Chapter
07
Nuts & Bolts: How does hybrid actually work?
Hybrid Format
Hybrid is a new format for our Master of Divinity and Master of Arts in Ministry degrees. Also referred to as modalities, formats are simply the ways in which students can receive instruction at Perkins, and they include our Residential format in Dallas, our Extension Site format through the Houston-Galveston Extension Program, and now our hybrid format that consists of 78%* online instruction with 22% in-person instruction through five, week-long immersion courses.
*78% is accurate if the internship is not counted as "in-person." If the internship is included in the calculation, the split is closer to 72% online and 28% in-person.
Note: According to SMU’s internal nomenclature, our hybrid format is classified as an “online” format. For external communications and consistency with our competitors, we will use “hybrid” nomenclature for the format.
Immersions
The in-person requirements for both the M.Div. (five trips) and M.A.M. (two trips) are considered immersions. For the typical week-long immersion, students will be asked to do some pre-work and some post-work online while holding the majority of contact hours in-person. Days will be constructed to have a rhythm of course instruction, shared meals, worship, engagement with ministries/leaders, and some free time for study, relaxation, and sharing community with other students. Immersions can be completed in Dallas, Houston, or one of the Mobile Sites.
Mobile Sites
An immersion that is not hosted in Dallas or Houston, but, rather, is delivered on a one-time basis at a host-church or host-ministry is a Mobile Site. Unlike other seminaries comparable to Perkins, we offer Mobile Sites as an alternative option for the location of immersions. Mobile Sites serve the student’s needs, whether that means picking an option close to home or picking an option that gives them new experiences. Through Mobile Sites, Perkins has a chance to come to where students live and work as well as take students to new contexts.
We imagine hosting these in Dallas, Houston, and other sites in Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, or wherever cohorts of Perkins students may be located or where a unique ministry context makes traveling a feature, rather than a programmatic requirement. Perkins students and alumni local to the area will help connect Perkins staff with ministries, leaders, and locations that would be conducive to an immersive course. As arrangements are being made, faculty will be invited to consider and suggest ways that particularities of the context that might enhance the course and the student experience. Students will be able to choose among courses and locations that meet their needs and interests, at an affordable cost.
Extension Format
Any approved location outside of our residential program in Dallas is an Extension Site. For Perkins, the only example of this format is the Houston-Galveston Extension Program. With a delivery offering that is more in-person than hybrid but less so than residential, extension sites provide flexibility to the prospective students of a geographic region. The Houston-Galveston Extension Program has flourished for years, serving the students, churches, and denominations of the Houston metropolitan area and beyond. In the years to come, successful cities for mobile sites may evolve into extension sites as demand is demonstrated.
Residential Format
Instruction offered through traditional, in-person coursework is the Perkins residential format. Unrelated to the introduction of hybrid, the Residential format is also changing, focusing courses and student life activities within a Tuesday to Thursday schedule. Gone will be the days when busy students must share DFW commuting lanes and SMU parking lots four or five days a week. The average student will only need to be on campus twice-a-week to attend class with opportunities to break bread, worship, and have fellowship with one another. Evening courses for part-time working students will also be part of the course scheduling.
New Curriculum
This shift in format also accompanies a shift in curriculum that is designed to create additional tools, flexibility, and agency for students to follow their interests and their calls. Two shifts are worth noting across all of our masters degrees.
1. Teaching breadth to enable choosing depth. The breadth of New Testament, Old Testament, church history, and theology will now be taught in single-semester course, ensuring that all masters students have access to the breadth of a discipline, and they can use that broad understanding to select further core electives in each area that match their interests. This, in turn, sets up the foundation for students to pursue their interests in selecting among a growing selection of concentrations and elective courses.
2. Starting well in learning and in community. All new students, will be invited to attend an on-campus orientation that includes the first session of a new course, Introduction to Theological Studies and Research. The in-person orientation is being creatively designed to help new students get to know the Perkins context: the faculty, the staff, Bridwell Library, the resources of SMU, and fellow students across programs and modalities. Likewise, the new course introduces the disciplines of theological education, their frameworks, terminology, and methodologies, and their representatives on the Perkins faculty. This course provides the scaffolding for the work of your theological studies.
