Issue No. 19, December 2014

Greetings,

Helping Students Develop their Own Character

No Retreat, No Surrender with Kurt McKinney and Jean-Claude van Damme, The Karate Kid with Ralph Macchio and William Zabka, and (my all time personal favorite) Rocky with Sylvester Stallone and Carl Weathers. What do they all have in common? They are all movies about underdogs who, against all odds, compete against bigger, badder, more seasoned competition. More importantly, the underdogs have a wise trainer who prepares them for the battle ahead.

The 2008 movie Never Back Down continues stands on the shoulders of the cinematic triumphs noted above. Never Back Down portrays Jake Tyler, a high-school transfer student whose temper has become a problem after the death of his father. Ryan McCarthy, the resident MMA expert, want to make sure the new guy is put in his place, so he beats him up at a party. Jake seeks revenge by training at the local MMA studio where he meets his “Mr. Miagi” in the form of Jean Roqua. 1 Roqua teaches Jake to control his anger and develop slick MMA moves. One of the most important things he teaches Jake, however, is to “control the outcome.” He impresses upon Jake that no matter what the situation, Jake controls the outcome. His mistakes, his ability, his discipline and preparedness all impact the outcome of a fight. With that knowledge (spoiler alert!!!), Jake ultimately wins the fight, the girl, and the respect of his adversary.

Our students need to realize that they are in an uphill battle. They are working against culture, against their own tendencies, and against the urgent, seemingly necessary tasks of this life. What we need to help them realize is that, in some sense, they “control the outcome.” Things don’t generally just happen. We don’t simply find ourselves in situations we can’t handle. Instead, we usually ignore the small steps that have happened over days, weeks, months, and years that we could have taken but didn’t that would have given us the capacity to live faithfully regardless of the situation.

As we interact with students, we need to emphasize with them the importance of the small, obedient steps taken day to day. It is through the consistent, obedient ownership of their faith lived out across their lives that our students will ultimately do great things for the Lord.

Blessings, James

It seems hard to believe, but Moody has been involved in distance learning for nearly 115 years! In the early days, we were pioneers in providing correspondence courses to students across our country. As technology continued to advance, we again were pioneers who moved into providing education through the Radio School of the Bible, which ran for nearly ninety years. We also offered evening school courses on the Chicago campus and at other sites across the country (including places like Ohio, Florida, Illinois, Spokane and other locations). MTS has utilized modular courses 2 for over twenty years as an additional way to reach our students. We’ve also had a variety of continuing education courses that have been offered throughout the decades. Then, almost fifteen years ago, we moved into the brave new world of providing classes in an online format (Vincent).

Through each of these transitions, we’ve kept some technology, added new technology, and we have even left some technology behind as the times have changed. It takes different skills and abilities to effectively teach students in each of these various teaching venues. As I reflect on how I have taught traditional face-to-face classes over the past twenty years and even as I think through my online teaching methods over the past six or seven years, I am amazed at how much has changed! For instance, in my traditional in-seat courses, I haven’t accepted paper assignments for over a decade…I’ve expected students to utilize the Learning Management System to submit all assignments. Or what began as weekly written announcements for my online and blended classes have now become variations on video announcements.

Just before Thanksgiving, I was participating in a webinar where the instructor explained their university requires all faculty to go through a training process before teaching online classes. They refer to this as getting their “digital driver’s license”. One of Dr. Spencer’s goals for us is that each of us will successfully complete the Faculty Training Course as we move forward. We have been working with this course for both new and veteran faculty members over the past two years and we continue to hear from both sets of faculty about how much they learn through this course. We are offering the course again February 2 to March 9 and then from May 18 to June 22. So, if you’ve been driving your online course around with a driver’s license that was designed for driving a correspondence course, let me know and I’ll get you signed up for the class so you can upgrade your license from an analog version to a brand new and exciting digital drivers’ license!

For more information about the history of MBI-DL, I encourage you to read:

Getz, Gene. MBI: The Story of the Moody Bible Institute. Chicago: Moody Press, 1986. Print.

Vincent, James M. The MBI Story: The Vision and Worldwide Impact of the Moody Bible Institute. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2011. Print.

Blessings,

MBI-DL Awards First Digital Badge

The MBI-DL MERGE ePortfolio project continues to expand and offer instructors a means of connecting with each other and with their students through the community of educators in distance learning. Last month we introduced several faculty members who have created their faculty ePortfolio and we are now celebrating the awarding of our first digital badge to Dr. Richard Hayes.

Dr. Hayes is the first to complete the seven elements of the ePortfolio known as the “Signature Seven”. Curious as to how a wildly busy pastor who is not a digital native managed to make adoption of new technology a priority, I scheduled a phone interview. Immediately I realized that Dr. Hayes is forward-thinking and that he has his eye on equipping students to have the greatest impact for Christ. In a calm yet convincing voice, he conveyed passion for making a difference in the lives of students, “I want students to be closer to Christ as a result of taking a course with me.” This passion is the driving force behind Dr. Hayes completing his ePortfolio so quickly and his desire to share it with students and faculty alike.

When asked about the adoption of new technology he replied, “I enjoy new technology and I enjoy the challenge of learning new things. Technology is the wave of the future.” Dr. Hayes also pointed out the importance of remaining relevant to students, “We see the expectations of students today and that they are using technology every day. If we don’t participate in technologies that students are familiar with we will not seem relevant to them.”

Clearly technology was not a barrier to the creation of his ePortfolio but there was one area where he did struggle: the Personal Mission Statement. Like so many of us, Dr. Hayes was 4 uncomfortable with writing about himself, his passions and how he felt he brought value to the classroom. He used his “phone a friend” option and asked his daughter to contribute to his thinking in this arena. This spurred him on to complete the mission statement and his philosophy of education.

Dr. Hayes found the creation of his ePortfolio rewarding and he experienced a refocusing of his intentions, “This project caused me to reflect on what is really important. What do I want my students to do as a result of taking a course with me?” Amen, Dr. Hayes!

Click HERE to learn more about the MBI-DL Merge ePortfolio Project.

To have your ePortfolio reviewed, email your MBI-DL ePortfolio to [email protected].

Over the past month I’ve received notification from several instructors that they too have completed the basic elements of the ePortfolio and are ready for ePortfolio review. I look forward to receiving even more invitations in the coming days and weeks and hope to hear how this experience has impacted your call to teach at Moody Distance Learning.

Blessings,

Russ Meek recently wrote the article "Intertextuality, Inner- Biblical Allusion, and Inner-Biblical Exegesis: The Ethics of a Methodology" Biblica 85 (2014): 280-91.

The Biblical Theology Bulletin published David Wenkel's article, "Jesus at Age 30: Further Evidence for Luke's Portrait of a Priestly Jesus?" Edited by Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Constantine R. Campbell, and Michael J. Thate. 5 DON’T MISS THIS

• Please make sure that all final grades are submitted in Campus Solutions as soon as possible after the end of your courses…no later than two weeks after the course is completed.

• Please make room in your schedules to participate in person, online, or via the radio with this year’s Founder’s Week.

• For those who are teaching in the Online 8-Week format, please make sure to complete your self-assessment for the October- December term when you get the email from IOTA.

• For all venues that use student surveys to get feedback from students, please encourage your students to complete them. We are able to use this information to constantly improve the quality of instruction that students receive.