The pandemic accelerated the push for remote options but also left students longing for in-person community.
In the fall of 2019, not every instructor at Samford University used Canvas, an online learning management system where they can post assignments and videos of lectures.
By the following year, things were different. “It’s not optional,” said Betsy Holloway, vice president for marketing and communications. “One hundred percent are in Canvas.”
The change, of course, is due to COVID-19. But once the pandemic ends, what elements of the new technology will remain a part of the higher ed landscape? Nearly a year in, administrators at Christian colleges are pausing to assess the real-world experiment with online education.
Recently, a number of schools affiliated with the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) have signed on to work with CampusEDU, a new ed tech company partly owned by the CCCU, which aspires to usher in the next generation of online classes.
Abilene Christian University, Gordon College, Houghton College, Indiana Wesleyan University, John Brown University, Lipscomb University, Ohio Christian University, Oklahoma Christian University, and two institutions affiliated with the Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE) have partnered with CampusEDU so far.
Darren Campbell, CEO of CampusEDU, compared most online education to “the Model T,” believing there’s a long way to go to build on the basics. “It ’s very text heavy,” he said. “We believe the future of online education is more graphical.”
The company works with institutions to create MasterClass-esque content with highly produced videos of lectures. Current offerings include a New Testament survey taught by Jim Lo at Indiana Wesleyan; Latin I, taught by Ian Drummond ...
from Christianity Today Magazine
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