LEEP Online Education is a distance learning program offered by the UIUC Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS)

UIUC Graduate School of Library and Information Science

The Graduate School of Library and Information Science is a graduate school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and is considered the premier information school in the United States. Illinois has been consistently ranked as the top Library and Information Science graduate program...

 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...

.

The LEEP program provides students who are not able to relocate to the Urbana

Urbana, Illinois

Urbana is the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 41,250. Urbana is the tenth-most populous city in Illinois outside of the Chicago metropolitan area....

-Champaign

Champaign, Illinois

Champaign is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, in the United States. The city is located south of Chicago, west of Indianapolis, Indiana, and 178 miles northeast of St. Louis, Missouri. Though surrounded by farm communities, Champaign is notable for sharing the campus of the University of...

 area a means to attend University's highly regarded ALA

American Library Association

The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....

-accredited Master of Library and Information Science

Master of Library and Information Science

The Master of Library and Information Science is the master's degree that is required for most professional librarian positions in the United States and Canada. The MLIS is a relatively recent degree; an older and still common degree designation for librarians to acquire is the Master of Library...

 program, which is world-renowned and is currently tied for first place among library and information science programs in the United States.

History

The acronym LEEP originally stood for Library Education Experimental Program. Founded in 1995, the program has since firmly established itself and is no longer considered experimental.

Coursework

LEEP differentiates itself from other distance learning library and information science (LIS)

Library and information science

Library and information science is a merging of the two fields library science and information science...

 programs through the integration of a brief periods of on-campus participation, Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 instruction, and independent learning. Off-campus students attend classes via the school's Moodle

Moodle

Moodle is a free source e-learning software platform, also known as a Course Management System, Learning Management System, or Virtual Learning Environment...

Virtual Learning Environment (VIS). Within the LEEP program, it is said that LEEP might stand for Leigh Estabrook's Excellent Program.

External links

• LEEP Online Education