I’m in the process of researching information on services to distance learners since that’s my primary job focus. I personally think there is more then plenty of room for improvement. The research seems a bit sparse as most articles focus on teaching and pedagogy over other services. What I did find is that many of the researchers find that universities focus on the core services (enrollment, payment) and library access but drop the ball when it comes to other services that might help build a bond between university and student or help students do their best. I’ve searched MSU for some of the non-core or often forgotten ones to see how we fare.

  • Online advising - well there's an office that say off-campus but doesn't really say if it's available only by phone or if I would have to come in. Guess I'd have to call to find out.
  • Orientation - MSU has a few masters completely online but no real BS outside of Nursing. The orientation appears to be in-person only and on-campus. I couldn't really find any information on whether anything by specific colleges are available strictly online. Another one I'd likely have to call about
  • Newspaper - Luckily more and more news organizations are going online and school papers are included. The State News is available online though I'm unsure if it's 100% complete. Some of the news bulletins the university produces are also online.
  • Radio - When their site actually works they do have a stream going. They do take requests over IM though that doesn't appear apparent from their site. It could use some work.
  • Writing assistance - MSU does have a nice writing assistance program which includes a location in the library. While it looks like they may do some phone and email support there is nothing I can find on their site that states they would offer similar support virtually that they do in person. Another one I would need to call on.
  • Purchasing books - this was big request in many of the studies. In the traditional sense the local bookstores get a list of the required texts and stock them. For distance it's usually a search and hunt job unless the instructor links to a place to get it. Course-packs are even more up in the air. Searching for books on the MSU site does bring up a page on local bookstores and it does now state that distance students can order from these stores.
  • Counseling - Many researchers thought this important though surveys seemed to point to little interest. There are probably increasing outside resources on the internet but MSU's counseling center does appear to offer some online self-help and also some hotlines though only a few offer toll-free numbers.
  • Student Government - This was another area that researchers though important but surveys were mixed. There was also differences such as a complete government for distance or just a council or representative for distance students. To be honest I was never up on the student government when I was actively going to school though I did see them represent a few students in regards to academics (and rioting). Mostly it's represented by college but there are some special ones such as international, LGBT, Jewish, Arab, Womens and some others. There's even one for the Residence Halls but nothing specifically for distance learners it appears.
  • Organizations - I wasn't able to easily find any student organizations or otherwise that might be tailored for off-campus students. One of the things many of the studies found is that students would like a way to socialize with others out-side of class. The best way of doing this, I'm not sure. Apparently some universities are setting up online social spaces for more informal discussion, if even just for finding a study buddy and the like.
  • Career Counseling - The career site does have a lot more online information available including skill/interest analysis and online job search, than I remember. However from a quick glance it still looks like one-on-one advising is in person only. The advising link takes me straight to a scheduling app.

My overall impression is that there may be quite a few services available to both on-campus and off-campus students but they aren’t easy to find if they do exist. Others would like require multiple phone calls just to find out. I’m hopeful that this can be fixed in the future.