Standard II. Curriculum

II.6. The curriculum, regardless of forms or locations of delivery selected by the school, conforms to the requirements of these Standards.

For part of the period covered by this self study, the iSchool offered an online MLIS program known as the “FastTrack MLIS” program. Founded as the first online graduate degree program at the University, FastTrack was based on the concept of mirroring the on-campus degree program in the online environment. This meant that many of the LIS courses were taught on-campus and recorded for broadcasting online. As discussed in Standard V.8, the iSchool determined to transition the online offerings over to a comprehensive learning/teaching environment hosted by the University. This is an on-going process, one that will be completed in the 2017-18 timeframe. In the meantime, online students take MLIS courses irrespective of the platform of delivery. Courses that are not yet converted to Pitt Online will be delivered through the existing “blended” teaching system. Current and prospective students will not experience any interruption in course offerings, although they could experience two online course modalities. Faculty will continue to deliver courses via the FastTrack technology until they are available through Pitt Online.

Regardless of whether a course of study is offered online or on-campus, the curriculum shares the same set of goals and learning outcomes.  All academic requirements for the MLIS program are applied uniformly, regardless of the modality of the learning environment. Transcripts and diplomas do not distinguish between an on-campus or online degree. At this time, the only difference between curricular offerings for on-campus and online students is that the MLIS: Pitt Online has only the individualized program of study. The faculty is considering the need for, and the process to undertake, offering specializations within the online environment. The courses offered online are also evaluated using the same tools: the OMET and Peer Review of Teaching processes.