Resources

A survey of 36 leading seminaries and rabbinical schools, evaluated on criteria for a sexually healthy and responsible seminary. These criteria measure sexuality content in the curriculum; institutional commitment to sexuality and gender equity (e.g., the existence of anti‐discrimination, sexual harassment and full inclusion policies); and advocacy and support for sexuality‐related issues.

300 page pdf version of a book about effective communication. For any given idea we have, there are 100 different ways to communicate it. Which one do you choose? The book answers these questions, and this guide helps to distill these concepts into teachable exercises.

A 300 page free-download e-book on the interplay between the science of learning, the science of instruction, and the science of assessment. Research on how people learn is applied to educational settings. The book is based on theory and research in cognitive psychology. (Excerpted from the Introduction.)

This paper is a guide to the effective design and management of team assignments in a college classroom where little class time is available for instruction on teaming skills. Topics discussed include forming teams, helping them become effective, and using peer ratings to adjust team grades for individual performance. A Frequently Asked Questions section offers suggestions for dealing with several problems that commonly arise with student teams, and forms and handouts are provided to assist in team formation and management. 

This article describes the process through which the Wabash Center Guide to Internet resources in religion was conceived and developed. The resulting structure of the Guide is described, and comments are made concerning possible ways in which the Internet can contribute to the learning process in theology and religious studies. A vision for the future of this Guide or other similar efforts is also outlined.

When students come into the classroom, they have a prefigured, albeit deeply implicit, notion of what "religion" is and what it is not. They see religion as private, inner, and personal, as distinct from "politics" and "economics." This prefigured conception of religion is, in this author's view, one of the principle obstacles to teaching Religious Studies in an empirical, cross-cultural, comparative manner. Given the overall structure of the cultural configuration within which students think about and live out "religion," i.e., that it is private, utilitarian, and simply an obvious given to them, how can we introduce theory into the Religious Studies classroom? The answer given here is that if we use language-based theoretical models of culture such as structuralism and hermeneutics, we do better, in the main, in applying that theory to the communicative context of the classroom than trying to teach theory directly to our undergraduate students. This paper offers an analysis, using such language-based theories, of those cultural conditions which our students bring into the classroom and which shape their "native" understanding of the category "religion," as well as some suggestions as to how to cope with it in order to teach Religious Studies more effectively.

This "roundtable" collection of articles discusses the notion of renunciation in relation to an experiment in which a college class had the option to renounce the right to learn about their grades during the course. Topics include the history of grading in university and college courses, the problem of plagiarism, and the role of evaluation in higher education. Responses by Kimberly Rae Connor, Michael Desjardins Yasaman Samiksa Munro, Tina Pippin, and Ken Derry

An iconoclastic review of Jonathan Z. Smith’s teaching practice, in contrast to his collected writings on teaching (“On Teaching Religion,” 2013), written by a prominent scholar, and onetime undergraduate student of his.

An Auburn Studies report on a study of 24 “top supplier” doctoral programs in theology and religion—those that send the most graduates to teach in seminaries and divinity schools. The report raises questions about the practices of programs and the employment prospects of graduates.

Study used the Measure of Epistemology Reflection to explore impact of service-learning and social justice education on cognitive development. Results showed service-learning courses had a positive impact on cognitive development, while service-learning courses w/a social justice emphasis appeared to have more impact on students’ cognitive development than those without.