ProMETA OCI Report Final Corrected 6 - 2014

PioNETA Institutional Repoit baseu on the ieseaich stuuy !"#$%#&'#()%#*+ -.
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3*4%1)(5 6%1+. 78'%+%9)$*+ -./$*()%#:; commissioneu by 0veiseas Council Inteinational, 2u11-2u1S anu
conuucteu by Bi. Neii NacLeou.

1
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A School Repoit baseu on the Reseaich Pioject:
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Piepaieu by Neii NacLeou, Ph.B.
Piinciple Reseaichei
meiimuigitalseminaiian.com

Intiouuction
PioNETA is a fully online giauuate school cieateu by missionaiy euucatois of the
Evangelical Fiee Chuich to fill a voiu foi accessible theological euucation at the giauuate
level. PioNETA agieeu to paiticipate in the ieseaich stuuy examining unconventional
piactices in theological euucation. This iepoit is the iesult of the inteiviews conuucteu in
Apiil 2u12 anu is uiviueu into foui sections: (I) Reseaich 0veiview, (II) PioNETA Stuuents,
(III) 0nconventional Theological Euucation, anu (Iv) Recommenuations Towaius
Euucational Stiength anu Sustainability.

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In 2u11 PioNETA, along with 8 othei schools, agieeu to paiticipate in a ieseaich stuuy
uesigneu to exploie unconventional piactices in theological euucation in the majoiity
woilu. The stuuy was commissioneu by 0veiseas Council Inteinational (0CI) in oiuei to
bettei unueistanu how the paiticipating schools weie engaging the woik of uncommon oi
"unconventional" euucational piogiams.
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At the planning meeting in Auuis Abba, Ethiopia
in Nay 2u11 each of the nine paiticipating schools (Appenuix A) began theii woik of
iuentifying an aiea of focus foi theii pait of the stuuy.

In Apiil 2u12, ovei five uays at the school stuuents, faculty anu auministiatois weie
inteivieweu at the school office in San }os, Costa Rice. In auuition to the inteiviews theie
weie numeious conveisations with vaiious peisonnel at the school, anu a substantial
numbei of uocuments weie ievieweu that uesciibeu the euucational puipose anu
philosophy of the online piogiams. A numbei of couise syllabi anu stuuent assignments
weie also available foi ieview.

Since the stuuent inteiviews weie to be conuucteu in Spanish, a tianslatoi was oiienteu to
the pioject piioi to the inteiviews. The tianslatoi was expeiienceu with Spanish-English

1
The compiehensive iepoit synthesizing the finuings acioss all nine schools was completeu in Septembei
2u1S anu is available by contacting Bi. Scott Cunningham at 0veiseas Council Inteinational.
scottoveiseas.oig.
PioNETA Institutional Repoit baseu on the ieseaich stuuy !"#$%#&'#()%#*+ -./$*()%#*+ 01*$()$'2 )#

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tianslation, was familiai with theological euucation, anu hau been useu often by the
PioNETA staff. All stuuents weie inteivieweu using online technology since each liveu in a
uiffeient countiy, incluuing Spain, Nexico, anu venezuela. The inteiviews conuucteu with
faculty anu auministiatois weie all conuucteu in English. This iepoit, anu its
iecommenuations aie baseu on uata fiom the PioNETA ieseaich visit. 0CI beais no
iesponsibility foi the ieseaich analysis oi concluuing iecommenuations.

Specific steps have been taken to maintain the anonymity of those inteivieweu, such as
ueleting piopei names. Each inteiview tiansciipt was coueu with a ianuomly geneiateu
thiee-uigit numbei to maintain confiuentiality. The coues aie unielateu to the school anu
to the iole oi genuei of the peison inteivieweu. Illustiative quotes taken fiom tiansciipts
weie chosen foi theii paiticulai contiibution to unueistanuing the PioNETA context anu
its piactices. The pionoun "he" is useu when iefeiencing the comments of all inteiviewees,
incluuing women, in oiuei to piotect the anonymity of the small numbei of women
inteivieweu foi the stuuy. The inteiview piotocols, available in Appenuix B, pioviueu the
geneial guiuelines when conuucting inteiviews.

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As a fully online Spanish giauuate school, PioNETA's stuuents iepiesenteu twenty-foui
uiffeient nationalities anu neaily twenty uenominations in 2u11.
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As a iesult, classes aie a
cultuially anu theological uiveise gioup of geneially expeiienceu leaueis. The thiee
piogiams offeieu by PioNETA -- the Nasteis of Chiistian Leaueiship, the Nasteis of
Contextualizeu Biblical Theology, anu a Ceitificate piogiam -- also attiact a wiue vaiiety of
stuuents in age anu vocations thus enhancing theii uiveisity. Fifty peicent of the stuuents
aie pastois, with the highest numbei (foity-one) being full-time pastois. Appioximately
half of the stuuents who aie active pastois aie also bi-vocational leaueis who may teach at
a school, balance a seconu ministiy job, oi woik in a local business. Nany othei stuuents
aie youth pastois, missionaiies, oi mission leaueis. Collectively PioNETA stuuents aie
involveu in ovei foity uiffeient ministiies on a local oi global level. Since PioNETA
stuuents aie qualifieu to stuuy at the giauuate level many of them aie woiking
piofessionals fiom a wiue vaiiety of fielus, such as business, meuicine, euucation,
engineeiing, anu finance.

Stuuent ages iange fiom twenty-two to sixty-seven yeais with the aveiage about foity-
thiee yeais. Appioximately fifty peicent biing some backgiounu in theological euucation
iepiesenting as many as thiity-two uiffeient seminaiies attenueu acioss thiiteen uiffeient
countiies. A numbei of these stuuents giauuateu with a theological uegiee fiom theii
pievious institution. 0f the two uegiees offeieu by PioNETA the uegiee seeking stuuents
uiviue evenly between the two mastei's piogiams.

The challenges of communication acioss cultuies became appaient uuiing a stuuent
inteiview when the tianslatoi anu the stuuent, both fiom uiffeient Spanish-speaking
countiies, hau to stop anu uiscuss the meaning of a local metaphoi the stuuent hau useu.

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Stuuent uemogiaphics aie baseu on a iepoit piepaieu by PioNETA in Septembei 2u11.

S
Aftei a biief uiscussion they weie able to come to a mutual unueistanuing of the meaning
of the metaphoi the stuuent hau useu to uesciibe his feelings. The tianslatoi's uiscussion
was iecoiueu foi an accuiate ienueiing uuiing tiansciipt analysis.

Attiaction To PioNETA
The stuuents inteivieweu foi the stuuy hau extensive expeiience with PioNETA couises
anu half weie about to giauuate. When they fiist exploieu PioNETA they weie attiacteu
by seveial qualities but they weie also hesitant since PioNETA was theii fiist expeiience in
online euucation. 0ne stuuent uesciibeu his attiaction to PioNETA,
Fiist, the piogiam was in Spanish. In the past I hau chances to stuuy in English but
at this point that was not an option foi me. The fact that the whole piogiam was
going to be in Spanish was gieat foi me. Seconu, I noticeu a ieal Latin Ameiican
focuseu oiientation. I know that most of the piofessois aie Ameiican but I think
they aie ieally awaie of the neeu of making this a Latin Ameiican thing so that was
something that also convinceu me. |Tiansciipt SS8j

When he was askeu to illustiate what he saw as a "ieal Latin Ameiican focus" he uesciibeu
how piofessois, "assigneu us ieseaich anu we neeueu to uo ieseaich in oui own context . . .
the uesciiption I ieau |about the couisej was what I founu in the couises. Also . . . I'm
ieauing a lot of Latin Ameiican authois." This same stuuent uesciibeu his conceins
iegaiuing leaining online.
I giew up as a stuuent in a tiauitional system of classiooms with stuuents anu
piofessois in the fiont. When I heaiu about this online option I hau ceitain
conceins |wonueiingj if that woulu woik. I also hau conceins about myself because
I was not the type of technical peison so I thought that woulu become a limit to me.
But it was a suipiise to see that it wasn't that uifficult anu theie weie people helping
me go thiough this piocess of auapting to the system. At the beginning I was kinu of
afiaiu but latei I uiscoveieu theie was no ieason foi it. |Tiansciipt SS8j

This stuuent compaieu anothei piogiam to PioNETA as he was making his uecision anu
founu that,
|Wjhat I ieau on PioNETA ieally caught my attention. I think theie is a consistency
between what PioNETA talks about, its philosophies, anu what I see in piactice.
What I ieau is what happeneu to me. PioNETA has a veiy goou capacity of keeping
its stuuents because they aie uoing what they aie saying. What they say is what
they uo. |Tiansciipt SS8j

Anothei stuuent uesciibeu how he was attiacteu by the quality of the people associateu
with PioNETA, anu "having classmates fiom many places of the woilu," while he
acknowleugeu that "it was new to stuuy online." Be went on to uesciibe his expeiience:
At the beginning when you think about online euucation the fiist thing that comes to
youi minu is that it is not too foimal |iigoiousj because we aie too attacheu to the
iuea of a class with youi classmates next to you. But to see the quality of the
mateiials, of the ieauing that has been piepaieu foi you by the piofessois totally

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changes that iuea. Anu also, because you can shaie youi own woik with youi
classmates, to ieau those woiks gives you an iuea how foimal this is. |Tiansciipt
uSSj

Looking back ovei theii expeiiences stuuents iealizeu theii initial conceins iegaiuing theii
abilities oi woiking with the online couises nevei became an obstacle uue to the
accessibility of the technology anu the suppoit of the PioNETA staff. As one stuuent saiu,
"If you know how to use Facebook, you can stuuy with PioNETA." In auuition, each stuuent
iefeienceu a ielationship within his ciicle of contacts in the netwoik of mission chuiches oi
the uenomination that hau iecommenueu the piogiam giving a sense of cieuibility to
PioNETA. This seemeu to be an impoitant link foi each stuuent. No stuuent iepoiteu
staiting a PioNETA piogiam without the cieuibility supplieu by these contacts.

