We believe that an educationally sound yet practical delivery system will provide the best mix of excellent educational training with the practical realities of life. The past thirty years has seen two major shifts in education delivery. First, institutions have been providing training through modules rather than residence based weekly classes. Second, more and more education has been available on the Internet. Our delivery system incorporates the best ideas from our changing educational environment. As a result, we have developed an Internet-enhanced modular delivery method. This allows students to remain in their location while making several trips to Lafayette to do their training. The following key phrases describe our delivery system (each of these aspects will be explained in more detail below):

§ Internet-Enhanced allows both students and/or professors to interact on assignments done off campus either before or after the residency requirement.

§ Modules are offered in both summer and winter for the student’s convenience and quicker program progression.

§ Two courses will be Independent Study allowing the student to complete the course from home while being supervised by a professor.

Internet Enhanced Off-Campus Assignments

Since students will only spend one week of the class in Lafayette there must be assigned work both before and after the class. While much of this work will be done independently there is also great benefit in student interaction. Depending on the particular professor, students will be expected to review the work of their fellow students and offer appropriate suggestions. This is to be done with kindness, but also with the intent of helping fellow classmates improve their work. This interaction will allow for tremendous learning opportunities off campus. FBS will develop a classroom interaction section on the website in order to facilitate course discussion during the external residency of each course. Since FBS will use a web-based delivery system we will not be able to provide individual technical support for computer problems. We will, of course, ensure the website is functioning properly. Therefore, potential students are strongly encouraged to have a computer not more than three years old with access to a reliable broadband Internet service.

Independent Study Courses

Two of the required twelve courses are independent studies. The first course BC802, is a counseling practicum that must be done within the student’s ministry context. We require at least 30 hours of counseling that can be evaluated by one of the FBS professors. Those students who desire to be NANC certified will find this class to be an ideal opportunity to complete NANC’s supervision requirements [note: any fees paid to NANC fellows for supervision are in addition to the costs associated with the course]. Second, BC901 is the Masters Culmination project. Each student will be assigned a series of counseling scenarios and the task is to develop a 6-week counseling plan associated with each scenario. The course is designed to help the student synthesize the truths learned in the classes and demonstrate counseling proficiency. There are no residency requirements for these independent study courses.