Course Design

Additional Info:
The purpose of this practical guide is to facilitate college students' academic success by fostering self-regulated learning skills or learning to learn through the use of Integrative Learning Technologies (ILT). It enables the college instructor, online instructor, instructional developer, or educator to envision, plan for, and implement customized instructional and curricular designs that foster learning to learn and motivate students to take ownership of their own learning. Specifically, this book demonstrates how college faculty who use Learning Management Systems (LMS) as well as emerging technologies such as Web 2.0 applications and social software can design learning tasks and course assignments that support and promote student: goal setting use of effective task strategies self-monitoring and self-evaluation time management help seeking motivation and affect Given the emphasis on retention of freshmen as a measure of institutional effectiveness, the focus on student success, and the increasing use of ILT in higher education, this book fulfills a dire need in the literature on the integration of technology and self-regulated learning. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Preface

ch. 1 Introduction to Learning How to Learn
ch. 2 Defining Integrative Learning Technologies
ch. 3 Self-Regulatory Training with Integrative Learning Technologies: A Theory-Based Model
ch. 4 Goal Setting
ch. 5 Task Strategies
ch. 6 Self-Monitoring and Self-Evaluation
ch. 7 Time Management
ch. 8 Help Seeking
ch. 9 Motivation, Affect, and Learning Communities
ch. 10 New Approaches to Integrative Learning Technologies

Additional Info:
Journal Issue.

Table Of Content:
Editor's Note
Foreword

Articles
Ch. 1 Identification Questions
Ch. 2 Critical Representations
Ch. 3 On Teaching Religion: A Symposium
Ch. 4 The Voice of Theology: Rethinking the Personal and the Objective in Christian Pedagogy
Ch. 5 Three-Ring Circus at a Combustible Crossroads: Teaching Religion as Core Curriculum
Ch. 6 Moments of Transformation: The Process of Teaching and Learning
Ch. 7 "Stumbling Along between the Immensities": Reflections on Teaching in the Study of Religion
Ch. 8 Postscript

Responses and Rejoinders
Ch. 9 Ethics, Biblical and Denominational: A Response to Mark Smith
Ch. 10 Pederasty and Romans 1:27: A Response to Mark Smith
Ch. 11 Paul and Ancient Bisexuality: A Rejoinder

Book Reviews
Abe, Masao, Buddhism and Interfaith Dialogue
Boccaccini, Gabriele, Middle Judaism: Jewish Thought, 300 B.C.E. to 200 C.E.
Bounds, Elizabeth M., Coming Together, Coming Apart: Religion, Community and Modernity
Bynum, Caroline Walker, The Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, 200-1336
Campbell, June, Traveller in Space: In Search of Female Identity in Tibetan Buddhism
Dawson, Lorne L. ed. Cults in Context: Readings in the Study of New Religious Movements
Deutsch, Nathaniel, The Gnostic Imagination: Gnosticism, Mandaeism, and Merkabah Mysticism
Gardell, Mattias, In the Name of Elijah Muhammad: Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam
Goodblatt, David, The Monarchic Principle: Studies in Jewish Self-Government in Antiquity
Ingraffia, Brian, Postmodern Theory and Biblical Theology: Vanquishing God's Shadow
Katz, Jonathan G., Dreams, Sufism and Sainthood: The Visionary Career of Muhammad al-Zawawi
Keenan, John P., The Gospel of Mark: A Mahayana Reading
Kuschel, Karl-Josef, Abraham: A Sign of Hope for Jews, Christians and Muslims
Lindley, Susan Hill, You Have Stept Out of Your Place: A History of Women and Religion in America
Lucas, Phillip Charles, The Odyssey of a New Religion: The Holy of MANS from New Age to Orthodoxy
Mugambi, J.N.K., From Liberation to Reconstruction: African Christian Theology after the Cold War
Parkhill, Thomas, The Forrest Setting in Hindu Epics: Princes, Sages, Demons
Peterson, Richard T., Democratic Philosophy and the Politics of Knowledge
Russell, L. M., and J. S Clarkson, eds., Dictionary of Feminist Theologies
Schuon, Frithijof, The Transfiguration of Man
Villa-Vicencio, Charles, The Spirit of Freedom: South African Leaders on Religion and Politics

Books Received
Index To Volume

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Teaching and learning at a distance is an area of education that is growing rapidly alongside the technology that makes it possible. But success in this area requires more than advanced technology; it requires skillful instructors, well-designed courses, and students ready to learn from the format. This issue of New Directions for Teaching and Learning provides insights from experienced practitioners into what is needed to make teaching and learning at a distance successful for everyone involved. This is the 71st issue of the quarterly journal New Directions for Teaching and Learning. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Part One: Issues and Trends
ch. 1. Issues and TrAnds to Take Us into the Twenty-First Century (George P. Connick).

