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National Distance Learning Week Online Profiles

Christopher Cerrudo G’10, a distance student in the M.S. in information management program, enrolled at Syracuse University’s iSchool after discovering there were no campuses within three hours of Cerrudo’s hometown in Petoskey, Michigan, that offer graduate level courses in information management.

Cerrudo said the iSchool’s distance program has been extremely rewarding for him. “The online environment allows me to work full-time, raise a family, and advance my education,” Cerrudo said.
In the last two years, Cerrudo has come to the Syracuse University campus twice, once in the summer of 2008 to complete the IST 601/621 boot-camp, and once this past summer for the IST 600 boot-camp class, which he highly recommends.

“Having the 601/621 class on campus allowed me to have a comfort level with some of my classmates online, and coming back for the 600 class allowed me to meet some of them in person,” he said.

Despite the intensive pace of the one-week summer courses, Cerrudo said he could not pass up the opportunity to learn from some of the top instructors in the field.

In order to succeed in online courses, Cerrudo said he needs to be disciplined with his time management and take advantage of collaborative technologies that help him to bridge the physical distances. He also said taking advantage of the collective experiences of the class, students, and instructors are key factors to success.

Cerrudo, who averages 15 hours of work a week per class, also works full-time as an information systems manager at North Central Michigan College.

“The material that I have learned in each class has been directly applicable to my job as an information systems manager,” Cerrudo said.

The distance program gave Cerrudo the opportunity to meet and learn from classmates who have years of experience in different aspects of information management. Through them, he said he has been able to gain a lot of insight into the skills necessary to succeed in this field.