Theological education is moving rapidly to keep pace with technological change through the use of computers, video, and online services.
But the price tag can be expensive. Asbury Theological Seminary, an evangelical interdenominational school, has spent $2.7 million to upgrade its facilities and link classrooms with state-of-the-art video, audio, and computerized resources on its Wilmore, Kentucky, campus.
“I think the sense of call and mission has been shaped and given substance by the possibilities that are now ours,” says president Maxie Dunnam.
While some seminaries are increasing their investments on campus, others are moving to a “distance-learning” model, using video and the Internet to train pastors and lay leaders off campus.
TRAILBLAZING SCHOOLS: Many of the 224 members in the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) are investigating how to use new technology in educational settings, according to Nancy Merrill, director of communications.
In addition to Asbury, other technological leaders include Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California; Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts; and Westminster Theological Seminary of Philadelphia.
There is good reason for the excitement at Asbury. Its ats 2000 project wired 14 buildings over 12 acres to provide campuswide digital computer, voice, and video communications.
Among the project’s array of features: an information-technology distribution center, satellite-receiving capabilities for video conferences, audio-video studio, and a library system with multiple cd-roms that are accessible from any campus classroom.
For the moment, a full-fledged distance-learning program is on hold, although it is still part of Asbury’s vision, according to Ken Boyd, director of information technologies. “We can’t stop here,” he says. Besides setting up a home page on the Internet’s World Wide Web, the school is negotiating to broadcast some courses via satellite to Zarephath Bible College in New Jersey.
IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES: Though its forms vary from satellite to interactive video to online computer services and the Internet, distance learning has captured the imagination of other seminaries across the nation.
Last March, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary established its first distance-learning hookup with its regional campus in the Atlanta area. Two-way video conferences are carried between a specially equipped classroom and Georgia over digital phone lines–giving it an interactive feature not always available via satellite.
The school plans to broadcast to the rest of its six graduate and three undergraduate centers around the South as funds become available. Jimmy Dukes, assistant provost and dean of the undergraduate faculty, sees this telecommunications effort as having wider implications.
“Taking theological education to where the people are is very much an effort to fulfill the Great Commission,” he says. “We see that as an important part of our mission.”
However, with tie-ins between commercial online services and desktop-computer video conferencing in sight by 1998, some observers believe the computer will dominate the “virtual campus.”
Two seminaries in the Midwest already offer online classes. Bethel Theological Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, uses America Online; while Newburgh, Indiana’s Trinity College and Seminary, a school not accredited by the ATS, maintains a forum on CompuServe.
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, also is preparing to use the Internet in its master of divinity program. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Fort Worth, Texas, offers a course each semester via satellite.
Gordon-Conwell last month installed phone lines in embarking on a distance-learning program with its campus in Charlotte, North Carolina. Gordon-Conwell executive vice president John Lindberg says the broadcasts are part of an overall technology upgrade that will cost between $2 million and $3 million.
A significant percentage of theology students in the United States are exchanging assignments, coursework, and class discussions over the networks.
Tom Johnson, Bethel’s executive vice president, says the school set up online instruction to meet the needs of pastors who never completed their theological degree. “People find they need more preparation but are locked in–whether by finances, their schedule, or the logistics–and don’t feel free to come back to campus for an extended period of time,” he says.
CAMPUS WITHOUT STUDENTS? Bethel’s classes are not handled solely via computer. Professors also use new telephones to set up 12-way conference calls for class discussions. Twice a year the Baptist General Conference affiliate mixes eight weeks of online activity with two weeks of on-campus studies.
Although he acknowledges there are problems with limited personal contact, Johnson says the program provides access that did not exist before.
For 15 years, students have graduated through Trinity Newburgh’s correspondence programs. Today, standard course guides and audiotapes are quickly giving way to its year-old CompuServe forum. Nearly 10 percent of the student body has chosen assignments via online technology.
“It meets the challenge of today’s learning,” says Trinity vice president Dennis Frey, who is based in Saint Louis. “We can share information and resources, and the [student] savings are incredible.”
While these schools have adapted to computerized contact, the question remains whether other tradition-rich campuses will accept the idea of graduating those they cannot see in person.
“I don’t think the day will come for Asbury,” President Dunnam says. “We feel strongly about the role of community in ministry. Our use of technology is not removing the personal dimension here.”
But Dukes in New Orleans disagrees. He envisions the day when off-site degrees will be commonplace.
“I hope we come to the point where we can adapt to the technology and provide people an education wherever they are,” Dukes says. “The technology is available. We just have to decide how best to use it.”
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