Why Choose an Online English Program?

Dr. Ginger Jones, a former Huie-Delmon endowed professor, represented LSUA for a year as a Fulbright Scholar in the former Yugoslavia. She recently edited Solutions to Distance Learning in Higher Education, a collection of essays written by national and international online teachers. 

Why choose an online English program?

Online programs are perfect for working professionals and people just beginning college. Do you want to adapt your class and study time to fit your schedule? Do you have full-time professional and family obligations?  Do you have children in school? Online programs help balance an education with life’s other obligations. Asynchronous courses let students read widely in multiple genres of literature and to learn to write cogently and clearly. LSU Online English courses cover the fundamentals of an English degree program necessary to succeed in a wide variety of careers as well as graduate school studies in the Humanities.

How does the LSU Online English program work?

The program is a series of seven-week courses that teach literature by Native American, Black American, Arab American, and Hispanic American authors, as well as the long-established authors of English and American literature. Students can complete the degree at the pace of traditional full-time students by taking 4 seven-week courses a semester, including summers, which means students can earn our BA in English in four years. The program welcomes transfer students whose courses will be assessed for credit toward the degree. Anyone who has already earned an undergraduate degree can earn at least two years’ credit toward the completion of a degree in English.

What are classes like?

The courses are accelerated, with assignments due the very first week of each course.  The courses are thorough, and the requirements differ according to each teacher’s style. Junior and senior level courses are taught by experienced professors who have taught on campus or still do. Some professors offer weekly evening Zoom sessions. Others have regulated discussion board posts as part of their writing requirements; both Zoom sessions and discussion board posts encourage students to respond to each other, fostering cooperation and building a classroom community. In any given semester courses can include American Slave Narratives, Memoir, Southern Literature, Religion and Literature, or Studies in Poetry: Ovid

What is the Faculty Like?

Online faculty are respected, published academics who are committed to teaching a variety of literature. We use best practices in teaching online fostered by professional course designers. I have mentored outstanding online students in writing a discussion booklet for “The Lost Friends” project, in Zoom presentations for Scholars’ Day, the Humanities Conference, and in publishing essays in the campus undergraduate research journal, The Oak Leaf.

What can I do with my degree?

Most people know English majors become teachers or professors at schools around the country.  But teaching is only one option. Learning how to analyze language and literature makes people better thinkers and writers.  Our majors have gone on to successful careers in a wide variety of fields, including law, civil service, library science, and medicine. One of our majors has even become a best-selling mystery novelist!