Now neither time nor distance need hinder you from taking courses at Free Grace Seminary.  The internet has now made it possible to become a part of a virtual classroom, on-line libraries, and constant contact with a mentor or professor. FGS is able to offer online classes taught by men who are recognized internationally as leaders in the Free Grace movement. 

FGS works in partnership with the local church as her training arm for leadership. Students are expected to be identified with a local church and to be faithful in attendance and ministry in that church. The collegiate atmosphere provides a source of encouragement and mutual interaction, but is not a replacement for the interaction and development of ministry skills found in the local church.

Online Education combines the benefits of the traditional classroom with the advantages of a variety of different training methods offered from online education. Blended learning is the combination of different training methods:

Instructor-Led Training - Student Participation - Follow-Up Material Online

Online & Class Discussion - Unlimited Online Resources

Christian Service in a Local Church - Learning Assignments

Audio - Video Webcasts

All course materials and class activities can be accessed online 24/7 to meet the needs of students while they are at home, in their office, at night or even on the weekend.  With the use of innovative course delivery software, instructors manage their courses, deliver rich course materials, conduct online discussion, assess student work, and provide feedback promptly and effectively to students.

A student must complete the course within one year of registering for the course.

Why Distance Education?

Benefits of Online Education:

1. Accessible education. The classes are asynchronous, which means that you can go online at any time, day or night. Your classroom is as close as your living room or home office.

2. Learn where you live.  No need to relocate in pursuit of your online degree. Keep your job; take care of your family. You don’t have to give up important responsibilities to pursue an online education.

3. Permits flexibility in your schedule. You fit your class time around your work and family responsibilities.

4. Students are exposed to the expertise of a qualified faculty. You will benefit from the personal attention of your professor, and you will grow from your interaction with others in the class.

5. Helps you to be more effective in the Lord's work. You will be able to make practical application of new skills and knowledge in your vocational and ministry environments.

6. This program enables you to take one course at a time or up to 18 hours per semester.

7. Learn on your time. Students may study at their own pace allowing some to complete their work quicker while others may take longer.  Online education allows you to study when you have time—from early morning to late at night.

8. Students may enroll and begin their studies any time during the year.

9. Save money. In most cases online education courses are less expensive when all factors are considered. No long commute. You will save on room and board, college tuition, classroom supplies, transportation costs, and more.

Key Advantages of Online Instruction:

1. Interactive reading and writing can produce twice the memory retention in one quarter the time invested. Educational research suggests 15-25% memory retention from lecture and video presentations vs. 40% memory retention from reading written material. When reading, the student is participating, rather than passively listening and/or viewing. The research suggests written words are symbols concrete enough to readily form permanent memory, where images, and a spoken lecture, can be so fleeting as to leave little permanent impression or memory.

Another advantage is that students can read an online lesson at their own speed, often 400-1000 words per minute, rather than to listen to a spoken presentation of 120 words per minute. It can be boring to be presented information at rates slower than one desires to assimilate information. Thus, online instruction may offer twice the retention in one quarter the time compared to a traditional classroom presentation.

Also, the amount of time invested in lesson preparation can often reduce the time required for learning by students. Online education has the potential of providing students with learning experiences representing far more preparation time than the traditional teacher can routinely provide.

2. The depth of student engagement with curricular content is arguably greater when a student must articulate his/her thoughts online, in writing, both to the teacher and, particularly, to other students.

Written interaction can require more depth of thought than verbal interaction. Writing for a peer audience is vastly more motivating than writing for the teacher, knowing your words can possibly end up in the waste basket without another person ever seeing them. Interactive reading and writing provides a level of mind-to-mind interaction that is fundamentally different from, and in many ways better than, verbal face-to-face interaction. Ideally, online and face-to-face interaction can be balanced to bring students the best of both mediums.

As a teacher, we need to learn what content, in what situations, for which specific students, provides for the best overall learning experience. Students think most when they have to express themselves; when they must rearticulate what they've learned. The written online medium has the potential to require that students concentrate, reflect, and articulate their thoughts and responses to both teacher and fellow students. This higher level of forced reflection requires rational deliberation and builds thinking and expressive skills.

When writing online for a peer audience, students are held accountable to articulate what they've perceived, by virtue of their online writing leaving a written record. Students must regularly USE the information they have read, when interacting online. The online medium is less socially distracted in that it presents an environment for more equitable sharing of ideas from both teacher and students than the time-limited, socially oriented, classroom.

3. Unique opportunities for individual relationships with students become viable.

This is not to say face-to-face interaction in the classroom is not vitally important; it is; but it is inherently limited based on factors of time available, class size, and social inhibitions in front of peers. Online discussions between the teacher and individual students may be the ONLY private communications the student will have with the teacher. The time required for such one-on-one interaction may be restrictive for the teacher, but the depth of intimacy from such "text-based" relationships will often be of higher value than the classroom relationships because of this valued private sharing opportunity.

4. The advantage of transcending the limitations of the 50 minute hour comes from adding an online instructional component to your traditional classroom instruction with online discussions and the opportunity to ask, or answer, questions on a 24 hour/day, seven days/week basis. As is especially true with larger class sizes, the level of one-on-one interaction is often minimal. Online interaction, both teacher-to-student and student-to-student, enhances your students' engagement with the curriculum and better prepares them for the next classroom experience. At the same time, their reading, writing and collaborative Internet skills are being developed in a social interaction context!

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Source: Lone Eagle Consulting