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UTS-Online: Convenient Classes for You

UTS-Online is entering its second year with online classes beginning Monday, October 8, 2018. The requests for relevant religious and theological education from the worldwide Unification movement gave UTS the opportunity to begin an online program. With the growth of global mobile technology and the development of mobile apps to deliver that education, UTS can now reach hundreds and even thousands of students around the globe with its unique brand of “bridging religious and cultural divides” empowering a new generation of students. 

This outreach goes well beyond the immediate needs of Unification membership. In its USA bricks and mortar educational programs UTS embraces a wide diversity of students from multiple faith backgrounds who study together, and has a diverse faculty to deliver effective religious, theological, and ministry education at the Master and Doctorate levels. Similarly, worldwide, there are many opportunities to reach diverse students from multiple faith communities. UTS is ramping up partnerships both in the USA and worldwide to explore untapped educational markets. 

In the article Theological Education in Reach we learned,

Men and women who serve in their local church, may have viewed engaging in theological education as an ideal rather than a reality. Now, pursuing those studies has never been more in reach; taking online courses is the fastest growing form of seminary education. Students can remain in their ministry field or place of work and get theological and ministry training at lower costs. They don’t have to relocate their family to obtain the education they seek.

UTS Online joins other leading online communities that have high engagement and interaction with chats, forums, and video using a state of the art learning management system. Recent research shows that students engaged in online learning achieve learning outcomes that are at least as good as, or better than, those achieved by students engaged in residential programs. Online learning, which may have once been seen skeptically, has now become acceptable for churches, businesses, and in society.

Online Education: The Future of UTS, helped us to understand the power of e-learning and mobile technology. Lisa Ames, a trainer for Canvas (the online learning platform that UTS is using) explained,

“Our studies are showing that students are accessing content more from mobile devices than they actually are from the browsers, and they’re spending more time in the content too. Our stats were about 11 minutes on a mobile device reading through an actual lecture on the content of a course…”

The research shows that by 2020 the number of smartphone owners worldwide will be almost 2.9 Billion- almost 40% of the world’s 7.6 billion population.

And with the shifts in technology, what is happening with online programming in the theological education industry? In another UTS News article, we learned,

“It is too soon to look too far ahead, but our recent past and our present results indicate that online learning is becoming a proven pedagogy for theological schools. It is certainly a popular one for an increasing number of seminarians. No doubt there is still much to learn, and no doubt it may not be appropriate for everyone, but this educational model is proving to be effective—not just for many, but for most of our member schools.”

Dr. Keisuke Noda, Dr. Drissa Kone and Dr. Andrew Wilson will be teaching online this Fall semester, beginning October 8, 2018. 

Their courses will be: Unification Philosophy, Islam, Divine Principle in Depth

The application deadline is Friday, September 28, 2018. 

  • There will continue to be a UTS-Online scholarship:  $1,050 per course for the Fall semester 
  • Questions often come up, so there is an FAQ to answer the more common questions 

For example:

Q: Do I need to apply for a Master Degree in order to take an online course?

A: No. You can register as a Non-Degree (non-matriculated) student. 

Although it is not necessary to pursue a full graduate degree at UTS, the credits earned via UTS-Online can subsequently be applied toward a degree program if you choose to do so.

If your questions or concerns are not answered by the FAQ, then please contact the UTS-Online help desk Email: online@uts.edu or Phone: (212) 563-6647 extension104 Monday-Thursday 11:00 AM – 5:30 PM EST

Support the program: 

There are two great ways to support UTS:

1) Download the UTS-Online brochure PDF and help us get the word out to friends and contacts. Note: Print locally, or contact r.graham@uts.edu to have brochures sent out to you.

2) Donate at http://uts.edu/support-the-seminary

UTS president, Dr. Hugh Spurgin, has requested that the UTS faculty develop online courses for at least two years into the future. UTS is on-track to have at least 12 online courses by mid-2020.

Future courses now in planning are:

  • THE 5132: Theology of Peace Building by Dr. Wilson
  • MIN 675: Unification Ritual and Tradition by Dr. Selig
  • LTR 5622: Life and Thought of Sun Myung and Hak Ja Han Moon by Dr. Hendricks
  • THE 5601: Unification Theology by Dr. Shimmyo 

What UTS-Online students have been saying:

The professors were prepared and very good, sincere in their teaching and encouraging in their comments. Savjola Konja (Kosovo)

Classes online are great. Yes, I would take more. Demian Dunkley (USA)

Dr. Wilson is a treasure trove of knowledge, on the Bible, ancient Jewish history, and world religions, and this adds a lot of background insight into the lectures. Roland Platt (USA)

I’m excited to enroll in further study as I think it’s crucial to cultivate the tools and confidence to articulate these powerful values and manifest them in my life and the world around me. Tasnah Moyer (USA)

It’s my first time to attend an online course and the experience in quality is no different compared to the classroom; it’s even much better, especially the flexibility it offers. Lubin Argjir (Albania)

I’m impressed and inspired. I couldn’t have imagined how exciting, deep and powerful the content would be, as well as the interactions with classmates and with Dr. Hendricks. I appreciate the importance of UTS… and I jumped on this opportunity because distance learning fits with my lifestyle and the time was right. Jennifer Yashiro (USA)

I really like how the course is put together and how you can access discussions, resources, grades and all quite easily. I find myself checking in often to look for new discussions or comments; something that doesn’t happen in a traditional class setting. Larry Krishnek (UTS’93) (USA)