0ne stuuent with pastoial iesponsibilities anu a family yet with a uesiie to stuuy, was
attiacteu to PioNETA because he knew he coulu not leave woik to attenu a tiauitional
class. Be saiu,
I ieally wanteu to stuuy but the options I was looking at iequiieu me to attenu class
each week anu that was not an option foi me. When |a foimeij piofessoi tolu me,
'Well, you uon't neeu to go to class. You just neeu to set apait a ceitain time that you
will spenu in fiont of the computei ieauing anu uoing assignments anu you choose
when you can uo it.' That sounueu wonueiful to me. I think in fact that aspect
caught me foi the couise. That was what attiacteu me heie. |Tiansciipt 664j

This same stuuent uesciibeu the impact of his fiist couise, offeieu fiee, that he took fiom
PioNETA. Be ueciueu to take the couise on "builuing a cuiiiculum foi theological
foimation in youi chuich." Be uesciibeu the final pioject at the conclusion of the couise:
You hau to cieate something oi piopose some kinu of cuiiiculum. I staiteu piaying
anu thinking anu I saiu, 'I'm going to stait a cuiiiculum foi a Bible Institute in my
chuich.' That tuineu into a ieal iuea anu now this Sunuay exactly we aie giauuating
the fiist geneiation of stuuents anu they aie coming fiom ten local chuiches . . .
Again, I nevei thought a fiee couise was going to take me to that. |Tiansciipt 664j

Relationships
Each stuuent iuentifieu aspects of PioNETA's couise uesign they founu attiactive, often
with iefeience to the ielationships they expeiienceu. 0ne stuuent uesciibeu how they aie
always woiking to "make shoitei the ieal uistance, the geogiaphical uistance that is theie
between the piofessois anu us |stuuentsj in anothei countiy." Anothei saiu that,
"PioNETA is veiy stiong on this peisonal element of contact with stuuents. We have the
chance eveiy month of shaiing how we feel, shaiing piaying petitions, opening foi what we
neeu." Anothei stuuent ieflecteu on his impiession of the piogiam when he fiist staiteu
anu how uiffeient it was in expeiience.
I think in the beginning I thought this was going to be a piogiam with a bunch of
couises anu I go uo class anu go back to my woilu anu continue woiking on my stuff.
But it became uiffeient because I have become fiienus with my classmates. It has


S
become moie peisonal than I thought |it woulu bej. |Tiansciipt u1uj

A significant expeiience foi one stuuent was a time when he was stiuggling anu ieacheu
out to his piofessoi. Be uesciibeu how uuiing,
0ne week I was veiy veiy loaueu with all the woik I have as a pastoi anu the uue
uate was like Sunuay. I noticeu that I woulu uefinitely not be able to accomplish the
uue uate of my assignments. In my pievious stuuies in the univeisity when that
happeneu you coulu ask youi piofessoi, 'I will neeu some moie time.' Then they
woulu say, 'Soiiy. You just misseu this couise anu that's it.' In this case I sent a note
to the piofessoi explaining, 'I'm in a uifficult situation with the woikloau anu I think
I will be able to senu my assignments by Weunesuay,' something like that. The ieply
I got was, 'Yeah, we unueistanu you anu uon't woiiy. Take youi time anu theie's no
pioblem.' That maue me feel as a peison, as someone that counts that I'm not just a
numbei foi scoies oi giaues but I'm a peison anu they can unueistanu what it
means to be a pastoi anu have complex weeks sometimes. That ieally toucheu me. I
felt tieateu as a peison. I felt like someone pulleu a blanket on me anu maue me feel
waim.
S
|Tiansciipt SS8j

Cential to seveial stuuents was the significance of the inteinational ielationships they
expeiienceu in theii couises. 0ne stuuent explaineu that of the seveial components of the
couises theie is also "the iuea of an inteinational community of stuuents. Yes, we aie not
physically in one ioom. We unueistanu we aie in uiffeient places of the woilu but we aie a
gioup. We aie a geneiation. A community living in this togethei." Those stuuents who
weie able to visit PioNETA in Costa Rica anu to meet classmates in peison uesciibeu that
tiip as a significant expeiience.
0nce we hau the chance to go to Costa Rica anu I coulu meet six of my classmates
anu it was ieally poweiful to see that foi a long time we hau been shaiing anu
talking anu then finally we see each othei. We saw how poweiful that was anu we
have a pictuie of that moment. It was like iealizing, 'Yes, we aie a class. We aie a
gioup.' |Tiansciipt 664j

Anothei stuuent iecounteu, "Something veiy special that I was not expecting was visiting
Costa Rica foi a special event PioNETA hau. I hau the chance of meeting classmates anu
piofessois anu that was veiy nice."

Piogiam Besign
In auuition to the inteinational ielationships with classmates othei featuies stoou out as
impoitant to the stuuents. Foi oluei woiking auults it was not a suipiise to finu that
flexibility was valueu. As one stuuent iepoiteu, "The system allows foi us to stuuy when
evei we want, when we have time, when we can uo it, anu that makes it pietty easy because

S
The tiansciipt of the tianslatoi inuicateu that the local meaning of the "waim blanket" metaphoi was
inteipieteu as "whenevei you want to inuicate the whole gioup is confionting the situation in the same way
we say we'ie going to covei ouiselves with the same blanket. Eveiything is coveieu ovei eveiybouy in the
same way."

6
we can choose the best moment to uo eveiything." Anothei pointeu to the impoitance of
the couise mentoi. "A key factoi is the mentoi," saiu one stuuent. "This peison is
constantly following up with you anu helping you, constantly following the stuuents is a
veiy high point |of the piogiamj."

Foi anothei, a high point of how the piogiam woikeu was the way it appioacheu the auult
stuuent.
Anothei aspect of the methouology that I ieally appieciate is the fact that we
stuuents aie the ones builuing the knowleuge. It's not that we aie accepting what
the piofessoi says, but we togethei, we aie builuing what we leain anu I think that
is extiemely impoitant in the euucation of auults. |Tiansciipt SS8j

Nost stuuents uesciibeu how they appieciateu the pioject assignments they hau in theii
classes. 0ne stuuent explaineu,
I took this couise on chuich planting anu pait of the ciisis we weie having in the
chuich anu the oiganization was the iuea of how to uo chuich planting. Theie weie
a lot of pioblems anu uiscussions anu eveiything. I staiteu a pioject fiom the couise
to be applieu to the ieal situation. The inuication of the couise was, since we weie
stuuying the stages of chuich planting, why uon't you tiy these stages anu see if it
woiks. We staiteu a chuich anu we noticeu that it woikeu. We took the whole iuea
back to the leaueis of the oiganization . . . they staiteu implementing this anu it
helpeu to solve the ciisis a lot anu the fiuit was like ten oi twelve chuiches planteu
in one yeai. Again, you see the iesult of something that staiteu as a couise anu
conciete things that weie pait of the pioblems that we weie confionting.
|Tiansciipt 664j

0ne stuuent uesciibeu how couises incluueu seveial components.
Each week we have uiffeient activities anu these activities aie suppoiteu by
uiffeient viueos, books anu auuio that help us uevelop those activities. An activity
that I consiuei veiy impoitant is the foium. Theie we can inteiact with the mentoi
anu with othei stuuents. What's uiffeient is that uuiing this foium you can shaie
fiom youi activity but in moie piactical ways like what you aie uoing in youi
community anu you ieceive feeuback on what can be fine, what maybe neeus to be
fixeu anu things like that. This is veiy poweiful because you have classmates fiom
many countiies with many backgiounus woiking on uiffeient things anu so the
expeiiences aie so iich that you leain a lot. |Tiansciipt uSSj

Piactical Emphasis
Stuuents conveyeu a stiong sense of theii value foi the piactical emphasis of the PioNETA
piogiams. When askeu about a high point of theii expeiience in PioNETA one stuuent
ieplieu: "The fact that I finu this mateiial ielevant to be useu in my context continues to be
a high point." A stuuent who began classes seveial yeais eailiei explaineu why he stayeu
with PioNETA ovei a long peiiou of time.
The fact that I noticeu moie anu moie that what I was stuuying was ielevant to the

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ieality I was living. It's pietty common to finu out that you stuuy a piogiam anu
then you go out anu see people who aie speaking of something totally uiffeient than
what you heaiu in class. I think they weie ieally talking in each class about
contempoiaiy issues. What I was leaining in the class was something ielevant to
the situations I was living. That convinceu me to stay. |Tiansciipt 664j

Anothei stuuent explaineu that, "eveiy time I have taken a couise I enu up saying, '0h, this
is exactly the couise I was neeuing' mostly because I see the piacticality of the things I was
leaining anu that I can apply what I leain . . . I was using what I was leaining in the chuich
anu it was woiking." Anothei stuuent obseiveu that,
What I uiscoveieu is that it uoesn't mattei if it is the chuich oi my job . . . the
piinciples I have leaineu apply to any ieality I woik in. It is veiy inteiesting how
what I have leaineu in PioNETA in communication anu leaueiship all totally applies
to my context . . . The classes you will ieceive will be veiy, veiy piactical anu not
only theoiy . . . with a ieal quality of people teaching. |Tiansciipt uSSj

When askeu what most suipiiseu him about his expeiience with PioNETA one stuuent saiu
that,
The most beautiful uiscoveiy I have maue is that theie is a ieal possibility of
applying all this to my context. I think that's what ieally makes me happy about
being heie - the fact that I easily finu how to apply what I'm leaining to my uiffeient
context . . . what I have stuuieu has been useful foi me. |Tiansciipt SS8j

This stuuent continueu by uesciibing how his stuuies weie applieu in his ministiy:
Theie weie two couises I took. 0ne hau to uo with how to cieate leaining activities
anu the othei one hau to uo with paiauigm shifts of uiscipleship in the New
Testament. I maue a combination of the contents of these two couises anu I staiteu
cieating a shoit booklet with content to tiain people . . . The iesults I have seen have
been ieally poweiful. This is mateiial I have cieateu. It's oiiginal mateiial foi a
Bible Institute . . . I always complain about the fact, 'Why uon't we have oui own
mateiials uevelopeu by oui own people.' This is like ieplying to my own question,
ueveloping oui own mateiials anu now we have this eight-week couise foi people . .
. Foi many yeais the people thought that following }esus, being a uisciple of }esus
hau to uo with being a goou chuich membei. Now they aie going thiough this
mateiial we piepaieu to ieconsiuei that iuea anu ieally think about what the Bible
means about following }esus. |Tiansciipt SS8j

When ieflecting on his expeiience in PioNETA he uesciibeu how,
When I finisheu my fiist piogiam in 1986 in the fiist seminaiy I felt like I got this
huge box of tools anu it was heavy anu full of tools, maybe tools I woulu nevei neeu.
Some of the tools weie nice but I uiu not know how to use them in my context.
When I came to PioNETA I felt that they gave me a box full of tools but I was
familiai with these tools anu the tools weie exactly the tools I was going to neeu foi
my woik . . . That's why I bless uou because of this box of tools I have because

8
PioNETA not only gave me the tools but they gave me all the instiuctions on how to
use them. I feel happy with this box. It's exactly the one that fits foi me anu that I
know how to use each of those tools . . . I'm ieally giateful with uou because of this
box of tools that I got fiom PioNETA. |Tiansciipt 664j

Peisonal Impact
Stuuents fiequently pointeu with ease to how couises hau a positive impact on theii lives
anu ministiy. 0ne stuuent, when inviteu to shaie any concluuing thought he hau about
PioNETA stateu: "What I woulu like to say is that I'm veiy thankful. I'm thankful foi
PioNETA. I'm happy with wheie I'm living. I see many benefits it has biought to my
peisonal life anu my ministiy anu I'm always open to shaie this expeiience with otheis."
Anothei stuuent uesciibeu how,
I giew up a Baptist anu in |my countiyj the uenominational aspect is pietty stiong
anu stiict. You just keep youiself in the lines of youi uenomination. So the chance
of having classmates with othei points of view, with othei cultuies anu theological
anu uenominational backgiounus maue me see that I uon't know eveiything. Anu
theie is something ieally poweiful about this uiveise context of people. This has
changeu me as a peison, even in the way I ielate as a pastoi with people because I
think this has maue me moie humble. It is inteiesting to see how people have
staiteu telling me, 'You have changeu anu theie is something uiffeient in the way
you teach anu pieach.' I think that's a majoi change in my life. |Tiansciipt SS8j

0ne stuuent noteu a cleai contiast in his life when he saiu, "When I think of my life I think
of befoie PioNETA anu aftei PioNETA because of the spiiitual foimation couises."
Anothei saiu, "They talk about youi spiiitual giowth as a peison. I see myself ieally
giowing."

