The Institute for Worship Studies upholds a high standard of academic excellence. The faculty commitment is to “excellence in teaching.” The students’ standards of learning follow the guidelines of the best practices of other federally recognized schools.
All faculty in charge of a course module must have an earned doctoral/terminal degree (Ph.D., Th.D., D.Min., D.M.A., M.F.A.). Candidates accepted into the D.W.S. program must have earned a graduate degree, such as M.Mus., M.A., M.M., M.C.M. or M.Ed., or the equivalent Masters degree. Candidates accepted into the M.W.S. program must have earned an undergraduate degree, such as B.A., B.S., B.M., B.M.E., B.F.A., or the equivalent Bachelors degree with a minimum of 120 hours of earned credit.
IWS works with the following grading scale categories. As course instructors/supervisors/mentors of students, we grade your course projects with these four categories in mind.
ABCD
(A) Superior
(A-)Excellent
(B+) Very good
(B) Average, good, or satisfactory
(B-) Passing, acceptable
(C+) Below the acceptable standard for a master’s or doctoral degree
(C, C-) Deficient work in the degree program
(D) Very deficient, unacceptable work
Any doctoral student who receives two or more final course grades of C+ or lower may proceed to the thesis course (DWS 801) only by repeating these courses for academic credit and must achieve a grade of B or higher in these repeated courses. Any doctoral student who, for personal or academic reasons, chooses not to complete the thesis is eligible for the Advanced Graduate Certificate in Worship Studies (A.G.C.W.S.), assuming that the four core doctoral courses have been satisfactorily completed. |
In evaluating course projects, we consider two particular areas: content and elements of style. Pay close attention to both.
Are you doing research on the appropriate graduate level?
Are you intellectually engaged with the subject matter and its complexity at hand?
Are you conveying passion and interest, and do you “own” your position or point of view?
Are you demonstrating writing skills on a master’s or doctoral level? Are you expressing your thoughts as coherently and as clearly as possible? Is your writing engaging, focused and lucid?
The Master of Worship Studies and Doctor of Worship Studies programs ask students to reflect on worship through biblical, historical, theological, missiological, and cultural disciplines. Students are expected to demonstrate methodological skills for studying worship and ministerial skills of Christian worship in their context. The M.W.S. and D.W.S. also have outcomes unique to each program. Details:
The faculty, administration, and staff have worked hard to create a special community at the Institute for Worship Studies, with an end of Spiritual Formation in mind. As a part of the accreditation process, we developed and clarified Spiritual Formation Objectives to explain what we hope to accomplish in the spiritual lives of our students.