One Course at a Time
We tackle four broad
interdisciplinary themes, each in a
month-long segment of study.
These themes are:
Contemporary Issues, Social
Critique, Human Stories, and
Living Faith. Within each
segment, students choose one
course title that represents the
discipline in which they wish to
receive three or four semester
hours of credit. These disciplines
include literature, psychology,
sociology, philosophy, biology,
theology, biblical studies, history,
education, science and political
science. For a complete list of
these course titles, click here.
We tackle four broad
interdisciplinary themes, each in a
month-long segment of study.
These themes are:
Contemporary Issues, Social
Critique, Human Stories, and
Living Faith. Within each
segment, students choose one
course title that represents the
discipline in which they wish to
receive three or four semester
hours of credit. These disciplines
include literature, psychology,
sociology, philosophy, biology,
theology, biblical studies, history,
education, science and political
science. For a complete list of
these course titles, click here.
Our segments of study tend to share the same rhythm: a few weeks of core, followed by a
couple weeks of project.
The Core
Our work during the core rests on a selection of engaging contemporary books
supplemented by interactive lectures that elaborate on their themes. Our core books change
from year to year, reflecting new emphases. In recent years, we have explored both the
philosophical underpinnings and the cultural expressions of postmodernism; we have traced
the fault lines which gender, sexuality, race and class have opened in our society; we have
tackled current political and social issues like religious polarization, the heavy hand of
consumerism, the determinisms of technology, the madness of violence in our world. Our
reading includes personal memoirs, creative restatements of the Christian faith, recent and
classic fiction. (Both Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov and David James Duncan’s The
Brothers K are perennial favorites.) Around 100 pages of reading are assigned each night,
Monday through Thursday.
Small group conversations lie at the heart of our core experience. Each Tuesday through
Friday, we gather in small groups -- 5 or 6 students, one faculty person -- in a circle of easy
chairs to talk about the day’s reading assignment. We explore the issues raised at the point
where the text meets the experience of each student, because here the most exciting learning
happens. And since the group is small, the time ample, and the context relatively free of
competitive gamesmanship, these genuine encounters empower students to speak their
minds and hearts freely. By semester’s end, the students report that they are more confident
engaging primary texts and conversing about their ideas.
Afternoons and evenings remain free for completing the next day’s reading. There are no
written examinations at the OE. Instead, we ask our students to take notes on their reading to
prepare them for each day’s discussion. Because we work hard all week, we give no reading
or writing assignments over weekends, during the core.
The Project
Students begin the project by creating a topic, or selecting one from the dozens suggested by
faculty members—a topic that captures their interest enough to fuel a ten-day period of
personal investigation and provides credit in the academic discipline desired. During those
ten days, we do not meet for classes. Students dedicate each day, in its entirety, to reading
and thinking about their chosen topic. For up to an hour each day, students meet privately
with a faculty advisor to engage in conversation about their work, ask questions, and receive
guidance.
At the end of this period, students write a paper exploring some aspect of their thinking on the
topic they have chosen. They spend two days revising and editing, in response to their faculty
advisor’s suggestions. Then they meet for several days in a small group with their peers and
a faculty member. The participants in these groups read and discuss one another’s papers,
and each student gets a chance to share the discoveries and the challenges of the project.
In these group discussions, we fulfill our goals of collaborative learning, as students become
teachers and teachers students. Students’ academic voices grow in confidence as they learn
to take initiatives in their own learning and shape their studies to their own interests and
needs.
The Break
At the end of each segment, we take a break from academic work and spend four or five days
visiting different western locales.
couple weeks of project.
The Core
Our work during the core rests on a selection of engaging contemporary books
supplemented by interactive lectures that elaborate on their themes. Our core books change
from year to year, reflecting new emphases. In recent years, we have explored both the
philosophical underpinnings and the cultural expressions of postmodernism; we have traced
the fault lines which gender, sexuality, race and class have opened in our society; we have
tackled current political and social issues like religious polarization, the heavy hand of
consumerism, the determinisms of technology, the madness of violence in our world. Our
reading includes personal memoirs, creative restatements of the Christian faith, recent and
classic fiction. (Both Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov and David James Duncan’s The
Brothers K are perennial favorites.) Around 100 pages of reading are assigned each night,
Monday through Thursday.
Small group conversations lie at the heart of our core experience. Each Tuesday through
Friday, we gather in small groups -- 5 or 6 students, one faculty person -- in a circle of easy
chairs to talk about the day’s reading assignment. We explore the issues raised at the point
where the text meets the experience of each student, because here the most exciting learning
happens. And since the group is small, the time ample, and the context relatively free of
competitive gamesmanship, these genuine encounters empower students to speak their
minds and hearts freely. By semester’s end, the students report that they are more confident
engaging primary texts and conversing about their ideas.
Afternoons and evenings remain free for completing the next day’s reading. There are no
written examinations at the OE. Instead, we ask our students to take notes on their reading to
prepare them for each day’s discussion. Because we work hard all week, we give no reading
or writing assignments over weekends, during the core.
The Project
Students begin the project by creating a topic, or selecting one from the dozens suggested by
faculty members—a topic that captures their interest enough to fuel a ten-day period of
personal investigation and provides credit in the academic discipline desired. During those
ten days, we do not meet for classes. Students dedicate each day, in its entirety, to reading
and thinking about their chosen topic. For up to an hour each day, students meet privately
with a faculty advisor to engage in conversation about their work, ask questions, and receive
guidance.
At the end of this period, students write a paper exploring some aspect of their thinking on the
topic they have chosen. They spend two days revising and editing, in response to their faculty
advisor’s suggestions. Then they meet for several days in a small group with their peers and
a faculty member. The participants in these groups read and discuss one another’s papers,
and each student gets a chance to share the discoveries and the challenges of the project.
In these group discussions, we fulfill our goals of collaborative learning, as students become
teachers and teachers students. Students’ academic voices grow in confidence as they learn
to take initiatives in their own learning and shape their studies to their own interests and
needs.
The Break
At the end of each segment, we take a break from academic work and spend four or five days
visiting different western locales.
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