© 2016 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
| Interactive Study Group: Third Series | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 73 — March 2016 | UBIS School Courses for the April Quarter |
About UBIS
http://ubis.urantia.org/moodle/
UBIS is an online school operated under the sponsorship of Urantia Foundation. One of the goals of Urantia Foundation is to “provide means and methods” for disseminating the teachings of The Urantia Book. UBIS is one such means. UBIS provides a safe and friendly virtual classroom for small groups of truth seekers from around the world to share their insights without the constraints of time and space. Students of all ages (13 and up) are welcome to participate. (We are legally prohibited from enrolling students under the age of 13). Children are welcome with parental consent and supervision or that of a guardian. Family groups have had great success participating in UBIS classes.
¶ The purpose of school
The purpose of UBIS is to spread the truths and teachings of The Urantia Book in a manner that will provide effective assistance to the student, namely:
- Develop an understanding of complex concepts,
- Expand understanding through in-depth study of teachings,
- learn teamwork by sharing points of view with fellow students.
- Gain experience in presenting and sharing the teachings of the book.
¶ Educational model.
Its educational model is based on Jesus’ method of teaching through questions and answers, allowing everyone to have first-hand experience with the texts of the Urantia Book. The online school provides the educational and computer tools allowing the student to follow a structured and progressive course.
“Successive planetary revelations of divine truth invariably embrace the highest existing concepts of spiritual values as a part of the new and enhanced co-ordination of planetary knowledge. Accordingly, in making these presentations about God and his universe associates, we have selected as the basis of these papers more than one thousand human concepts representing the highest and most advanced planetary knowledge of spiritual values and universe meanings. Wherein these human concepts, assembled from the God-knowing mortals of the past and the present, are inadequate to portray the truth as we are directed to reveal it, we will unhesitatingly supplement them, for this purpose drawing upon our own superior knowledge of the reality and divinity of the Paradise Deities and their transcendent residential universe.” ([UB 0:12.12)
¶ How the UBIS school works
Since its inception in 1998, UBIS has undergone a series of technical innovations and now operates on Moodle, a multilingual educational platform widely used by schools and universities around the world. Courses are offered in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. Other languages will be added as needed.
The school is completely free and open to all. It has 7 departments: “student management”, “management of teacher-facilitators” “training of teacher-facilitators”, “assistance in creating courses” “organization and management of courses” “public relations” and “website maintenance”.
It operates solely on a voluntary basis; it is run by a team of 15 people, the majority of whom have solid teaching experience. It is supported by teacher-facilitators, former participants who wanted to get involved in the adventure. Their number continues to increase in the four languages and now stands at more than 80.
¶ How a course works
A course lasts 10 weeks, it is divided into 3 periods.
The first, lasting one week, is used so that each participant can briefly introduce themselves and get to know their classmates.
The second period lasts 4 times two weeks, the first week the participant answers 3 questions out of six asked and the answers are made visible the following week during which the student is invited to share his thoughts and to dialogue with others.
During the third one-week period, the participant must write a short essay on a question asked and answer a satisfaction questionnaire which allows the animation team to improve the service it offers.
| Interactive Study Group: Third Series | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 73 — March 2016 | UBIS School Courses for the April Quarter |