LTSP - Spanish Language course online

Seminary to offer its first
Spanish-language on line course [En Espagñol]

Picture captioned below
Professor Nelson Rivera, standing, makes final preparations for the seminary's first on line course offering in Spanish. Assisting him at the computer is John Kahler, the seminary's manager for media and instructional design. Kahler has played a major role in helping faculty members and students ready themselves for the on line study era.

PHILADELPHIA --Beginning February 5, the seminary will offer its first Spanish-language course on line. The Rev. Nelson Rivera, Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology and Hispanic Ministry will teach the course, called "Theology of the Lutheran Confessions." The course is believed to be the first one offered on line in Spanish by any Evangelical Lutheran Church in America seminary.

The course is being taught at the Master of Divinity level. The assumption is its students will hold a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university.

Rivera said he is excited and a "little nervous" about teaching the course on line for the first time. He has taught the course several times before. Sites for the course before have been Evangelical Seminary in Puerto Rico, Trinity Lutheran Church in Brooklyn, NY, for a class of Theological Education for Emerging Ministries (TEEM) scholars, and in Miami, FL, where Rivera taught the class during an intensive summer program. The seminary has been increasing the number of on-line study options in recent years, usually making available two courses a semester. And the seminary has also been dramatically expanding on-line studies for the laity. Most of those classes have been filled.

The Spanish-language class makes it more convenient to study at home. Students may customize the time of day or night they participate. Rivera noted the seminary hopes that prospective students in Hispanic but somewhat distant centers like Allentown, New York, or Puerto Rico will find such courses attractive. But the cyber classroom, he said, may be occupied by Spanish-speaking students who live anywhere, as long as they have a bachelor's degree from an accredited school. (Kahler notes that all scholars need to have a computer with e-mail and internet access with a browser.) The course may be registered for through February 12. For information on this and other on line study options at the first professional degree level, contact Shannon Cunningham at 215/248-7302 or e-mail her at Scunningham@Ltsp.edu . For information on courses on line for laity, visit the seminary's Theological Education for Laity page.