Joy Hooker 

CASE STUDY TWO:

Creation of Online Internship

Certificate in Christian Ministries – Internship, Level 4

 

The aim of this programme is to train up-and-coming leaders in

the Elim movement across New Zealand.  This was initiated in

response to a growing need for distance training nationwide. 

 

Background

In September 2012 I was contracted as Courseware Creator with

the specific brief to develop the academic content of an online

internship programme for EMTC.  This was to be a 120 credit,

1 year course – 72 credits practical ministry and 48 credits

classroom delivery.

 

The Governance Board stipulated the topics to be taught in the

academic component and number of credits for each topic:

   Spiritual Formation - 10 credits

   Leadership - 10 credits

   Church Management - 8 credits

   Doctrine - 6 credits

   Interpreting Scripture - 6 credits

   Leading a Small Group - 4 credits

   Lasting the Distance - 4 credits

 

My responsibility was to plan the programme, write lecture notes, create powerpoints, and formulate assessments for each topic.  I was to utilise as much as possible from the onsite level 4 Certificate in Christian Ministry and base the practical component on a cut-down version of the level 5 Diploma in Applied Christian Ministry (Internship).

 

The rationale behind assigning me to compile the lectures was to ensure the same standard across all topics.  While lecturers were free to add their own examples and supplementary material, the basic lecture and powerpoints were already compiled for them.  This also ensured that resources were not lecturer-dependent, and timeframes for development of resources could be adhered to.

 

The programme was due to begin in February 2013, effectively giving me 4 months (over Christmas) to create the programme structure and the courses needed for the beginning of the year.  

 

Beginning the project

As I was initially the only person working on this project, I started by contacting Carey Baptist College to get their recommendations for a delivery platform for online delivery of lectures.  They had just begun to work with WizIQ and suggested this as a good option.  I examined the various options and found WizIQ to be the most suitable.  It is cloud-based – so we didn’t need to buy any software, with a Moodle plug-in available so it was compatible with our Learner Management System.  I passed this information on to the Principal (Online) for followup.

 

The next thing I did was to organise an overview of required hours of teaching and self-directed work in order to formulate a plan for the year.  The best fit was to have 5 x 1 hr online lectures per week plus 5 hours allocated to self-directed study.  The programme was to accommodate 4 block courses through the year where all learners would travel to Auckland. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Action taken and difficulties encountered

Two weeks after I was appointed, the Principal (Online) was appointed.  While I was to work under his direction, as he had no educational experience (his forte was in IT), a lack of understanding of NZQA requirements and no desire to be involved in the academic detail, I was left to formulate everything myself.  This meant I was heavily reliant on advice and feedback from my own network of peers outside the College.  I also initiated a number of meetings with the National Leader of the Elim movement to ensure I was on the right track regarding content.  I made sure the Principal (Online) was kept in the loop on all decisions I made and consulted where necessary, but I was also aware that he made little effort to read any of the documentation I produced.  To be fair, he had his own responsibilities to take care of – marketing and promoting the new programme, interviewing applicants, setting up the online delivery mechanisms and planning the block courses.

 

I found I could only utilise a small portion of the level 4 onsite programme material: 

Spiritual Formation – I was able to utilise all of the onsite Dialogue With God course

and include a cut-down version of Integrating Personal Values from the Diploma

course. 

Leadership – I spoke to the onsite lecturer for this course (the National Leader of

Elim) who advised that this courses needed to be rewritten.  I was able to incorporate

all of the Leadership Principles onsite topic, but little of the Leader and God topic,

which I rewrote.

Church Management – This was a brand new course that had not been taught at

EMTC.  As I had worked as Administrator in the Hamilton Elim Church, I knew what

needed to be covered here.  I formulated a list of topics, which was subsequently

approved by the National Director of Elim.

Doctrine – The onsite textbook was old, the notes sparse and quite narrow in focus. 

As I had been asked to lecture some of this series previously while the onsite lecturer

was away, I had rewritten the lectures with more up to date material.  I was therefore

able to incorporate this without too much extra work.

Interpreting Scripture – I was able to utilise about half of the onsite course, taking

out the more complicated level 5 material that was included, and formulating new

assessments.

Leading a Small Group – This was a brand new course.  I sourced much of my material from a book recommended by the National Leader of Elim.

Lasting the Distance – While this topic was taught in the Diploma, there were no notes or resources available.  As this course was being championed by the National Leader of Elim, I sought his advice on what topics to include, and wrote lectures around his suggestions.

 

The first major challenge was the time deadline.  I needed to complete the required lecturer notes, powerpoints and student manuals prior to the first block course in February 2013.  By working through my Christmas break, I managed to accomplish this.  Through the rest of 2013 I was working just ahead of the students.  In all, I wrote 173 x 1 hr lectures (plus powerpoints for each lecture), 40 quizzes, 37 forum discussion questions and 17 fortnightly journal questions.  I also formulated course descriptions for each course, assessments and marking schedules, compiled a Practical Ministry and Information Handbook, and set all courses and content up on Moodle.

 

Another major challenge was the lack of both educational and administrative training and understanding by the Principal (Onsite).  While he was great at IT and student interaction during the block courses, various aspects of the day to day student management were not occurring.  I realised this about 4 months into the programme and throughout the year I highlighted a number of items needing attention.  This was very frustrating and took me away from my own work.

 

I also found it difficult wearing two “hats” during this time – Dean of Interns (12½ hrs per week) and Courseware Creator (27½ hrs per week).  I found the Dean of Interns role would often involve 15 or more hours per week as onsite staff assumed that as I was in the office I was available for meetings and other administrative tasks.  I therefore struggled to allocate enough time to the creating the online course.  This was partially resolved by (a) working part time from home, and (b) refusing to take on any further onsite work.

 

Final Outcome

At the end of the first year (2013), a full programme evaluation was completed.  The Annual Qualification Report for 2013 (below) details statistics, feedback received and changes or adjustments made to the programme for 2014.  These changes will be further embedded during 2015.

 

Fifteen students are currently enrolled to attend block course 1 for 2015 beginning 9th February (the maximum allocated to this programme).

 

 

 

 

 

Reflection

Creating this programme from 'scratch' was a huge learning curve for me.  By nature I prefer to work in a team environment, and being asked to complete this big task largely on my own meant I relied heavily on those in my own professional network for advice and feedback.  It also enabled me to bring together knowledge and skills built through my formal training alongside new knowledge and understanding gained by conducting my own research.  I gained confidence as my knowledge base and skills increased and found I was able to trust my own judgment in making decisions regarding the programme design and content.

 

The most demanding aspect of this project was the deadlines for completing the various units.  At some points I was working just ahead of the students.  This was not ideal and at some points frustrating.  Project management therefore became very important, and another skill I was able to further hone throughout this project.

 

The knowledge and skills developed and built through this project became the foundation for the DACM redevelopment outlined in Case Study 1.  During 2015, as Manager, Programme Development, it will be my responsibility to redevelop all our current programmes under TRoQ ensuring coherency and alignment.  While this will be a big undertaking, I am looking foward to the challenge!  

 

Graduate attributes met by this project

The following Graduate Attributes have been met by this project:  1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11.