In defense of online LIS education

CC image courtesy of cindiann on Flickr

In online discussions about the current state of LIS education, I’ve seen heavy criticism of online education.  Of course, I can’t seem to find many of these discussions now that I need to reference them — but you can check out these blog posts, especially the comments, for some context.  I think the general perception of online programs, LIS or not, is that they are easy and students enrolled in them are recluses, hiding away from interacting with other people.  While I can’t speak for all programs and all online students, my experience has been that online programs are challenging — though in a different way than offline programs — and I certainly am no recluse.