0ne stuuent uesciibeu an eaily expeiience with a piofessoi that hau a positive impact on
him thioughout his stuuy in PioNETA.
In my pievious expeiience of stuuies in the seminaiy when I stuuieu theology I was
pietty conceineu with goou giaues anu fulfilling all the assignments anu eveiything.
The same piofessoi that inviteu me to join PioNETA was a piofessoi that taught me
at this seminaiy anu now he was going to be my piofessoi at PioNETA. The
peiception I hau of this piofessoi is that he's veiy stiict anu gives you a lot of woik.
So especially foi the fiist couises I was like, '0kay, I'm going to stuuy foui houis
eveiy uay anu I'm going to uo this anu that because I was expecting the same |fiom
this piofessoij.' Foi some ieason piofessoi "X" was so changeu in PioNETA anu he
was flexible anu nice anu he was telling me, 'Bon't foiget to spenu time with youi
family, get ielaxeu, not eveiything is about content anu theoiy.' I was like,
'Piofessoi "X" has ieally changeu.' That helpeu me, especially in the fiist couises to
gain this iuea of balance anu flexibility anu that was veiy impoitant. It's pietty
uiffeient to the natuie of othei systems of euucation. |Tiansciipt 664j


9
Telling a Fiienu
When stuuents weie askeu how they woulu uesciibe PioNETA to a fiienu each one
iuentifieu seveial things they wanteu futuie stuuents to know. "It's a mastei's uegiee
piogiam so it's seiious," saiu one stuuent. Anothei saiu, "The fiist thing that comes to my
minu is uiscipline. Yes, PioNETA is a veiy positive expeiience but you neeu to be awaie
that you must ueuicate the piopei amount of time that is neeueu." Anothei uesciibeu how,
It's totally uiffeient than what you have expeiienceu in tiauitional euucation. A veiy
impoitant aspect you neeu to know is that the outcomes of youi leaining will
uepenu on you. If you aie ieally thiisty foi ieal leaining, PioNETA is foi you. If
what you want is a bunch of theoiy anu knowleuge, uo not come to PioNETA. To be
in PioNETA you neeu to be veiy thiisty foi leaining anu committeu with youi own
leaining outcome. |Tiansciipt SS8j

The last stuuent listeu foui aspects a fiienu shoulu know.
Fiist it is accessible. You can easily have access to it. Seconu, it's cheapei than othei
options. When you compaie the piices of othei piogiams with this one it's much
bettei. Thiiu, it is ielevant. You will finu the content is connecteu with youi
situation. The last one is the flexibility of time. You ueciue youi scheuules . . . but I
woulu also mention the aspect of uiscipline, that it's necessaiy. |Tiansciipt 664j

Futuie Peispective
Stuuents weie inviteu to consiuei themselves a futuie leauei of PioNETA anu to look back
ovei theii expeiiences anu uesciibe what they woulu keep anu what they woulu auu to
PioNETA.

The most iecommenueu stiengthening theii ielationships between classmates anu
piofessois. 0ne stuuent acknowleugeu it woulu be uifficult "because stuuents live in many
countiies." Bis iuea was to "cieate encounteis, live encounteis among stuuents because I
think that live contact is veiy poweiful, to peisonally meet in one place." Anothei stuuent
envisioneu auuing "live online encounteis with classmates at the same time, one oi two
uuiing the whole quaitei." Be explaineu,
I have noticeu at the beginning of each couise we have piesentations but only
wiitten. We say who we aie, what we uo, anu we have some chances of knowing
moie some of the classmates. I have hau two expeiiences, like viueoconfeience
wheie we have the chance of being togethei online anu that pioviues a uiffeient
touch. It pioviues like moie union to the gioup. I think if I hau the chance I woulu
tiy to piogiam this. I know that it's haiu because of the scheuule anu eveiything but
auu some moie expeiiences of this. It uoesn't mattei if it is foi a class oi foi any
special content but just to talk on how we aie. That woulu be veiy poweiful.
|Tiansciipt SS8j

0thei stuuent iesponses:
"If I think on what to keep what I see is that what we have now I think it's goou."
I think PioNETA is veiy balanceu with the amount of ieauing anu assignments each

1u
week. But fiom time to time in a couise theie's one week that has some moie loau
anu when that happens you feel it. It's not the noim. The noim is that we aie useu
to |aj ceitain ihythm but when theie is much moie |woikj we can easily notice it
because we feel the loau. |Tiansciipt SS8j

Anothei stuuent commenteu that,
In the beginning mateiials weie not stiong so the piesence of the facilitatoi was
moie impoitant because the facilitatoi hau to covei the ueficiencies of the mateiials.
The contact with the stuuents was like eveiy two uays live with the mentoi, with the
piofessoi. Latei the mateiials became bettei anu bettei so the actual piesence of
the facilitatoi was not that necessaiy. Now I see theie aie many piepaieu mateiials
but maybe theie's a lack of the piesence of the facilitatoi. It's like eveiything
became like this: bettei mateiials, less piesence. I'm questioning if it's so goou. It's
goou to have bettei mateiials but theie is a ceitain ueciease of the piesence of the
facilitatoi. |Tiansciipt 664j

This same stuuent offeieu the following suggestion:
I noticeu the way PioNETA piomotes itself anu it tenus to catch inuiviuuals, people
who aie inteiesteu in theii stuuies. But I uon't see a cleai effoit to auuiess gioups in
chuiches oi gioups of leaueis that aie woiking togethei. I'm not saying that the
othei is not woithy but sometimes I see stuuents that aie not connecteu with any
ministiy effoit oi they aie looking foi moie cieuits foi theii majoi. I think the main
goal of PioNETA is equipping the chuich, the Bouy to seive. Naybe if you auuiess
to gioups, to the leaueis of pastois anu things like that . . . |Tiansciipt 664j

A final comment fiom anothei stuuent:
I think theie aie some things that can be upuateu. |Soj when you have an evaluation
foim foi the couise you can make a change when upuating the content. I uon't know
if some of the couises weie wiitten in the beginning of PioNETA, so maybe thiough
an evaluation fiom the stuuents eveiy yeai you can consiuei again the contents anu
see if theie is a neeu to upuate ceitain contents. Anothei thing I woulu keep is to
limit the numbei of paiticipants in each gioup because inteiaction becomes bettei
when you have the chance to ieally know youi classmates. I noticeu that when I
was pait of a huge gioup with some of my classmates I just coulun't connect with
them. But in othei couises wheie we weie like seven oi eight, that was ieally
poweiful . . . I have hau some pioblems with the payment methou, technical
pioblems. I uon't know how it is woiking in othei countiies but I imagine foi some
|itj might be moie uifficult oi less uifficult. That coulu be something that can be
impioveu. |Tiansciipt uSSj

>>>? ;.1#.<*.,2#.%5 4=*#5#$21%5 /)01%,2#.
When examining the non-stuuent inteiviews of PioNETA seveial aieas stanu out as
unconventional incluuing the way it began, the cuiiiculum anu couise uesign piocess, anu
the qualities of stuuent leaining expecteu. As the inteiviewees ieflecteu on theii

11
expeiience a numbei of suipiises weie iuentifieu, as well as conceins iegaiuing futuie
sustainability. It is also woith noting that neaily all of PioNETA's leaueiship team caiiies
iesponsibilities as senioi faculty who aie active in cieating couises anu teaching. These
euucational leaueis, while functioning as auministiatois also continue to keep a uiiect
"hanus-on" familiaiity with PioNETA stuuents anu the chuiches they seive.

An 0nconventional Beginning
PioNETA began with a leaueiship team of expeiienceu Latin Ameiican mission leaueis anu
theological euucatois buiueneu by the lack of accessible theological euucation foi chuich
leaueis caiiying significant iesponsibilities. Theii passion was to contiibute to
stiengthening the young chuiches by cieating a cuiiiculum ielevant to Latin Ameiica anu
useful foi the challenges they met. As one inteiviewee stateu "we pay attention to the local
chuich. We aie heie to seive the local chuich." The hope was to be able to offei a
contextual mouel that might help the chuich bieak its uepenuency on Noith Ameiican
theological euucation.

