Integrating by PartsPosted on February 11, 2014 by A+ Brooke Lester, CuratorSomething there is that doesn’t love a silo. A curriculum is divided into fields are divided into courses are divided into units are divided into assignments. Ever review a student’s final paper for a course and find that, somehow, she didn’t succeed in using the knowledge and skills that she _actually did develop_ throughout the course? That final paper was constructed in a silo. There are a lot of factors from which the silo problem has been constructed and maintained. But, it’s pretty disheartening to imagine our learners going into their vocations and building silos around the challenges they find there…silos with high walls that keep out all the knowledge, intuition, skills, and habits that they’ve poured themselves into developing.My institution’s response-in-progress to the silo problem is a capstone project to the M.Div program, the “Final Integrative Paper…”
The Impact of Pluralism On Professional Ministry: “Can you hear me now? Good!”Posted on September 25, 2013 by Jennifer ShepherdIn January 2002, during fierce price wars among cell phone companies, the largest mobile phone service provider in America launched its “Can You Hear Me Now?” campaign. I’m sure you remember the television spots that followed the Verizon field tester – aka “Testman” – as he traveled across the country dropping in on locations ranging from the outlandish to the mundane.In each spot he asked, “Can you hear me now?” into a mobile phone. After hearing affirmation, Testman replied, “Good!” and continued on his quest to validate the reliability of Verizon’s infrastructure into which $2-4 billion was invested annually….
Seminary Education and the Bad Haircut: Helping Students Give an Honest Answer to the Question “Do You Like It?”Posted on September 14, 2013 by Jennifer ShepherdThe commercial begins and the experience is one that is instantly familiar. A man is sitting in a chair at a hair salon looking into the mirror, eyes wide with a forced grin. He is trying to look pleased. He is trying to stay calm. He is projecting his confidence in the skills of the hairstylist as he nervously watches each lock of hair fall to the ground….
ACE Series Part V: A Call to ACE Critical Reasoning for the Last TimePosted on August 21, 2013 by Richard NewtonWe are at a pedagogical turning point. Once we could impress students with our powers of memorization and recall. But that day is ending. Fast thumbs and fine-tuned algorithms can replicate the same thing.Sure, you can hold onto the belief that no one lectures quite the way you do. But what will you teach when your school uploads your lectures to iTunes University?Our task is becoming less about just transmitting content. Whatever our respective domains, we are increasingly called to train students in application, access, and analysis….
ACE Series Part IV: Writing ACE Commentary, or Everything I Need to Know About Arguing I Learned from Billy Madison!Posted on August 13, 2013 by Richard NewtonMy research deals with the scriptures people use to orient their lives. This interest may have begun in adolescence. Much to the chagrin of my youth group directors, my friends and I had a wider canon than the authorized version of any denomination out there.Our central text was the Adam Sandler film, Billy Madison (dir. Tamra Davis, 1995). To us it was a cult classic to be quoted chapter and verse. This movie made those awkward teenage years some how more bearable. For every situation, there was some line from the film available for application. And for whatever reason, when I think of ACE commentary, this film clip comes to mind….