The education of professionals does not end with the achievement of a degree. Professional competence requires a commitment to lifelong learning and a continuing effort to update knowledge and skills in order to improve the state of the art of practice as society's needs and technology change. Consequently, the school provides the means for acquiring specialized competencies, skills in new areas, and updating of professional knowledge and techniques.

Opportunities for continuing professional education and development are available to practitioners in fields related to the School of Communication and Information. These opportunities include attendance at a range of credit, noncredit, and certificate programs offered by Professional Development Studies, enrollment in some graduate degree courses on a nondegree basis, and contracting for customized in-house training to meet an organization's human resource development needs.

About Online Learning

Many of the classes offered by Professional Development Studies are offered online.  These online classes are taught by faculty, and students are in class with a group of peers. The classes are not self-paced tutorials. Class size is limited to help ensure that there is a great deal of interaction among students and teachers in every class. The classes have a structure with readings, deadlines, and assignments similar to face-to-face coursework. But because the classes are asynchronous, during a given week students can participate during the times that are convenient for them.

Details about the current class offerings are on the website at http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/pds.