Course Dates: June 2 to July 25, 2008

Cost: $100 per person

The Wabash Center is increasingly aware of the growing number of seminaries that offer at least some of their curriculum online. The circumstances that lead to the use of online seminary courses are many and complex. The pedagogical challenges and opportunities of the online seminary classroom are of particular concern to us.

Therefore, as part of our mission to enhance teaching and learning, we have contracted with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Distance Education Certificate Program – a nationally recognized leader in instructional design for e-learning environments – to offer an 8 week online class for seminary faculty to learn about and experience effective practices for teaching online.

This an introductory course that will present the major elements involved in using the internet for instruction. It will be conducted online to provide hands-on experience with online learning.

The course is designed to accommodate faculty with a wide range of online teaching experience. No prior experience is necessary; course material will be valuable to faculty at more advanced levels as well.

It will use a “principles-to-practice” approach that presents guidelines and strategies for applying principles of online learning to the practices of individual faculties’ online courses.

Each week will include resource materials, readings, and online activities to engage participants in active discussion, debate, case studies, mini-projects, and other group or individual work.

The course will use threaded discussion forums and an asynchronous format, meaning you can log in at any time to read and post messages – although posting early in the week and then later in the week is required for group cohesion.

This is a concentrated, resource-rich, learning experience. You must think through what you’re hoping to learn, to help guide you in selecting resources most relevant to your situation and context.

The approximate time commitment is 8-10 hours per week for reading and activities. To participate, you must be able to login and post responses at least twice every week.

There is no “certificate” that is awarded for successful completion of the course.

You will need a computer with a broadband connection to the Internet, a browser such as Internet Explorer 6.0 or better, and Flash Player Plug-In (or be able to download the free plug-in).