Introduction

Foundation 1

Foundational Study of Church’s Ministry, Credits 6

Introduction

credits 6

This course is an online course and you may not have taken one just like this one before, so you should read this:

	The course consists of some physical books you are required to buy, plus this web site and all the materials on it, plus a discussion board. The discussion board is where most of the interaction takes place.
	You participate by reading the required texts and writing papers, but the most important aspect of the class is the discussion board. Several times a week, you will come to the Web site and log in to the discussion board, reading the new messages you find there. To some of these messages you will write a reply. Other times, you'll come in order to post your own, new messages.
	Some students check in on the class every day. Some do so only a couple of times a week. In general, I've found those who get better grades are also the ones who participate more frequently and more consistently in discussion, so it's in your own interest to be active.
	The discussion board is a multi-layered conversation, with an important difference. While it's ok in general conversation or casual meeting to talk off the top of ones head, here I expect you to verify your facts, to consult the texts, and to make your discussion better informed than is found in casual conversation.
	You submit papers via direct e-mail or via postal mail.
	That's it. Read a lot; write a lot; learn a lot. It's worth stating specifically that class participation is asynchronous--there's no real-time component, no time of day when you have to be on-line. But you cannot drop out for weeks at a time, either. If you miss a week of participation, you will work double to make it up--that's just time lost. Being in this class is every bit as time-consuming as any other class; it's just that you are given the opportunity to decide which hours you'll spend in study.