© 2015 Olga López
© 2015 Urantia Association of Spain
| Visions of the future for people with vision of the future | Luz y Vida — No. 42 — December 2015 — Index | Convergences and divergences also of values |
Olga Lopez
Director of the UBIS-ES
The The Urantia Book Internet School on the Internet (Urantia Book Internet Schook, UBIS in English) is a free and online service offered by Urantia Foundation, in which (under the Moodle educational platform, specifically designed to teach virtual courses) They offer various ten-week courses beginning in January, April and September.
The school is not a conventional school, in the sense that the teacher is an authority who imposes his points of view on the students. His teaching methodology is based on the method of Jesus, the great Teacher of Teachers. The teacher is rather a facilitator, in the sense that, through questions, he helps the students to discover for themselves the meanings of the teachings contained in The Urantia Book. It is intended that each course be a journey of discovery for the student, that he manages to better understand the subject that is studied and that, as far as possible, integrates it into his daily life.
The Spanish-language school is now in its fourth year of continuous operation, after an absence that lasted several years. In 2012 and 2013 we offered one course per quarter and the demand was such that a few days after registration began, the course already had the “complete” sign. To meet this growing demand, and after training a more or less stable group of teacher-facilitators, in 2014 the school began to give two courses per quarter in Spanish, so that more readers could attend the courses.
In all this time, a body of teacher-facilitators has been created who firmly believe in the great service that the school offers and in the essential role it plays in disseminating the teachings of The Urantia Book and in training of leaders and instructors. Little by little, the teacher-facilitators have gained experience and have participated in other preparation and management tasks of the courses that are vital for the proper functioning of the educational process.
The September term (which has just ended) we had a novelty in the courses in Spanish, and that is that for the first time an advanced level course on the Supreme Being was taught. Until now the courses that have been offered were basic or intermediate level. I hope this course will be the first of many in which experienced Spanish-speaking readers are allowed to delve much deeper into the teachings of the book.
Starting in 2016, and since we now have a larger number of qualified teacher-facilitators, we are going to take on a bigger challenge and offer three courses per term. In this way, we will take an important step towards our goal, which is to catch up with UBIS in English in terms of the number of courses offered, the variety of subject matter, and the different levels of comprehension of the book’s teachings.
I sincerely believe that, with the team we have, that goal will be achieved within a few years. In the meantime, we will continue working hard so that our goal is met and we serve the large number of Spanish-language readers around the world.
- School website: http://ubis.urantia.org
- Course schedule (it appears one month before the course starts, that is, in December, March and August): http://www.urantia.org/es/education/programacion-de-cursos
¶ References
- Light and Life Magazine (all old issues): https://aue.urantia-association.org/numeros-antiguos-del-lyv/
| Visions of the future for people with vision of the future | Luz y Vida — No. 42 — December 2015 — Index | Convergences and divergences also of values |