Because of theii commitment to the chuich anu its contextual neeus, an extensive nine-
month inteiview stuuy was conuucteu that gatheieu infoimation fiom a bioau iange of
Latin Ameiican leaueis, often those in significant positions, acioss the continent in oiuei to
iuentify theii euucational neeus anu uesign a piogiam baseu on theii finuings. The
ieseaich stuuy iuentifieu that the gieatest gap was foi mastei's level euucation offeieu in a
wiuely accessible mannei, both in teims of fees anu geogiaphy. As a iesult, seveial on the
leaueiship team began Ph.B. stuuies in oiuei to piepaie them foi the uemanus of cieating
mastei's level euucation. 0ncommon among the leaueis was the mix of auvanceu uegiees
in both theological anu social science uisciplines. This uisciplinaiy mix biought a stiong
shaieu value foi both Biblical stuuies anu cultuialsociological stuuies to the cuiiiculum.
Fiom the beginning the leaueis uiu not assume that theii expeiience with westein
theological euucation was suitable foi the chuich in Latin Ameiica. "We tiieu to take
nothing foi gianteu fiom the cuiiiculum oi the piogiams we stuuieu," saiu one leauei.
We wanteu to just ask people who live heie, who aie lookeu up to as goou Chiistian
leaueis in paiticulai what knowleuge is essential foi leaueis of a chuich that is
going to be biblical anu is going to iepiesent uou's kinguom anu allow uou's
kinguom to have an impact on theii society. . . People weie telling us that one thing
that's not available was a giauuate level euucation that woulu help piepaie these
leaueis of uenominations anu of non-piofits . . . many of them, oi even most of them,
felt unueipiepaieu to uo |leauj. They only hau the mouels that weie kinu of
inheiiteu fiom missionaiies anu knew that theie was something pooily
contextualizeu about it but without the ciiteiia to confiuently uesign something else.
They knew they coulu maybe get an NBA oi something locally but they wanteu
something Chiistian. |Tiansciipt 287Aj

Remaikably, PioNETA began to uevelop theii piogiams just thiee yeais aftei the Woilu
Wiue Web became a viable tool in uistance leaining. Leaueis woikeu to cieate an
accessible uistance piogiam which went thiough seveial iteiations as technology auvanceu
anu while stuuents gaineu sufficient access to the Inteinet ultimately iesulting in the

12
piesent uay fully online giauuate piogiams. PioNETA intentionally locateu in Costa Rica
wheie goveinment appioval was achieveu as a not-foi-piofit oiganization anu a local
Boaiu of Council was cieateu maue up fully of Latin Ameiican leaueis who iepiesent both
the chuich anu the business community.

PioNETA couises aie an "out of the box attempt with no ieal book to go to ieau to finu out
how to uo it," saiu one inteiviewee. "When we staiteu the Inteinet, the web, was only thiee
yeais olu . . . ," he saiu. Anothei ieflecteu, "Sometimes we uon't know what we aie uoing.
But we aie uieaming, we aie piaying, anu we aie tiying new things." 0ne leauei noteu
that, "An honest, ieally goou mastei's uegiee in leaueiship, Chiistian leaueiship is just
bianu new." The vision PioNETA uevelopeu challengeu the unueistanuing of even theii
mission leaueis:
. . . aftei two full uays of talking to them . . . |they askeuj 'Coulu you iun that by one
moie time.' because they just uiun't get it. They just coulun't conceptualize what we
weie tiying to uo . . . anu tiying to uo in a cioss-cultuial setting inteinationally . . . In
a sense we'ie tiying to cieate a new ioau oi builu on top of the existing tiauitional
theological euucation mouel which has the constiaints of accieuitation, seat time,
anu all that. That just uoesn't ieally fit anu it's not going to fit in the futuie.
|Tiansciipt SS4j

As PioNETA uevelop theii couises they woik within the goveinment stanuaius of Costa
Rica hopeful of achieving accieuitation. But as one leauei noteu, "|Whetheij we get it oi
not we want to pioviue an excellent piogiam. We aie woiking against a uifficult situation
in Latin Ameiica." Be went on to uesciibe how PioNETA leaueis weie tolu that,
. . . theie is no accieuiting oiganization that has a piocess to give accieuitation to
online schools because theie aie none in Latin Ameiica apait fiom PioNETA that uo
one hunuieu peicent online. Theie is no system, theie is no piocess, theie aie no
people with the knowleuge, so they say, 'Who caies.' Theie is no maiket foi |anj
online accieuiting oiganization in Latin Ameiica. In that sense we tiy to puisue
eveiy possible oppoitunity to get accieuitation. We aie talking with thiee schools
now. |Tiansciipt 4Suj

In auuition to the goveinment stanuaius foi PioNETA couises leaueis woikeu to meet the
expectations foi giauuate theological euucation in the 0.S. As a iesult, the mastei's
piogiams have ieceiveu appioval fiom Tiinity Evangelical Bivinity School in the 0.S..

0ne leauei-teachei uesciibeu, with some iegiet, theii inability to uelivei the mouel of
uistance euucation he piefeiieu when he saiu,
. . . the oiiginal uesign, which we've nevei been able to implement, was a blenueu
appioach of having seminais oi ietieats oi some type of face-to-face encountei once
a yeai thiough the piogiam. We've nevei been able to uo that because the
eniollments uiu not just mushioom so we coulun't go with a cohoit appioach.
Which is what I piefei, anu a seiies of couises that builu on each othei. The couises
in geneial, uo not have pie-iequisites so you can take any combination |ofj couises
but that has limitations. But it allows us to tiain a small numbei of stuuents, which

1S
is what we'ie uoing . . . its still pietty tiauitional what we'ie uoing. It's just moie
accessible I woulu say. |Tiansciipt SS4j

An 0ncommon Cuiiiculai Besign
PioNETA piogiams, as iuentifieu by all the faculty inteivieweu, aie iooteu in the
conviction that the local contexts of theii stuuents anu the chuiches they seive aie cential.
Collectively, couises have incluueu stuuents fiom as many as twenty-foui uiffeient Spanish
speaking countiies. 0ne inteiviewee pointeu out that, "Each Latin Ameiican countiy is
uiffeient. It is not one-size-fits-all." As a iesult, couises aie intentionally uesigneu with
some flexibility that iecognizes the social anu cultuial uiffeiences stuuents face. 0ne
piofessoi uesciibeu how he woiks to mouify couises to iemain ielevant while anothei
explaineu that,
We tiy to builu flexibility into a lot of oui assignments anu we want stuuents to
stuuy theii own context oi biing the Woiu to beai in theii own context. We iealize
these aie auults. They'ie leaueis. They know a lot moie than we uo about theii
countiy. It's tiue we may have a class wheie they'ie all Latin Ameiicans. Theie may
be a Spaniaiu heie oi theie but theii cities aie veiy uiffeient. In fact, in a class we
may have thiee venezuelans but fiom completely uiffeient kinus of segments of
society within venezuela . . . These aie uiffeient iealities so we tiy to builu some
flexibility in assignments so it's not like we'ie saying, '0kay, this is how you apply
this.' But iathei, we'ie getting the stuuents to giapple with theii ieality aftei
they've stuuieu the text anu so on. |Tiansciipt 287Aj

Be went on to give an illustiation fiom his couise.
Foi example, theie is a couise in mouels of uiscipleship in the New Testament anu in
Latin Ameiica so they look at the way uiscipleship is taught in vaiious paits of the
New Testament anu then they look at assumptions anu beliefs about uiscipleship in
theii own chuiches thiough inteiviewing. Then they tiy to uesign a contextualizeu
mouel foi theii chuich that is both Biblical anu ielevant . . . a lot of oui couises aie
like that. |Tiansciipt 287Aj

Fuithei, inteiviewees ievealeu that the commitment to contextualizing couises was
equally as impoitant to faculty in the theological uisciplines as it was to faculty in the social
science uisciplines. Contextual ielevance acioss the cuiiiculum appeaieu to be one of the
funuamental chaiacteiistics of PioNETA couises whethei the topic was leaueiship oi
Biblical stuuies. 0ne piofessoi pointeu out paiticulai contextual themes impoitant in Latin
Ameiica incluueu the impact of theii missionaiy histoiy, the expeiience of the countei-
Refoimation, anu the peivasive influence of the Catholic Chuich.

Neaily all euucatois iefeienceu theii own theological euucation anu ministiy expeiiences
when they talkeu about cieating PioNETA couises. Theii intention was to cieate couises
uiffeiently baseu on theii awaieness of the limitations of theii own expeiience of
theological euucation anu the insights gaineu iegaiuing the neeus of the chuich. 0ne
inteiviewee ieflecteu:

14
I went thiough school that was focuseu on pioviuing moie infoimation foi me,
infoimation that I coulu not use in Latin Ameiica. They uiun't focus on my skills anu
what I neeu foi Latin Ameiica. It was infoimation. Now I say, 'Why uiu I buy all this
stuff when I have books |city 1, 2, Sj eveiywheie. Why.' I ieau almost all these.
They gave me infoimation but not many skills oi ways to unueistanu ieality . . . we
want to see what of the tiauitional cuiiiculum of theological stuuies is ielevant anu
what is not. What is not ielevant we aie not going to go theie. 'Why.' We uon't
want to be bounu by tiauitional cuiiiculums. That uoesn't make any sense. We
want to be sensitive to the heiitage we have in teims of what othei schools have
uone in the past. We want to honoi that but we uon't want to be bounu by that . . .
|Tiansciipt 4Suj

Be continueu:
Bow uo we tiain stuuents to think globally, to think systemically, to think
missionally, to think beyonu uoing theology in a classioom anu piimaiily with an
iuea of not conveying to stuuents infoimation about the woilu but cieating in them
the stiategies, the skills to inteipiet the woilu in which they live . . . then |theie aiej
issues of uestitution, poveity, illiteiacy - you have to take that into account . . . even
in the assignments anu eveiything. |Tiansciipt 4Suj

Auuitionally, theii yeais of fiist-hanu expeiiences with the young chuiches influenceu theii
cuiiiculai vision anu conceins. 0ne inteiviewee saiu:
I think theie's an unueicuiient of a ieal uesiie to cieate a uiffeient kinu of chuich,
not in a sense of uoctiine but in a sense of chuich life. |Such as:j 'What uoes it mean
to be the chuich in the miust of a community.' 'What |uoesj leaueiship look like in
the local chuich.' 'What |uoesj it mean to be salt anu light.' 'Bow uo we ielate to
each othei.' 'Bow uo we teach in a way that ieally tiansfoims people's lives.' At
least I finu that stuuents that giavitate to oui piogiam anu stay with oui piogiam
aie people who have that itching insiue theii skin anu they ieally want to uevelop
new mouels of chuich community anu chuich life. I see oui piogiam as being
willing to go with them in that uiiection anu say, 'Yeah, we'ie willing to ask some
haiu questions.' 'Aie we as a chuich fulfilling what the Loiu commanueu us to uo.'
'Aie we as a chuich engaging oui community the way we coulu be.' . . . theie's a
goou syneigy when we'ie asking the questions anu then the stuuents push back anu
they ask othei questions . . . oui theology affects all of life. I uon't think theie's a
single aspect of oui theology that uoes not have a piactical beaiing. |Tiansciipt 999j

PioNETA couises weie uesciibeu as a "hybiiu" oi blenu of uisciplines, such as Biblical
heimeneutics along with aspects of cultuial anthiopology. "The appioach we'ie taking in
PioNETA," saiu one inteiviewee "is a multi-uisciplinaiy oi inteiuisciplinaiy appioach to

theological euucation." Anothei uesciibeu the goal of theii hybiiu uesign as follows:
We hope anu piay it will enable stuuents to unueistanu the Woiu of uou anu
effectively biing it to beai on the ieality that they live in, in theii own lives, theii
own community, Chiistian community, peihaps theii own society. To let Sciiptuie

