SOBE Student Handbook

A Typical Week

From Saturday - Thursday, students work through that week’s five modules at their own pace and at a time that they learn best in their day. This means the primary instruction is not a live class you watch online for three hours at a crazy time during the day or night! Throughout the week, students from all over the world, SOBE staff and SOBE instructors interact online through a discussion forum for that week. On Friday, we gather live online as a whole school for a Q&A time with that week’s instructor(s). Each student also has a weekly video one-on-one with a SOBE school staff person and then with a BAM coach that will be walking with them throughout the 12-weeks. 

Assignments, Work Load and the Time Commitment

There are academic requirements that will determine whether students pass the SOBE. Some of these are completion of the multiple choice and essay questions after videos, a weekly journal, three book reports, punctuality in assignment completion, attendance to live events, your written business plan, and your oral business plan presentations and the slide deck used in it.

Besides the 25 or more hours it will take to complete each week’s modules, you should expect to another 20 hours of time that will need to be dedicated to research, reading of the three books, and writing of your business plan. Please come prepared to work hard.

We do not believe it is realistic to work a full-time job and take the SOBE. While we have had students attempt this, we find it impacts their ability to get the most out of the intensive training that is the SOBE. For this reason, we do not recommend you having more than a total of 15 hours of time committed to any other work or ministry activities while part of the SOBE. If you can free yourself up entirely, this is best by far.

Your Coach

Your SOBE staff have spent many years recruiting and developing relationships with a network of BAM coaches that are committed to walk alongside our SOBE students through the school and beyond. You will be assigned a coach for the length of the school. The expectation is that you, the student, will meet with your coach once per week. We find it is best, for both the student and the coach, that you very quickly settle on a day and time that will be the same each week. It is also critical that if you are not able to make this meeting, that you let your coach know as soon as you become aware of this and then make every effort to reschedule for another time that week. Every coach is an experienced business person. Their time is their most valuable asset. Please honor their time and willingness to coach you for free by being on time and prepared to share what you have been working on each week.

Your coach has been given an outline of what you are learning each week and what part of your business plan you should be working on. They have been given a list of questions or topics to explore with you each week. Your coach’s primary purpose is not to be your counselor, but to help you practically with the development of your business plan. They will help you set goals for that coming week and hold you accountable to those goals.

Your Staff one-on-one

Our campus was once a Hilton hotel, so we have hotel rooms for you and your roommates to live in. There are rooms for singles, married couples, and families. Meals are eaten in our community dining hall, and corporate worship times are in the ballroom. If the weather is right, you can enjoy swimming in the pool!

Your final

The final for the SOBE consists of a completed written business plan, and a 10-minute oral presentation with a slide deck (i.e., PowerPoint or Keynote) to support what you are sharing, followed by a 10 minutes Q&A when the panel of five, that is grading you, ask questions. The written business plan is due on the final Wednesday the course. The written business plan is 30% of your final grade. The slide deck for your oral presentation is then due on the final Thursday of the coursse. Your oral presentation is worth 20% of your grade. Your oral presentation will take place on the final Friday of the course.

Needed Technology

While students can watch course videos on a cell phone, it would be near impossible for a student to complete their business plan and presentation on one. It would be equally hard to answer the many questions that follow the videos. Student therefore must have regular access to a computer or full-size tablet with external keyboard. As a student will also be on zoom at least three times weekly, it is recommended that these other devices are used for those calls. Often these videos calls will involve sharing of computer screens and the larger the screen the better. Student will also want to have a quality headphone set with built in mic to ensure the best audio experience.

The SOBE training in the area of Finances and Accounting is based on the use of Microsoft Excel and the various documents we provide are in Microsoft Word format when they are something that you need to edit. While these can be imported into free tools like Google Sheets and Google Docs, you will need to be able to return them to Excel and Word format when submitting them. Some features do not always survive the export process, so if you can you should consider getting a subscription to Word and Excel at least for the length of you time in the SOBE.

University of the Nations Credits

The SOBE is a 12-credit hour school with YWAM’s University of the Nations. A student must have successfully completed a Discipleship Training School to be awarded credits with the U of N. Upon completion of the SOBE, the student will be sent a certificate from the U of N indicated successful completion. Non-DTS graduates are considered auditing students and cannot take the course for credits.

The University of the Nations offers courses /practicums/ internships in over 160 nations worldwide. Various accredited institutions throughout the world accept U of N transfer students and credits. U of N is a degree granting institution (Associate’s, Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees), but has not applied for accreditation in any one nation’s educational system. For more information on the U of N Accreditation, please visit this site here.

Using Moodle and Vimeo

All of our online learning is done using Moodle as our Learning Management System (LMS) and Vimeo as our Video Content Management System (Video CMS). The student can start and stop whenever they want. Moodle will resume the lesson at the point they left off and is accessible through a web browser on any computer or a downloadable app on a mobile device.

Donations

While raising money for your SOBE, please be aware that donations or financial gifts for SOBE students are not tax exempt through YWAM Colorado Springs. This is due to the IRS restrictions for contributions towards educational/vocational training. If you are YWAM staff and processing support through a YWAM base in the USA, donation should be directed as your personal support. This then would be a tax-exempt donation. You would then in turn pay your school fees.

Finances

The cost of the Online is $1600(A)/$960(B)/$540(C) and is generally due about three weeks before the course begins. Payments can be made sooner than the due date, and when this is done, the student will be given access to some pre-course elements and orientation materials. This will allow you to get a jump start on a few of the course assignments.

If it appears that you will not be able to make this payment deadline, please contact your school leader to arrange a potential payment plan. Any arrangement must be agreed upon before the final due date.

Optional Internship

We would love to facilitate an internship for you with one of our frontline connections. These will be designed to give you firsthand experience of what it could look like to do what God has put on your heart. The timing and cost vary per person and situation as we send individuals rather than a set team. A completed internship will also result in an additional 12-credits from the University of the Nations.