Bakersguide Site adds International Programs

Jason Baker has added a set of links to international programs on his web site http://www.bakersguide.com


The direct link is:
http://www.gospelcom.net/bakersguide/international.php

For those of you not familiar with Jason, he completed his PhD via DL from Regents and is now an assistant professor at Regents. His site focusses on Christian programs at certificate thru PhD level.

North

 

Excellent! In correspondence with Jason some time back he shared that he was going to add this feature. He has made a good start and is to be commended for the valuable addition.

 

Any idea what he doesn't list TRACS accredited programs? He includes at least one DETC program.

 

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Barry

I "spoke" to Jason about this the other day. I also pointed him to other DL UK schools. But he is very busy and just has not done it. He does intend eventually to include TRACS.

 

That is my understanding as well. He had good intentions of regularly doing an on line newsletter (etc) but demands on his time (at that point school & teaching & family) made that difficult. Nonetheless, he maintains a very helpful on stop site (especially for Christian Ed). I have also found that if you contact him he does respond.

North

 

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I really feel it is time for a fresh, full blown literary presentation of DL Theological education. As Jason will admit, his is incomplete. As Walston should admit his is also incomplete and IMO a little to the left on the virtues of accreditation. And while I don't have Steve's, it is pretty old. My own hapless experience with an unaccred school, and see Rex's on the ACI thread ,are anecdotic of many cases, I'm sure.

Someone needs to attend to this and I nominate Russell who while possessing huge deficits in information re soteriology has DL experience and is trustworthy in all other ways

 

I agree & also nominate Russell to develop Russell's Guide to Accredited DL Programs and places to stay far away from.

Russell....time is a wasting.

North

 

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See Russell, (hee,hee), North also thinks you have erroneous soteriology!

 

Do you think I could, at this point, change my thesis topic with PUCHE and get two birds with one stone?

1. Complete a Ph.D. thesis on the subject.
2. Use the thesis as the bulk of a book on DL.

I already have several good sources to use for documentation:

Grover, Bill
North, Mr.
Levicoff, Steve
Bear, John
ACI
Trinity College/University
American College

Wow, guys, I feel inspired already!

 

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Russell

Yes, do it! I think I heard it rumored that James White earned his grad degrees thru CES with books. I was also on the UK distance learning sites recently where a degree thru publishing is mentioned!

Let's all join in now gang:

"Go Russell,
Go Russell,
Go Russell,
Yaaaaaaaaaaa,,,,,"

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Not sure I like being lumped in with ACI

Nonetheless, it would be nice to help people like Rex avoid mistakes. Go...Russell....Go.....Russell...............

North

North

 

North,

I just gave a few sources, pro and con. You of course would be on the pro list. ACI on the other hand, well, uhhh, ummmm, errrrr, like a--they must be in a league of their own.

 

It seemed appropriate to use this as the opportunity to (finally) register with DegreeInfo and post something. As someone who followed a.e.d. since the mid-1990s (even before the Gang of Six was formed) and who has followed DegreeInfo since its inception, it's been encouraging to see the richness found here without the flamewars that marked a.e.d. Kudos to Nathan, Chip, and the rest who make this a wonderful resource.

Let me briefly introduce myself. My name is Jason Baker and I'm an associate professor of education at Regent University. I teach primarily in our new Ed.D. program and serve as the advisor for the distance education cognate in our doctoral program. I have a B.S. in electrical engineering from Bucknell University, an M.A. in education and human development (educational technology leadership) from The George Washington University, and a Ph.D. in communication from Regent University. I've also taken a number of courses from Chesapeake Theological Seminary, a non-traditional seminary of the Presbyterian Church in America which closed it's doors a few years ago. I hope to resume my studies from either Reformed Theological Seminary or Covenant Theological Seminary sometime in the future. I'm Reformed, a member of the PCA, and living in Chesapeake, Virginia with my wife and two sons. I've taught online, taken courses online, consulted with institutions developing online programs, and generally seen the good, bad, and ugly of online distance education.

As for Baker's Guide, let me clarify a few points and offer an invitation:

- Although there was a time that I waded into the unaccredited school controversy, I eventually tired of the harassment, lawsuit threats, and general hostility that I incurred while attempting to serve the Christian community. I decided that I was more interested in promoting the positive than crusading against the negative, and chose to leave that to others.

- As for TRACS, I do plan on adding TRACS schools to the directory, albeit in normal (not bold) print since it is still not the gold standard of regional accreditation. In the past few weeks I've done the first major review of the site in awhile and I'm hoping to get TRACS schools added in the next few weeks.

- I'm also waiting on replies from a few international programs before I append them to the current list. My goal with international programs is not to be exhaustive -- I'll leave that to Jonnie Liu -- but to provide a sampling of quality programs that might be worth considering.

- I haven't yet decided whether I'm going change and add Roman Catholic institutions. There are a number of reasons for this -- logistically, theologically, and otherwise -- but I've found that it's a difficult issue. At this point, Baker's Guide is essentially a directory of Protestant programs.

- Perhaps the biggest issue with Baker's Guide is that it started as a free Web site, continues as a free Web site, and my plan is for it to remain a free Web site. Although I had the privilege of writing the companion book for Baker Book House (no relation, by the way), the Web site remains a free resource that I maintain in my spare time for the benefit of the DE community.

That leads to my invitation. If you suggestions for Baker's Guide or would like to assist with it in any way, please let me know. There are numerous ways to improve the resource and I'm open to suggestions and assistance. Also, if anyone is planning on attending next month's Distance Teaching and Learning Conference in Madison, please let me know. I'm presenting a paper and would love to meet folks.

Grace and Peace,
Jason

[email protected]
http://www.bakersguide.com

 

Welcome to DegreeInfo, Jason. You have made a valuable contribution to distance learning and I am confident you will continue to do so. This is an area I have been interested in for almost ten years now, and would be interested in assisting/facilitating Baker's Guide.

Private Morris reporting for duty, SIR!