Greetings, Readers have been asking for more discussion in this community, so here's a set of questions to work with. I have been cruising around LIS programs recently, and noticed that in many syllabi that I can find, many courses ask (in terms of workload) a few exercises, two-page essays, and a multiple-choice final exam. Here are my three questions: 1) Is this workload requirement graduate education? If so, why (as opposed, for example, to the composition of a twenty-page term paper). If not, why not? 2) Are university graduate students supposed to feel "comfortable" in their educational experience (as reported in the local newspaper), and not feel challenged to "exceed their grasp"? 3) What are the five most challenging classes offered to LIS students across the LIS discipline (school doesn't matter), and why? Answers could include challenging thinking, workload, tasks, original research, information technology skills, work within the community and support of community efforts. This could be a really tough question. If there are any responses I'll put together a committee of respected individuals and there will be a collective decision. But the question is really intended to stimulate conversation. --gw <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Gretchen Whitney, PhD, Retired School of Information Sciences University of Tennessee, Knoxville TN 37996 USA [log in to unmask] http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/ jESSE:http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/jesse.html SIGMETRICS:http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/sigmetrics.html <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>