Although Mike Piburn, Director of Nontraditional Studies at Calvary Bible College, saw the advantages in developing an online program for the school, others needed some convincing.

He continued for years to state the case, and then one day, following a prayer meeting, the biggest opponent to the idea was suddenly ready—and ready to begin right away.

Carefully considering his options and benchmarking what other schools had done, Piburn landed on Knowledge Elements as an online launch partner—and believes without the alliance with Knowledge Elements, the college wouldn’t be where it is today.
 
The Kansas City, Missouri-based college now offers 45 online courses, 30 of them already available through the Knowledge Elements Education Network and each course easily passed the college’s academic approval process.  The other courses have been written by select faculty members, including an academic dean who’s a historian and another who currently is working on a Ph.D.

And one of the most appealing parts of the process, he said, is the ability to update an outdated series of cassette-based correspondence courses formerly offered by the school.

“That was one of the motivations for getting online in the first place,” Piburn said.  “I bought six or eight portable cassette players myself to loan to students.”
  
Although Calvary has written some of its own online courses, Piburn does not foresee a day that the school wouldn’t continue offering classes from the Knowledge Elements Education Network (KEEN).  “I just don’t see that happening,” he said.  “It would be too big of a headache.  We’re happy with what we’re getting from Knowledge Elements, and we’ll always be joined at the hip.”
 
He does envision, however, an online completion program up and running within a few years. The school hopes to broaden its reach to the thousands of prospective students who have begun—but not finished—a bachelor’s.
 
In the meantime, Piburn continues to see support for the online program grow.

“There are some professors here who have jumped in with both feet,” he said.  “Some kind of have one foot in, and they’re thinking about it.  And then there are others who are still scratching their heads.  But our department has grown larger, and a lot of that has to do with having online courses.  Right now, it’s primarily current students who are signing up, adding an online course or two during the semester.  They may get halfway through that semester and realize that they have a handle on things and can add more.  It helps them get done quicker, and some have graduated early….  It’s just been a good experience.”