Welcome to Records Management!

Records Management looks at the core concepts and principles that need to be understood to work in the records management profession today. The course will look at how this understanding informs records management practice in organisations.

 

I have been an archivist at the Public Record Office Victoria where I became interested in recordkeeping systems and also how organisations create, capture, maintain, use, provide access and dispose of digital records. I then went on to work in digital recordkeeping at State Records NSW and for the past few years have worked as an information management consultant.

 

This course is only offered externally in this period. Lectures are recorded and students are required to contribute to online activities.

Please be aware that you are expected to study 11-12 hours outside of class every week.

I look forward to teaching the course.

Regards,
Tony Leviston
Course Coordinator

 

There are no prerequisite courses to be completed before this course can be undertaken.

There are no corequisite courses to be completed in conjunction with this course.

On completion of this course, students should be able to:

CO1. Research and reflect on the planning, governance and audit of information, including the development of information frameworks, strategies and ethics in an organisation

CO2. Review the records management models and approaches, with focus on access, creation, capture, description, security and storage, preservation and disposal of records

CO3. Research and apply appropriate metadata for records management; including the relevant Australian and international standards that guide their management

CO4. Review the legislation, accountability and risks associated with compliance, security and storage of records and relevant records management processes.

CO5. Evaluate the roles and responsibilities of the records manager and the roles of the Archives and State Records authorities in records management

CO6. Research issues in records management, such as international and transborder information transfer, resilience, business continuity and disaster preparedness.

Upon completion of this course, students will have achieved the following combination of Graduate Qualities and Course Objectives:

A graduate of UniSA:

GQ1. operates effectively with and upon a body of knowledge of sufficient depth to begin professional practice

GQ2. is prepared for life-long learning in pursuit of personal development and excellence in professional practice

GQ3. is an effective problem solver, capable of applying logical, critical, and creative thinking to a range of problems

GQ4. can work both autonomously and collaboratively as a professional

GQ5. is committed to ethical action and social responsibility as a professional and citizen

GQ6. communicates effectively in professional practice and as a member of the community

GQ7. demonstrates international perspectives as a professional and as a citizen

Students will develop knowledge and skills in understanding records management principles and concepts; the value of information as a business, evidentiary and community resource; planning, models and approaches to records management, including access, creation, capture, description, security and storage, preservation and disposal; records governance and accountability; the processes of information review and audit; understanding and applying metadata standards for records management; legislation, risks and administrative issues of records management; roles and responsibilities of the records manager; the roles of the Archives and State Records authorities in records management; international and transborder information transfer; business continuity, resilience, disaster preparedness and records management.

4.5 units

There are no additional assessment requirements identified for this course.

There are no textbooks listed for this course.

N/A

All other course related materials can be accessed through your learnonline course site which you will be able to access from the my Courses section in myUniSA.

All study related materials can be accessed through: https://my.unisa.edu.au

Details of assessment submission and return are listed under each assessment task. Assessment tasks will be returned to you within two to three weeks of submission.

If the Course Coordinator allows submissions in hard copy format, you will be required to attach an Assignment Cover Sheet which is available on the learnonline student help and in myUniSA.

This course will involve the production of audio and/or video recordings of UniSA students. To protect student privacy, you must not at any time disclose, reproduce or publish these recordings, or related material, in the public domain including online, unless the videoed students give consent for reproduction, disclosure or publication. This requirement is consistent with University statutes, by-laws, policies, rules and guidelines which you agreed to abide by when you signed the Student Enrolment Declaration.

The feedback proforma is available on your course site.

Each week there will be 2 discussion questions posted on Tuesday.

Postings to the forum must be done by the following Monday night at 11:55 PM Adelaide Time.

Every student will be expected to post each week.

Not posting by the due date for the week will result in a grade of zero for that week.

Grades will be assessed at the end of Weeks 8 and 13 and posted onto the grade book with a feedback sheet.

The overall grade will comprise the average grade for weeks 2-8 and the average grade for weeks 9-13.

Assessment #2

Case Study
25%
Due: 22 August 2017 at 11:55 PM Adelaide Time

The purpose of this assessment is for each student to research a current organisational issue of recordkeeping from the past two years and write a critical analysis of the case in essay style.

The recordkeeping issue can be drawn from:
Media reports
Feature articles
Government investigation reports
Records management magazines.

You will need to choose an issue that is sufficiently documented in publicly available sources but not an issue that has already been written up as a case study in an academic journal article.

The essay should take a records management perspective and analyse the recordkeeping issues in the case study and argue what specific records management practices or systems the organisation could implement to address the recordkeeping issues. The suggestions should be applicable to the type of organisation and its jurisdiction.

