Syllabi from interim and spring semester at Bethel Seminary

In the past, I have benefitted greatly from schools and professors that have posted their syllabi online either institutionally or on their professor websites. See for example: Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary's (Hamilton Campus) syllabi and Fuller Theological Seminary's current and archived syllabi. So I wanted to post mine in case they would be helpful to anyone. Of course, I have the normal feelings of inadequacy that these courses still need a lot of work and certainly have holes and blindspots! (May I also mention that these syllabi get constantly revised! And that today the syllabus has been largely replaced by an elaborate Moodle website with readings, assignments, optional resources, etc. so these syllabi, though lengthy, may still have gaps such as missing page numbers.) But my feelings of reluctance are overcome by my desire to be a helpful resource; I'm one part offering my services to the rest of the body! A secondary benefit may be letting folks know of the good stuff happening at Bethel Seminary! And a terciary reason to post this is some explanation of why I have not been blogging or tweeting much! That's what 65 lectures between Jan 3 and May 22 will do to you! 

So, here they are: 

1. Missional Outreach and Evangelism - January Interim – Fully Online – 1.5 credits  Download 00 Syllabus ML507 Rowell 2014-01-04
   
2. Discipleship in Community – Spring (odd format of half semester class spread out through full semester Feb 1-May 31) – Fully Online – 1.5 credits.  Download 00 Syllabus ML506DI Rowell 2014-03-01
3. Discipleship in Community – Spring (first 1/2 of semester) – Traditional Format – Thursday evenings 7-10 pm – 1.5 credits  Download 00 Syllabus ML506 Rowell 2014-02-27
4. Missional Outreach and Evangelism - Spring (second 1/2 of semester) – Traditional Format – Thursday evenings 7-10 pm – 1.5 credits (Syllabus not yet finalized)
5. Introduction to Transformational Leadership – Spring – Traditional Format – Thursday mornings from 9 am-12 pm – 3 credits  Download 00 Syllabus ML523 Rowell 2014-02-26
6. Senior Integrative Seminar in Ministry Leadership – Spring – Hybrid Format – Significant online component but 3 full days of intensive classroom time on campus mid-semester – 3 credits  Download 00 Syllabus ML780 Rowell 2014-02-23
7. Contemporary Models of the Church – Spring – Fully Online – 3.0 credits and 1.5 credit students  Download 00 Syllabus ML714 Rowell 2014-03-24
   

 

Explanation of my load of courses:

I am having a great time but it is busy! 

My annual load is 21 credits or 7 3-credit courses per year. This semester I am teaching 6 courses (technically 4.5 courses) which adds up to 13.5 credits so it has been busy! 

This fall the powers-that-be intended to be kind to me–having me only teach 1 3-credit course and 2 1.5 credit courses (Introduction to Transformational Leadership; Missional Outreach and Evangelism; Discipleship in Community) which added up to 6 credits. Missional Outreach and Evangelism, and Discipleship in Community are sibling 1/2 courses of 1.5 credits each–i.e. together they make up a full course. I taught those two sibling courses in the traditional delivery format while the Introduction to Transformational Leadership course was taught in a hybrid format: significant online components but also 3 8-hour days of an intensive classroom experience on campus halfway through the semester. That was a nice reasonable load because they were all new preps for me. 

I also taught one intensive fully online course for 1.5 credits during the January Interim term (Missional Outreach and Evangelism).

But this semester the piper came calling and the big load arrived: Contemporary Models of the Church; Senior Integrative Seminar in Ministry Leadership; Discipleship in Community (traditional delivery and fully online sections), Introduction to Transformational Leadership, and Missional Outreach and Evangelism. Happily only those first two out of the six courses are new preps. I'm going to write another blog post about all I have learned about teaching online. In short, I am requiring weekly 1-page assignments so that students don't fall behind; I am grading them to keep the quality high; I am grading student comments or replies when I require them; using Adobe Connect to have online sessions where I present a PowerPoint and lead webcam, audio, and typed chat discussions, and recording those sessions so students who miss them can watch them and write a one-page response to them; and having optional Google Hangouts sessions where we chat over webcams.  

Finally, yes, I still need to turn in my dissertation to my committee and defend it. I'm doing that this summer! I'm ABD (All But Dissertation finished) in the Th.D. (Doctor of Theology) program at Duke Divinity School. I'm trying close my eyes and resist tantalizing writing assignments, conference presentation proposals, and speaking engagements so that I do this good Bethel Seminary teaching and finish the dissertation and see my family! I have to pay $2500 to Duke every semester for continuation tuition fees so that is even more incentive to finish.

Warm greetings to any readers out there.

Andy  

 

Andrew D. Rowell
Instructor of Ministry Leadership
Bethel Seminary
Th.D. Candidate (ABD) – Duke Divinity School
Mail Service Center box #7006
3949 Bethel Dr
Saint Paul, MN 55112
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AndyRowell