Part Two: Instructional Design Principles for Distance Learning.
ch. 2. Competence in Teaching at a Distance (Thomas E. Cyrs).
ch. 3. Interactivity: From Agents to Outcomes (Ellen D. Wagner).
ch. 4. Visual Thinking: Let Them See What You Are Saying (Thomas E. Cyrs)
ch. 5. Student-Centered Instruction for the Design of Telecourses (M. Winston Egan, Gordon S. Gibb).
ch. 6. Learner Development: Beyond the Technology (Darcy Walsh Hardy, Mary H. Boaz).

Part Three: Alternative Delivery Systems for Distance Learning.
ch. 7. Teaching by Television (Virginia A. OstAndorf).
ch. 8. Teaching by Telephone (Christine H. Olgren).
ch. 9. The Internet: A Learning Environment (Rory McGreal).
ch. 10. Networked Learning Environments (Alan G. Chute, Pamela K. Sayers, Richard P. Gardner).

Part Four: Administrative Issues for the Distance Instructor.
ch. 11. Evaluating Teaching and Learning at a Distance (Michael R. Simonson).
ch. 12. Copyright: Opportunities and Restrictions for the Teleinstructor (Janis H. Bruwelheide).
ch. 13. Distance Learning and the Digital Library: Transforming the Library into an Information Center (Roberta L. Derlin, Edward Erazo).
ch. 14. Managing Information Resources and Services in a Distance Environment (Robert S. Tolsma)

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Our goal in writing this book was to validate teachers for strong efforts in their life's work. We often observe teachers' frustrations with what they perceive to be a multitude of different hot topics in education that they must attend to now, but which they expect to come and go, like the last hot topics. So, we wanted to help readers see similarities between many of these hot topics-differentiation, multiple intelligences, culturally responsive teaching, brain-friendly strategies, authentic assessment, and ethical classroom management which we feel are not flashes in the pan. And we trust that serious practitioners will not oversimplify the findings of neuroscientists and their application to education. Reading studies and books by scientists, a number of which are user-friendly, can help ensure that teachers separate the hype from credible information. We have seen this professionally judicious approach in the work of graduate students (Kolinski, 2007) in adopting brain-friendly strategies.

We have intentionally packed both theoretical/research-based and practical information in this book because professional educators want to know why they should use certain approaches, models, and strategies. In turn, as professionals, we should be able to explain why we teach the way we do-not to justify, but to educate others about our knowledge-based, reflective, decision-making processes and the impact on student learning. Thus, it is important to read Chapter 1 because it lays a foundation.

Each succeeding chapter (2-6) has unique and compelling twists and turns-chock full of ideas to use or to adapt. It is possible to gain lots of ideas, processes, and strategies from reading and implementing (or adapting) even one of the unit chapters, or a part of it. While some of the units are explicitly about literacy, others focus on content using reading, writing, speaking, and listening as critical in the learning process. Thus, literacy skills are reinforced and strengthened. Additionally, some of our colleagues and public school partners have given us feedback that they wanted to implement some of the units and activities themselves. So, feel free to use this book for self-exploration and professional development. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Preface

ch. 1 A Case for Differentiation and Much More
ch. 2 The Fabric of My Life: Using Poetry, Prose, and Graphic Novels to Help Students Reflect Upon Their Identities
ch. 3 Choices That Change Our Lives: Using Realistic Fiction and Nonfiction to Help Students Reflect on Difficult Decisions
ch. 4 Community and Culture: Understanding Ourselves and Others in the Global Community
ch. 5 A Journey from Innocence to Experience: A Course in Young Adult Literature for Future Teachers
ch. 6 Convince Me: A Syllabus for a Freshman Composition Course Focused on Writing Arguments

About the Authors
Index

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Comprehensive annotated guide to internet resources on religion and theology; helpful for research, class-use, student research, and e-texts.

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Essentials for Blended Learning: A Standards-Based Guide provides a practical, streamlined approach for creating effective learning experiences by blending online activities and the best of face-to-face teaching.