This assignment is to demonstrate what you have learned that can be used to make recommendations about records management in organisations. Each student may well feel that, from experience or previous studies, "the answer" is known but it must be explained why it is a sound answer or observation; therefore each person must, wherever possible, use course concepts, principles, frameworks, and theories to justify the observations and answers.

Assessment #3

Worth 25%

1500 Words

Due 10 October 2017 at 11:55 PM Adelaide Time

 

This assessment involves mapping the item level registration metadata from three recordkeeping metadata schemes of your choice and comparing and contrasting the conceptual models underpinning the three schemes.

The starting point for this assessment is the 1997 article by Barbara Reed, Metadata: Core Record or Core Business in which she conducts a preliminary analysis of metadata from three models to try and identify a ‘record core’.

That was nearly 20 years ago and there are now a proliferation of metadata schemes for records. Search for three recordkeeping metadata schemes (making sure that they are not exactly the same, and not library based), and create a table mapping the metadata required for registering individual documents as records. Include both mandatory and optional metadata elements.

Write a brief essay on what you have discovered about the conceptual models underpinning the three schemes, drawing on relevant references to argue your point. What object or process is being recorded by the metadata elements? Why are different metadata elements proposed in each scheme? Do they all assume the same conceptual understanding of records? What assumptions are made about the type of records or recordkeeping system?

The word count for this assessment is for the essay only. The metadata mapping table is excluded from the word count. The reference list should include all articles or books cited in-text and is also excluded from the word count. This is not to be a bibliography.

Key Criteria of this Assignment
Research to identify relevant metadata schemes (10)
Comparative analysis of metadata elements (25)
Critical analysis of the conceptual models underpinning the schemes (35)
Clarity of expression (20)
Grammar, referencing and spelling (10)

Assessment #4

Worth 35%

Report Topic
Worth 5%

Due: 12 September 2017 at 11:55 PM Adelaide Time

Provide a one (1) page summary of the topic, major issues, and preliminary reference list.

Report

Worth 30%

Due: 31 October 2017 at 11:55 PM Adelaide Time

The purpose of the assessment is to discuss critically the issues and debates surrounding a topic of your choice, so do not just rehash the assumed wisdom: actively summarise and analyse debates and difference of opinion.

You must consult and critically analyse at least 12 sources that are not included in the course readings.

The report should be thoroughly researched, well written, and fully documented (parenthetical citations and a reference list). I do not expect nor require you to conduct original research (e.g. from primary sources, survey data, etc.) but I do expect each student to find and review relevant published literature and Internet resources (if appropriate).

The field of records management is undergoing rapid change and you should try to find the most recent literature – keeping in mind that you may need to go back to earlier material on the subject. Be prepared for creative searching – including exploiting electronic indexes (e.g. Historical Abstracts; Library and Information Science Abstracts; Library, Information Science, and Technology Abstracts) and browsing through the stacks. Try to draw on sources from other disciplines, many of which are well-represented in discovery tools available through the UniSA library web site (e.g. ACM Digital Library; IEEE Explore; EBSCO, JSTOR) or through the web. Most records management journals are available electronically so you find links to them by going to the UniSA A-Z Online Journal List search.

Your report must include the following components:

Introduction stating the subject of the report and thesis
Summary of the relevant literature
Critical review/analysis of the topic based on the literature
Conclusion summarising what you have learned and what other research is needed
Reference list

The reader should be able to glean the state of knowledge about the topic, the key issues it is concerned with, and the questions it raises for records management.

Reports will be evaluated on the following criteria (not all inclusive):
Appropriateness of the topic
Thoroughness of the background research
Clarity of Writing
Originality of the analysis (depth of analysis, critique, synthesis)
Presentation (citations, proofreading, reference list, spelling, grammar, etc.)

 

Make sure to allow sufficient time to check your work for spelling, typos and basic grammatical errors as spell and grammar check as well at citation software is fallible.

There is no exam for this course.

Supplementary assessment or examination offers students an opportunity to gain a supplementary pass (SP) and is available to all students under the following conditions unless supplementary assessment or examination has not been approved for the course:

1. if the student has achieved a final grade between 45-49 per cent (F1) in a course
2. if a student who has successfully completed all of the courses within their program, with the exception of two courses in their final study period, a supplementary assessment or examination may be granted where the final grade in either or both of these courses, is less than 45 percent (F1 or F2)

More information about supplementary assessment is available in section 7.5 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual.
http://w3.unisa.edu.au/policies/manual/default.asp

All students must adhere to the University of South Australia's policies about assessment:
http://w3.unisa.edu.au/policies/manual/default.asp.