1S
speak to ieality as it is anu not just assume that ieality is the same eveiywheie. So
contextualization is impoitant. That's why we have hybiiu piogiams that involve
the Bible anu theology anu leaueiship anu contextual analysis in uiffeient amounts
uepenuing on the piogiam anu the stuuent. Because we believe that if you just uo
one of those things we'ie not ieally piepaiing leaueis to biing anu facilitate theii
chuiches oi theii oiganizations biblical ielevance . . . |hybiiuj in teims of cioss-
uisciplinaiy. |Tiansciipt 287Aj

Anothei inteiviewee explaineu:
The iuea is how can we integiate theology, social sciences, humanities, in a moie
uisciplinaiy appioach so that we tiain the stuuent in theology, this is the main thing
foi us but how uo you uo theology outsiue in the maiketplace, in a hospital, in a
factoiy, at home, in an office, if you aie an aichitect oi an engineei, oi if you aie a
pastoi. Bow can you uo theology if you uon't unueistanu the woilu in which people
in the congiegation live. . . . Foi us, it's how can we teach oui stuuents to at least
know wheie to look foi the infoimation, how to ieseaich the woilu in which they
live so that they can leau congiegations anu people in the congiegations to know
how to think biblically, theologically. |Tiansciipt 4Suj

As an illustiation, one inteiviewee uesciibeu how his couise biings togethei Biblical
stuuies anu cultuial analysis. The couise begins with stuuents ieauing anu stuuying the
economic, histoiical, anu social-cultuial backgiounu of the New Testament book followeu
by a wiitten essay. Then the class begins a vaiiety of activities such as conuucting
inteiviews with a numbei of people in theii chuich oi community on a topic uiawn fiom
the New Testament book, such as theii view of sexuality. "We finu issues that weie
common to the New Testament chuich that aie also in theii setting," he saiu anu stuuents
conuuct the suiveys anu iepoit theii finuings back to class.
I hau them uo a majoi pioject wheie they choose fiom among six uiffeient themes
anu finu a text . . . Sciiptuial basis |foi the themej. Analyze it using tools useu in the
couise. Then in light of what they've leaineu the pastois woulu |connectj with the
inteiviews anu what was leaineu by talking to people, anu then |they aiej tolu, 'I
want you to constiuct a cieative, tiansfoiming solution oi appioach to the pioblem
you see. Naybe it's teen piegnancy oi maybe it's chuiches |thatj keep uiviuing anu
spinning off. What aie the pioblems that you see. What aie the piinciples that aie
tianscenuent in |New Testament bookj. |Thej Pauline piinciples that woulu cioss
twenty centuiies anu woulu cioss ovei cultuies. What is that going to mean in youi
situation. Wiite up a pioject combining fiist centuiy text anu then ciossing that
iivei to twenty-fiist centuiy Latin Ameiica.' Big cultuial uiviue but it's an impoitant
skill foi them to uevelop. |Tiansciipt 999j

PioNETA couises intentionally incoipoiate a mix of business piofessionals anu pastois,
which, influences couise uesign as one inteiviewee explaineu. "We uiun't conceive of
PioNETA piimaiily as teaching ministiy people only," because,
. . . it seems to us |thatj we see a veiy healthy tienu in Latin Ameiica now wheie
many people who aie not in chuich vocations aie veiy much inteiesteu in stuuying

16
the Bible . . . piofessional people who want to think theologically but they uon't want
to be pastois oi chuich planteis oi anything. Some of them as elueis |oij ueacons in
the chuich. Piimaiily they want to think theologically. That influences the way we
wiite cuiiiculum, the way we uesign |a couisej, even the titles. In my uepaitment
the titles of the couises aie not Systematic Theology I, II, III, Counseling I, II, III . . . .
Foi example, we have Beimeneutics in a Post-Nouein Woilu. It is a heimeneutic
couise but with a twist. Bow can we apply it touay in Latin Ameiica. |Tiansciipt
4Suj

The cieating anu testing of new couises incluues seveial uncommon elements incluuing
faculty collaboiation anu a cycle of testing. 0ne inteiviewee explaineu:
. . . we have couises that go thiough a seiies of iteiations fiom alpha, beta, to final
veision. We've uone testing anu evaluations, inteiviews with stuuents. Not as much
as we shoulu have uone but we have uone that. The cuiiiculum itself was
inuuctively ueiiveu fiom a stuuy of Latin Ameiicans so it's not a clone of any othei
school. In that sense, I woulu say it's maybe moie contextualizeu. Then as we teach
them |the couisesj anu get expeiience I think things aie mouifieu anu impioveu . . .
|Tiansciipt SS4j

"We have this check anu balance of oui couises," saiu anothei piofessoi,
Because otheiwise if we keep oui couises |asj 'No, you uon't look at what I'm
saying.' |Insteauj you will say, 'I'm wiiting a couise on this. Bo you have an iuea,
some ieauing, an expeiience I can use. Please senu youi stuff to me. We uo that.
This collaboiation between the piofessois is even to wiiting the couise. |Tiansciipt
4Suj

PioNETA faculty have uevelopeu a lengthy piocess useu foi cieating theii new couises.
0ne inteiviewee uesciibeu that cieating a couise involves,
Teaching people how to wiite leaining centeieu goals anu woik towaius integiation
between goals, leaining activities anu evaluation anu feeuback so we uon't set a goal
foi one thing anu uo something else. We still have a long way to go in getting what
Fink
4
woulu call a balance between ieauings oi infoimation, ieflection, anu the
expeiience . . . The last thiee yeais we've been talking about uesigning couises fiom
the peispective of two stuuents talking togethei about youi couise anu its two to
five yeais aftei the couise is ovei anu hopefully they haven't foigotten eveiything,
but what woulu they say. Then it's soit of a backwaiu uesign. |Tiansciipt SS4j

Anothei piofessoi explaineu a complimentaiy uesciiption of the piocess.
People say I have to wiite a couise. They look foi five books anu a textbook. Then
they look thiough all the table of contents in the book anu they assign weeks to this.
That's it. I alieauy have my couise. It takes PioNETA people aiounu a thousanu
houis to uesign a couise because you have to stait with the leaining goals, leaining

4
See Appenuix C.

17
objectives, leaining assignments, leaining activities anu in what sense uo you
connect all of this. It takes a lot of woik. That's what I mean |byj uesigning iathei
than piepaiing a couise. Bow uo you uesign a couise. Foi example, with Fink's
|see Appenuix Cj taxonomy you have to take these six uivisions into account . . .
what kinu of knowleuge . . . Bow uo you change chaiactei. Bow uo you uevelop
skills. What kinu of assignments uo you neeu to have in youi couises in oiuei to
uevelop, uiscovei skills in the stuuents. If you just piepaie a couise you uon't get
that. |Tiansciipt 4Suj

It has taken an intense effoit by a small team of leauei-piofessois to oveisee the cieation of
new couises foi unconventional thiee piogiams. As a iesult one inteiviewee noteu that,
"Eveiything since the |beginningj has been |aj haphazaiu evaluation of what we've uone
anu moie on a couise level. We neeu to ieally ieconsiuei eveiything."

Tiansfoimative Leaining Focus
PioNETA teacheis spoke often about stuuent leaining anu one inteiviewee pointeu out
that they woik to incoipoiate an unueistanuing of how "Latin Ameiicans leain."
Auuitionally, theie was a iepeateu theme of the uesiie foi a paiticulai kinu of leaining.
Thiee qualities appeaieu acioss the inteiviewees iegaiuing PioNETA's unueistanuing of
leaining: fiist, it was tiansfoimative in the stuuent's life; seconu, it became a habit ongoing
in theii life anu thiiu, they iecognizeu stuuents as auults who best appioach leaining
uiffeiently. 0ne inteiviewee explaineu that,
. . . we uon't want to be focuseu on euucation. We want to focus on leaining.
Euucation is unueistoou as the piofessois just pouiing out the infoimation to
stuuents. That uoesn't make sense. I went theie befoie anu it uiun't woik. . . . They
gave me infoimation but not many skills oi ways to unueistanu ieality. . . The iuea
that we want to focus on is how people leain, focus on that anu piimaiily on
significant leaining . . . Eveiy time we wiite a couise we go into the futuie, |anu askj
'What uo we want people to know anu what aie the skills they neeu five yeais aftei
giauuation.' insteau of asking how much can they iemembei. They can iemembei a
lot but they may not be able to apply it. The iuea is then we come back anu say,
'0kay, in oiuei to know this anu be able to apply these skills how uo we wiite the
couise.' What kinu of assignments. What kinu of ieauings. What aie the new
uevelopments in how people leain. |Tiansciipt 4Suj

PioNETA's piogiams aie intenueu to fostei lasting change in the way stuuents appioach
theii leaueiship ioles, whethei in the chuich oi in theii piofession. Auuitionally, faculty
seek to stimulate change in theii chaiactei anu theii spiiitual foimation. 0ne inteiviewee
noteu: ". . . we uo what we call tiansfoimational - tiansfoimative leaining wheie people
uon't just come out of the piogiam moie knowleugeable, moie skilleu but they look moie
like }esus . . . we tiy to move people fiom suiface leaining to ueep leaining." Be went on to
uesciibe that of theii seven euucational values, "tiansfoimational leaining is a non-
negotiable |valuej foi us. We've maue a fiim commitment |to itj anu I woulu say that
theie's no ieal opposition. It's just that we'ie tiying to figuie out, '0kay, now what uoes

18
that mean anu how uo you teach that.' Anothei inteiviewee uesciibeu that they seek to
stimulate change in stuuents so that,
. . . in teims of chuiches anu communities that |theyj ieally ieflect the life of Chiist.
They'ie iooteu in the Bible. They'ie living it out in ieal ways in theii own context.
They'ie leaining how to ueal with conflict. They'ie leaining how to be goou leaueis
anu followeis in a Chiistian context . . . I see oui stuuents as leaueis. Aie they
themselves continuing to giow anu continuing to leain. . . . I want them to be able
to communicate well . . . we want out stuuents to be able to communicate in a way
that makes sense to them |univeisity euucateu membeisj, connects with them fiom
the piepaiation they've hau. We want them to be, I guess I'u have to use the woiu
sophisticateu . . . to nuance, |so that notj eveiything is black anu white . . . it's multi-
coloieu. Theie's a tapestiy. To be able to ieally leau in theii communities
unueistanuing that most things aie not what they fiist appeai . . . PioNETA will
mellow them, soften iough euges, open them up to people maybe they woulu have
closeu themself |offj to. To tiy to put themselves into somebouy else's minu . . .
tiying to figuie out what they think anu what they feel . . . Aie they investing
themselves in otheis. Aie they ielating to each othei in healthy ways. Aie they
giowing in theii own theological unueistanuing. |Tiansciipt 999j