This guide is:

Easy to use: Clear, jargon-free writing; illustrations; and references to online resources help readers understand concepts.

Streamlined: A simple but effective design process focuses on creating manageable activities for the right environment.

Practical: Real-world examples from different subject areas help teachers understand principles in context.

Contemporary: The variety of modern, connected technologies covered in the guide addresses a range of teaching challenges.

Forward-Looking: The approach bridges the gap between formal classroom learning and informal lifelong learning.

Standards-based: Guidelines and standards are based on current research in the field, relevant learning theories, and practitioner experiences.

Effective blended learning requires significant rethinking of teaching practices and a fundamental redesign of course structure. Essentials for Blended Learning: A Standards-Based Guide simplifies these difficult challenges without neglecting important opportunities to transform teaching. This guide is suitable for teachers in any content area. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Introduction

ch. 1 Orientation to Blended Teaching and Learning
ch. 2 Elements of Blended Courses: A Tour
ch. 3 Engaging Learners in a Blended Course
ch. 4 Designing Blended Courses
ch. 5 Planning Your Course from Goals and Outcomes
ch. 6 Blending Assessment and Feedback for Learning
ch. 7 Blending Content-Driven Learning Activities
ch. 8 Blending Community-Driven Learning Activities

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Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process is a multi-step, group system for giving and receiving useful feedback on creative processes and artistic work-in-progress. Originated in the early 1990's by choreographer and MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellow Liz Lerman, the Process has been widely embraced by artists, educators, and administrators. It has been applied in such diverse contexts as choreography classes, post-performance discussions, actor/playwright collaborations, curatorial decision-making, and university level curriculum assessment. In addition to reflection on the work at hand, the Critical Response Process affords artists a voice and a degree of control within the critique of their work promoting dialogue with audiences, fellow artists, students, mentors, and other colleagues.

This book, Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process, offers a detailed introduction to the Process, beginning with its three roles and four core steps. With particular emphasis on the role of the facilitator, this illustrated publication offers guidance on how artists and participants can get the most out of the Process and the opportunities it offers to ask question, give answers, and voice opinions. A final chapter discusses adaptations and variations. Charts and annotated sample dialogues demonstrate the inner workings of the Process. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Introduction by Liz Lerman

ch. 1 The Process
ch. 2 The Roles
ch. 3 The Steps
ch. 4 Facilitation Fundamentals
ch. 5 Deepening the Dialogue
ch. 6 Variations
ch. 7 Conclusion
ch. 8 Sample Dialogues
ch. 9 Acknowledgements

Charts
ch. 10 Forming Neutral Questions
ch. 11 The Three Roles
ch. 12 Steps & Sequence

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Games help people develop a disposition toward collaboration, problem-solving, communication, experimentation, and exploration of identities, all attributes that promote success in a rapidly-changing, information-based culture

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This essay seeks to illumine the teaching and learning of the practice of forgiveness by relating a range of theoretical perspectives (theological, psychological, and socio-cultural) to the process of cultivating the practical wisdom needed for forgiveness. We discuss how a Trinitarian "epistemology of the cross" might lead one to a new way of perceiving life's constraints and possibilities and relate this theological epistemology to three psychological approaches for understanding forgiveness – a narrative approach, object-relations theory, and consciousness development theory. Our discussion of these theoretical perspectives is explicitly related to the practice of teaching and learning forgiveness, outlining learning activities we have used in a course we taught (which ranged from case studies and film to lectures and discussions based on close readings of biblical and theological texts) and reporting highlights in our students' work.

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This book is a guide for the development and implementation of problem-based learning (PBL) in college-level courses. It provides practical advice from real professors, includes examples of PBL in action through every stage from problem development to implementation, and integrates cross-disciplinary experiences into the practice of PBL in the college classroom.
Its nuts-and-bolts approach makes it valuable to faculty, graduate teaching assistants, and faculty development professionals interested in learning how to do PBL, as well as to those already using PBL who would like to learn more about what other practitioners do in their classrooms.
Readers will learn what really is and isn’t PBL and why some choose to use it, what is its effect on the learning landscape, and how to overcome tricky issues such as class size, student resistance, controlling classroom chaos, conservative colleagues, assessment, and student evaluations. Extensive examples and resources for further study are included, making it a concise, yet comprehensive guide to launching a successful problem-based learning course on your own. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
About the Authors
Foreword
Preface
Why (We) Use PBL
Why We Switched
What Is PBL?
Issues
Changing the Landscape
Changing Ourselves
Changing Our Courses
Changing Our Students
No Problems? No Problem
The Basics
Sources for Problems
Designing a Successful Problem
Controlling Chaos in PBL: The Messy Middle
Conducting Class
Our Role
Student Contribution
What Now? Evaluation, Revision, and Reflection
The Students
What Worked-and What Didn't
The Sustainability of PBL
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index

