The Bible and Human Transformation—Part II: Jesus’ Parables and Human Transformation Posted on October 31, 2014 by Yung Suk KimBecause of the parable’s nature as such, it has double-entendre. On the one hand, students of the New Testament may find parables to be easy to understand because they are taken from everyday life. On the other hand, however, they are very difficult to understand because parables involve figurative language which needs careful attention and skill from the reader. It is here, at the points of overcoming difficulties in understanding the text, where we find their power unto human transformation….
The Bible and Human Transformation—Part I: The Nature of the Bible Posted on October 24, 2014 by Yung Suk KimNo matter how disparate biblical writings may be, the bottom line is that they are life stories involving some sort of human transformation, whether it is personal or communal change: a change in terms of human behavior, a change in terms of human attitude or a change in terms of society…
The BYOD Classroom: Smartphones May Change How You Teach Posted on October 20, 2014 by Nathan LoewenStudents appeared with smartphones in my classrooms long before my pocket-sized revolution. Their use of these devices were the trigger for changing how I teach…. These devices allowed them to do more advanced work in-class. This pedagogical shift made my classrooms BYOD/BYOT learning contexts. Bring-your-own-device/technology, in my mind, names an approach to teaching that intensively and directly leverages whatever equipment that arrives in my classrooms via student’s pockets….
Formational Theological Education—Part 2: The Competency of the Folk Posted on October 13, 2014 by Timothy SnyderWe learn in our bodies, in concrete situations. We learn from our built-environments and the constructed social contexts which surround us. In theological education, the turn to CPE and field or contextual education have brought these pedagogical realities to the foreground. If it is the case that theological education shifts as models of ministry shift (and that seems to hold from my reading of history), then such learning in ministry ought to become the “research and development” arm of our seminaries and theological schools….
Forks in the Road/Nodes in the Web toward Digital Learning Posted on October 6, 2014 by A+ Brooke Lester, CuratorI usually don’t see the fork in the road at the time I take it. It’s only looking back that I can say, “Huh. Made a choice there.” Or, occasionally, “Huh. Made a meaningful choice there.” As 2008 slid into 2009, a recent addition to the rank of PhDs and already-long-time member of the adjunct-faculty class, I read a blog post–I suppose for me in that year it must have been a blog post, rather than a Tweet or a Facebook status update–by Dr. A.K.M. “Akma” Adam, recommending his readers’ attention to a *then* recent digital learning video by Michael Wesch. It was “A Portal to Media Literacy” (2008), following upon Wesch’s “The Machine is Us/ing Us” (2007). Both presentations concern learning and the digitization of text…