Lactation Program Review: 

Lactation: Educator Course via Arizona State University (ASU)

By Ashley Barrett

October 27, 2015

What year were you enrolled in program? August-September 2015

How long did it take you to complete the program? It’s a 6 week course. I actually finished it in 4 weeks but I wasn’t allowed to take the final exam until the final week.

Certification or Certificate Offered – Lactation Educator Certificate is awarded at end of course upon completion.

Delivery of Program – Completely online. See here for dates of course offerings.

Books & Materials Required – The textbook Breastfeeding and Human Lactation by Karen Wambach and Jan Riordan, which currently costs between $115-144 on Amazon.

Cost of Program (Including books, materials, application fees, etc.) – $325 for 1-3 people from same agency. Price goes down to $300 for 4-10 people from same agency. Cost for ASU students is $125.

# of L-CERPs, Nursing Contact Hours, CEUs, CPEs, etc. offered – 58 Continuing Nursing Education (CNE) contact hours & CERPs. Course is LEAARC approved.

Do this program’s hours meet partial or full requirements for the IBCLC exam’s lactation specific training requirement?

Yes – partially (58 hours).

If yes, how many hours of lactation specific training are counted for the IBCLC exam?

58 hours are counted towards the 90 hour lactation education IBCLC exam requirement.

What did you like about the program?

• The program seemed to be pretty up to date.
• The material was interesting.
• The assignments were practical to what I would be doing.
• It looks like the negatives below outweigh the positives but I seriously really liked this course and would highly recommend it.

What did you dislike about the program?

• There wasn’t any ability to interact with the other students who were also taking the course (outside of the written introduction most of us posted).
• I also didn’t like that the course specifically said in the first module that if something unexpected came up, you could finish the course early but not after the deadline – but that isn’t true. I had a cross country move come during the course and I wasn’t able to take the final exam early. It would have been nice to have it out of the way before that insane week came (which when I registered and even started the class we didn’t know we would be moving but knew it was a slight possibility).
• The other annoying thing that was a big issue for me was that we were only allowed to open one module at a time. This means that you can’t see what the next assignments are and you can’t see anything (topic, handouts, assignments, etc.) for the next module until you have submitted the assignment or quiz.
• There were a lot of computer issues with Blackboard (which the course is hosted on) the first 3 weeks, but fortunately I knew which modules had assignments and I had a reading list because many students were’t able to access any of the videos for the course.
• Some of the assignments require that you meet in person with a mom. This was hard for me to schedule with someone else in order for me to go on to the next module’s reading and lectures. So do be aware of that signing up.

What would you change about the program?

• Having full access to all of the assignment information and reading list from the beginning in order to help me plan and allocate my time.
• Have an open forum to be able to interact with the other students. I know this is a possibility on Blackboard having done online University courses before.
• Not having to have 100% on every quiz to move on. The way the course is set up is that you can’t move on to the next module until you get 100% on the quiz. If you don’t get 100%, you have to keep retaking the quiz until you reach 100% and only then can you move on to the next module.

How time-consuming and/or rigorous did you find the program?

• I am a homeschooling mother of 3 and work at home very part-time. I was also preparing for a cross country move for a good portion of the course. My husband defended his PhD thesis, we had two weeks of house guests, and I had to wrap up loose ends before moving as a volunteer with many hats.
• It was doable but did take some planning and setting aside time for it.
• I don’t think I could have done my childrens’ full school days and managed all of the household and everything else all at the same time and have done well in the course. It’s a pass/fail except for the final though.

Would you recommend this program to others? 

• Yes, it’s not super dry. The lectures aren’t horrible to watch. I enjoyed listening to different lecturers each time.
• Print of the slides to take notes and be prepared for voice-overed slides.
• I really enjoyed most of the assignments and think that they will help me be an awesome lactation consultant after taking the exam.

Knowing what you know now, would you take this program again?  Yes.

Do you feel the course and/or certification helped you obtain your goals?

Yes. I think that this course helped prepare me for the IBCLC exam (I hope!).

Does your program/credential require you to recertify? No

Would you like to write a review of a Lactation Training Program that you’ve taken? If so, don’t be shy! You can access the review form directly from Galactablog. Or directly online via Google Forms here.

See here for more program details along with comparison of similar Lactation Training Programs.