Interviewed by Neil Baron at WDCX Radio, President Dr. Gary Nelson discusses how Tyndale has moved forward in delivering courses online and by livestream to students during this unprecedented time.
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Transcript of interview available below.
Transcript of Interview —
Neil Baron
There have been many ministries and businesses and individuals and families obviously affected by the corona virus. But early on schools, universities, colleges, seminaries and other learning institutions decided to start going online. For some that was easy. For others, it was difficult. But I think it was not a really difficult shift for Tyndale University and its Seminary in Toronto. As President Gary Nelson told me just a little while ago, they’ve had a pretty robust platform in place anyway. And he joins us here on NBL. Gary, thank you for taking some time to be on the broadcast today. How are you and your family doing? Let me ask that question first.
Gary Nelson
Actually I’m doing well. My family’s actually in Edmonton, and so right now I’m by myself. I’m in a little apartment on campus here. There are about eleven international students that are left, and we are kind of rambling around on the campus.
Neil Baron
What are you eating, TV dinners and government cheese? Are you just kind of hunkered in the bunker?
Gary Nelson
I’m an expert on slow cookers!
Neil Baron
That’s amazing. What I was getting at earlier I think is true, right? I mean, you guys have already been prepared for online learning in effect, you do a lot of it. So making the switch for everyone to learn online, apparently, wasn’t that big a deal. Describe how things are at the seminary and university.
Gary Nelson
Right, for 15 years we have been developing a platform that would be robust enough to actually do a Master of Theological Studies degree fully online. And beyond just having it online, we asked, “Could you develop community? Could you develop dialogue?,” and all of those dimensions. We have been working that out for 15 years, and I think people notice a difference in the kind of course that we deliver online. Our people are doing creative kinds of things. We have a Creative Director of Online Education who assists professors to develop and produce the course. Not everybody translates well on camera, but he can work magic in many ways. So we have about 1500 students who take online courses in a year. And so [in March] on Monday and Tuesday of the first week, when things were closed down, we immediately went into training for those that hadn’t done any online. And Wednesday, we went live. This would have be a couple of weeks ago, and we’re really excited in some ways. It’s probably pushed a few people. Faculty members that might not have wanted to do it have now discovered some things you can do online that you can’t do other ways.
Neil Baron
It’s amazing this time we live in, because you mentioned the word community, but through things like Zoom–and I’m not giving them a free plug or anything—but there are these online apps that make it possible for people to congregate and have discussions when they’re not in the same place, or maybe even on the same continent. I mean, it’s an amazing thing. So that technology makes it easier to study at home. And I was thinking, Gary, maybe you can confirm or deny whatever you want; but it occurs to me that at this time, with people having a little extra time on their hands, either because they’re having to work at home or they’re sitting around more or maybe laid off or having even been let go from their jobs, maybe evaluating, “Lord, what are you saying to me about the future?,” and I’ve got to believe that there are some that are feeling like the Lord is saying, “It’s time for you to go back and get that diploma,” or “It’s time for you to go to school, seminary because I’ve been calling you to ministry; have been calling you to missions, or counselling, or to Christian education,” or something, “It’s time for you to get that seminary degree.” What a perfect opportunity to be safe, and sign up and get going with that kind of study. I don’t know what your thoughts are, but I’ve got to believe that there’s a groundswell of people moving their thoughts in that kind of direction.
Gary Nelson
I would hope so. And I would hope that a whole bunch of people are also thinking, “You know, I’m a lawyer, I’m a teacher, this is a great opportunity for me to think through what it means to be a teacher called as a person of faith to that profession. And it would be good to take some theological studies to think through integration and those kind of things.” So we’re actually pushing forward. We have quite a strong Spring-Summer program and all of our Spring-Summer courses will be online and we’re actually adding some others, because we’re trying to say to people, “This is a great time to taste a little bit of what you could do if you wanted to study and on your speed,” and things like that.
Neil Baron
I’m curious, how long does it take? If you were to, let’s say, sign up and begin a seminary program, do you have to be done in two years? Four years? How long? Can you stretch it out? Because a lot of folks may return to work at some point or be doing some kind of a tent-making thing where they’re working a secular job, but trying to get a degree at the same time in missions or something. I don’t know if you know specifically, but can you stretch it out over a period of years?
