The Online, Asynchronous, Accelerated, Compressed, Modular, Standardized, and Adult Undergraduate Course in Biblical Studies

The long title of this article reflects the multiple dynamics at work in a new type of class commonly found in adult degree completion programs in higher education. These characteristics are briefly surveyed in order to show how they impinge upon one another to both limit and complicate strategies for effective learning. These dynamics and complications are illustrated by exploring how they affect an introductory class on biblical interpretation. The article closes by considering some further strategies that may be employed in this highly constrained type of class.

Improving U.S. College Graduation Rates with Quality Online and Blended Degree Completion Programs

The Lumina Foundation estimates the number of American adults possessing some college education, but no degree, to hover at about 47 million. CAEL approximates this number to be about 100 million when including adults without any previous college study. This chapter questions whether there are sufficient degree completion programs available in the U.S. to meet current demand. With the U.S. a dismal 19th in the 2015 OECD rankings of college graduation rates, this chapter makes the case that there is more work for American colleges and universities to do to address the gaping disparity between the number of Americans holding four-year degrees and those needed to provide the innovation required to maintain future American economic vitality. Finally, the chapter reviews the blended classroom approach as a highly effective model for serving the adult degree completion population and describes a successful program that was recently created at Long Island University.