Letter: Distance learning at LSU not new

The March 4 Advocate reported that LSU is “set to expand its campus beyond Baton Rouge” with the new LSUOnline offerings. While it is true that this is a new program, the reality is that the School of Library and Information Science at LSU has offered distance education courses for roughly 20 years, first throughout Louisiana via compressed video and, since 2007, statewide and nationwide online.

We have offered a fully online degree for nearly three years, and allow students to take courses both online and face-to-face, as they choose. Students have a choice of three specializations — libraries, archives and information management — and their tuition is the same as any other LSU student. Current students live in every corner of Louisiana and as far away as Washington, Illinois and Virginia.

Other schools and departments also offer online courses and degrees that are not part of the LSUOnline program with academic partnerships. Students should contact the program they are interested in for further information.

Suzanne Stauffer

associate professor

Baton Rouge

Comments

1) Comment by [e-mail] - 15/03/2013

A good letter. I made this very point at the time; employers especially saw teh benefits early on and have benefitted from online programs in many ways, of which the most popular with employees is encouraging them to pursue advanced degrees and specialized courses on the company dime. For instance, I myself had to take a six month online course in contract administration, and went to the university for testing in a hall with strict procedural monitoring by a proctor just as any other student had to do to get course certified.