Anothei inteiviewee uesciibeu that an impoitant pait of the peisonal change uesiieu in
theii stuuents is to countei the seiious pioblems in the chuich wheie pastoial leaueis
often ieflect the uominant piactices of the bioauei Latin Ameiican cultuie uesciibeu as
"the Bugo Chaves woilu" of Latin Ameiica. Foi example, peimeating the couises is a focus
on ueveloping peisonal humility in the likeness of Chiist. 0ne inteiviewee offeieu an
example fiom his couise showing how an assignment stimulateu peisonal change in one
stuuent:
. . . in the chuich planting couise we have them |stuuentsj uo a peisonal evaluation.
|We} give them a checklist of uiffeient qualities that woulu make a goou chuich
plantei anu we incluue . . . what we woulu call spiiitual gifts, like evangelism. But
also peisonal qualities anu the quality of theii home life. Foi example, |the stuuents
aiej to iate these |foi themselvesj anu then finu someone else they tiust, it coulu be
a spouse anu then ask that peison to iate you anu then talk about it. What aie the
uiffeiences. 0ne stuuent . . . aftei this assignment saiu, 'I went thiough this with my
wife anu one of the things that came up in this was that my wife uiun't consiuei me
in teims of being uevoteu to the family, giving enough time to the family. She iateu
me quite a bit lowei than I uiu. That was painful,' he wiote, 'but we talkeu about this
anu I'm going to make some changes.' |Tiansciipt 999j

0ne inteiviewee uesciibeu how change in the life of stuuents incluues "biinging spiiitual
foimation uown to the couise uesign level anu not just talking about spiiitual foimation as
the couises in spiiituality. But we'ie tiying to get the point acioss that eveiything we uo is
foimative . . . Spiiitual foimation is not optional." To assess how well inuiviuual couises
integiateu components of spiiitual foimation one teachei was inviteu to ieview all the
couises foi components of spiiitual foimation as his Boctoi of Ninistiy ieseaich pioject in

19
Spiiitual Foimation. Bis assessment concluueu that all couises hau incoipoiateu elements
of spiiitual foimation.

A seconu uistinctive of stuuent leaining was the embiace of lifelong leaining. Faculty
pointeu out that couises aie cieateu to fostei a minuset foi continueu leaining in the
stuuents. As one inteiviewee stateu, "We want to teach them |stuuentsj how to leain so
they can go on leaining." They have a passion foi leaining. They come out of PioNETA
committeu to lifelong leaining . . . Anothei auueu that theie is,
|thej belief that leaineis neeu to take an active pait in theii leaining. We'ie not
tiansmitting infoimation. We'ie pioviuing an enviionment, pioviuing some
iesouices to get staiteu anu |wej tiy to mouel leaining. We'ie uealing with auult
leaineis anu these aie people |whoj aie going to neeu to chait theii own couise.
They'ie going to neeu to be self-staiteis. They'ie going to neeu to take initiative.
We want to teach them how to leain so that aftei giauuation fiom oui piogiam
they'll go one leaining anu it won't enu when they get theii uiploma . . . we have the
value that we can leain fiom the social sciences . . . we believe that woiluview is
impoitant . . . community, that's a stiong value. While one can leain things on theii
own theie's a ieal value in leaining as a pait of a community . . . we can only go so
fai leaining as an inuiviuual. We have so many blinueis on that I can only go so fai.
|Tiansciipt 999j

A thiiu uistinctive iegaiuing stuuent leaining was the iecognition that PioNETA stuuents
aie capable auults. 0ne piofessoi illustiateu it most cleaily:
I nevei call them stuuents. I call them companions. I mean fiienus, biotheis oi
whatevei. Even outsiue the classioom I saiu, 'Bon't call me Bi. X' call me |fiist
namej. We'ie all in this togethei. I'm leaining fiom you. I tell them, 'Listen the one
who leains piobably the most is me because in piepaiing, in uesigning the couise I
leain a lot. Since you aie in Spain, ueimany, Inuia, Switzeilanu, 0.S., Latin Ameiica
when you senu me youi stuff it comes fiom youi cultuial backgiounu, youi histoiy,
youi expeiience. I leain a lot fiom you. |Tiansciipt 4Suj

Be went on to say,
I know my context but I cannot know all of theii contexts. They aie capable auults
anu they know theii context, theii congiegation, much bettei than I. Foi example, I
have this stuuent in Spain. Be sent me an email. Piofessoi, I want to thank you foi
the couise, it's making such a big tiansfoimation in my life, but all the assignments
aie basically ielateu to Latin Ameiica but I uon't live in Latin Ameiica. I live in
Spain. You know that. Can you change the assignments foi me. I saiu, '0ops, please
foigive me foi that. I foigot that thing. I was thinking so much in Latin Ameiica.' I
saiu, '0kay.' Then insteau of telling him, '0kay, why uon't you uo this oi that.' I saiu
(stuuent's name), 'What woulu you suggest as an assignment foi you that woulu be
ielevant in youi cultuie, ielevant in youi situation. I woulu be willing to woik with
you. Insteau of me telling you anu since I uon't know that much about youi cultuie,
youi situation. I know Latin Ameiica, but I uon't know Spain. Tell me what you
think woulu be significant foi you.' Be saiu, 'Woulu you let me uo this.' I saiu, 'Foi

2u
suie; go aheau.' The stuuent can tell you, 'Listen, that thing is not woiking foi me,
it's too haiu, too uifficult, it uoesn't apply, I'm inteiesteu in this.' '0kay gieat.' ''If it
uoesn't help you why shoulu we uo it. Tell me what woulu be ielevant to you.'
|Tiansciipt 4Suj

Suipiising Biscoveiies
Inteiviewees weie askeu to ieflect on theii past expeiience in PioNETA anu iuentify
something that most suipiiseu them. 0ne instiuctoi was most suipiiseu by the quality of
the woik fiom stuuents in a iecent couise. "A lot of theii woik was publishable . . . this is
goou stuff. The quality of the comments, I was just oveiwhelmeu," he saiu. In his couise
stuuents woulu post theii piojects anu then they woulu comment on each othei's woik. "I
gave them a few ciiteiia," he saiu. Incluuing, "oiiginality, logic coheience, anu just |geneialj
comments. Then |toj encouiage each othei. uive some goou feeuback anu some
suggestions, constiuctive ciiticism," he explaineu. As a iesult, both the quality of the
piojects anu the stuuent comments to each othei weie an impiessive level of quality to the
piofessoi.

Anothei inteiviewee explaineu that,
The most significant thing foi us is the eviuence that online leaining actually woiks
because eveiybouy that we talkeu to saiu that |thej thing uoes not woik. We woik
against two oi thiee issues. 0ne is that people uon't believe you can actually teach
anu leain anu cieate communities online. That has been a suipiise foi us that we
can have the eviuence that it is woiking. Seconu, a big suipiise is that foi some
ieason, by the giace of the Loiu, othei schools aie iecognizing PioNETA as a goou,
goou piogiam although we have only been aiounu foi eight to ten yeais compaieu
to SETECA. The iuea that PioNETA has maue significant piogiess |is a suipiisej.
We thought it was going to take a lot moie yeais. That has been a suipiise, that
online leaining actually woiks anu that the Loiu has given us a goou ieputation
even though we aie a veiy small team. . . that going against the flow of tiauitional
theological euucation can be uone. That you uon't have to fall piey to the tiauitional
way of uoing things. It's been haiu, extiemely haiu. |Tiansciipt 4Suj

Anothei inteiviewee acknowleugeu the challenges anu he too iecognizeu that they hau
accomplisheu theii goal. Be explaineu,
It hasn't been an easy iiue getting this thing to wheie we aie but at least we'ie heie
anu we have actual giauuates anu we've seen, I woulu say, significant
tiansfoimational leaining . . . At least we have a mouel that we've uemonstiateu you
can uo it anu we've watcheu people go thiough the whole piocess. Now we ieally

neeu to take it to the next level. |Tiansciipt SS4j

This inuiviuual also iuentifieu his suipiise that stuuents weien't "banging at the uooi" to
get it.
. . . theie's |aiej entiie countiies wheie you coulun't get the uegiee we'ie offeiing. I
think the leaueiship uegiee we'ie offeiing, I think it's the only one of its kinu in

21
Latin Ameiica . . . it's just bianu new. People uiun't come banging uown oui uoois
so I think ieciuitment has been much haiuei than any of us uieameu . . . this is
something that I uiun't anticipate. I thought the technology enu of things woulu be
moie uifficult but technology has not been the biggest pioblem. |Tiansciipt SS4j

Sustaining An 0nconventional Nouel
All of the non-stuuent inteiviewees iuentifieu the neeu foi a new euucational mouel that
was sustainable long-teim as fully Latin Ameiican. Sustainability involveu foui aieas: an
alteinative funuing mouel no longei heavily uepenuent on mission funuing, scaling
eniollment within a context of neaily fiee highei euucation, auuiessing issues within the
mission staffing mouel, anu locating Latin Ameiican leauei-euucatois with compaiable
euucational values. 0ne inteiviewee uesciibeu the piimaiy goal foi sustainability as
follows:
We want to have piincipally Latin Ameiican leaueiship in eveiy uepaitment
acauemically, anu then in the auministiation . . . anu that means a whole uiffeient
funuing stiuctuie has to be in place . . . we want to have a system wheie you coulu
actually get giauuate euucation being offeieu in a way that coulu |comej somewheie
within the iange of paying foi itself, with some uonations, but basically funu itself
because you can scale it . . . |Tiansciipt 287Aj

Beveloping local leaueiship has become an incieasing concein as cuiient leaueis iealize
that foi most of them theii ietiiement is not fai off.
|We'iej tiying to look at this ten-yeai winuow anu feel that we neeu a sustainable
mouel by the enu of the next ten yeais. In this veiy yeai we have to ueciue wheie
we'ie going to thiow oui eneigies. Ceitainly, one way oi anothei, we want to ievise
what we'ie uoing . . . uo we expanu with moie uegiees oi moie tiacks. 0i, uo we
want to woik on a uiffeient level |euucationallyj. 0i, uo we want to uo moie
nonfoimal. Bow uo we want to uo this. The haiuest pait is going to be to ueciue
what we'ie not going to uo. |Tiansciipt 287Bj

Noving away fiom the cuiient funuing mouel is not easily attainable as one inteiviewee
noteu that, "Time anu time again what missionaiies stait, once they leave anu take the
soccei ball with them the whole thing collapses. We aie veiy awaie of that. Aie we going
to iepeat that. We uon't want to but that's a concein."