Gary Nelson
Oh, yes, that’s a great question because just as we were shutting things down, we had to also cancel our graduation. Our seminary graduation is always a special thing, as is the university’s. And so we had to postpone those for the fall. But I had a student come up to me–he’s a business person here in the city who has been working away on his courses. He takes some online, some week-long intensives, and things like that. And he said to me, “This is my tenth course here, and I took an extra course, because I wanted to be able to shake your hand,” because I’m actually transitioning and retiring this year. And he said, I wanted to be able to shake your hand before you left, but unfortunately we canceled the graduation. So he was mad at me, in a joking way, but lots of people pick away at it and they take a course that they think would be interesting for them in the winter or they take an [evening] course in the summer and then they’ll take an intense course in the summer, etc. We have intensive courses in January as well for both the university undergraduate and graduate school students.
Neil Baron
An intensive course allows you to complete an entire course in a week or two or something?
Gary Nelson
Yes, usually a week [plus course work]. We even have courses that you can do over four weekends. I mean, the whole challenge for education, not just theological education, but education in general, is access and availability. And so we’ve really worked hard at trying to develop ways that people can access education in as many ways as possible.
Neil Baron
One other thing quickly, I say Tyndale University, but it was Tyndale University College and Seminary previously. Something changed and your accreditation was bumped up or something.
Gary Nelson
It was a wonderful gift. I’ve been working on this for a long time and, and the provincial legislature, the Minister of Colleges and Universities, has given us consent to use the name University now. University College was sometimes hard to explain to people. Our degrees haven’t changed and the quality of our degrees haven’t changed at the undergraduate level or the graduate level, but it’s a lot easier to explain Tyndale University undergraduate studies to parents who are wanting their kids to go to a university, right? And when you have to explain University College, it gets a little bit complicated. So there’s that and also the ability for us to begin to add new degrees.
Neil Baron
Well, for those that are interested in learning online, I encourage you to get to www.tyndale.ca and you might be able to get started on a seminary degree or get yourself enrolled, maybe for the fall semester for university, learn online, or spread it out over time. Maybe you can be working a full-time job while getting a degree. I guess flexibility is a word I want to mention there. But for those that want to attend on campus because you’re just a people person, Tyndale has a gorgeous campus. I’ve been there on multiple occasions. I’ve seen the lecture halls; I’ve been on campus; I’ve seen the chapel which, of course, is stunning. It’s an unbelievable, a gem right there in the City of Toronto. So now I’m going to give you an opportunity to say anything else you want. Gary, I’d like to pray for you as well before we let you go. But any final word you want to encourage people with at this time?
Gary Nelson
Yes, just be praying for us as we seek to try to figure out how to manage the change that all of this has brought, as we seek to manage our students, our employees, and all of those things. These are difficult times for everybody. And we just would appreciate your prayer on those kinds of things.
Neil Baron
Well, Amen! And Lord, I thank you for Gary, I thank you, Lord for the staff and the volunteers and others who have been a part of the ministry of Tyndale over the years, but particularly the staff and the professors and those that teach these courses. Keep them safe and keep Gary and his family in Edmonton safe. Thank you, Lord, that the online flexibility allows us to move forward in so many different areas, including education, and for putting Tyndale at the forefront of some of those kinds of things early on, so that they have the ability to have real community even though it’s online. And God this may be the time you’re speaking to hearts, to say it’s time to complete that diploma. It’s time to get the degree. It’s time to go to seminary. Lord, maybe today’s the day to investigate, and I just pray that you’d be speaking to hearts and moving people towards your plan and purpose for their lives. So a lot of change is coming out of this. I think some people will even change careers maybe because their business shut down or their job in some fashion changed. And maybe this is the very thing you’re using to prompt them, to go back to school to get the degree to get prepared for how you plan to use them to change the world. So God, we pray, that you would be active in all of those areas and that our hearts and minds and ears would be attuned to what you’re saying to us. Again, Lord, we pray for the safety of everyone at Tyndale and especially Gary Nelson and his family and thank you for the opportunity to speak here. And Lord, I pray that Gary would not grow tired of eating mac and cheese, but that you would provide for all this needs. In Jesus’ name, amen. And listen, if it gets really bad, just call and we’ll send in the dogs or something. I don’t know. We’ll figure it out.
Gary Nelson
Okay. Good to talk to you.
Neil Baron
You too. Gary Nelson, President of Tyndale University and Seminary. Learn more online at www.tyndale.ca
End of transcript