dl-requirements

NCCU School of Library and Information Sciences

I’ve Been Accepted for Online Courses. Now What?

Once Accepted
When students receive their official acceptance letters from the Dean of the School, they should immediately contact the Chair of the Admissions Committee to obtain registration information and to discuss program policies and procedures. Students should check their computer systems, software and Internet connectivity to verify compliance with the “Requirements for On-Line Study” below.

NOTE:

Students should not take any course in the SLIS program without first talking with their advisor. Courses are tightly sequenced and taking them out of order may result in a one year (or more) extension of time to complete a degree program.

Students taking online classes are limited to three courses per semester.

Courses from other online MLS programs are not accepted for transfer.

Residents of states other than North Carolina are responsible for obtaining the requirements of their home states’ school certification programs.

Students who hold a Master’s degree or a doctoral degree in a subject field may be allowed to complete 30 semester hours for the MLS or MIS degree.

Requirements for Online Study
Graduate study in Library and Information Sciences has been offered online since 1999. Since the very first course, the School’s professors have created innovative learning environments using a wide variety of Internet-based tools. Interactive tools have been chosen to provide the working professional with best education available.

All students are responsible for providing the computer hardware, software, and connectivity required to pursue online study.

Both Windows and MacIntosh PCs may be used in the program. The School recommends the use of the Windows XP operating system or the most recent version of the MacIntosh operating system. Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat Reader are also required. Other software may be required by individual courses.

We highly recommend broadband connectivity such as cable or DSL. Each course requires about 5 hours of connectivity time and 5 hours of additional work per week. Unreliable connectivity due to inadequacies of a service provider (public or private) or due to geographic, technical infrastructure, societal issues, family issues, or political circumstances is not an acceptable reason for incomplete assignments.

Taking a course on-line in Library and Information Sciences is quite similar to taking a class face-to-face. Each week there are lessons, interactions with other students and with the professors, and assignments to be completed and returned. The biggest difference is that students do most of the work on their own schedules. Students will spend about 10 hours per week each semester on each class, just as they would on an on-campus class. Students will get to know their classmates and work with them just as they would on-campus. E-mail is used to enable both one-to-one discussions between faculty and students and to provide a simple ‘newsletter’ for each course. Blackboard discussions are used as the equivalent of classroom discussions, and students are required to participate and share their knowledge just as if they were in the same class room. Our professors may use any or all of the following tools in the Library and Information Sciences On-Line classrooms.

E-mail
Web Pages
Live Interactive Video/Voice Conferencing
Blackboard

Send comments to: admin@nccuslis.org