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NationsU Progress Thread
#1
Good Morning and Happy Thanksgiving!

I haven't been quite as active on the boards recently.  One of the reasons is that I have been working on courses at Nations University.  Many people on this forum will know that Nations University is a nationally accredited distance university headquartered in New Orleans, LA and whose founders are associated with the Churches of Christ.  NationsU is itself nondenominational.  Here is an update of what I have experienced so far.

I originally applied to study at Nations U in December of last year.  The price of attendance per year was about to increase from $960 to $1483.20 per year.  I wasn't sure at the time if I was going to follow through with attendance at that time.  I was in the process of finishing a number of degrees at TESU.  At the time, I was taking a lot of finance/accounting courses/exams and I started to think about the $80 per month fee as an option.  Would I pay $80 for the chance later to decide that I wanted to take these courses?  I decided yes, so I signed up.

In the January/February time frame, I kicked the tires a little bit and took a few exams.  I liked the courses, but then the Harvard graduate English classes popped up and started taking those and I stopped the NationsU classes again.  The Harvard classes have been progressing so well, that I decided to start taking the NationsU classes again in September.  I am sure that the people at NationsU kind of wondered what I was doing because I was very random.  In fact, I spent most of the time between September and now just taking exam after exam.  I think that I am up to about 60 completed exams now - a combination of courses within the BRS, MTS and MDiv. programs.  Most of the classes require three exams and two papers.  I haven't been in the mood to write a lot of papers right now because of my work schedule, so I have just been taking exams.  While the degree programs require tripwire comprehensive proctored exams, the system has allowed me to take exams from pretty much every class that I have wanted to take exams for.  So, some evenings, I want to think a lot about Hinduism, so I take the comparative religions class on Hinduism/Christianity.  Some nights I want to think about one of the Gospels, so I take a class related to that subject.

I find the in-class exams to be challenging, but not impossible.  I study a little bit, take the exams and score between 65 and 95.  70 is a passing score.  I have failed probably five of the in-class exams, but mostly at the 65 percent level.  The exams allow for three attempts.  I have not taken the second exam on any that I have failed because I will just come back to them later and study more.  I am not sure what happens if all three attempts are taken without passing.  Do they just factor the highest score into the percentage?  I don't know and I am not really in a big hurry to find out.  My failing scores have all been near-misses, so I figure that if I spend more time on the subjects, I will pass.

I was not quite sure about the theological content of these course at the beginning.  I am a slightly-left-of-center Catholic and Democrat.  While NationsU is non-denominational, it does have a history and staff with connections to the Churches of Christ.  I wasn't sure how I would relate to this theology, but I have been pleasantly surprised.  I would say that 90% of the content is completely in line with my somewhat progressive Catholic beliefs.  There certainly are some concepts for which I am a bit to the left, but I like to learn and the theology is interesting.  I don't think that I have to agree with everything that I am being taught and there is a lot that is useful here for a progressive Christian.  I also very much admire the founders of this university for wanting to spread a thoughtful and learned Christianity around the world.  I think that the mission here is excellent.

I do have an extensive background in the subject matter.  My father is a Catholic deacon and I spent my entire childhood helping my dad to write homilies and minister to a Catholic parish.  I was a peer minister at the campus parish in Ann Arbor while I was in college.  During that time, I facilitated Bible study groups, ran Catholic/Jewish/Muslim dialogue classes, served as an interfaith student council president and was involved with a successful effort to rewrite the University of Michigan policy on religious holidays for students.  I helped to organize and speak at several academic conferences related to the role of religion on a college campus and within the local Catholic community.  I love the idea with this program that I can carry on my dad's tradition of service and faith without having to quit my current job or attend a seminary.

How useful will these degrees be within a Catholic context?  Well, I found the following links:

https://www.nacc.org/certification/board...#Education

The National Association of Catholic Chaplains states that institutions listed by the DEAC are acceptable for certification.  In theory, NationsU would meet this standard.

https://www.navac.net/board-certified-chaplain

This is a site related to VA chaplains and it notes that degrees must be recognized by the DOE.

https://www.patientcare.va.gov/chaplain/...mation.asp

This is the VA web site and notes the CHEA as an acceptable accrediting agency.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and Go Lions!
[-] The following 5 users Like eriehiker's post:
  • HistoryMaker, Ideas, Life_One, Mamasaphire, Prof.Gringo
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#2
Interesting that you could mix up the BRS, MTS, and MDiv courses.

Just a possible cautionary tip: I believe any course can be passed with a C, but that you need all your courses to average a B, or you have to redo parts.

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#3
(11-22-2018, 01:06 PM)Ideas Wrote: Interesting that you could mix up the BRS, MTS, and MDiv courses.

Just a possible cautionary tip: I believe any course can be passed with a C, but that you need all your courses to average a B, or you have to redo parts.

Thanks Ideas!  The first two classes that I have actually completed have ended up 88% and 89%.  Most of my exam results are 80+, so I feel pretty good.  My first graded paper was an 89%.
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  • Ideas
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#4
Smile I'm glad to hear that too, because I want to do their MTS, but not have to memorize lots. I feel better if I can score well on the papers and not as well on the exams.

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#5
Can you estimate roughly how much work a course is for someone without prior knowledge? Someone who is good at writing and test-taking Smile And let's say average at reading and memorizing.

I would have to use ProctorU or an in-person proctor over 80 times?

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#6
No. Most of the exams do not make use of a proctor. Only the cumulative exams require proctoring. Most of the classes have three non-proctored online exams and two papers. The exams are not easy. I range from 65 to 95 in terms of results and 70 is passing. My average is about 85.
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#7
Congrats on starting their courses! I graduated from Nations last September and am very happy with my degree and experience with them.

Just out of curiosity, why are you taking BRS, MTS and MDiv courses all at the same time? Some of the BRS courses actually duplicate the material in the MTS courses but don't count toward the MTS degree and then can't be applied to the MTS degree. So you might have to take extra courses just to finish up an MTS degree. It would be better/faster just to take them at MTS level and do the extra assignments/papers for the credit. Fortunately, the MTS courses will apply to the MDiv courses. I would just caution about taking too many MDiv courses before finishing that MTS degree because it will take a lot longer.
MTS             Nations University - September 2018
BA.LS.SS     Thomas Edison State University -September 2017
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