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Distance Learning is Launched in Portugal!
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 Just one year after reporting the potential for distance learning in Portugal (see
story
here), the first online course is up and running! Eight students are taking the pilot course New Testament Survey.
Two of those students are being trained to be facilitators
for when the course is offered in the future.
A consortium of three Portuguese theological training institutes has formed a distance learning initiative called Teófilos, with the goal of using computer technology and the Internet to provide ministry training around the Portuguese-speaking world. In addition to training the students enrolled at the participating institutions, Teófilos foresees the use of distance learning as a tool to assist the Portuguese Evangelical Alliance
in training church planters. Their goal is to establish a witnessing fellowship in every unreached county in Portugal by 2015.  They also anticipate working with an organization responsible for placing evangelical teachers in public schools to teach religion and ethics. Since these teachers will be scattered throughout Portugal, online Bible-based distance education has the potential of being a key tool to equip these lay leaders. What an exciting prospect!
The new course is being hosted on a European site, using Moodle as a platform. This allows students and facilitators the flexibility of communicating through forums, email, or chatting. One of the students, a teacher at a local school, wrote to express how grateful she was to be able to work on her course on a recent vacation day. This flexibility makes it possible for those who might not otherwise
receive the Bible training they want.
As with any technology, there are glitches in the system! (How long has it been since you had a problem with your computer??!!) It takes time to work out “bugs,” especially when you're offering a course in a new language, on a new platform, in a new culture, with newly trained facilitators, to students who are used to a completely different educational system. Will you pray with us that God will make the course effective in changing lives? Please join the leaders of Teófilos in praying that the
church in Portugal will advance through this exciting, new endeavor.
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