Online Learning

An online school of theology

Learning at 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, and the supplementary work of student services and support, are conducted online. Online learning employs a variety of methods including discussion boards, videos, and teleconferencing.

Online learning is student-centered. Learning is collaborative and interactive. The instructor of an online class serves more as “a guide on the side” than “the sage on the stage.”

How a course runs

Each NSBT course carries three semester credit hours, and students typically concentrate on one course in each session. Every NSBT course is built inside Populi to the same structure, so that a student who has taken one course knows where to find things in the next.

Delivery is asynchronous at its center with a scheduled synchronous element every week. The asynchronous core is the weekly threaded discussion in Populi.

Faculty are present in that discussion rather than watching it.

NSBT does not use course examinations. Faculty review and respond to student work within one week of submission, providing substantive feedback that addresses both academic content and ministry application.

Each instructed course carries a weekly community meeting held by video conference. Attendance is not required and is not graded.

A 3-credit course entails at least 135 hours of work, which means in an eight-week online session students should plan on approximately 18 to 23 clock hours per week of reading, writing, and online communication.

Three non-credit courses sit alongside the degree curriculum and are published in the Academic Catalog as required non-credit class experiences: MCM001 Tutorial for On-Line Learning, MCM002 Library Orientation, and MCM003 Research Skills and Writing Center.

The learning management system

NSBT uses Populi as its learning management system (LMS) for its Master’s degree programs.

Support

Every degree candidate is assigned an academic advisor from among the faculty at initial enrollment, and the advisor is a standing point of contact for the length of the program. Where a student prefers to talk, faculty meet students by telephone or by video conference.

NSBT operates a weekly Writing Lab that addresses graduate-level academic writing, argument, structure, and citation.

The Office of Student Services is reached at studentservices@nsbt.org.