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DISTANCE
EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT
Birmingham Theological Seminary's Department of
Distance Education is experiencing substantial
growth! Just a few years ago, BTS offered courses
via distance education via media such as audio
cassettes and some video cassettes. The department
was based on a library-type system, where students
could check-out course material and return it upon
completion. This meant that if one student had
the material checked out (up to 16 weeks), other
students simply had to wait, often being placed
on a waiting list. It also meant that the school
had to maintain the costs of video and audio tape
replacements when someone accidentally taped the
football game over their Old Testament tape.
The Department of Distance Education at BTS has
been working over the last 3 years to offer courses
that take advantage of new technology. We began
by creating Interactive CD-ROMs that can be used
in any computer. A complete semester's worth of
course material and lectures can fit on one CD-ROM,
making shipping much easier for us, and use much
easier for the students. Also, the media becomes
the property of the student so that they do not
have to return it. It becomes a resource that they
can use again and again not only in their training
but later on in their ministry. The administrative
tasks involved in maintaining the library-type system were removed
and there are no more waiting lists for students.
When a student is ready to take a class, they simply
register and we mail them the CD. They have 16
weeks to complete the course material. The interactive
CD-ROM is ideal for anyone, but especially for
business people who travel with a laptop (no more
idle time in hotel rooms) and missionaries who
would have a hard time transporting a stack of
audio or video tapes, course supplements and other
paperwork that are now all on one CD.
Our desire in doing this work was still to be able
to one day offer our courses on video via DVD.
However, the costs involved in video production
prohibited us from making this move. In 2004, a
generous gift of $10,000 was given to BTS specifically
for distance education. With this gift, we were
able to purchase a low-end camera, a computer with
video editing software, and the necessary audio
equipment to begin production of our first courses
on DVD.
In March 2005, we released our first DVD. The course
was ST3526 Systematic Theology 1, by Dr. Jeff
Lowman. The exciting thing about the DVDs is that
they are indexed according to Dr. Lowman's outline.
This makes it easy for the student to navigate
exactly to the point in the lecture series where
they need to pick up (by chapter markings). More
so, however, the student now has a resource to put
on their shelf that enables them to come back years
later and refresh themselves on a particular subject.
That in itself is an invaluable tool. Imagine reading
about "sacerdotalism" and trying to remember exactly
what it means and what the orthodox perspective
is on the matter. You can simply look on the outline
(much like you'd look at the back of a movie DVD
you rent from Blockbuster) and go to the disc and
chapter that covers sacerdotalism. Or the student
could show a brief clip in a Sunday School class.
The final product is more than a tool for students
to use to achieve their educational goals. It becomes
a tool that students can use for life.
Our tuition at Birmingham Theological Seminary is
still just $70 per credit hour. This is one-fifth
of the national average (according to the National
Center for Educational Statistics). This means,
in essence, that every student receives a scholarship.
In other words, quality, practical theological
education is very affordable. Our distance education
program makes this available to students whose
schedules and locations prohibit them from attending
our live classes. These students pay the same rate
of tuition and a material fee of $40 for courses
on interactive CD-ROM and $80 on DVD. These materials
then become the permanent property of the student.
These material fees help defer some of the costs
associated with the distance education program,
but do not cover near the total costs of such an
operation.
Therefore, we invite you to consider how you or
your church or business might partner with Birmingham
Theological Seminary to extend our educational
opportunities beyond Birmingham and Alabama. Your
donation is completely tax-deductible and all funds
are overseen by a board of directors who care about
the stewardship of our entire institution. BTS
is also externally audited annually or we have
a compilation.
Equipment costs are our greatest needs at present.
A few specific needs include:
1. External storage space – We are presently using a 1
TB external storage device with 2 other smaller
devices. Although this functions, it is slow and
risky. Our desire is to one day work off of an
array that will provide enough storage space with
the needed redundancy and speed to prevent data
loss. This will cost between $10,000 and $15,000.
2. DVD duplicator – At present it takes
several hours to burn and print DVDs for 1 course.
This is not efficient
with our time or our equipment (we're using a DVD-Recorder
with a built-in HD for this task that was not built
to produce this volume of media). We need a duplicator
that will handle burning and printing in one step.
Cost ranges from $10,000 to $12,000, depending
on features and performance. This is currently
our highest-priority need.
3. Pro Camera – We are presently using a consumer line
"prosumer" camera that delivers decent results,
but lacks the "polish" of the professional
line cameras as well as the features. We hope to
have the funds to purchase a professional camera
taht will deliver the results that give our courses
the greatest longevity and effectiveness possible.
The cost is between $3000-$5000.
4. Audio & Lighting Equipment – We have
one wireless mic but would benefit from adding
a second lavaliere to accommodate multiple
speakers, but also to serve as a backup for technical
difficulties (which
we have previously encountered with our one
mic). We would also benefit from additional boom
mics for capturing the questions and comments from
students. Lighting equipment would improve our
image quality and give us a more consistent product.
These costs are varied.
These are just a few of the known costs we are facing at present.
There are also ongoing costs for media (tape, CDs,
DVDs, ink, cases, etc...).
Please prayerfully consider how you might participate in this
work. If you have any questions about the program,
feel free to contact the seminary.
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