My undergraduate and master’s degree programs were done in a residential setting with a traditional delivery pattern: daytime classes, Monday-Friday, featuring talking heads. I took notes and tried to digest them before I regurgitated them for the test. As a single young adult, this worked for me—mostly. When my doctoral program started six years later, life was more complicated. I was working full time and married with one child, who was quickly followed by children two and three. The early evening, one or two nights a week format for most of my doctoral program made a difficult situation doable. For one class we actually sat in a lab and used a word processing computer to do a paper! What a change!

This is the season for “intensives” at Bethel. InMinistry seminarians and Ed.D. students in the Graduate School are on campus for the intensive face-to-face part of their programs. Most of the rest is done online. For these very busy people, up to their eyeballs in work, family, and life, these nontraditional delivery models make higher education possible. Were it not for these models, their dream of higher education would not happen.

Bethel Seminary has been the leader among seminaries in innovative delivery systems. We have encouraged the Association of Theological Schools to expand their view of effective education. While there are pros and cons to each delivery model, the research shows that this combination of on line and face-to-face can be very effective in achieving the holistic educational goals that we have for students. We know that nontraditional models are not just for seminarians or working adults. Thousands of high school students are taking courses on line and hundreds of thousands of learners are doing all or part of their university work on line. New models, using the technology of tomorrow, will help meet the need for an educated pastorate, workforce, and citizenry and may help to drive down the total cost of a degree. I am glad for Bethel’s commitment to continue as a leader in thinking outside of the box in delivering effective, life-transforming education.