Purpose

Mid-America’s online program offers quality theological education and ministerial training for effective service in church-related and missions vocations. The goal of the Seminary is to provide a quality educational experience through the provision of course work through this non-traditional program.

MABTS offers courses online through the Canvas platform accessible in the Mid-America Portal (MAP). The purpose of this system is to provide educational opportunities for students whose residence and/or work schedule prevents them from attending residential classes.

Courses involve a variety of methodologies. Instruction may include video, PowerPoint, text instruction, and independent tasks such as research projects and papers. Some courses include hyperlinked projects, such as preaching videos, historical journals, biblical studies, and geographical mapping. Each class includes interaction through methods, such as discussion forums, threads, email, and video conferencing. Quizzes, assignments, and tests may also be conducted through the online learning management system.

Students and professors can interact through the various features of online courses. Enrollment occurs through the standard registration process.

Distance Education Privacy Policy

Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary seeks to protect the privacy of students enrolled in distance education courses through the following means:

1. A student’s coursework is viewable only by the course professor unless the student gives permission for specific information to be shared with others.
2. A student’s grades are viewable only by the student, the professor, and the registrar’s office.
3. A student’s posts to online forums are considered part of the open class discussion and meet best practices expectations (MABTS Posting Rubric) for student to student and student to professor interaction. Students should have the expectation of privacy within the online class for posts to these forums.
4. A student’s emails or instant messaging to the professor are considered private and should not be made available to other students. However, should a student’s communication violate seminary policies or include information which a professor is legally obligated to report, such communication does not have expectation of confidentiality.
5. Students who believe their privacy has been violated should contact the professor first. If no satisfactory result occurs, the student may make appeal to the institution through the Student Grievance Policy and Procedure.

Admission

Students must complete the regular admissions process. Applications are available at the campus or on the Seminary website. No one may register for a class until the admissions process is complete, and the application has been approved.

Registration

Registration will take place each semester through the regular registration process.

Schedule

Online courses follow the academic calendar of the residential campus. Exceptions are noted in each class syllabus.