Frequently Asked Questions

Unless otherwise noted, our online classes are asynchronous and do not have live meeting times. Learners plan to log in at least one time per week at their convenience to read the course content, view lectures, and participate in the discussion boards. Classes are organized for students and their instructor to work through material on a week-by-week basis. Each week, everyone moves to the next lesson and new discussion topics. Learners should anticipate spending about 2-3 hours per week on all course work (readings, lectures, discussions, exercises, assignments).

As of Fall 2019, full payment of any online course or conference fee is due upon registration*. You will receive a confirmation email upon completing your registration, which contains a receipt confirming your payment.

If you can make payment by credit card, you may register using our online registration system (click on the course title to register), or call our Registrations Office at 608-262-2451 to register and pay over the phone. (NOTE: Due to COVID-19, the Registrations Call Center staff are working from home and are not able to process phone orders at this time.)

If you need to pay by check or PO, you must mail in a registration form with your payment. Please note that courses do fill up, so we recommend registering by mail as early as possible.

*If your library must have an invoice in order to pay for a class, or if you have any questions about how to register, please contact the CE Team for assistance.

Unless otherwise noted, no textbooks are required. Textbooks are noted in online course description. If no textbook is listed, all required readings will be provided in the class space. Acquiring a textbook is the responsibility of each student, whether by inter-library loan, purchase, or rental. Unless stated otherwise, either print or e-book format is acceptable.

Our classes are generally capped at 25 registrations. Once the cap is reached, a waiting list opens. If someone in the course decides to cancel their registration before the course begins or within the first week of class, that spot is offered to waitlisted persons in order of their addition to the list. There is no fee to join the waiting list for a class, nor is there any obligation to accept an offered opening. If the course is offered again in the future, we alert the waitlisted persons.

Each online course opens on the start date indicated in the class description.

If you received a registration confirmation email, you are registered for the course. A few minutes after you receive your confirmation email, you will receive a “Getting Started” email, which will allow you to set up a new NetID or connect your already existing NetID to your class. A NetID is the user name that you will use to log into the course space, and once you set it up it’s yours for life. If you already have a NetID from a previous interaction with UW, you need to open the email and click the link that indicates you already have a NetID. If you did not receive a “getting started” email or need help with your NetID, please contact the CE Team for assistance.

You will also receive a welcome email a few days before the class begins that will give you additional information about how to access the class.

To log in to your class, go to Canvas, and enter your NetID and password. Please note that courses will not appear in Canvas before their start date.

Please see our Payment and Cancellation Polices page for more information about cancelling your registration.

You should receive your certificate of completion by email within 2-3 weeks of the conclusion of a course. If you did not receive it, or if a certificate is lost, please contact the CE Team to receive another copy

Your certificate/s of completion serves as formal documentation that you have successfully completed a class through us.

There are two options for a record of your full course history:

• A formal transcript of all of your continuing education courses is sent to you by postal mail. (This option carries a fee)
• A Registrant History, essentially an unofficial transcript, may be emailed to you at no charge.

For either of the above options, please view this web page for further instructions.

An registration confirmation with an attached invoice is automatically emailed to you when you register for a course, which serves as your receipt. This email will come from the UW-Madison Conference Center Registrations Office . If you did not receive your invoice or need another copy, please contact the CE Team or contact the UW-Madison Conference Center Registrations Office at 608-262-2451.

No. Unless otherwise indicated, online continuing education courses are not eligible for academic credit. They are eligible for non-credit CEUs or LEUs. However, if you sign up for an iSchool graduate or undergraduate course as a non-degreed special student, you may have some transfer options. More information about taking iSchool credit courses as a non-degree-seeking student is here.

When you take a continuing education courses at the iSchool, you earn Continuing Education Units, or CEUs. CEUs are a nationally recognized unit for professional continuing education. One CEU is approximately equal to 10 contact hours. CEUs do not transfer to graduate credit. Graduate credit at the iSchool may only be earned by enrolling in graduate level courses.  Please note that the Education2Go: Online Skills Courses do not carry CEUs or credit.

Our courses are open to all. The students in our courses are from a wide variety of backgrounds. Some work in libraries and have a high school diploma; others are library directors and have master’s degrees, and others are simply curious about library and information-related topics.  For certain students, the courses are required to obtain or maintain their certification. For others, the courses are voluntary. We welcome anyone who is interested in our courses to register, regardless of their previous education or position in a library. Unless noted in the course description, there are no pre-requisite skills required to take any course.

Our courses are taught by working librarians, information professionals, or instructors at the iSchool. This is to ensure that courses will be practical and relevant to library workers.

Please send an email to Meredith Lowe including your resume/CV, potential course topics, and brief explanation about why you’d like to teach online classes for us. Our instructors are paid based on course length. Any instructor must have legal authorization to work in the United States. We consider applications continually.

Wisconsin public library directors are required to be certified by Wisconsin state statute. There are three certification grades, and the grade level required is determined by the library’s service size. For grades 2 and 3 directors, they must have either taken the four required certification courses as part of their undergraduate/associate’s degree load, or they can take the required courses through UW-Madison iSchool continuing education. New grades 2-3 directors must take Basic Public Library Administration during their first year of employment.

We offer the certification classes on a set schedule each fall and spring. We do not offer certification courses in the summer. Please find the schedule and more information here.

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) manages library director certification; the iSchool is course provider and does not grant certification. Further information about the certification process is available through the DPI website, and your library system’s certification coordinator should also be consulted.

LEU stands for Library Education Unit, which is the measurement of continuing education hours in Indiana. The State Library of Indiana has certain educational standards for librarians in Indiana. All continuing education courses must be approved by them and they assign LEUs to each course. The iSchool is an approved LEU provider for Indiana residents. Indiana residents receive their LEU certificates by email upon successful completion of a course. One CEU is the equivalent to 10 LEUs.

Continuing Education Services staff members are here to help!  Please contact Meredith Lowe, 608-890-0364 for more information.