Curriculum Published for the Online MA Programs

The curriculum for the new online programs has been published on the Grace Theological Seminary web site.  This includes the MA Local Church Ministry program and the MA Intercultural Studies degree.  The course offering schedules have also been posted for these programs.  The revised curriculum added a three-phase ministry preparation course spread over the three final semesters of the last year.  There are still a total of three face to face class sessions, with one in the fall of the first year for a colloquial gathering, one the following spring, and the third and final visit in the spring of the second year.  All of this information is available on the distance education page and also in downloadable PDF format:

http://gts.grace.edu/distance-education.htm 

Grace Theological Seminary began their online MA program in January and is expanding the program in the fall of 2008.  For more information contact Jim Hill at hilljm@grace.edu,  phone at 1-800-54-GRACE x-6435, or by Skype at jimhill1099.  

Final Schedule Released for Fall 2008 Colloquial Gathering Being Held August 29 - 31

Grace Theological Seminary has released the final schedule for the the fall 2008 colloquial gathering to be held on the campus in Winona Lake, Indiana on August 29-31, 2008.  All online and all new residential students will be meeting during this time for orientation, fellowship, and worship during the weekend.  In addition, all returning and new students are invited for the banquet beginning at 6:00 p.m. on Friday evening as well as several sessions on Saturday.  This includes the All Student Orientation session from 9:45 a.m. to 10:30 and the Doing Good Research presentation from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.   The first online class, Systematic Theology II, will begin meeting for the residential portion of this online class on Monday, September 1, 2008 to Wednesday, September 3 under the direction of Dr. David Plaster.   

The agenda for the colloquial gathering is available on the GTS web site:

Fall 2008 Colloquial Gathering Agenda

Grace Theological Seminary began their online seminary program in January, 2008.  This provides both MA and certificate level programs for students unable to attend traditional residential seminary.  Online students are expected to attend at least one colloquial gathering during their online career.  For more information please contact Jim Hill by email at hilljm@grace.edu or phone at 800-54-GRACE x-6435.   

11/5/2007 Program Update from Dr. Mark Soto

Beginning in January of 2008 Grace began offering accredited online seminary courses starting with a pilot in the 48 credit hour MA Local Church Ministry degree.  The courses were offered in consecutive 8-week modular format through a web interface. 

• The online program will use an 8 week compressed format offering two courses a semester term and then one in the summer term from May to June. It will be fully online using adult learning techniques involving self-motivated assignments for apprehending the knowledge base and using problems or discussion board questions to engage the material collaboratively. The course material will imbed the content and the instructor will facilitate your finding resource material to continue your study. There will be a project of some type - obviously in 8 weeks not a 25 page paper, and it will be on a topic you choose of interest in the first week. The discussion questions in the first two courses will be taken from a list of topics identified as key to the discipline and the class will pick the ones that are of greatest interest to them to engage.
• There are no tests or quizzes but students will be responsible for reading. Students will purchase more books so they have resources at home to complete assignments.
• The first course to be offered in January 2008 will be Systematic Theology II (TH502) and the second course will be History of Doctrine in the Church (TH528) which will replace Survey of Church History (IS515).
• A summer term will be added in 2009.
• Students will only be allowed to take one of the 8 week online classes at a time.  Other distance ed format classes can be taken at the same time, as well as residential course and modular format classes.
• Since our online offerings will utilize an online vendor for delivery there will be a technology fee attached to every course of $125.00.
• Regarding grading, forty (40) percent of the course grade will be based upon the quality of work done on the discussion questions.  Forty (40) percent of the course grade will be the presentation/major project.  Twenty (20) percent of the course grade will involve doing additional online research and bibliography collection (better known as weblography) and other learning activities as deemed fitting for the material.
  If you have any questions about this update please contact me by email:
  Dr. Mark Soto

Pilot Program Announcement

Grace Theological Seminary began offering accredited online seminary courses in January, 2008. During this time Grace began the process of developing all new online course materials for the 48 credit hour for the MA Local Church Ministry degree. This process was later extended to the MA Intercultural Studies program. 

The online courses will be offered in consecutive 8-week modular format through a web interface. 

• The online program will use an 8 week compressed format offering two courses a semester term and then one in the summer term from May to June. It will be fully online using adult learning techniques involving self-motivated assignments for apprehending the knowledge base and using problems or discussion board questions to engage the material collaboratively. The course material will imbed the content and the instructor will facilitate your finding resource material to continue your study. There will be a project of some type - obviously in 8 weeks not a 25 page paper, and it will be on a topic you choose of interest in the first week. The discussion questions in the first two courses will be taken from a list of topics identified as key to the discipline and the class will pick the ones that are of greatest interest to them to engage.
• There are no tests or quizzes but students will be responsible for reading. Students will purchase more books so they have resources at home to complete assignments.
• The first course to be offered in January 2008 will be Systematic Theology II (TH502) and the second course will be History of Doctrine in the Church (TH528) which will replace Survey of Church History (IS515).
• A summer term will be added in 2009.
• Students will only be allowed to take one of the 8 week online classes at a time. Other distance ed format classes can be taken at the same time, as well as residential course and modular format classes.
• Since our online offerings will utilize an online vendor for delivery there will be a technology fee attached to every course of $125.00.
• Regarding grading, forty (40) percent of the course grade will be based upon the quality of work done on the discussion questions. Forty (40) percent of the course grade will be the presentation/major project. Twenty (20) percent of the course grade will involve doing additional online research and bibliography collection (better known as weblography) and other learning activities as deemed fitting for the material.

If you have any questions about this update please contact me by email:
Dr. Mark Soto