ACADEMICS 

Learning at New School of Biblical Theology (NSBT) is entirely online.  While there may be occasional opportunities for gathering in conferences, intensive workshops, special pastoral training events, and eventually graduation exercises, the main forms of teaching and learning, as well as the supplementary work of student services and support, are conducted online.  Online learning embraces a variety of methods including discussion boards, videos, and teleconferencing.  Students in NSBT can expect to engage in all of these resources.

Online learning is student-centered.  Students are active participants in the process of gathering information and constructing new knowledge out of it.  They are not simply passive recipients of ideas being passed down from a single teacher.  Learning is collaborative and interactive. 

Students will learn from each other as well as from the content of the various courses. NSBT’s format also requires students to draw upon their own experience, background, and culture as they relate this knowledge to their various and often distinct contexts. Each instructor in the online classes serves more as “a guide by the side” than “the sage on the stage.” The NSBT learning environment and philosophy offers the students an opportunity to take ownership for their learning as well as to explore the various ways they will be able to impact and influence others within their own context of ministry.

Naturally, one of the primary requirements for online learning is that students have access to a reliable computer with an 80 GB hard drive or higher, 2 GB RAM or higher, and dependable Wi-Fi connections.  A cell phone or tablet is typically not sufficient.  The computer will need to have both audio and video capacities so that students can listen and watch online.  Students generally use Microsoft Word for written work but also need to be ready to read and in some cases to create Adobe PDF files.  Upon enrollment students will be given an NSBT email address and granted access to the NSBT Learning Management System (LMS), which is the online campus, as well as to the Digital Theological Library (DTL).