The Work of the Urantia Book Internet School (UBIS)

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By Dave Elders, Connecticut, United States

The Urantia Book Internet School (UBIS) has developed an educational structure built on several principles derived from the study of the fifth epochal revelation, which the school seeks to make accessible to students across the face of our planet.

These guiding principles, which all fit together like a challenging, experiential mosaic, are informed by, and related to, the stated revelatory purpose “to expand cosmic consciousness and enhance spiritual perception.” 0:0.2 (1.2) Mota 16 states: “You cannot perceive spiritual truth until you feelingly experience it.” 48:7.18 (557.2) In consideration of the significance of this perception, UBIS has adopted a pedagogy of non-interpretive facilitation of student self-discovery of the truths of The Urantia Book in every course offered. In addition, in an echo of the interactive approach that Jesus used to stimulate the internal reach for spiritual truth in each and every person he met, UBIS Teacher-Facilitators (TFs) carefully develop provocative questions to stimulate each student’s exploration of the assigned readings in The Urantia Book. These questions and those interjected by the TF during the discussion-sharing week following each of four reading-question response weeks, are designed by the TF to focus the students’ search for comprehension on the levels of fact, meaning, and value. The UBIS Teacher Training Program (TTP), in which each TF participates, uses Bloom’s Taxonomy to better understand the development of an effective range of questions.

This UBIS educational approach, refined over the fifteen years that UBIS has been offering courses, provides a companion benefit to the students’ self-discovery of the truths revealed in The Urantia Book—an opportunity for the TFs to develop both teacher and leadership skills. Each TF must take at least two UBIS courses to qualify, with the recommendation of at least three experienced TFs, for the TTP. The TTP is designed to provide guidance in the design and development of his or her course, including course purpose, reading selections, effective questions, and facilitation of the discussion-sharing period. This combination of teacher training in effective course design and experiential facilitation of the students’ self-discovery of the revealed truths in The Urantia Book, surely broadens and deepens the TF’s ability to act as an effective emissary of the revelation’s truths. Whether with family and friends, in a study group, in a conference setting, or when facilitating the exploration of Urantia Book truths with new truth seekers, becoming a TF supports personal growth.

The contributions to the expansion of cosmic consciousness and enhanced spiritual perception of the truths of The Urantia Book are:

1. the mosaic dimensions of the UBIS educational experience,
2. the integration of a non-interpretive and self-discovering pedagogy,
3. the Jesusonian question approach to stimulate the personal inner reach for experiencing living truth followed by its perception in mind, and
4. the growing capability of the UBIS TFs to apply these educational principles with others.

Find out more about UBIS and the courses being offered in the January 2016 trimester by logging onto the UBIS website, ubis.urantia.org.

This photograph of the UBIS board and staff was taken during the annual board meeting held at Urantia Foundation over the weekend of November 5–8, 2015.

Left to right: Dennis Sword, Judy Cosky, Pam Maunakea, David Elders, Olga Lopez,
Betty Zehr, Georges Michelson-Dupont, Ralph Zehr, and Guy Perron
Flanking monitor: Susan Flacks and Joanne Strobel
On the monitor: Marta Elders and Michael Zehr