Student with disabilities or medical conditions or students who are carers may be entitled to a variation or modification to standard assessment arrangements.  See Section 7 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual (APPM) at:  http://w3.unisa.edu.au/policies/manual/default.asp

Students can register for an Access Plan with UniSA Disability Service. It is important to make contact early to ensure that appropriate support can be implemented or arranged in a timely manner. See the Disability Hub for more information:  http://www.unisa.edu.au/Disability/Current-students

Students are advised there is a deadline to finalise Access Plan arrangements for examinations. Further information is available at:  http://i.unisa.edu.au/campus-central/Exams_R/Before-the-Exam/Alternative-exam-arrangements/

Deferred assessment or examination is available for the course

Special consideration is available for this course. Note: Special consideration cannot be granted for a deferred assessment or examination, or a supplementary assessment or examination. APPM 7.7.6

Variation to assessment methods, tasks and timelines may be provided in:

Unexpected or exceptional circumstances, for example bereavement, unexpected illness (details of unexpected or exceptional circumstances for which variation may be considered are discussed in clauses 7.8 - 7.10 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual). Variation to assessment in unexpected or exceptional circumstances should be discussed with your course coordinator as soon as possible.

Special circumstances, for example religious observance grounds, or community services (details of special circumstances for which variation can be considered are discussed in clause 7.11 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual). Variations to assessment in expected circumstances must be requested within the first two weeks of the course (or equivalent for accelerated or intensive teaching).

 

  

Extra time in exams (ENTEXT) and the use of a dictionary may be available to some students (for example, Indigenous Australian students and those of non-English speaking background) as follows:

• extra time for reading or writing. This will be an extra ten minutes per hour for every hour of standard examination time, and
• the use of an English language or bilingual print dictionary (without annotations). (APPM 7.2.2)

More information about variation to assessment is available in section 7.2 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual. http://w3.unisa.edu.au/policies/manual/default.asp (section 7)

Academic integrity is the foundation of university life and is fundamental to the reputation of UniSA and its staff and students. Academic integrity means a commitment by all staff and students to act with honesty, trustworthiness, fairness, respect and responsibility in all academic work.

An important part of practising integrity in academic work is showing respect for other people's ideas, and being honest about how they have contributed to your work. This means taking care not to represent the work of others as your own. Using another person's work without proper acknowledgement is considered Academic Misconduct, and the University takes this very seriously.

The University of South Australia expects students to demonstrate the highest standards of academic integrity so that its degrees are earned honestly and are trusted and valued by its students and their employers. To ensure this happens, the University has policies and procedures in place to promote academic integrity and manage academic misconduct. For example, work submitted electronically by students for assessment will be examined for copied and un-referenced text using the text comparison software Turnitin http://www.turnitin.com.

More information about academic integrity and what constitutes academic misconduct can be found in Section 9 of the Assessment Policies and Procedures Manual (APPM): http://w3.unisa.edu.au/policies/manual/default.asp. The Academic Integrity Module explains in more detail how students can work with integrity at the University: https://lo.unisa.edu.au/mod/book/view.php?id=252142

See above under Assessment details.

All course and instructor evaluations are looked at and considered.  Changes are made on a semester by semester basis depending on how often a course is taught.  As an instructor, all comments and suggestions are taken seriously and will be considered for improvement of the course materials and improvements to the way it is taught.

Please remember to take part in the course and teacher evaluations at the end of the semester.  Thank you!

All assignments and assessments are to be done in accordance to the following rules and if not followed marks/points can be taken off in any of the assessments:

 

Not previously submitted

• the work contained in assignments must not have been previously submitted for another
  assessment at UniSA, in whole or in part

Citations

• Harvard UniSA style
• In-text citation and reference list

Formatting and layout

• double spaced
• Arial or New Times Roman font
• 12 point font minimum
• Include your name in the header or footer on each page
• Use page numbers

Word count

• Includes: all quotations and in-text citations
• Excludes: reference list
• 15% over or under the limit is an acceptable variation
• The word count must be included on the first page

Submission of assessments

• Acceptable file types include .doc, .docx, or .rtf. No PDF
• Include your last name as part of the file name
• Extensions must be requested at least 24 hours prior to the due date
• No extensions will be granted after the due date
• Only one extension will be granted per assignment
• A late penalty of 5% per day will be applied against the marked grade e.g. if the grade is 72 the mark will be lowered 3.6 marks per day it is late, so if two days late the grade would be 64.8 rounded up to 65

Marking

• Assignments will be returned within three weeks
• Grammar, spelling, and citation style counts on all assignments
• Proofread your assignment as automated spelling and grammar check are fallible, as is citation software
• Check the feedback sheet or rubric prior to starting an assignment

When in doubt, ask.