11-22-2018, 12:03 PM
Good Morning and Happy Thanksgiving!
I haven't been quite as active on the boards recently. One of the reasons is that I have been working on courses at Nations University. Many people on this forum will know that Nations University is a nationally accredited distance university headquartered in New Orleans, LA and whose founders are associated with the Churches of Christ. NationsU is itself nondenominational. Here is an update of what I have experienced so far.
I originally applied to study at Nations U in December of last year. The price of attendance per year was about to increase from $960 to $1483.20 per year. I wasn't sure at the time if I was going to follow through with attendance at that time. I was in the process of finishing a number of degrees at TESU. At the time, I was taking a lot of finance/accounting courses/exams and I started to think about the $80 per month fee as an option. Would I pay $80 for the chance later to decide that I wanted to take these courses? I decided yes, so I signed up.
In the January/February time frame, I kicked the tires a little bit and took a few exams. I liked the courses, but then the Harvard graduate English classes popped up and started taking those and I stopped the NationsU classes again. The Harvard classes have been progressing so well, that I decided to start taking the NationsU classes again in September. I am sure that the people at NationsU kind of wondered what I was doing because I was very random. In fact, I spent most of the time between September and now just taking exam after exam. I think that I am up to about 60 completed exams now - a combination of courses within the BRS, MTS and MDiv. programs. Most of the classes require three exams and two papers. I haven't been in the mood to write a lot of papers right now because of my work schedule, so I have just been taking exams. While the degree programs require tripwire comprehensive proctored exams, the system has allowed me to take exams from pretty much every class that I have wanted to take exams for. So, some evenings, I want to think a lot about Hinduism, so I take the comparative religions class on Hinduism/Christianity. Some nights I want to think about one of the Gospels, so I take a class related to that subject.
I find the in-class exams to be challenging, but not impossible. I study a little bit, take the exams and score between 65 and 95. 70 is a passing score. I have failed probably five of the in-class exams, but mostly at the 65 percent level. The exams allow for three attempts. I have not taken the second exam on any that I have failed because I will just come back to them later and study more. I am not sure what happens if all three attempts are taken without passing. Do they just factor the highest score into the percentage? I don't know and I am not really in a big hurry to find out. My failing scores have all been near-misses, so I figure that if I spend more time on the subjects, I will pass.
I was not quite sure about the theological content of these course at the beginning. I am a slightly-left-of-center Catholic and Democrat. While NationsU is non-denominational, it does have a history and staff with connections to the Churches of Christ. I wasn't sure how I would relate to this theology, but I have been pleasantly surprised. I would say that 90% of the content is completely in line with my somewhat progressive Catholic beliefs. There certainly are some concepts for which I am a bit to the left, but I like to learn and the theology is interesting. I don't think that I have to agree with everything that I am being taught and there is a lot that is useful here for a progressive Christian. I also very much admire the founders of this university for wanting to spread a thoughtful and learned Christianity around the world. I think that the mission here is excellent.
I do have an extensive background in the subject matter. My father is a Catholic deacon and I spent my entire childhood helping my dad to write homilies and minister to a Catholic parish. I was a peer minister at the campus parish in Ann Arbor while I was in college. During that time, I facilitated Bible study groups, ran Catholic/Jewish/Muslim dialogue classes, served as an interfaith student council president and was involved with a successful effort to rewrite the University of Michigan policy on religious holidays for students. I helped to organize and speak at several academic conferences related to the role of religion on a college campus and within the local Catholic community. I love the idea with this program that I can carry on my dad's tradition of service and faith without having to quit my current job or attend a seminary.
How useful will these degrees be within a Catholic context? Well, I found the following links:
https://www.nacc.org/certification/board...#Education
The National Association of Catholic Chaplains states that institutions listed by the DEAC are acceptable for certification. In theory, NationsU would meet this standard.
https://www.navac.net/board-certified-chaplain
This is a site related to VA chaplains and it notes that degrees must be recognized by the DOE.
https://www.patientcare.va.gov/chaplain/...mation.asp
This is the VA web site and notes the CHEA as an acceptable accrediting agency.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone and Go Lions!
