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The SLIM Experience
by Spring Lea Boehler
Living in rural Colorado, where the local college does not even offer an undergraduate degree in library science, made getting an MLS an insurmountable challenge... or would have, if not for the ever-increasing practice of distance education. When I started looking at schools, I was surprised to see just how many institutions offered programs entirely online or ones that required minimal on-campus time. Instead of having only one option for my studies, I had many from which to choose -- and the luxury of selecting the one that would best meet my needs.
Emporia State University's School of Library and Information Management (SLIM) program turned out to be the one that best addressed my individual learning style, monetary resources, and location needs. The program is set up so that each course involves two weekend intensive sessions (Friday night through Sunday noon) of in-person classroom experiences, which are supplemented with e-mail discussions, Internet-accessible resources, and online forums. About one third of the program, however, is comprised of Internet-only classes, once students are beyond the core coursework. The weekend sessions are held in a metropolitan area for each state where there is a group of students called a "cohort." For me, this meant that I would drive to Denver (200 miles from my home) about twice a month and do the rest of my work over the Internet on my own time.
This proved to be an ideal system of study for me for many reasons. The primary benefit to me was the ability to not only continue living in the same community, but also to hold down a full-time job in a library while going to school. If I had been on a more traditional 2-3 class meetings per week schedule, I'm not sure that I would have been able to work and go to school at the same time. Also, I most certainly would have had to relocate -- probably to an entirely different state.
Another benefit was that of having an electronic archive of online class discussions for review at a later date. Since I am a visual rather than auditory learner, having the information written down for me not only addressed this learning style but also made it possible to retrieve salient points weeks and months after the course had ended. This enhanced the on ground classroom experience immeasurably, because it helped to strengthen the connection of theories between each of the courses.
In addition to these benefits was the ease of communication with other members of the learning community. I was always able to e-mail the instructors for clarification about lectures or assignments, even though they lived hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away. Also, I was able to converse with members of my own cohort as well as people from other cohorts on the school's email lists. Using e- mail to do this was much easier than relying on snail mail or playing phone tag. In fact, I am quite certain that many of our group learning activities could not have been accomplished without electronic communication.
Finally, because the SLIM program is structured so that each cohort begins and ends their coursework at roughly the same time, the bonds that developed between all the students helped to form not only a stable support system while going through the program, but also an immediate network of library professionals on which to build while enhancing one's career. This, to me, was the greatest benefit of the SLIM program. Even though none of the students in my cohort lived geographically near me, I was able to form genuine friendships with them. I think that the enhancement to the virtual communication with the weekend sessions really helped make this kind of bonding possible. Although I did become close to students from other cohorts during Internet-only classes, that connection quickly faded after the course had ended. I'm fairly certain that the same will not be true of the friends I have made in the Colorado cohort since we have had that real world contact.
All in all, SLIM seemed to be the my very best distance education option. I valued the combination of face-to-face meetings with virtual communication, the scheduling of classes on the weekends, and the fact that a cohort was brought into Colorado so that I would not have to fly to Kansas all the time for class sessions. While I'm sure that this isn't the right learning environment for every person pursuing an MLS, it proved to be the right one for me.
Spring Lea Boehler is a graduate of the SLIM Colorado V Cohort. She is currently living in Alamosa, Colorado, and working at Southern Peaks Public Library. Her future plans include pursuing a Ph.D. in library science and publishing a book on science fiction and fantasy services to young adults. You can view her web site at http://www.springlea.com