This four-part mini-series of blogs by our instructional designer, Dr. Martin LaGrow, will share the technical, logistical, and academic approach to building MLC’s first competency-based education program.

Ensuring Academic Rigor

Since its inception, Martin Luther College (and before that, Doctor Martin Luther College) has existed to prepare people to serve in the ministry of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Over a hundred years ago, for obvious reasons, not much thought was given to what “online delivery” of instruction might look like for our students! The college existed as a physical destination for students who, having grown up in the WELS, aspired to serve in the WELS just as their favorite pastors and teachers (and often parents) did.

In recent years, we have experienced an increase in potential students who do not fit this customary mold. Potential future ministry candidates are not always the students who have attended Luther Preparatory School, an area Lutheran high school, or even a Lutheran Elementary School. Many have come to know the WELS later in life and have an established home, family, job, and WELS church—and not the ability to easily uproot and relocate to attend college in person.

This explains three unique aspects of our nontraditional program.

First, we are designing the program for returning adult learners who are not able to complete their degree on our campus in New Ulm.

Second, these learners are not expected to attend classes in person, though there will be synchronous virtual sessions and meetings, and will complete the majority of their coursework in a flexibly paced online learning environment.

Third, we are designing for learners who may not have been exposed to years of WELS religion courses as the majority of our traditional undergrads have. This difference in background holds a few implications for how instruction is designed.

With the diverse backgrounds and experiences of our incoming students, we can make no assumption about their background in the study of doctrine. It is true that many may have grown up going to church all their lives and may have informal knowledge of doctrine. Others may be relatively new to the faith and learned all they know from their church’s new member information class. Either way, this gives us the opportunity to approach instruction with a “clean slate,” and the impetus to build our Bible History and Literature courses around reading the whole Bible and building our lessons with a guided approach to engaging with Scripture. Secondly, it encourages us to be thoughtful about providing our students with diverse faculty members. We rely strongly on learned and respected theology instructors that our traditional students see daily at Martin Luther College. However, others may be WELS associate faculty who are fluent in Lutheran doctrine but may have come to us through a less traditional background, giving them the unique ability to understand where our CBE students are coming from.

Each course in the CBTE Minor is planned and designed to leverage the online medium to prepare a returning adult learner to join the public ministry as a called worker. The courses cover the same topics as our traditional classes. They rely on many of the same resources that our traditional classes rely on. Instead of lecture sessions, learners engage with a series of videos created or curated by the instructor to explain the course’s concepts. Instead of worksheets, their readings are guided through focus questions and comprehension check quizzes. Instead of in-person discussions with their peers, online discussion boards and reflection journals encourage a deepening knowledge and thoughtful application of the course concepts.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the doctrinal integrity of our program is bolstered by the cooperation of our campus theology faculty, but it is not our only assurance that our learners are on the same footing as traditional students. The competencies, as described in previous blogs, represent the cooperation and hard work of our theology faculty in putting before CBTE learners on a path that leads them not just to a deeper understanding of Scriptural truths and doctrinal applications but to validate their personal study and effort to serve in the WELS ministry.

The end result is that the program of study looks different because it is designed for a different learner. However, the goals of MLC remain the same. To train men and women to meet the public ministry needs of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod.