Students enrolling at Fruitland Baptist Bible College (FBBC) in the Fall of 2014 have the option of completing their entire associate of religion in Christian ministries and worldview degree online.
“We are very excited to offer this program online, and we believe it will enable vast numbers of people to receive a Fruitland degree who are unable to attend the main campus in Hendersonville,” said David Horton, Fruitland’s president.
The online curriculum consists of 64 courses offered over eight quarters, which will enable a full-time student to graduate in two years.
Fruitland began to expand its educational outreach four years ago with the addition of the first satellite campus in Monroe. Satellite locations now include Monroe, Wilkesboro, Rocky Mount, and the Hispanic satellites in Sylva, Statesville, Charlotte and Wilmington.
Fruitland ventured into online education two years ago with its first online course.
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Ben Tackett, the registrar/librarian at FBBC played a key role in getting the school’s curriculum online. “Before Ben Tackett came to Fruitland, we desired to have an online program, but lacked the technical expertise to do so,” said Scott Thompson, Fruitland’s vice president of academic affairs.
Fruitland uses an online educational delivery system referred to as “Moodle,” which is also used by numerous colleges and seminaries in their internet-based programs.
Moodle is “student friendly” and offers professors an opportunity to use a “wide variety of educational techniques in the presentation of the course,” according to Tackett.
Students from any location around the world can benefit from Fruitland’s online program.
One of the current participants lives in Kenya and wants to train other pastors with the knowledge he gains from his coursework at Fruitland.
Horton and Thompson encourage prospective students to make the main campus in Hendersonville their first choice when working on a FBBC degree.
Thompson emphasized, “There is an experience on the Fruitland main campus that cannot be replicated elsewhere, no matter how hard we try.”
If students cannot attend the main campus, we “encourage them to consider one of our satellite locations, and now they have the option getting a Fruitland degree online,” Horton added.
The cost of each online course is $225, plus the cost of textbooks, which makes Fruitland’s online courses both affordable and accessible.
Thompson said FBBC is a quality educational choice for those preparing for ministerial careers as well as those who desire a Bible-based two-year degree that can be foundational to a secular vocation.
“The curriculum at Fruitland gives those who serve in law enforcement, nursing, business, and other fields, the core knowledge in worldview, history, language, and critical thinking to evangelize and disciple the unchurched in a global and multicultural context,” he added.
To learn more about the online program, visit www.fruitland.edu or call the office: (800) 696-2215.