Resources

This essay will argue that the internet provides an “added-value” to education, providing resources for more effective teaching and enhancing the learning of the students. The internet emphasizes written communication, facilitating clarity of thought and serving as the basis for critical thinking. The internet emphasizes the social dimensions of learning, and the students’ own role in their learning. This essay will illustrate the value of the internet for teaching and learning through a case study of transforming a traditional introductory course on the Bible into a distance course.

Diversity—gender, class, racial, ethnic, theological, sexual orientation as well as personality, learning style, ability, and experience— exists as threat and promise, problem and possibility in theological education. The negotiations of administrators, faculty, students, and school constituencies that make up the dynamics of difference in theological education are particularly intense, and occasionally volatile, in decisions about who should teach, what should be taught, and how we should teach. Reflecting on my conscientization to these dynamics during my own career as theological educator and administrator, I argue that the interdependence of theological school pedagogies of formation and empowerment for ministry must be revisioned. This means, at least, expanding our assumptions about education and teaching by exploring pedagogical possibilities emerging from the embrace of differences among us and by viewing the community of teaching and learning as an ecology of language processes, cultural patterns, and world views. The essay concludes with three suggestions for altering pedagogical practices in the diverse theological education setting: the diversification of assessment patterns; the clear and expansive articulation of guidelines, criteria, and standards for learning; and the establishment of rules of discourse to ensure the participation of all.

Provides 30 practical ideas for the improvement of instruction based on critical thinking concepts and tools. It builds on, and goes beyond, the ideas in the mini-guide Active and Cooperative Learning. It cultivates student learning encouraged in the How to Study and Learn mini-guide. (From the Publisher)