Can anyone here comment on the course content? I know its MUCH cheaper than excelsior information literacy but seems like it could be way more involved.

Observe...

This Course is available only through the postal system.

Course Delivery
This course is completed by Independent and Distance Learning. Students work at their own pace by submitting a series of assignments and taking one or more examinations.

Course Credit
1 hours. (Credit for this course is awarded from LSU - Baton Rouge.)

Enrollment
Open enrollment. Students may enroll at any time. The enrollment period is nine months. However, courses can be completed in much less time. Many courses can be completed in a few weeks. The length of time depends on the pace of the student and the number of lesson assignments in the course.

Course Description
Library and Information Science 1001, Library Research Methods and Materials. Fundamentals of college-level research; selecting a research topic; focusing on thesis statement; developing an appropriate search strategy; selecting, accessing, and critically evaluating appropriate information for a brief research paper; documenting sources. version R, 1 hour college credit.

Course Version: R
The information in this factsheet is correct for the version of this course indicated above. Our courses are periodically reviewed and updated, so a new version of a course may be published at any time. When you enroll, you are assigned to the currently open version of this course. The version letter identifies all of the required elements for your course enrollment: textbooks, assignments, exams, and grading policies. On your course materials, the version letter is printed below the course number on the first page of the course guide. It is the last letter in the course code for online courses. To find textbook or other information about a previous version of this course, you will need to contact the IDL office.

Prerequisite(s)
Students must have access to the Internet and World Wide Web. Students must make at least four visits to a large public or academic library that has online catalogs.

Course Instructor
Sandra Brady

Course Content
Academic Libraries
The Research Paper
Evaluating Informations Sources
Basic Search Techniques: Electronic Sources, Library Catalogs, and The Internet
Reference Sources
Government Information
Statistical Sources
Periodicals

Textbook(s)
Myrtle S. Bolner and Gayle A. Poirier. The Research Process: Books and Beyond. 3rd edition. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall-Hunt, 2004. ISBN: 0-7872-9448-9 ISBN-13: 978-0-787294-48-9

To ensure that you have the correct edition information, do not purchase your textbook(s) until you receive your study guide.

Number of Lesson Assignments
4 Lesson Assignments

Lesson Assignment Requirements
No more than three (3) lessons may be submitted in a seven day period. There are NO exceptions to this requirement. All lessons must be complete.

Format of Lesson Assignments
Self-check reviews consist of Chapter Review Questions from the textbook. Lesson assignments consist of exercises from the text book.

Grading Scale
A = 90-100; B = 89-80; C = 79-70; D= 69-60; F = 59% and below

Number of Exams
2 Exams

Cost of course [textbook(s) not included]
$83.00

Material covered in Exams
Mid-course exam covers Lessons 1-3
Final exam covers Lessons 1-4.

Exam Format(s)
The Mid-course exam and the Final exam consist of short-answer, multiple-choice, matching, and true/false questions.

Exam Proctor
All exams must be taken with a proctor. LSU students will test in the Independent and Distance Learning Testing Office. All other Louisiana students should test at approved Louisiana testing sites. Out of state students must arrange for an approved proctor. An approved proctor, generally, is a university testing facility or administrator, military education office, or other such facility.

How the final grade is assessed
Graded Assignments = 40% of final course grade
Mid-Course Exam = 30%
Final Comprehensive Exam = 30% points

__________________
[size="1"]
Excelsior Business Degree finished 6/5/08
Principles Of Management Clep: 72
Principles of Macro-Economics Clep: 58
Business Law Clep: 68
Organizational Behavior ECE: B
Principles Of Accounting Clep : 52
Human Resource Management ECE: C
Ethics ECE: A
Operations Management (Pueblo): A
MIS DSST: A
Info Systems & Computer App Clep: 63
Drug and Alcohol Abuse DSST: A
Principles Of Finance DSST: A
Business Policy TECEP: PASS

It does look more involved than Info Literacy. Some things to also consider:

The Excelsior course has free text materials and only one timed, unproctored, open book exam that isn't hard. It only took me a few days to do the whole course. I took a different LSU course that required a text and study guide ($$) and had two proctored closed book exams. It cost me $30.00 per exam to have them proctored at my local university where I am still enrolled (the library would have charged even more!) and it took LSU three weeks to grade each exam.