Additional Info:
A user-friendly and practical tool to assist faculty in planning and implementing online courses. Based on the principles of teaching and learning proposed by Chickering & Gamson (1987): Student-Faculty Contact, Cooperation Among Students, Active Learning, Prompt Feedback, Time on Task, High Expectations, and Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning. 

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How can instructors ensure that students come to class with course assignments prepared and readings completed?

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In designing assessments or assignments for a course, instructors often think of exams or term papers, but there are many other types of assessments that may be appropriate for your course.

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When considering how to assess student learning in a course, most instructors would agree that the ideal assessment would be one that not only assesses students’ learning; it also teaches students and improves their skills and understanding of course content.

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From Indiana University: Learning outcomes are user-friendly statements that tell students what they will be able to do at the end of a period of time. They are measurable and quite often observable. Includes: Writing Effective Learning Outcomes; Sample Learning Outcomes; Using Learning Outcomes within Your Class; References

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A comparison of traditional ("forced-choice") assessment and authentic (performance-based) assessment. "Teaching to the test" ceases to be a problem when the test involves the performance of meaningful tasks that provide evidence of the understandings desired.

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Developing Learner-Centered Teaching offers a step-by-step plan for transforming any course from teacher-centered to the more engaging learner-centered model. Filled with self-assessments and worksheets that are based on each of the five practices identified in Maryellen WeimerÕs Learner-Centered Teaching, this groundbreaking book gives instructors, faculty developers, and instructional designers a practical and effective resource for putting the learner-centered model into action. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
List of Tables, Exhibits, and Boxes
Foreword Maryellen Weimer

Part I Transforming Teaching to Be More Learner-Centered
ch. 1 Introduction
ch. 2 Understanding the Rubrics
ch. 3 Tools for Facilitating Change and Assessment

Part II The Five Dimensions of Learner-Centered Teaching
ch. 4 The Function of Content
ch. 5 The Role of the Instructor
ch. 6 The Responsibility for Learning
ch. 7 The Purposes and Processes of Assessment
ch. 8 The Balance of Power

Part III Discussion and Conclusion
ch. 9 Can All Courses Be Learner-Centered?
ch. 10 Strategies for Overcoming Obstacles and Resistance
ch. 11 Conclusion

References

Appendix A Glossary of Terms
Appendix B Rubrics, Planning for Transformation Exercise, and Documentation to Support the Selected Status Form
Appendix C Development of the Rubrics

Index

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Designing and Assessing Courses and Curricula reflects the best current knowledge and practice in course and curriculum design and connects this knowledge with the critical task of assessing and learning outcomes at both course and curricular levels. Tested and refined through long-term use and study, the change model presented in this book shows how to move from concept to actualization, from theory to practice. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Preface
The Author

ch. 1 A Learning-Centered Approach to Course and Curriculum Design
ch. 2 Systematic Design: Model and Benefits
ch. 3 Making the Decision to Go Ahead
ch. 4 Getting Started
ch. 5 Linking Goals, Courses, and Curricula
ch. 6 Gathering and Analyzing Essential Data
ch. 7 Developing a Design for an Ideal Course or Curriculum
ch. 8 Adjusting from the Ideal to the Possible
ch. 9 Clarifying Instructional Goals and Objectives
ch. 10 Designing Assessment Instruments and Procedures
ch. 11 Designing the Learning Experience
ch. 12 Selecting and Using Technology
ch. 13 Developing a Learning-Centered Syllabus
ch. 14 Cultivating a Respect for Diversity
ch. 15 Implementing, Evaluating, and Refining the Course or Curriculum
ch. 16 Learning from Experience

Resource A Questions for Evaluating a College Course
Resource B Case Studies in Developing Learning Outcomes
Resource C Mathematics Prerequisites and Student Success in Introductory Courses: Final Report
Resource D Sample Alumni Survey for Evaluating Program Effectiveness and Needs
Resource E Additional Case Studies in Course Design
Resource F Developing an Institutional Assessment Culture at Truman State University
Resource G Qualities of the Liberally Educated Person: A Description of Important Competencies
Resource H Sample Copyright Agreement
Resource I Teaching Goals Inventory: Self-Scorable Version

