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Is there room for change in pedagogical methods?
Standing Stone Coffee Company, Panera Bread Company, a traffic jam along the I-80 corridor, The Portland Center, and my house.
Individually these places seem to have very little in common. Standing Stone Coffee Company is a coffee shop in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, where I like to go on a date with my wife or conduct business meetings throughout the day. Panera Bread is a restaurant chain whose menu provides a scrumptious alternative to the burger joints, when I go to visit a parishioner at Altoona General or Mt. Nittany hospitals. A traffic jam, in the west bound lane of I-80, means that I sit in an unmoving car within eyesight of my exit. The Portland Center, as it is affectionately known by both faculty and students, is the Lake Oswego extension of George Fox University where the seminary is housed. And my home- well it is my home.
Taken collectively, however, these places compose my classroom. As a student in a virtual learning environment, in which the vast majority of my coursework is conducted online, I am able to engage in the learning process from almost anywhere. I am able to engage in discussions via my laptop as I sit at my favorite coffee shop, sipping my delectable beverage of choice, while making use of the free WI-FI. It is possible for me to upload a project from my iPhone, while waiting for my next meeting to join me at my Panera lunchtable.
Many universities, colleges, and institutions of learning are now moving in the direction of virtual learning communities. Magazines and online sources which used to tout the value of relocating to attend this educational institution or that are now turning their attention and efforts toward institutions offering world-class educations for a fraction of the price and without the hassle of relocation.
Are Moodle and ScribLink going to be the classrooms of the future?
Are the hashtags of Twitter and the ding of an incoming email message going to be the hand-raising of a new generation of students who are seeking to engage with their professor and fellow students in meaningful dialogue about a subject?
Will video chats and asynchronous discussions provide students with an education that is as rich with “real world experience” as it is with time in the classroom?
Only time will tell. Though some would say that the future is now.
As a reflective practitioner in the realm of Christian ministry and as churches what will such educational advancements call forth in us as we seek to effectively engage a new generation in hearing afresh and anew the good news of Jesus Christ?
Pedagogically, what steps must we take now to ensure that the ways in which we are teaching the good news five years from today does not leave us talking only to ourselves?
