cohort Sobe Student Guide
A Typical Week
From Monday - Friday, cohort students work through that week’s four or five modules together in a classroom here on our YWAM Colorado Springs campus. This time will most often be led by a SOBE staff person. 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 one-on-one with a SOBE school staff person and then with a BAM coach (could be live or could be via zoom) that will be walking
with them throughout the 12-weeks.
Several weeks of the SOBE Cohort the student will have the speaker live in classroom that the online students are watching on video. The speaker will still use their pre-recorded videos, but they will facilitate the discussions.
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 business plan pitch and the slide deck used in it.
Besides the 20 or more hours it will take to complete each week’s modules, you should expect 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. Student will also be required to participate in community worship and intercession times, as well as community work duties, and a couple weekends of kitchen work duties.
We do not recommend you having more than 5-10 hours of time committed to any other remote work or ministry activ
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
All your SOBE staff have successfully taken the SOBE, or they were part of the core team
that initially created the school. They all have been, or are now, involved with a BAM
initiative. So, they have and are living out the YWAM Value of “do first then teach.”
Like your coach, you will meet weekly with your one-on-one on a "zoom" call or face-to-face. The purpose of this meeting is broader than the meeting you have with your coach. Your one-on-one will
be asking how you are doing with both the curriculum of the course as well as anything in your personal life that might be creating stress, that might in turn impact your involvement in the SOBE. They will, like your coach, be monitoring the progress you have made in thewriting of your business plan. Finally, they read and grade all the work you are doing in Moodle.
Your final
The final for the SOBE consists of a completed written business plan, and a 10-minute pitch 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. Your oral presentation is worth 20% of your grade.
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.
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 $1700(A)/$1000(B)/$600(C) and is generally due about two 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.
Campus Rooms
Rooms will typically be set up with bunk beds, dressers, a desk, and some closet space for students to store their things. Any enrolled families will have rooms tailored to their specific situation; for example, families with more than one non-toddler child will have an adjoining room for the children. Space and storage is tight on campus. Please pack sparingly and limit your baggage to two pieces of luggage for the SOBE.
Work Duties and Weekend Schedule
All students participating in a course connected to the University of the Nations are required to participate in campus work duties. This is on average six hours per week and will involve serving in some practical way on the campus (i.e., Ground, Maintenance, Housekeeping, Food Prep or Cleanup, etc.). The only exception to this would be if a couple with kids are both students in the school. Only one would participate in that instance.
Your weekends will be free of any organized school time. Also, you will be responsible along with other SOBE staff and students, to do a few weekends of meal prep and clean up on a rotating basis. A big part of your school is living and growing with the other students and staff on campus, so plan to spend time with them.
In the event that you need to leave/travel and will be missing classes, you will need to get approval in advance from your school leader to remain in the course.
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.