“How did you get that?” “I found it on Amazon, and I had it shipped through the app.”

“Where did you find that?” “I found it online and I got it delivered by FedEx.”

“Did you go to the grocery store” “No, I had the groceries delivered to my apartment.”

Today there seems to be as many delivery models as there are packages to deliver. Goods are flown, shipped, trucked, and hauled seemingly magically from the factory to our homes.

Education is not different. There are many ways that a course can be “delivered” to the students. Some courses are online, while others are in person.

LCC International University’s MA TESOL program has a unique delivery model designed to suit busy teachers. We specifically designed the program in a way that could be adapted to the hectic, differentiated schedules of English teachers around the globe while also staying true to our student- centered model of education, grounded in relationships.

LCC’s MA TESOL program is a blended delivery model of education.

First, each year, students and faculty come to campus for a two-week Summer Residency Session in August. During these 2 weeks, faculty and students begin the school year in person classes. During these bright, summer days, conversations about courses, projects, teaching, and research flourish inside and outside the classroom. Students and faculty live on campus and can share meals together. During the Summer Residency Session, we host orientation sessions for new students and panels for our thesis students. The graduation ceremony is the culminating highlight of our time together. Conveniently, international students do not need a visa to travel to Lithuania for this short time. The positive time that we spend together sets the tenor for the rest of the year.

Then, during the rest of the year, students live and work in their home countries, continuing to study online. The courses are asynchronous; students watch video lectures, communicate through online forums, and complete homework on the Moodle platform. In the first year, students study one course at a time; each course runs for seven (7) weeks; in this way, students focus their attention on one course and the assignment for that course. While there are due dates for tasks, students have the flexibility to study whenever it is most suitable for them. Many of our students have teaching jobs during the day; they study in the evenings or at the weekends. Some of our students teach English in the evenings; they study with their morning cup of coffee. Because the online courses are asynchronous, our students, who live around the world, do not need to be at a computer simultaneously.

We believe our unique delivery model is suitable for many teachers in many locations with many different schedules.

Our students receive the same quality deliverables; great courses delivered directly conveniently to them.

Author: Robin Gingerich, Ph.D., MA TESOL Program Director at LCC International University.