CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

 

by

 

Jana Varlejs

 

 

Forty-one of the 56 schools with ALA-accredited programs in library and information studies submitted data on their 2002-2003 continuing education (CE) activities, 3 more than last year. The 15 that did not provide information, or reported no activity for the year were:  Alabama, Albany, British Columbia, Clark Atlanta, Indiana, Missouri, Pratt, Queens, St. John’s, San Jose, Southern Connecticut, Southern Mississippi, Syracuse, Texas Woman’s, and Western Ontario.

 

Instructions for this section’s questionnaire state that only those educational offerings designed specifically for practicing information professionals should be included.  Enrollments in courses that are part of degree programs are to be reported in the section on students, in the tables on “Enrollment by Program and Gender” under “other graduate.”

 

 

Continuing Education Events

 

For the 2002-2003 year, library and information studies programs reported continuing education events in a wide array of formats, including a five-day conference of the Association of Caribbean University Research and Institutional Libraries (ACURIL). The length of events varied from one-hour lectures to Web-based courses requiring a minimum of thirty hours.

 

Below, data on the non-credit events and credit bearing offerings are tabulated and discussed separately.

 

 

Non-Credit Activity

 

Table V-1 lists the number of continuing education events that were presented by 40 of the 41 reporting programs during 2002-2003, the total number of contact hours of instruction, and the total number of participants.  The number of events increased by 78, or 10 percent, but the contact hours decreased by 1,849 hours, a substantial 20 percent. Participation, on the other hand, rose by 3,755 (18 percent).

 

The drop in hours may be attributed in large part to Toronto, which reported a decline from last year’s 4,933 hours to 3,003 (39 percent). Toronto’s attendance also fell, going from 7,007 to 5,358, or 24 percent.  These numbers decreased despite the fact that Toronto’s offerings increased from 312 last year to 365 this year, a jump of 31 percent.  Other schools with notable drops in CE contact hours were Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Wisconsin-Milwaukee. It should be noted that even though Toronto’s hours fell markedly, the program still accounts for  40 percent of the total number of CE hours.  The other schools that rank in the top five in terms of hours are Washington, Wisconsin-Madison, Drexel, and North Carolina-Central.

 

Usually, about one half of the schools that hold non-credit continuing education events report 10 or fewer offerings.  For the 2002-2003 year, however, that proportion rose to 65 percent, helping to account for the drop in contact hours.   At the other end of the continuum, there were five schools that reported over 40 events.  In descending order, the schools with the greatest number of events were:  Toronto, Washington, Wisconsin-Madison, North Carolina-Central, and Simmons.  The next highest group includes Pittsburgh, Drexel, UCLA, Rutgers, and South Carolina.  The list of schools most active in providing non-credit continuing education remains fairly stable, although the rankings change slightly from year to year. This year’s addition to the top ranks of number of activities is North Carolina-Central, which went from 11 to 52 events. Others that showed marked increases were Illinois, Pittsburgh, and Washington.

 

In terms of the number of attendees of CE, Toronto is again at the top. North Carolina-Central, Washington, Wisconsin-Madison, Dalhousie, and Rutgers are the others with high participation.  The new “contender” in this group is Dalhousie, which broke the 1,000 mark for the first time since 1997.

 

 

Table V-1

Number, Duration, and Enrollment in Non-Credit Continuing Education Events

2002 - 2003

(n = 40)

 

ALA Schools

Number

of Events

Contact

Hours

Attendance

Alberta

4

6

95

Arizona

8

71

207

Buffalo

17

140

114

California – Los Angeles

21

            209

683

Catholic

4

8

              170

Clarion

10

76.5

533

Dalhousie

12

32

1,025

Dominican

2

               4

190

Drexel

21

            502

115

Emporia

12

140

494

Florida State

2

6

38

Hawaii

10

              30

375

Illinois

15

116.5

              668

Iowa

1

4

158

Kentucky

2

12

              335

Long Island

1

              6

              40

Louisiana

2

5

37

Maryland

6

60

207

McGill

9

13.5

250

Michigan

7

96

666

Montréal

3

7

65

North Carolina Central

52

             306

3,876

North Carolina – Chapel Hill

6

136

94

North Carolina - Greensboro

3

16

73

                                                                                                                              (Table continues)

 

 

Table V-1  (cont.)

         

ALA Schools

Number

of Events

Contact

Hours

Attendance

North Texas

8

23

121

Oklahoma

1

7

247

Pittsburgh

29

      64

508

Puerto Rico

4

43

440

Rhode Island

10

21

254

Rutgers

20

158

995

Simmons

40

267.5

266

South Carolina

20

64

436

South Florida

1

1.5

50

Tennessee

10

24

540

Texas

2

36

34

Toronto

365

3,003

5,358

Washington

68

891

2,642

Wayne

7

24

297

Wisconsin – Madison

60

886

1,394

Wisconsin – Milwaukee

1

4

24

Total

876

7,519.5

24,114

 

 

 

Table V-2 summarizes non-credit continuing education by type of activity.  As in previous years, workshops were the most frequent mode of delivery.  In addition to the change in patterns mentioned above, differences can be seen in the number of events awarding Continuing Education Units (CEU’s) and in the number delivered by alternative methods.  Sixty fewer offerings carried CEU’s in 2002-2003 than in 2001-2002, a decrease of 23 percent, although three more schools used the CEU than did last year. The drop can be attributed largely to Long Island and Michigan, which reduced their activities.  The use of alternative delivery increased by 130, or 59 percent.  The rapid rise in this category over the last few years is even more dramatic when one recalls that in 2000-2001 there were only 25 alternative delivery methods reported.  It must be noted, however, that Toronto accounts for 72 percent of this year’s total.

 

            Of the 352 events delivered by alternative methods, 271 were by Internet and mostly asynchronous; 72 by Internet, mostly self-paced; 4 by correspondence; 4 by video conference; and one was a study tour. Schools other than Toronto that used alternative delivery were: Buffalo, Catholic, Drexel, Florida State, Louisiana, Maryland, Pittsburgh, Rhode Island, Simmons, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin-Madison. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table V-2

Summary of Non-Credit Continuing Education Events

By Type of Activity

2002 - 2003

(n =40)

 

Non-Credit

Activity<