What can Educators Learn from Online Religious Communities?

TCC Worldwide Online Conference 2008

Presenters are Doctoral Students at George Fox University in

Newberg, Oregon, USA

Amy Dee, Visiting Professor at Linfield College Sue Phillips, Professor at Rogue Community College Tricia Meyer, Principal of Freemont Christian High

School Jeanette Eggert, Professor at Concordia University Scot Headley, Professor at George Fox University

What and Why?

In the Fall semester 2007, 16 doctoral students and their professor participated in a one-hour Faith Learning Seminar entitled Christians in a Networked World.

The course format permitted individual students the opportunity to explore the use of electronic media by religious and faith-based groups. Students were asked to be participant-observers, and as a result, the following project emerged.

9 wikis for school, church or other4 research and evaluation projects1 conference presentation2 online groups, non-wiki1 ill-defined project

http://edfl675b.wikispaces.com/

As a Result….A question emerged for our practice as educators.

Satisfying and effective education in the online environment includes strong relationships amongst the participants.

Could online religious communities be models for online educational experiences?

Framework for our Stories

Our experience with online religious communities offers some lessons that are applicable for educators.

Lessons learned include the challenges and opportunities for encouragement and accountability online, practical aspects of learning new technologies, and philosophical and practical aspects of online religious practice.

Wiki-maniaWiki-mania

Are we ready to give up E-mail?

Amy Dee

Purpose of Project:

Gain familiarity with a wiki site.

Introduce a church committee to a wiki.

Use a wiki for communication and for conducting business.

Assess the effectiveness of such a tool.

Valley Community Presbyterian

A committee is growing and in need of new ways to communicate and a wiki was introduced…

Different levels of technological skill was represented in the group.

Different levels of commitment was represented in the group.

The group has operated the same way for many years.

VCPC.Wiki.com

News and announcements were posted New church purpose statement was posted Ideas were solicited Agenda was posted Committee minutes were posted The site was presented to session Few comments were received

Are we communicating and was the wiki effective?

When an e-mail was sent directing folks to look at the wiki!

The individuals are accustomed to checking e-mail not a wiki site.

When the chairperson prints the agenda. When the current youth director checks to see

posted comments. Most viewed the wiki as a novelty or passing trend. Leadership, instruction, time and patience are key to

success in integrating this type of technology into church or educational settings.

Tricia Meyer

A Strong Spirit & A Sense of Community: The Platform – Moodle

Open Source Software

http://moodlerooms.com

Approx. $150 per year for 5 courses

The Participants

Invited 10 students who would feel comfortable with one another

All in 10th Grade 3 Boys/7 Girls Actual: 2 Boys/4

Girls

Recruited 5 Guest Hosts

All employees of my school/church

Month of November

The Layout

Session 1: Truth

Session 2: Guard Your Mind

Session 3: God’s Will

Session 4: Reliability of the Bible

Session 5: Feedback

The Successes & Failures

Successes Idea rec’d positively

by students Thoughtful posts on

spiritual issues High quality

information shared by guest hosts

Good feedback from students

Failures 50-60% involvement Minimal interaction No evidence of

learning from others’ posts

Found that my messages didn’t go through/Tech. problem

My Reflections & Conclusions

Students have minimal time but they like this format!

This forum is good for giving students the time and space (and anonymity) to think carefully and explain themselves.

My Reflections & Conclusions

We need to schedule the time and the means for students to engage in learning in a way appealing to them.

Progressed in building “strong spirit;” not directly in “sense of community” but gave insight for how to build community with FCS online.

Sue Phillips

Bible verse of the day (to profile, iPod, cell phone or e-mail) , Bible blogs, religious videos, Christian music, forums (chat-type sessions by topic- religion is in the top 3). Of course all types of religion are represented, as well as sexual innuendo. So caution is advised.

Even though it is not set up as a Christian site, per say, it had the most Christian amenities to offer of any of the social networks I checked out- even those dedicated to Christians (like MyChurch)

MySpaceMySpace

Christian social networkChristian social networkMyChurch.orgMyChurch.org

New site within the past yearNew site within the past year Patterned after MySpace, but Patterned after MySpace, but

does not offer everything available does not offer everything available in MySpacein MySpace

Offers blogs, videos, discussion Offers blogs, videos, discussion groups, evaluation of videos/musicgroups, evaluation of videos/music

Join your churchJoin your church Would be good for small Would be good for small

groupsgroups Communication between Communication between

churcheschurches Set up specifically for Set up specifically for

Christians- not as evangelical Christians- not as evangelical tooltool

Christiango.comChristiango.com Search engine Search engine

sponsored by Googlesponsored by Google Can search for Can search for

Christian topics Christian topics (prayer, Bible, etc.)(prayer, Bible, etc.)

Searching for “Web Searching for “Web 2.0” brought up many 2.0” brought up many websites that websites that suggested various suggested various uses for these uses for these applications.applications.

Godtube.com Godtube.com (Christian offshoot of Youtube)(Christian offshoot of Youtube)

Offers Christian videos, Offers Christian videos, sermons, website development sermons, website development tools, online conferences, tools, online conferences, online magazinesonline magazines

Started as a support to Started as a support to churches and has exploded in churches and has exploded in use (4 million visitors in Oct)use (4 million visitors in Oct)

Expanding to video policing Expanding to video policing tools, developing tools, developing entertainment programs and entertainment programs and creating new Christian social creating new Christian social networksnetworks

Started by seminary student Started by seminary student from Dallas Theological from Dallas Theological SeminarySeminary

Final CommentsFinal Comments

Christian versions of most Web 2.0 applications Christian versions of most Web 2.0 applications are availableare available Many are new and may improve in few yearsMany are new and may improve in few years Appeal mostly to Christian audienceAppeal mostly to Christian audience May be helpful to Christian students at schoolMay be helpful to Christian students at school

Christian add-ons within secular applications Christian add-ons within secular applications May offer more optionsMay offer more options Offer a way to include non-ChristiansOffer a way to include non-Christians Need critical thinking and evaluation while usingNeed critical thinking and evaluation while using

Jeanette Eggert

Cyber Prayer

Purpose:

Looking for ways the Web can enhance our lives

Interested in exploring options for a Christian social community

Lack of Prior Experience

Had not used a

“Chat Room”

Had not used Instant Messaging

Had not used Facebook or MySpace

OurPrayer.org

Looking for a Group

Prayer Time in the Chat Room

One person leads

One person “ushers”

All who are present can contribute

We close with the Lord’s Prayer

Fellowship Time

Both before and after our prayer time, we have some fellowship time as each person’s schedule permits

My Reactions

I joined as a “stranger,” but technology has connected me with others.

Provides opportunities for isolated individuals to experience community.

Scot Headley: The Quaker Meeting in Second Life

Lessons Learned

• Focused attention in a multi-tasking world

• Respect for all persons

• Consensus decision making with regard for group discernment, not compromise

• Constancy, consistency and commitments

• The virtual world is populated by real people with needs, hopes, concerns and purposes.

Finally…

Encouragement and accountability online

Learning new technologies

Philosophical and practical aspects of online practice.