Lausanne World Pulse – An African Seminary Goes Online
By Rich Starcher
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Seven students participated in NEGST’s first |
Online learning is all the rage in many Western countries. Most instructors in African Bible colleges and seminaries are aware of its existence, but few have had firsthand experience as online learners, teachers or course designers. Many wonder whether true learning is possible using online delivery systems. Others, who may not doubt online learning’s legitimacy, are skeptical of a small African institution’s capacity to deliver education via the Internet.
Is it possible for an African seminary to use online delivery systems to achieve the same learning outcomes as in a face-to-face classroom setting? Do students in Africa have adequate knowledge of and access to information technology to complete an online course? Do small African schools have the technological capacity to deliver online courses?
What follows is an assessment of the first efforts by the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (NEGST) to offer online education. NEGST can serve as an example of a small school in a Majority World context offering online education.
The Course’s Origin
The online course was first taught January to March 2006. Seminary leadership approved this “experiment” with a view to better serve not only working students in Kenya but also students around the continent whose financial or family situations did not permit them to enter a fulltime, residential study program.
Hermeneutics was chosen as the first online course for three reasons. First, it was required for all NEGST masters degree programs. Hence, there was an ongoing need for the course. Second, several existing extension students had an immediate need for the course to advance their program of study. Third, as the instructor, I had previously taught hermeneutics for NEGST both on-campus and at an off-campus site.
The Students
Seven students completed the course: three Kenyans and four expatriate missionaries serving in Kenya (one American, one Brit and two Canadians of Romanian extraction). For three of the seven students, “Online Hermeneutics” was the first course they had taken from NEGST.
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Rich Starcher has served for over twenty years in three African countries under the auspices of the Evangelical Free Church of America. Most recently he was dean of extension studies at the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology. |