Measuring Spiritual Achievement In College
Can
anyone measure exactly how much spiritual growth a student gets from
studying at a Christian college or other religiously affiliated school?
It’s a question that’s getting a lot of attention
these days. It seems likely that before long, students who either study
at brick and mortar schools or pursue religious degrees distance
education courses can expect to be tested in some way before
graduating, to see if they’ve moved forward spiritually
during school.
Two key organizations that
accredit schools offering Christian college online courses, The
Association for Biblical Higher Education and the Council for Christian
Colleges & Universities, say they’re actively looking
for ways to determine if religious education can achieve
“measurable outcomes.” Though neither has proposed
specific standards yet, they’re actively conducting student
surveys to find out more about how the success of a traditional diploma
or Christian college’s online courses can be benchmarked.
Six Spiritual Levels It’s
a unique task. The Council for Christian Colleges and Universities has
been working for several years on its “Faith Change
Project,” to “track (students) spiritual growth
from the time they are freshmen to the time they graduate. Researchers
have identified six specific “stages of faith.” As
an example, stage three is called “Mythic-Literal
Faith,” in which a student “relies on mystical gut
feelings to guide decisions.” Perhaps the most curious thing
is that many of the researchers in this area agree that exposing
students to other people who do not share their world views is a
powerful way to make them define and increase their own faith.
Roman Catholic schools are also
working to define the precise benefits of the catholic distance
learning university. One project, currently being run by educators from
Marywood University in Pennsylvania, is surveying large numbers of
Catholic students in an effort to devise a five-point scale of
spiritual development.
With achievement tests
dominating the high school education scene and growing talk that all
college students may soon be required to take assessment tests,
it’s hardly surprising that schools offering religious
degrees distance education feel pressured to prove they are delivering
real results. It won’t be long, apparently before students
will have to be able to prove in a very detailed way that school has
given them a more solid relationship with God. (Read more on
online Christian education choices here.)
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