All things considered, I'm glad I did it through Excelsior. But if you don't have proctor fees, can find a cheap textbook, and have time to wait for the exams to be graded, then LSU's course might be a better deal for you.

__________________
BS Liberal Arts
Excelsior College - 2007
MS Psychology
California Coast University in progress (2009)

__________________
Brian R. Fey Sr. +
M.S. - Psychology
B.S. - Criminal Justice
A.S. - Administrative Management

Excelsior it is

__________________
[size="1"]
Excelsior Business Degree finished 6/5/08
Principles Of Management Clep: 72
Principles of Macro-Economics Clep: 58
Business Law Clep: 68
Organizational Behavior ECE: B
Principles Of Accounting Clep : 52
Human Resource Management ECE: C
Ethics ECE: A
Operations Management (Pueblo): A
MIS DSST: A
Info Systems & Computer App Clep: 63
Drug and Alcohol Abuse DSST: A
Principles Of Finance DSST: A
Business Policy TECEP: PASS

I know this thread is a little old, but this information might help someone in the future:

I went the LSU route. I did all four assignments at the library on a Saturday and it only took 4 or 5 hours probably. LSU only allows you to send in 3 assignments per week, so I sent in my first three and then the fourth a week later. There are two tests for this class (a mid-term and a final). Each test is automatically sent out upon receipt of certain assignments (for this class, after they receive assignment 3, they mail the mid-term and after assignment four is received, they mail the final). I waited until both tests were received at my testing center, took both of them at once and only had to pay one proctoring fee. Really easy course, though a little time consuming. I found it pretty interesting and learned a few things about my library I didn't know. Easy A. I found the textbook online in new shape for $15, so the entire thing (course, book, proctors) cost me $120.

Or in One Day (6 Hours), as it was in my case! I just wanted to get it over with.

__________________
Anne, Pursuing BS in Liberal Arts at Excelsior College
Military 40 Credits, FEMA 24 Credits, Comm. College 9 Credits, Microsoft 3 Credits
CLEP - Sociology (59), Spanish (58), A&I Lit (58), HG&D (61), Ed Psy (56)
DSST - MIS (53), Environment & Humanity (58)
ECE - Info Lit (P), Psy A&A (B), FoG (B), Abn Psy (B), Research Methods (A), Soc Psy (C), World Pop (C), Org Beh (C)
PFC - Tech Math I (92)
Total - 121 Credits

I"M FINALLY DONE...WAITING FOR CONFERRAL FROM EC!

Something else to consider is that the Excelsior course is a pass/fail grade where LSU is a graded course. While it's only 1 credit hour, it might help a little in your overall GPA as it is an easy A.

I did the Excelsior Info literacy online course in 61 minutes. I read none of the material and just proceeded to take each of the quizzes. The quizzes can be taken over and over and you can score 100% by taking them a few times. This is very easy. It gives you the answers to the ones you miss after each quiz is graded. You then take the exact same quiz again with your new knowledge. You get the score of the last quiz you took, should be %100 because you have all the answers.

You then take what you have learned by taking the quizzes (and the computer telling you the correct answers to the ones you missed).

All the questions on the final come directly from the quizzes. There are absolutely NO surprises on this one. Only a 70% is required to pass.

Take the final and you are done. There is only a pass or fail given, even though you get a score, it will not record as a grade on your record. It is strictly credit/no credit.

Hope this helps. It is worth the $290 bucks to finish up 1 credit in an hour.

If you can do the CLEP you can do it like I did. Easy. Easy. Easy.

__________________
ImustStudy
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A.S. Liberal Arts- Excelsior College

B.S. Criminal Justice- Excelsior College

M.S.- To be announced

CLEP and DANTES
English Comp (62)
College Spanish (76)
Astronomy (56)
Rise and Fall of Soviet Union (50)
Principles of Supervision (60)
Introduction to Law Enforcement (67)
Criminal Justice (59)
Intro to Business (63)
Intro to Sociology

FEMA: 13 units
Penn Foster: Info Literacy, Criminology

Number of classes remaining:
0