Institute

As stated in the General Handbook, “Institute provides weekday gospel study classes that strengthen faith and testimony in Jesus Christ and His restored gospel.”

Young single adults who are between 18 and 30 years old are encouraged to attend institute classes, whether they are attending school or not.

 

Class Options

Class options are determined by the primary location or environment used for instruction. Within seminary and institute classes, “primarily” refers to more than 50 percent of total instruction time per week.

• In Person Class: Students primarily participate in a physical classroom at an approved location. Additional time may include video conferencing or Canvas.

• Online Class: Students primarily participate in Canvas. Where possible, students also attend live gatherings through video conference or in a physical classroom.

• Remote Class: Students primarily participate using video conferencing (such as Zoom® or Teams®) or instant messaging software (such as WhatsApp®).

• Home-Study Class: Students primarily participate using home-study student materials.

Note: Many of these class options include elements of “hybrid learning.” Hybrid learning is not a class option but can apply to any option that includes a mixing of learning modalities (such as in-person class mixed with video conference, online class mixed with video conference, and so forth).

 

Program Types 

• Campus Program: Campus programs may offer in-person or remote class options.

• Stake Program: Stake (or multi-stake) programs may offer in-person or remote class options.

• Online Program: Online programs offer online classes exclusively. These programs operate at the area level and are intended for young adults (ages 18–30) and BYU–Pathway students.

Note: For additional information, see “Establishing Institute of Religion Programs” in the Institute section of policy manual.

Campus Institute Programs

Point of Contact: S&I Online Learning

Campus institute programs are independent of stake boundaries and are organized primarily to provide classes for LDS students (ages 18–30) participating in post-secondary education at a campus. Young adults who are not currently enrolled in post-secondary education may also attend. Institute classes should be organized with a similar schedule as the adjacent campus by using the standard semester schedule (three terms per year).

Campus programs may teach classes in multiple locations on a single college or university campus. If there is a need for classes to be held on multiple university or college campuses, then a separate program should be created for each location.

In rare exceptions, the associate administrator may approve establishing a campus program in a location that is not adjacent to a college or university campus but that is a convenient gathering place for students enrolled in post-secondary education at multiple campuses.

Campus programs may also teach remote classes—as approved by the area director (see “Terms and Definitions for Classes and Programs” in the Administration section of the policy manual).

Online Institute Programs

Point of Contact: S&I Online Learning

Online institute programs are available to young adults (ages 18–30) and to all BYU–Pathway students. These programs help fulfill the S&I Objective and provide increased accessibility to

institute and additional learning opportunities for young adults. Additionally, they provide courses that meet credit requirements that will transfer to a Church school.

Online institute programs are organized in each S&I area and are supervised by an online institute director or an online director. Online institute program classes follow many of the same standards as other institute classes. These standards include:

1. The teacher is a full- or part-time employee, a stake institute of religion teacher, or a missionary with an S&I assignment.

2. An approved institute course is taught (see “Course Catalog” in this section).

3. S&I-approved curriculum materials are used.

4. Enrollment records and class roll are completed for each class.

5. The class does not meet on Sunday, nor does it meet on Monday evening unless the Church Board of Education has given specific approval.

Online institute program classes, however, have some differences from campus and stake institute classes. These differences include:

1. The class calendar matches the BYU–Pathway course calendar.

2. Students interact in the learning management system (Canvas) for an hour a week, with a 45-minute scheduled video conference or in-person gathering each week.

Note: To learn more about terms and definitions for class options and programs, please refer to the 'Terms and Definitions for Classes and Programs” in the Administration section of the policy manual.

Institute and BYU–Pathway Courses

Point of Contact: S&I Online Learning

BYU–Pathway is intended to help non–traditional students further their education. All BYU–Pathway students taking foundational courses (called “PathwayConnect”) are eligible to enroll in institute. If they qualify for PathwayConnect, they are eligible to participate in institute, regardless of age. BYU–Pathway students ages 18–30 may select institute classes available either online or in-person. BYU–Pathway students ages 31 and older may elect to take online institute classes. BYU–Pathway students should be enrolled in institute for the duration of PathwayConnect, thus completing two semesters of institute.

BYU–Pathway students who matriculate to BYU–Idaho for an online degree typically fulfill religion requirements through BYU–Idaho religion courses. If they prefer to take institute classes, however, they may do so and will need to transfer their institute credits to fulfill their religion requirements. BYU–Pathway students who matriculate to Ensign College for an online degree will need to take institute classes and transfer their credits to fulfill their religion requirements.

BYU–Pathway students enroll in a class that qualifies for CES transfer credit (see the following policies in this section: “Transferable Credit” and “BYU Pathway Worldwide Students and CES

Transfer Credit”). When a BYU–Pathway student completes a class, institute credits should be transferred to the institution from which the student plans to graduate.

Campus-based institute classes will be held according to the local institute calendar, which may vary from the BYU–Pathway calendar by several weeks or more. Online institute programs follow the BYU–Pathway calendar. For stake institute programs, institute coordinators should consider the BYU–Pathway students’ course calendar, along with other significant factors when determining class start and end dates. In both campus-based and stake programs, institute personnel should work with priesthood leaders to hold institute classes on the same weeknight as BYU–Pathway gatherings, unless local circumstances do not allow.