CBTE Milwaukee Cohort Now Accepting Applications

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MLC is excited to partner with St. Marcus to offer a CBTE cohort for Milwaukee-area faculty, staff, and supporters for our Lutheran Elementary Schools. The cohort will start their classes in January 2025 and meet in person at the St. Marcus North campus once a week for one hour. Learners will complete two classes each term, and most of their coursework will be completed online.

This cohort is also piloting something new. The courses offered will support those who are not licensed teachers but want to be able to better serve their home congregation or school and those who are licensed teachers already serving in our Lutheran Elementary Schools. Learners in this cohort will complete most of their courses together. In the final term of classes, learners who do not yet have a teaching license will be enrolled in THE 4001 Lutheran Confessional Writing, and the learners who do hold a teaching license will be enrolled in EDU 9540 Principles of Christian Education.

Term Course 1 Course 2
Spring 2025:  January 5 – April 25, 2025 THE1001 Biblical History and Literature I 3 credits THE3001 Christian Doctrine I 3 credits
Summer 2025:  May 1 – August 20, 2025 THE1002 Biblical History and Literature II 3 credits THE3002 Christian Doctrine II 3 credits
Fall 2024: Sept 1 – December 20, 2025 THE2001 Biblical History and Literature III 3 credits THE4001 Lutheran Confessional Writing 3 credits (not licensed)
EDU9540 Principles of Christian Education 3 credits (licensed teachers)

Tuition for these six classes is $5100, or $1700 per term.

All applications must be completed online using the MLC Application form. On the enrollment page of the application, be sure to select “CBE” for your program to make sure your application is shared with the Director of Nontraditional Education Program for consideration.

You will also need to provide copies of official transcripts from all institutions of higher education that you have attended, if you still need to send those in, as well as a personal statement and letter of reference. Tips for completing the personal statement and letter of reference are available on our webpage. You can save your progress and return to complete your application.

If you have questions about the CBTE Milwaukee Cohort or the application process, please contact Dr. Nichole LaGrow, Director of the Nontraditional Education Program.

Application Portal for January Cohort Now Open

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The CBTE program is designed to start a new cohort each term. As our first cohort of learners has settled into the first term of classes, it is time to open the application portal for our next cohort. The second cohort will start their classes in January 2025.

Term Course 1 Course 2
Spring 2025:  January 5 – April 25, 2025 THE1001 Biblical History and Literature I 3 credits THE3001 Christian Doctrine I 3 credits
Summer 2025:  May 1 – August 20, 2025 THE1002 Biblical History and Literature II 3 credits THE3002 Christian Doctrine II 3 credits
Fall 2024: Sept 1 – December 20, 2025 THE2001 Biblical History and Literature III 3 credits THE4001 Lutheran Confessional Writing 3 credits

Tuition for these six classes is $5100, or $1700 per term.

Please note that the CBTE Minor includes an hour-long weekly meeting of the three terms. This cohort will meet on Monday evenings.

All applications must be completed online using the MLC Application form. On the enrollment page of the application, be sure to select “CBE” for your program to make sure your application is shared with the Director of Nontraditional Education Program for consideration.

You will also need to provide copies of official transcripts from all institutions of higher education that you have attended, if you still need to send those in, as well as a personal statement and letter of reference. Tips for completing the personal statement and letter of reference are available on our webpage. You can save your progress and return to complete your application.

If you have questions about the CBTE Minor or the application process, please contact Dr. Nichole LaGrow, Director of the Nontraditional Education Program.

What are MLC’s CBTE courses like?

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Grounded in Scripture and Doctrine

The six courses of the Competency-Based Theology Education (CBTE) Minor are, first and foremost, grounded in Scripture and doctrine.

The three Biblical History and Literature courses focus your attention on the Bible. These courses are built around weekly readings from the Bible. Each week your readings are guided through focus questions to consider as you read, reflection journaling to understand your deepening awareness of God’s Word, and discussion boards to share your thoughts and questions within your cohort. The weekly synchronous meeting is an opportunity to engage in dialogue with the professor and your cohort members to connect your independent work to your growing awareness of what it means to be a redeemed child of God.

Christian Doctrine I and II are more asynchronous, though there are optional individual or small group review sessions with the faculty member. Each week the class focuses on a different central tenet of our shared faith as WELS, ELS, or WELS-affiliated Christians. These courses rely on low-stakes self-assessments, targeted videos, reflection journals, and interactive discussion boards to discover the connection between what we believe and why we believe it. Each unit in the course closes with a test to see how you have grown in your understanding from the self-assessments completed as you move through the unit’s content. There are also a few short papers and projects in these courses to apply what you are learning to your future work in the public ministry.

In Lutheran Confessional Writing, learners closely study the works collected in the Book of Concord (1580). These documents may be over 400 years old, but they continue to guide our profession of faith. In fact, those who serve in the public ministry of the WELS are called upon to affirm that they believe that the Unaltered Augsburg Confession is a true exposition of the Word of God and a correct presentation of the doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and that the other confessions in the Book of Concord are also in agreement with this one scriptural faith: the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Small and Large Catechisms of Martin Luther, the Smalcald Articles, and the Formula of Concord during their induction service. Thus, studying these works is not only important for us to understand and share our shared faith but also to understand what we are called to uphold as ministers of the Gospel.

But wait,that sounds a lot like a traditional class. What makes this different?

Each of these six courses is structured as a three-credit class completed over fifteen weeks, so they can appear to be very similar to a traditional, on-campus offering. The difference is that CBTE courses are built around competencies rather than objectives or outcomes. Learners must demonstrate each knowledge, skill, attitude, and behavior associated with their courses. They cannot pass a course if they have not successfully achieved each competency for that course. These competencies are often mapped to authentic assessments. In our CBTE courses, for example, a learner may be asked to craft a devotion or Bible study or create an infographic to explain a specific tenet of our doctrine. The end result is that the courses may feel similar to a traditional, on-campus course’s pacing, but the content is organized to align with competencies and designed for returning adult learners with varied lived experiences to incorporate into their learning experience.

