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For many years now, specialists in learning have remarked that a specific method of writing is used for the elaboration of interactive multimedia systems. This method of writing, which I qualify as interactive, has a primary objective: facilitating information access for the user. In this paper I propose an analysis of the different elements that characterize this method of writing and, more specifically, the different ways in which this new method can be integrated into the elaboration of magistral university courses without using any added computer technology. The professor would then resemble a multimedia system while the students would be the users of this system. This new method of writing and pedagogical structure would be highly propitious for the stimulation of exchange and interactivity, while leaving students the possibility to choose a structure of the presentation that best fits the group. However, for this to happen we must first envisage the possibility of adapting certain multimedia learning methods, recognized as functional, to the more conventional learning methods that the classroom represents.

Taking seriously the implications of post-colonial theory, the authors revisit the introductory course (normally "World Religions") as a course on the plurality of religions in contemporary U.S. culture. They explain the structure of the course, and discuss practical and ethical issues around student field visits to learn about other religions.

The author uses a contemporary functional document (a campus map) to design an imaginative exercise which teaches students the limits of map (or text) as a guide to reliable information. Through the exercise, students learn about gaps in information and the limits of what any text reveals, even one which is ostensibly designed as a reliable guide for navigating a campus.

Three scholars present narrative descriptions of their syllabi for the first year course in theology. David Goatley discusses the challenges of teaching theology amid the many kinds of diversity characteristic of Memphis Theological Seminary and emphasizes the importance of teaching students how to think theologically. Amy Plantinga Pauw describes the strengths and ongoing problems of an introductory course at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary which combines theology and church history. Linda Woodhead's account of teaching Christian theology in a religious studies context at Lancaster University focuses on the embodiedness of theology as key to teaching students for whom it really is a foreign language. Surveying the other essays, William Placher notes positive news about the place of Christian theology within a religious studies department and the ongoing challenges faced in many seminaries of teaching theology in less time to less well prepared students.

The author describes what has been entailed in a shift from a teacher-centered approach — one which relied on her expertise in Chinese studies — to a more student-centered approach in which the teacher creates a learning environment and seeks to "get out of the way" of student learning. She describes concrete strategies for de-centering herself and empowering students, and discusses the roles and responsibilities of the teacher in this alternative model.