Incieasing eniollment to a level that can contiibute moie substantially to the financial
neeus is a seconu ciitical concein. 0ne inteiviewee saiu: "We woulu thiow out the net anu
all kinus of people woulu come in but they uiun't qualify. We haven't founu the seciet to
locating the type of people that neeu to be in PioNETA . . . anu none of us have tiaining in
maiketing." Auuitionally, a low eniollment is compounueu by the Latin Ameiican
euucational context "wheie much of highei euucation is fiee, oi neaily fiee." In this context
one inteiviewee uesciibeu how a univeisity often gives "piactically fiee euucation" anu
"evangelicals give piactically fiee seminaiy anu Bible Institute euucation. So uo Catholics
anu I believe the Piotestants too." As a iesult, PioNETA finus that "theie's an expectation
foi fiee euucation, oi not fiee but cheap." This cultuial piactice has cieateu a minuset

22
among auults, uesciibeu by one inteiviewee, wheie what auults peiceive as an appiopiiate
fee foi euucation is often much lowei than many can affoiu to pay. So, while the fee foi
couises coulu be set at what may be an affoiuable piice, most Latin Ameiicans woulu
peiceive that as "way oveipaying foi something."

A thiiu aiea of challenge with iegaiu to cieating a sustainable mouel is the expectations of
the Evangelical Fiee Chuich mission. The suppoit fiom the Evangelical Fiee Chuich
mission has been vital to launching PioNETA. 0ne leauei saiu, "The EFCA gave a hanus-off
encouiagement, not uiiective oi contiolling." In contiast, anothei noteu that as PioNETA
began it was limiteu to only seiving stuuents seeking a mastei's uegiee. By iestiicting
PioNETA fiom offeiing a uistance bacheloi's uegiee the potential pool of stuuents was
consiueiably naiioweu. It was assumeu by mission leaueis that offeiing a bacheloi's
piogiam woulu put it "in competition with oui own biotheis anu sisteis in the EFCA
piogiam." Fuithei, the mission appioach to staffing is not always most effective foi the
paiticulai qualifications iequiieu to uevelop a sustainable school. This inteiviewee
explaineu that,
When you'ie with a missionaiy oiganization you can't just go anu say, 'Well, we
neeu a New Testament piofessoi so we'ie going to go hiie one.' We uon't have any
money to hiie one. We have this teachei who loves to teach apologetics anu has
iaiseu suppoit oi whatevei. Be's got some suppoit system. 'Let's talk to him.' '0kay,
but uo we ieally neeu apologetics.' That veiy scenaiio is ieal. This is not
hypothetical. You have the temptation to take on all comeis that can offei time but
you get this ouu oiganization. Then foi eveiyone that comes to us oui system has to
auapt to this new thing anu so moie of oui time is spent. To me, as impoitant as the
questions aie about what we'ie going to uo ovei these next ten yeais aie what we'ie
not going to uo in oiuei that we can focus oui eneigies on what will make us
sustainable. |Tiansciipt 287Aj

PioNETA's team of leauei-piofessois iecognize that to sustain the piogiam foi the type of
unconventional euucation they offei piesents challenges when seeking to iuentify Latin
Ameiicans who shaie the same euucational values, especially when some of those values
seem to be somewhat countei-cultuial. Foi example, PioNETA's multi-uisciplinaiy
appioach to couise uesign iequiies a substantial level of mutual collaboiation among
faculty of uiffeient uisciplines which is uncommon in highei euucation anu peihaps
paiticulaily so in Latin Ameiica. 0ne inteiviewee pointeu to the peivasive piactice of
hieiaichy. "In Latin Ameiica eveiything is hieiaichal," he saiu, "Eveiything." "The level of
buieauciacy is extiemely high. We uon't want to be a buieauciatic |oiganizationj but that
is an issue. What kinu of stiuctuie will we have in the futuie." This same piofessoi
acknowleugeu that the flat collaboiative style among the team leaueis also contiibutes to
the way they ielate to stuuents, which is a moie collaboiative teaching style, anu a style
that was attiactive to the stuuents inteivieweu as noteu in this iepoit (see Section II.
PioNETA Stuuents). Be went on to uesciibe his new thinking about stiuctuie anu
suggesteu that in the futuie PioNETA is baseu on a "system of systems appioach. "Nost of
the schools have this lineai hieiaichal top uown way of inteiacting," he saiu. "We have
ueciueu foi the systems of systems appioach. Woulu that woik in Latin Ameiica." he

2S
wonueieu. Theii oiganizational appioach iespects each as the leauei in theii aiea of
expeitise anu togethei the team makes uecisions without one "big boss." While this
uynamic oiganizational appioach has been effective with the cuiient leaueiship team of
both Latin Ameiican anu Noith Ameiican leaueis this inteiviewee wonueieu if it is
possible to sustain that mouel in a cultuie wheie hieiaichy is the peivasive mouel of
leaueiship.

Be went on to iuentify anothei concein of, "Tiansfeiiing the vision to othei people, |thisj
way of uoing things, the cultuie that we have now. That's a main issue foi us . . . anu how
uo we uevelop that piocess that woulu cieate the new geneiation of PioNETA leaueis."
Theie is the concein of finuing faculty "who uon't have the bias of tiauitional euucation oi
uo we focus on people who know theii stuff, expeits in a uiscipline anu aie willing to leain
how to uesign couises with leaining as the main focus iathei than just shaiing
infoimation."

Anothei leauei pointeu out that one of the immeuiate neeus foi PioNETA's sustainability is
to "leain to function as a viitual community. We'ie not theie yet," he saiu. In his seaich foi
guiuance anu uiiection he has been unable to locate liteiatuie to guiue them that has been
helpful to guiue theii way anu unfoitunately the "business team mateiials haven't pioviueu
much help."

An uncommon openness to exploiing new iueas, leaining, anu tiying new possibilities was
eviuenceu acioss the leaueiship inteiviews. PioNETA's cieative appioach to pioblem
solving is the catalyst to exploiing potential new paitneiships in uiffeient countiies in
oiuei to solve the obstacles of accieuitation. Theii openness to leaining anu iisk taking
along with a thoughtful collaboiative piocess of uecision making seems to position
PioNETA well to meet the significant challenge of inventing a sustainable mouel of Latin
Ameiican theological euucation.

>D @*1#&&*.)%,2#.' 4#B%")' /)01%,2#.%5 C,"*.$,= %.) C0',%2.%7252,E
An analysis of PioNETA inteiviews ievealeu ambitious anu innovative euucational
piogiams that appeai to have achieveu impoitant benefits in auuition to what was
oiiginally intenueu. These outcomes aie uesciibeu followeu by a numbei of mouest
iecommenuations in the aieas of Stuuents, CouisePiogiam Bevelopment, anu
StiuctuieStaffing.

0nexpecteu 0utcomes
Two unexpecteu outcomes appeai to offei impoitant benefits to the chuich in Latin
Ameiica wheie PioNETA giauuates seive. Fiist, PioNETA hopeu to pioviue
tiansfoimative anu accessible giauuate-level uistance euucation thiough a combination of
online anu face-to-face meetings in a stuuent cohoit mouel. 0nable to achieve this oiiginal
anu piefeiieu goal, the PioNETA leaueiship team woikeu cieatively in spite of the
obstacles, anu uiscoveieu that fully online tiansfoimative euucation coulu be achieveu
an accomplishment with even gieatei potential impact foi the Latin Ameiican chuich than

24
initially envisioneu because of the significantly gieatei access of fully online euucation.
Touay, PioNETA can confiuently offei impactful euucation foi people locateu anywheie
with access to the Inteinet, with oi without concentiateu eniollment in geogiaphic centeis.

A seconu benefit, seemingly unintenueu, also came about as a iesult of the fully online
couises. With a lack of concentiateu eniollment in geogiaphic centeis foi a cohoit mouel,
online couises weie maue up of stuuents fiom a wiue vaiiety of uiffeient countiies,
piofessions, anu socio-economic backgiounus. The only similaiity among the stuuents in
most couises appeaieu to be theii common language. The collaboiative natuie of most
PioNETA couises iequiies the stuuents to woik acioss theii social-economic, genuei,
uenominational, anu cultuial uiffeiences in oiuei to be successful in theii acauemic
piogiam. As inuicateu by all stuuents inteivieweu foi this stuuy, theii "inteinational"
community is one of theii most valueu paits of theii PioNETA couises. PioNETA stuuents
appeai to uevelop a substantial ability to communicate anu woik acioss numeious cultuial
uiffeiences, a valuable contiibution to the health of a giowing 21
st
centuiy chuich.

Auuitionally, PioNETA instiuctois iecognizeu the neeu foi a flexible appioach in theii
couises that suppoiteu theii auult stuuents. Yet, theii small class size combineu with high
levels of stuuent uiveisity woulu act as a continual catalyst to leain a new peuagogy that
woulu seive the neeus of all stuuents. Faculty coulu not fall back on the moie familiai
appioach of unifoimity in assignment iequiiements, even if tempteu to uo so, if theii goal
of contextualizeu euucation was to be met. Assignments simply hau to be moie flexible,
they hau to iecognize the local settings anu fiee stuuents to auapt assignments anu
empowei them to cieate iesponses ielevant to theii own context. 0nleaining familiai
patteins of teaching anu leaining was uifficult foi many faculty. If PioNETA hau been able
to implement theii piefeiieu mouel it appeais theie may have been less uigency foi faculty
to ieuesign theii peuagogical piactices.

Recommenuations
PioNETA functions in uiveise anu complex enviionments that ieach acioss thiee
continents. As a iesult, the following iecommenuations aie offeieu with the iecognition
that PioNETA leaueis neeu to consiuei them caiefully anu mouify as necessaiy.

