Clusters will probably be a new concept to you. Simply, they are groups of students who start and end the course more or less at the same time, and who participate in a variety of learning activities together. This isn't the same as a cohort model, which requires students to move through a course at the same pace, usually by participating in weekly chat rooms or discussion forums. Clusters still allow a good measure of scheduling flexibility, but encourage additional student-to-student and student-to-faculty interaction.

Why are we creating clusters?

In course evaluations, a number of students have indicated that increased interaction would help them succeed in our distance education courses and allow them to prepare better for tests. Those same evaluations, however, consistently reflect our students' interest in an optimally-flexible course design that "lets life happen."

This fits well with the standards established by the Association of Theological Schools, one of our accrediting agencies. They require student-to-student interaction in distance education courses because of the value found in a purposeful exchange of ideas between learners. We believe that students can benefit from this increased interaction in a number of ways, which could include:

• concept implications: you might explore how the concepts you're learning impact your understanding of ideas from this course and other courses
• ministry applications: a discussion might center around how have the concepts from the course have affected the way you're approaching ministry tasks, and help someone else make similar changes.
• social connection: networking and community-building can take place during the interaction, and,
• spiritual growth: you'll have the opportunity to explore spiritual implications of the course content, and encourage each other to grow in these areas. You might even use the time to pray for each other, or hold each other accountable to specific action steps.

How Will Clusters Actually Work for A Course?

Clusters will take different forms in our various distance education courses. For example, in Theology 1 with Gerry Breshears, we'll be adapting the three phone conversations which are required in the syllabus. Rather than being one-on-one calls with Gerry Breshears, these will be conference calls in which a number of students will interact with Gerry and each other. Students will be required to participate in three calls, each one focusing on the concepts covered in one of the three tests. There will be one additional call at the beginning of the semester, in which a member of the WSCLL team will test the conference call system with our students, answer any questions about clusters which you they have at that time, and spend a bit of time in community building.

For each of these four calls, students have a choice of two time slots. Each cluster has a classroom web site where students can see those times when they're scheduled, and can sign up for the one that best fits their schedule. Any other information pertinent to the cluster will also be posted at that site. Students can access the site by going through these steps:

• go to www.wscll.net
• click on the Current Students > New Online Learning Center link on the header bar
• you'll come to a login page. Your username is your first initial and last name. For example, John Smith's username would be jsmith. Passwords are the students 6-digit student id number; which should be changed once logged into the classroom site.
• on some machines, clicking the "login" button will return you to the same page. If this happens, click on the word "classrooms" which is just under the WSCLL Classrooms line, and it will take you to the proper page.
• to help create that sense of community, would you spend a bit of time at the website, updating your profile there? We'd like you to post your picture if possible, and, in the "description" area, tell us something about yourself in the following areas:
  • your family
  • what ministry areas you're involved in
  • something that helps us know you as a person: hobbies, etc.
  • you can view the profiles of other students by clicking on "participants" in the left-hand column of the classroom site

If you have questions about the cluster, please let us know!