Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of articles that will break down students’ favorite things about each college on the Syracuse University campus.

Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies, known as the iSchool, is the original information school in the nation. Housed in Hinds Hall, the iSchool has more than just degrees to offer students.

 

Favorite Class — IST 195: “Information Technologies”

Allison Wahl and Nicholas Ross, sophomore dual majors in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the iSchool, both named IST 195: “Information Technologies” as their favorite class. IST 195: “Information Technologies” is the introductory class for the iSchool, which gives a broad overview of the field. Wahl said that she liked it because she “got to see a great perspective of all the things I could potentially concentrate in.” Ross, when asked why he liked the class said simply, “Jeff Rubin.”

 

Favorite Study Spot — ICE Box

Wahl enjoys the ICE Box, which is a collaborative open workspace for students, according the school’s website. ICE stands for innovation, collaboration and entrepreneurship. Wahl calls it “a comfortable spot where a lot of people can collaborate on their projects.”

The ICE Box is an open lounge with cubicles, whiteboards to work on projects with teammates and other students, a kitchen area, vending machines and TVs.

 

Favorite Professor — Jeff Rubin

Professor Jeff Rubin, who teaches most sections of IST 195: “Information Technologies,” a required course for all iSchool students, is the favorite professor of Ross and Wahl.

Ross said that IST 195: “Information Technologies,” because of its requirement and broad nature, is, by default, kind of boring. However, “Rubin does a really good job of making things that wouldn’t ordinarily be interesting, interesting.”

At the time that she took the class, Wahl was unsure if she wanted to declare a dual major in the iSchool. Professor Rubin “was really interesting and helped me on a personal level to decide whether or not to major here.”

 

Favorite Assignment — Teamwork

In Wahl’s class IST 335: “Introduction to Information-Based Organizations,” students spend the class working in small teams developing a business, product or service, and observing how they work together. Eventually, the class morphs into one giant team, combining ideas. She said that it is “very real-world.” She likes that this project “is not technically-based, so you’re kind of seeing the management and the personal side, which is not a class I expected out of the iSchool.”

 

Outside the Classroom — MLB.com College Challenge

Annually, the iSchool puts on a 24-hour event for students called the MLB.com College Challenge. The challenge is to create an advertising campaign for one of three companies to integrate it with Major League Baseball. Max Nelson, a sophomore information management and technology major was a member of a team entered in the challenge. Although Nelson’s team didn’t win the competition, it was his favorite activity outside of class through the iSchool. His favorite part was “staying up all night in the iSchool, even though it sounds weird.” During that night of work, he said, “It was really fun to throw ideas out and have them shot down or picked up.”

 

Best Overall

Nelson said that the best thing about the iSchool is “the amount of opportunities they give us to go out and see the real world.” The iSchool coordinates road trips to places like New York City and Silicon Valley to see the real-world applications and companies to which an iSchool degree will lead you. Nelson attended a road trip to Washington D.C. where he toured a lot of companies and government agencies about jobs in tech and how each could work in the students’ lives after graduation.

“The iSchool is much less theory-based and much more practically-based, which I prefer,” said Ross. His favorite thing about the school is that the things he is learning in class are things that he could be doing in his career down the line. He appreciates the opportunity to learn these skills because they are very marketable professionally. “There are very few fields in which it would not be beneficial to have a solid understanding of how computers and networks and technology work,” he said.

Published on October 13, 2015 at 8:17 am

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