Flipping the Classroom: Don’t Sweat the Technique Posted on May 12, 2014 by Richard NewtonFor those unfamiliar, the flipped classroom reverses the conventional teach-in-class/learn-at-home approach. Instead teachers introduce content in homework lessons, and students practice the material in the classroom. In theory, this will encourage more hands-on learning when students and teachers meet together. With the help of dynamic media, students can interact with content beyond the level afforded by the traditional lecture experience. Truth be told this is not a novel idea. Math and science educators, for instance, have been implementing this for the past 20 years. Humanities professors frequently harbor anxiety over what it means for our praxis….
A Case For Required Biblical Languages in Seminary Posted on May 2, 2014 by Reed CarlsonIt is true that seminary students vary in intellectual ability and interests. It is also true that theological educators must reevaluate and innovate their offerings and methods for a new era. Nevertheless, I believe that every seminarian should study both Hebrew and Greek. But I think we can do it better.
Theology of Mission in the Classroom: Embodied Cultural Contestations? Posted on April 25, 2014 by Robert SalerWhat does theologizing about mission mean for the seminary classroom? I would suggest that it means that discussions of theology and mission need to take a cue from history courses and emphasize that culture, like the history of the church, is not a peaceful stream of predictable events but a contested series of contingencies, complex theologies, and variegated worldviews. We must “complicate” talk of culture in the classroom with the same rigor with which we complicate the theological discourses native to our seminaries.
Sleep in Academia: The Brain We’ve Got Posted on April 21, 2014 by A+ Brooke Lester, Curator(See also Part One: Waking Up to the Problem.) It’s sometimes said in “recovery” circles that “You can’t fix the brain you’ve got with the brain you’ve got.” But let’s see if we can’t try to think clearly—our crippling sleep deficit notwithstanding—about the brain. Anybody who can manage a Google or YouTube search can discover…
The Wonderful—Yet Misunderstood—World of Wikis Posted on April 11, 2014 by Chris ParisIn academia, the word “wiki” often conjures up images of students copying and pasting assignments from Wikipedia, daring the plagiarism police to catch them. The word reminds others of that revolutionary vanguard of the fifth estate known as WikiLeaks—with some welcoming a new age of electronic social justice and others arguing that some dams should never crumble. Wikis can be powerful tools for cataloguing and disseminating information. However, with their ability to inform and misinform, some may wonder about their value for research and classroom collaboration….