Spring 2027

Information: Organization and Search

Introduces concepts of information organization, online searching, retrieval theories, and database structures for LIS graduate students.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Kyung-Sun Kim3.4/5Jodi Schneider

Summary

1 / 5

Past student reviews · Megan Adams

One student reported that a group project was worth 40% of the final grade, which significantly impacted the overall assessment structure.

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
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AB
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Graduate/professional standing

  • Graduate/professional standing
LIS 602 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Graduate/professional standing

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.00/5 from 10 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.97 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=16 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.87 GPA, 95.7% A/AB (n=23 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.92 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=31 letter grades).

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2025: 3.82 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=28 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

DEBRA SHAPIRO is recorded teaching in Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JODI SCHNEIDER is recorded teaching in Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KYUNG-SUN KIM is recorded teaching in Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MEGAN ADAMS is recorded teaching in Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 300
LEC 002Classroom Instruction0 / 300
LEC 003Online Only0 / 450

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Megan Adams

Students described a curriculum with recent, engaging articles and clear expectations, though experiences varied regarding instructor clarity and feedback.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.92 GPA, 97.6% A/AB (n=84 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.95 GPA, 98.6% A/AB (n=74 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.91 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=99 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Megan Adams

One student reported that a group project was worth 40% of the final grade, which significantly impacted the overall assessment structure.

Past student reviews · Debra Shapiro

A past student found the online course well-organized and the instructor very helpful when reached out, contrasting this positively with other program instructors.

Topics

  • Basic concepts and principles of information organization and online searching
  • Retrieval theories, methods, large database structures, and database searching techniques
  • Impact of information organization practices on organizations and culture
  • Developing information organizing systems and evaluating/improving search systems

Skills

  • Information organization, retrieval theories, database structures, and search techniques
  • Critical examination of the impact of information organization practices
  • Developing information organizing systems and evaluating/improving search systems

Grades

Latest available · Fall 2025— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Fall 2025

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Fall 2025 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1316 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
LIS 602 · Spring 2027

Information: Organization and Search

Recorded 2026-10-29
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261029T213040-0fa85c20",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-29 21:30:40.248904+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:544:024476",
    "course_id": "LIS 602",
    "course_uid": "course_ce260f218d29b33c7cb081fc",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "024476",
    "source_subject_id": "544",
    "title": "Information: Organization and Search",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-29

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "fd26aa51ec142b4cb3ec9d4d8b6d7ed9aa7b3ce3eb933ae763addb23625042f7",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "c9cd06eaa45f9ddf7e69faa38b89ff3d3dd995dd",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-29 21:30:40.248904+00:00"
}