The Formation of Online Wisdom Communities amongst Ministerial Students: A Quantitative Case Study

Online and hybrid programs are becoming more commonplace in graduate theological education, yet few studies have examined the formation wisdom communities within a mixed internet-based and face-to-face learning environment. In North America, the ‘suitability of distance learning has raged long and loud’ (Hockridge, 2011, 4). Hence in this article we seek to explore the formation of online wisdom communities within a hybrid theological program for doctoral students studying preaching. Using Rovai's (2002) classroom community scale, we measured participants’ sense of community in the preaching program. As the findings indicate, the participants did experience community and felt a sense of cohesion, trust, and interdependence as well as deriving educational benefits from their interactions with others. We therefore confirm the validity of such a program and call for further research to be carried out in this field.