappointing moments going back to the drawing board! For example, if an iSchool student has completed INFO 200 and INFO 204, but not INFO 202, and they’d like to know which classes they can take, this tool will tell them.

So how does it work? You can access it from the Advising Toolkit page (look for the new button that states: Find an Elective without a Core Course Prerequisite) or directly here. Simply check the boxes for the core courses you haven’t completed yet, then click ‘find courses.’ A list of available courses will pop up. In the scenario outlined earlier, 20 courses are available, even though the student hasn’t finished INFO 202 yet. The next step is then to research those courses and check the class schedules for when they are available next.

Don’t forget the tool works in reverse, check the boxes for courses you haven’t completed yet, not the ones you’ve already done! You can also use the tool to plan ahead. For example, by not checking the box for core courses you know you will take next semester, you can start planning for the semester after that. There are plenty of classes to choose from even if you aren’t quite finished with the core classes or you wish to spread them out over a few semesters, and this tool is an easy way to find them.

In the past, it could be difficult to see which classes you qualify for without looking at all of them and reading the descriptions. Now it’s straightforward to narrow it down; just like you can search for MLIS Courses to Competencies and vice versa. This is a very useful tool for new students and students still in their first year who haven’t yet completed all of the core courses. Remember, the core courses have to be finished within the first 16 units. Good luck and I hope you find the new tool useful!