Stuuent Expansion
This stuuy ievealeu hesitation by stuuents when they initially consiueieu PioNETA's
couises, but also the numeious benefits they expeiienceu as stuuents. 0nce stuuents took
the iisk of tiying PioNETA, anu as they weie to stay with the piogiam they became
enthusiastic about the quality anu integiity offeieu in the couises. As a iesult, PioNETA
has a positive base of stuuents anu giauuates seemingly willing to be "stoiytelleis" who can
uispel the myths of online euucation in the Chiistian community. Nultiple communication
channels seem accessible to piospective stuuents anu as impoitant next steps foi PioNETA
the following is iecommenueu:
1. Nateiials anu meuia be useu to piomote PioNETA (website, piint, piesentations:
live anu iecoiueu, viueos) can accomplish the following:


2S
a. Auuiess explicit conceins piospective stuuents have, such as: Aie the
couises uevelopeu foi Latin Ameiica., What kinu of community anu
ielationships will be expeiienceu., What kinu of help is pioviueu. uive as
much uetail as possible.

b. Bighlight the many benefits stuuents have iuentifieu by using numeious
stuuent testimonies fiom uiveise paiticipants, incluuing seveial teacheis.

c. Besciibe PioNETA's commitment to contextualization anu the auult oiienteu
peuagogy in the couises.

u. Auveitise a small "sample" couise within the Sakai LNS with seveial "guest"
logins so inteiesteu auults can see S-4 actual sessions in a couise.

e. Conuuct an online web meeting thiough Big Blue Button within Sakai to
intiouuce PioNETA anu answei questions, while cieating a positive
ielational connection between a PioNETA iepiesentative anu piospective
stuuents, anu among the piospective stuuents.

f. Piomote the new benefits to stuuents offeieu by PioNETA's LNS (Sakai),
such as theii "Woikspace" foi any of theii online uocuments, a "Pioject" site
foi collaboiation among alumni anu otheis, anu the "e-Poitfolio" tool useu
foi assessment anu to shaie stuuent woik with otheis, such as potential
employeis. Any of these benefits foi stuuents can continue aftei giauuation
anu aie not iestiicteu to a stuuent status. These coulu potentially geneiate a
lively pastoial community of pastois anu possibly laity so that Chiistian
euucation foi the whole chuich can be offeieu in Sakai.

2. PioNETA leaueis iecognizeu that stuuent ietention is a concein anu shoulu be
auuiesseu. As a iesult, a stuuy is iecommenueu to uiscein possible patteins, such as
timing oi uemogiaphic chaiacteiistics that coulu be tiiggeis to a stuuent uiopping
out anu uevelop coiiective steps to enhance ietention.

S. Consiuei cieating a shoit but meaningful online couise open to a wiue iange of
people on a topic of inteiest to many in the chuich in oiuei to expose people to the
online PioNETA expeiience. The goal woulu be to see if a meaningful online
expeiience woulu ieuuce initial hesitation in eniolling foi online couises in
PioNETA.

4. Regulaily solicit stuuent feeuback using the anonymous suivey tool in the Sakai LNS
anu auuiess conceins wheievei possible. Pioviue a iepoit back to stuuents on the
iesults. This pioviues a iegulai way the auult stuuent can contiibute to
stiengthening couises.

CouisePiogiam Bevelopment

26
In piepaiation foi tiansiting PioNETA to Latin Ameiican leaueiship the following
iecommenuations aie offeieu.
1. Inteiviews inuicate that PioNETA has an extensive piocess foi cieating new couises
anu it is unueigoing iefinement cuiiently. In piepaiation foi futuie PioNETA
leaueiship uesciibe the couise uesign piocess in wiiting in oiuei to pioviue
guiuelines anu illustiations foi those new to the piocess. This woulu incluue an
outline of the euucational values anu the uncommon peuagogy that has emeigeu to
give PioNETA the kinu of couises that stuuents iuentifieu as beneficial.

2. Cieate a system foi ieviewing all couises that encouiages consistency of PioNETA's
euucational values anu auult oiienteu peuagogy acioss the couises.

S. The inteiviews inuicateu an uncommon level of congiuency between what
stuuent's iuentifieu as theii couise expeiiences anu what faculty uesciibeu as theii
euucational goals. Foimal evaluation of all piogiams woulu help stiengthen anu
sustain this congiuency. "0tilization-Focuseu Evaluation"
S
is iecommenueu
because of its collaboiative uesign anu focus on collecting infoimation that
paiticipants iuentify as beneficial to theii piactice. An exteinal euucatoi coulu help
guiue the piocess in oiuei to ielieve the buiuen on facultyauministiatois of
PioNETA, anu to enhance the cieuibility of the finuings.

StiuctuieStaff Bevelopment
Sustainability appeais to iequiie futuie leauei-teacheis who shaie PioNETA's values anu
vision foi the chuich in Latin Ameiica embiace the emeiging "system within systems"
pioposeu stiuctuie, anu have the capacity to become contextually oiienteu euucatois who
auopt an uncommon auult focuseu online peuagogy. The following iecommenuations aie
offeieu to assist with this challenge:
1. Inteiviews suggesteu that the stanuaiu mission appioach to staffing piesents an
obstacle to finuing the type of people neeueu to sustain the piogiams. It is
iecommenueu that PioNETA leaueis negotiate with the EFCA mission to cieate a
suitable new piocess that will lenu itself to alteinative stiategies foi staffing foi long
teim sustainability. This stiategy will likely entail an "outsiue-the-box" appioach
similai to the way in which the couises have been cieateu.
2. As viitual technology tools become moie effective, pievalent, anu less costly
auoption will continue to expanu making viitual collaboiation moie anu moie
possible anu familiai as an option foi how oiganizations function. Within this
context, PioNETA iecognizes the neeu foi giowth in the ability to function
effectively as a viitual oiganization. As a iesult, it is iecommenueu that PioNETA
continue to auopt online collaboiative tools, especially newei technology such as
Big Blue Button to inciease theii viitual functioning capacity as a leaueiship team
anu oiganization. Seveial yeais will be neeueu foi ease anu efficiency to giow anu
especially impoitant is the neeu to mentoi futuie leaueis so they become

S
Nichael Quinn Patton. -22'#()*+2 %< "()+)=*()%#>?%$/2'. -&*+/*()%# (Los Angeles: Sage Publications, Inc.,
2u12).

27
comfoitable in this foim of oiganization. Fuithei, since PioNETA has joineu the
LikeBeiea consoitium,
6
oppoitunities will be piesenteu foi intei-oiganizational
collaboiation aiounu issues of common concein. Liteiatuie continue to expanu
aiounu this foim of oiganization, incieasingly essential to uecentializeu school
campuses. Cuiient liteiatuie can be accesseu by contacting Neii NacLeou, Ph.B. at
meiimuigitalseminaiian.com.

S. Nentoiing appeais to be an essential piece of the oveiall piocess of ueveloping both
futuie PioNETA teacheis anu leaueis. Since many auults move thiough PioNETA
couises at a pace that takes seveial yeais to complete, PioNETA coulu be mentoiing
theii futuie leauei-teacheis who aie theii stuuents touay. uiauuates who valueu of
theii PioNETA stuuies, whose chaiactei anu spiiitual giowth weie uevelopeu, anu
who uemonstiateu a ueepening embiace of PioNETA values coulu be the
unexpecteu futuie leaueis foi PioNETA. It is iecommenueu that PioNETA seaich
foi stiong canuiuates among stuuents anu giauuates who may become futuie
leaueis anu teacheis anu intentionally cieate ways to nuituie theii abilities.

66
See http:commongiounujouinal.oigvolnumv11nu2.puf#pagemoue=bookmaiks&page=1 Last accesseu
on Nay 19, 2u14.

28

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0pening Question to begin Conveisation
1. Tell me a little about youiself, wheie aie you fiom., what uo you uo.
2. Bow uiu you leain about this piogiam. Bow long have you been a stuuent.
RQ #1: Piogiam Attiaction
1. What attiacteu you to this piogiam.
2. What benefits uo youi hope to expeiience fiom it.
S. Bow have you seen the piogiam make a uiffeience in youi life.
RQ #2: Besign
1. Tell me about one of youi couises, a typical example, anu how uoes it woik. What uo you
uo.
2. What kinus of things uo the teacheis uo. Tell me about any othei things that aie pait of
how the piogiam woiks.
S. Bow is the piogiam uiffeient fiom what you expecteu.
4. Bow uoes the piogiam fit the neeus of stuuents.
RQ #S: Poweiful Expeiiences
1. Think back ovei youi time in the piogiam anu tell me about one of youi most memoiable
expeiiences.
2. What maue this expeiience one of the best.
RQ #4: Besciibing the Piogiam to Anothei
1. If a fiienu came to you anu askeu you to tell them about this piogiam, how woulu you
uesciibe it. What woulu be most impoitant foi them to know.
RQ #S: Futuie Reuesign
1. Imagine that it is S yeais in the futuie anu you have been maue the leauei of this piogiam
anu have been tolu to make any changes you think woulu be best. What woulu you keep
anu what woulu you auu.
2. Why woulu these be the most impoitant things to uo.
C0NCL0SI0N:
1. Is theie anything else you woulu like to tell me about youi expeiiences with this piogiam.

>>? M%105,E %.) 6)&2.2',"%,#" T0*',2#.'
0pening Question to begin Conveisation
1. Tell me a little about youiself. What kinus of things uo you uo at the school.
2. Bow aie you involveu with the new piogiam.
RQ #1: Besign & Timing
1. Besciibe the new euucational piogiam anu what is unusual about it foi youi school.
2. When uiu it begin anu what weie the ieasons it was the neeueu.
S. Tell me about any influences on the new piogiam that may have come fiom places outsiue
of youi school. uoveinment. Chuich. National oi Inteinational leaueis. Publications.
Scholais. 0thei school examples.
4. When you ieflect on the how the piogiam is uesigneu, uesciibe any featuies that ieflect
youi local context.
S. RQ #2: Bistinctives

S1
1. Fiom youi expeiiences with the new piogiam, what makes it unusual, uistinct fiom a
stanuaiu (tiauitional) euucational appioach.
2. What kinus of things have you founu to be uiffeient than you expecteu.
S. In what ways have any of these uistinctives changeu since the piogiam has existeu.
RQ #S: Euucational Expeiience
1. Tell me about the teaching anu leaining that occuis in this new mouel. Bow is it uiffeient
fiom moie common expeiiences.
2. Tell me about the stuuent expeiiences. What is this uesign like foi them.
S. What factois stimulateu these new appioaches.
RQ #4: Theological & Euucational valuesConvictions
1. Tell me about any paiticulai theological convictions that influenceu this euucational mouel.
2. Besciibe any euucational values oi convictions that influenceu the uesign of this new mouel.
S. As you think about youi local context can you tell me about any ways youi context has
influenceu this.
RQ #S: The Futuie
1. What aie the next steps in the uevelopment of this new piogiam.
2. What is neeueu foi the new piogiam to become establisheu anu able to sustain itself.
C0NCL0SI0N:
1. Is theie anything else you woulu like to tell me about youi expeiiences with this new
euucational mouel.


S2

6!!/FG>I H

Taken fiom : L. Bee Fink (2uuS@A B1'*()#9 C)9#)<)$*#( D'*1#)#9 -EF'1)'#$'2G H# I#('91*('. HFF1%*$8 (%
J'2)9#)#9 B%++'9' B%/12'2. (San Fiancisco, CA: Willey & Sons Publishing), p Su.

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