 

Transferring Completed Coursework

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Transfer Credit Practice

Returning Adult Learners often have completed coursework or degrees at other institutions. They may have dozens of credits to consider. Incorporating these credits into their academic record at MLC expedites their path to completing their course of study as they continue. While we grant as much credit as we can for prior coursework, we do apply the same discernment to our new CBE learners as we do to any transfer course.

The following criteria must be met to transfer in credit for coursework completed at another institution of higher education:

  • If the institution is in the United States or its territories, it must be accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting body.
  • If the institution is outside of the United States or its territories, the transcript must be evaluated by a member of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services.
  • The course(s) transferred in must be credit-bearing. Audits and non-credit courses will not be considered.
  • The course(s) transferred in must be significantly similar to courses included in the current MLC catalog at the time of transfer. Our typical rule of thumb is that the course is at least 2/3  similar to our offering.
  • An earned grade of at least a C must be recorded on the official transcript received by MLC directly from the sending institution.

CBTE Minor

Right now, CBE learners can only engage in the CBTE Minor. The six courses that constitute the CBTE Minor must be completed at a WELS or WELS-affiliated institution. So learners can only apply select courses that were completed at MLC, Bethany Lutheran College, or Wisconsin Lutheran College to the current course of study.

APPLE

Once APPLE is approved and learners can enroll in that course of study, courses will be considered for the degree program’s General Education, Required Content, and Professional Education offerings. Decisions regarding the alignment of previous coursework with MLC’s General Education and Required Content offerings will be applied to all learners in the program using the MLC Potential Transfer Equivalency resource as a guide. Any pedagogy or teaching methodology courses will be considered for each individual learner by MLC’s Education Licensure Office and may require additional supporting documentation, e.g., course syllabi from the sending institution, in order to receive transfer credit.

SME — What Does That Mean?

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Acronyms are pretty prevalent across the synod and our campus. LES? Lutheran Elementary School. ALHS? Area Lutheran High School. BIC? Bible Information Class. DP? District President.

As we build our CBE (competency-based education) programming at MLC (Martin Luther College), we are adding a few new acronyms to our WELS (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod) vocabulary.

You may have heard our instructional designer or director refer to SME. What is SME?

SME, pronounced “smee,” is not just the loveable pirate sidekick in Peter Pan. SME, as an acronym, stands for Subject Matter Expert.

A SME has a blend of knowledge and experiences based on the courses that they are working to design. At MLC, they must meet the same qualifications established by our accrediting body, The Higher Learning Commission, for instructional faculty. That is, they must demonstrate the achievement of academic credentials, progress toward academic credentials, equivalent experience, or some combination thereof in the course they are helping us design. Many of the SME’s for the CBE programming are either currently teaching or have taught at MLC, so they have academic credentials, professional experience, and college teaching experience.

Each course design project relies on one or more SMEs to curate and create the course content, activities, and assessments. SMEs are not tasked with creating something entirely separate from our existing academic programming. Their content must all map to course competencies, program outcomes, and signature assessments established by MLC department chairs and faculty. However, how that content is delivered and assessed often looks very different in a digital learning environment.

The best course design really relies on collaboration. There must be a partnership between the SME and the instructional designer. The instructional designer has the technological expertise and the pedagogical practices to help create the content in our online learning environment. The conversations between the SME and the instructional designer explore how technology can be leveraged to create a rich and rigorous learning experience that is aligned with the academic goals of our on-campus offerings.

 

OER — What Does That Mean?

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Acronyms are pretty prevalent across the synod and our campus. LES? Lutheran Elementary School. ALHS? Area Lutheran High School. BIC? Bible Information Class. DP? District President.

As we build our CBE (competency-based education) programming at MLC (Martin Luther College), we are adding a few new acronyms to our WELS (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod) vocabulary.

Logo for Open Education Resource

You may have heard our instructional designer or director refer to OER. What is OER?

An OER is an Open Educational Resource. The easiest way to understand OER is to consider each element of the acronym.

Open – OER are publicly available, free resources. These resources are often curated by academic libraries, publishers, museums, and organizations committed to sharing knowledge with others.

Educational – OER are typically created by individual scholars and teachers or groups to share information with others. Many OERs are also peer-reviewed to ensure that the information is accurate.

Resources – They can take many forms, from the OER logo included in this post to a recorded lecture. They can be articles, chapters, and even an entire book. In fact, the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary maintains a large OER of essay files crafted by scholars from our church body’s beginning through to recent symposia.

There are many benefits to using OER, but we’ll highlight a few here.

  • OER can be integrated into online learning environments in a way that physical resources cannot.
  • OER can incorporate digital media, like videos, interactive charts, and hyperlinks to additional resources, in a way that physical resources cannot.
  • OER are free to instructors and learners.
  • OER are often built to meet accessibility needs, including captioning of video, tagging of images, and screenreader functionality.

The course design process for our competency-based education programming includes an intentional discussion with MLC Librarians, the instructional designer building the course, and the subject matter expert crafting the content to identify appropriate OER materials.

 

 

 

 

 

I’m Accepted! Now What?

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We are excited to welcome you to your competency-based education course of study! Now that you are accepted, though, you may be wondering about the next steps. While you can always reach out to the Director of Nontraditional Education with your questions, here are a few general updates you should watch for About a week […]

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Building Competency-Based Education at MLC: A View from the Instructional Designer, Part Four

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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.