Academics

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Writing Learning Objectives for Your Seminary Experience

I worked four years in a church staff position during and after college before deciding I needed to further my education by going to seminary. Those years were invaluable to my development, because I experienced ministry and discovered what I didn’t know and needed to learn before starting my studies. I wish [...]

Popularity: 81% [?]

May 5th, 2008 | Daryl Eldridge | 0 comments | Continued
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Using Mentors in Seminary

Having a learning coach or ministry mentor is a great way to leverage your seminary experience.
Our research on theological education as well as surveys with people in the field led us to make mentoring a significant part of our learning model. Many seminaries will involve mentoring during the last two semesters of their study [...]

Popularity: 90% [?]

April 28th, 2008 | Daryl Eldridge | 2 comments | Continued
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Lessons Learned about Online Learning

Five years ago, I left a residential seminary campus to start a fully online seminary from scratch, known today as Rockbridge. In my travels and discussions with ministers around the world, I discovered many ministers that wanted seminary training but didn’t feel called to leave their ministry fields in order to get it.
Technology [...]

Popularity: 89% [?]

April 21st, 2008 | Daryl Eldridge | 1 comment | Continued
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Shorter degrees

Here is an example of a guy who lived out my counsel on being judicious with your choice of degree.  This is a sensible exercise of triage.
Popularity: 78% [?]

Popularity: 78% [?]

February 7th, 2008 | Mark | 0 comments | Continued
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No one cares what your grades are, part two

Part one was addressed to the grade nerds. Today, I speak to the rest of you.
No one else may care what your grades are in seminary…. but you should.
(Fair warning. Those who know me know that one of my finger wagging episodes is only moments away.)
You should care about your grades, to the degree that [...]

Popularity: 56% [?]

February 6th, 2008 | Mark | 0 comments | Continued
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No one cares what your grades are, part one

In seminary, I was a grade-nerd. It started early in my academic career. I was in the gifted program from 3rd grade through high school. Once I discovered that I had academic gifts, I found I liked achieving well in that arena. And my parents never settled for less than I could do. In high [...]

Popularity: 55% [?]

February 4th, 2008 | Mark | 0 comments | Continued
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At the start of each class

Here are the questions you need to ask and answer at the beginning of each class:
1. Will this be among the 20% of most valuable classes, to which I should devote my best energy, or will it be one of the 80% that are (comparatively) low-value?
Many things go into this determination. Some classes you will [...]

Popularity: 42% [?]

January 30th, 2008 | Mark | 0 comments | Continued
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Sucking out the marrow (and spitting out the pits)

Back to planning your study. Again, I mention that our key idea here is triage. If you have time to devote full attention to every class (and your ministry and your job and your marriage and your health), then knock yourself out. If you’re one of the rest of us who has to let something [...]

Popularity: 42% [?]

January 28th, 2008 | Mark | 3 comments | Continued
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My Crummiest Classes

So if my top 20% of value came in 18 hours of classes, then surely I had a bottom 20%, too?
You bet I did. Here they are:
Old and New Testament (Four classes, 12 hrs) – Here the culprit was poor instructors. I had dithering graduate students for two of the four classes, and a stuffed [...]

Popularity: 43% [?]

January 17th, 2008 | Mark | 5 comments | Continued
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Classes Worth Taking

The reasons for the value of a class can vary widely. Some factors can be:

High-value books as part of assigned reading
High-value lectures – good information
High-value assignments which help you learn critical skills
High-value professors whose teaching, life and/or personal example are impactful

If the 80/20 principle holds true, then the highest value of my 92 hour M. [...]

Popularity: 41% [?]

January 15th, 2008 | Mark | 4 comments | Continued