Equip at Harding University

Welcome to the Equip at Harding University Blog!

Harding’s College of Bible and Ministry has a long history of providing non-traditional training for service in churches around the globe. For almost 50 years, beginning with the Christian Communications Program, Harding has explored ways to provide accessible education for people who want to prepare for ministry but are beyond the traditional 4-year residential degree model for 18 year-old freshmen. Click here for more information about the men who directed these programs and the different versions of Harding’s training in ministry for non-traditional students. 

A New Name, the Same Mission

Equip at Harding University is the latest version of this mission (previous program names include Harding School of Biblical Studies and the Center for Advanced Ministry Training). By bringing together students who are pursuing online degrees or certificates in Bible with the on-campus community of non-traditional students also studying for ministry, Equip offers one house, one family, that generates a community of learning that not only helps students attain credentials, but it also helps students earn their credentials with spiritual and social support. 

The Center for Distance Education in Bible and Ministry and the Equip Program have created this blog to be a space where you as a student in our program or perhaps one who is searching through the vast options for online Bible training can connect with the Equip program and keep up with the many incredible opportunities that happen all year long at Harding University. 

In this first blog entry, I want to introduce the model we use as we develop and make decisions about the Center for Distance Education and Equip. The model, called the Breaking the Cycle Model, comes from the connection of themes that emerged from my dissertation research. In this study I interviewed non-traditional learners in faith-based degree programs. A key part of the study was that each of the interviewees was African American, and their schools were all predominantly-white adult degree completion programs. While the dissertation resulted in a much larger conversation than what I’m including here, the Breaking the Cycle Model stood out to me as a conceptual way to consider educational structures. Based on the input from these successful students, we learned what kind of learning environment led to their successes. 

Breaking the Cycle Model

The five themes of the model are context, support systems, goals, race, and faith. Here’s a diagram that shows visually how these themes fit together. Note that “context” originally was labeled as “adult learning conditions.”

As you look at this diagram imagine a conceptual bridge where the student first steps onto the bridge carrying the weight of her or his life situation, such as having to balance studies with a job, raising kids, or other responsibilities adult learners bring to their educational experiences. On the other side of the bridge are the goals of the student, or the reason the student chose to return to the university for a degree. The walkway across the bridge is lined with a network of people who support the student. Forces of adversity (in the case of the study it was racism) blow against the adult learner, trying to discourage the person from crossing over to graduation. However, at a private, Christian school, the sustaining powers of faith (faith of the student and faith of the learning community) help keep the student on track to the end. 

In future blog posts I will explain better how each of these themes is incorporated into the DNA of the Equip program. However, for now it’s enough to know that from staff, faculty, course design, and student programs, we base this program on educational research that should help our students have successful learning experiences. Stay tuned for future posts about the Breaking the Cycle Model! For a preview and an application of this model to traditional undergraduate student experiences, see the article Stronger Together.