For questions about our Intensive Courses be sure to check out our Intensive Course FAQ. Still have questions, please contact us!

WA2381-IN Arts for a Better Future (MayExt) (3 undergraduate credits)

In this undergrad course, students will learn to help a community recognize, value, and plan to use its own arts to meet local needs and goals. The course provides a compact overview of the Creating Local Arts Together (CLAT) model of community engagement. The CLAT process consists of seven flexible steps grounded in ethnographic and appreciative inquiry approaches: meet a community and its arts; specify goals; select communication genre and content; analyze the genre; spark creativity; improve new works and creative systems; and integrate and celebrate for continuity. Students will work with the model through three pedagogical cycles. This course is also available at the graduate level by registering for WA5381.

See a short video here.

You may also view the Arts for a Better Future FAQ.

WA3380-IN Introduction to Ethnodoxology (MayExt) (3 undergraduate credits)

This is a foundational course introducing key principles of ethnodoxology that will help students serve worshipping communities more effectively, whether overseas or in multi-ethnic North American contexts. Students will experience a corpus of songs and other artistic liturgical expressions from around the world, developing a vision for multicultural worship. In addition, students will explore appropriate ways to incorporate these artistic expressions into the worship life of their communities.

This course is also available at the graduate level by registering for WA5380.

Registration for a workshop version (no credit) is available in partnership with the Global Ethnodoxology Network (GEN) – see here.

WA5380-IN Theory and Practice of Ethnodoxology (Intensive) (MayExt) (3 graduate credits)

This course explores the biblical, historical, and cultural principles of ethnodoxology for cross-cultural workers, community leaders, and worship facilitators, helping them to serve worshipping communities more effectively, whether overseas or in multi-ethnic North American contexts. Students are prepared to design the introduction of new artistic expressions into their own worshipping communities, undergirded by the use of relevant research methodologies and multicultural worship approaches.

This course is also available at the undergraduate level by registering for WA3380.

Registration for a workshop version (no credit) is available in partnership with the Global Ethnodoxology Network (GEN) – see here.

WA5381-IN Arts for a Better Future (MayExt) (3 graduate credits)

In this course, students will learn to help a community recognize, value, and plan to use its own arts to meet local needs and goals. The course provides a compact overview of the Creating Local Arts Together (CLAT) model of community engagement. The CLAT process consists of seven flexible steps grounded in ethnographic and appreciative inquiry approaches: meet a community and its arts; specify goals; select communication genre and content; analyze the genre; spark creativity; improve new works and creative systems; integrate and celebrate for continuity. Students will engage with the model through three pedagogical cycles, culminating in applying it to a real-life context. This course is also available at the undergraduate level by registering for WA2381.

See a short video here.

You may also view the Arts for a Better Future FAQ.

WA5383-IN Arts and Trauma Healing (Spring/MayExt) (3 graduate credits)

UK – Spring semester with two-week INTENSIVE on campus at All Nations Christian College in the UK from March 20 – March 31, 2023.
DALLAS – May-extended semester with two-week INTENSIVE on campus in Dallas from July 10 – July 21, 2023.

This course teaches a holistic, interactive approach to engaging Scripture and relevant arts in the healing process for people who suffer from the mental, emotional, and spiritual effects of trauma. The course combines biblical truths with basic mental health principles expressed in ways that can be easily applied in many contexts. Students learn to address both beliefs and emotions damaged by trauma in their own lives and in the lives of others through participatory learning methods as well as through engaging with their fellow students in a small group context. In particular, this course will emphasize the importance of expressive arts in trauma healing. Students will understand and be able to articulate and demonstrate the role, the value, and the effectiveness of using relevant arts in trauma healing from a historical and contemporary perspective. Students will be able to promote emotional and spiritual healing in traumatized communities through the use of local expressive arts existing in those communities.

Crafted as a “blended” course, a required two-week period of on-campus participatory classes is preceded and followed by online reading and writing assignments.

The course is offered during Spring with a two-week intensive in the UK or during May Extended with a two-week intensive on campus in Dallas.

For more details, go to the Arts and Trauma Healing FAQ.

Note: This course is offered in collaboration with the American Bible Society’s Trauma Healing Institute (THI) and the Trauma Healing Alliance. In addition to earning DIU course credit, students who demonstrate readiness and complete two approved ATH healing groups according to ATH guidelines will be considered for certification by THI as Apprentice Facilitators in trauma healing.

WA6370-IN Multidisciplinary Perspectives on World Arts (Fall) (3 graduate credits)

This course looks at World Arts through five lenses: scriptural foundations guiding arts engagement; cultural analysis for valuing the complexity of artistic expression in multi-cultural and diaspora settings; historical perspectives demonstrating how artistic traditions have responded to power, politics, resources, and agency; missiological reflection on communication models employed by faith communities exhibiting creative embrace of the arts; and liturgical implications of this study for integrating arts in the church’s worship.

WA6380-IN Advanced Theory of Ethnodoxology (MayExt) (3 graduate credits)

This course explores the biblical, historical, theological, and cultural principles of ethnodoxology for cross-cultural workers, community leaders, worship facilitators, and academic leaders. Students are prepared to analyze current ethnodoxological trends and perform original research, thereby expanding the boundaries of this emerging discipline.

This course requires a 2-week INTENSIVE on campus during the May-Extended period.

WA6381-IN Cross-cultural Education Methods (Intensive) (MayExt) (3 graduate credits)

Training people in the principles of world arts, whether in primarily monocultural or cross-cultural contexts, requires an understanding of effective teaching methods. In this course, students will explore the theories, methodologies, and philosophies of effective community arts engagement models. They will learn how to apply ethnographic research methods to demonstrate how teaching and learning can be adapted for particular social contexts.

This course requires a 2-week INTENSIVE on campus during the May-Extended period.