I haven't been quite as active on the boards recently. One of the reasons is that I have been working on courses at Nations University. Many people on this forum will know that Nations University is a nationally accredited distance university headquartered in New Orleans, LA and whose founders are associated with the Churches of Christ. NationsU is itself nondenominational. Here is an update of what I have experienced so far.
I originally applied to study at Nations U in December of last year. The price of attendance per year was about to increase from $960 to $1483.20 per year. I wasn't sure at the time if I was going to follow through with attendance at that time. I was in the process of finishing a number of degrees at TESU. At the time, I was taking a lot of finance/accounting courses/exams and I started to think about the $80 per month fee as an option. Would I pay $80 for the chance later to decide that I wanted to take these courses? I decided yes, so I signed up.
In the January/February time frame, I kicked the tires a little bit and took a few exams. I liked the courses, but then the Harvard graduate English classes popped up and started taking those and I stopped the NationsU classes again. The Harvard classes have been progressing so well, that I decided to start taking the NationsU classes again in September. I am sure that the people at NationsU kind of wondered what I was doing because I was very random. In fact, I spent most of the time between September and now just taking exam after exam. I think that I am up to about 60 completed exams now - a combination of courses within the BRS, MTS and MDiv. programs. Most of the classes require three exams and two papers. I haven't been in the mood to write a lot of papers right now because of my work schedule, so I have just been taking exams. While the degree programs require tripwire comprehensive proctored exams, the system has allowed me to take exams from pretty much every class that I have wanted to take exams for. So, some evenings, I want to think a lot about Hinduism, so I take the comparative religions class on Hinduism/Christianity. Some nights I want to think about one of the Gospels, so I take a class related to that subject.
I find the in-class exams to be challenging, but not impossible. I study a little bit, take the exams and score between 65 and 95. 70 is a passing score. I have failed probably five of the in-class exams, but mostly at the 65 percent level. The exams allow for three attempts. I have not taken the second exam on any that I have failed because I will just come back to them later and study more. I am not sure what happens if all three attempts are taken without passing. Do they just factor the highest score into the percentage? I don't know and I am not really in a big hurry to find out. My failing scores have all been near-misses, so I figure that if I spend more time on the subjects, I will pass.
I was not quite sure about the theological content of these course at the beginning. I am a slightly-left-of-center Catholic and Democrat. While NationsU is non-denominational, it does have a history and staff with connections to the Churches of Christ. I wasn't sure how I would relate to this theology, but I have been pleasantly surprised. I would say that 90% of the content is completely in line with my somewhat progressive Catholic beliefs. There certainly are some concepts for which I am a bit to the left, but I like to learn and the theology is interesting. I don't think that I have to agree with everything that I am being taught and there is a lot that is useful here for a progressive Christian. I also very much admire the founders of this university for wanting to spread a thoughtful and learned Christianity around the world. I think that the mission here is excellent.
I do have an extensive background in the subject matter. My father is a Catholic deacon and I spent my entire childhood helping my dad to write homilies and minister to a Catholic parish. I was a peer minister at the campus parish in Ann Arbor while I was in college. During that time, I facilitated Bible study groups, ran Catholic/Jewish/Muslim dialogue classes, served as an interfaith student council president and was involved with a successful effort to rewrite the University of Michigan policy on religious holidays for students. I helped to organize and speak at several academic conferences related to the role of religion on a college campus and within the local Catholic community. I love the idea with this program that I can carry on my dad's tradition of service and faith without having to quit my current job or attend a seminary.
How useful will these degrees be within a Catholic context? Well, I found the following links:
https://www.nacc.org/certification/board...#Education
The National Association of Catholic Chaplains states that institutions listed by the DEAC are acceptable for certification. In theory, NationsU would meet this standard.
https://www.navac.net/board-certified-chaplain
This is a site related to VA chaplains and it notes that degrees must be recognized by the DOE.
https://www.patientcare.va.gov/chaplain/...mation.asp
This is the VA web site and notes the CHEA as an acceptable accrediting agency.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone and Go Lions!
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