References
Name Index
Subject Index

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Reflective and meditative practices, whether Eastern or Western, are being taught in multiple places – retreat houses, hospitals, Zen centers – but are rarely included in the theology classroom. What would be the rationale for inclusion of reflective/meditative practices in a theology curriculum that does not include such a theory/praxis course? What might a mystical tradition/reflective practice course look like? The author first explores the implications of a three-semester pilot program – using guided imagery, spiritual journaling, iconography, and centering prayer – that was conducted with volunteers outside the classroom. Then, based on the experimental project, the author describes a course that blends global traditions with the best of the practices. The author concludes with an evaluation of the reflective/meditative practices and the praxis-inclusive course in terms of possible long-term effects on the personal development of the participants and the ministry of teaching and learning itself.

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On Teaching and Learning takes the ideas explored in renowned educator Jane Vella’s best-selling book Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach to the next level and explores how dialogue education has been applied in educational settings around the world. Throughout the book, she shows how to put the principles and practices of dialogue education into action and uses illustrative stories and examples from her extensive travels. Dialogue education values inquiry, integrity, and commitment to equity—values that are also central to democracy. Learners are treated as beings worthy of respect, recognized for the knowledge and experience they bring to the learning experience. Dialogue education emphasizes the importance of safety and belonging. It is an approach that welcomes one’s certainties and one’s questions. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
The Author
Introduction

Part One: Structured
ch. 1 Why Structure?
ch. 2 Learning Needs and Resources Assessment
ch. 3 The Seven Design Steps

Part Two: Social
ch. 4 The Learning Task in a Small Group
ch. 5 Individual Learning Enhanced

Part Three: Sound
ch. 6 Principles and Practices: Current State of the Art
ch. 7 Open Questions Invite Dialogue
ch. 8 The Designer’s Skill: Trust Your Design

Part Four: Sure
ch. 9 Indicators of Learning, Transfer, and Impact
ch. 10 Impact and the Seven Design Steps

Part Five: Synthesis: Putting It All Together
ch. 11 Putting It All Together: Examples of Dialogue Education Designs
ch. 12 An On-Line Course Using Dialogue Education
ch. 13 Dialogue Education in School Leadership
ch. 14 Dialogue Education in Health Care Settings
ch. 15 Dialogue Education in a College Classroom

Appendix A: Glossary of Terms Used in Dialogue Education
Appendix B: Tough Verbs for Learning Tasks

References
Index

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A short article in which a teacher-scholar defines what she means by “active and meaningful learning,” discusses unstructured cooperative learning and critical thinking, and reflects on experience in using these concepts in the courses she teaches and the textbooks she writes. Idea Paper no. 34, from the series developed by the Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development, Kansas State University.

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In response to our increasingly global and multicultural world, undergraduate degree plans have come to include courses, which meet the Diversity requirement. While diversity may have a variety of definitions, clearly the educational institution believes that all students earning a degree should complete course work that exposes them to cultures not their own. Courses that fulfill Diversity requirements often include "Introduction to World Religions," among others. Even a traditional-style teaching of such a course will accomplish a certain degree of broadening of students' perspectives. The risk, however, is that at the end of the course the students are simply better informed about sets of people whom they would still objectify as the other. This article describes an experiential method of teaching which enables students to begin to change their consciousness, as well as their body of information, by learning to experience the other as self. The author calls this the identification/participation method.

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By “Decoding” what an expert does so that he or she does not get stuck at the bottleneck, we can spell out crucial operations, the “critical thinking” of a discipline.

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This article presents findings from an empirical study exploring student and teacher perspectives on positive learning experiences in practical theological education. Forty-five students and twenty teachers were interviewed in focus groups in four educational institutions delivering programs in practical theology. The findings indicated that students valued practical theological education when it enabled them to think critically in relation to their personal or professional experience, and that students valued tutors, their peers and a flexible curriculum design in promoting this kind of learning. There was a high correlation between students' views of positive learning experiences and what tutors perceived as important qualities that they hoped their students would develop. Difficulties associated with the students' lack of clarity about the learning process and the tensions between academic and professional contexts are also discussed.

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In this essay I reflect on my experience thus far of teaching Islam as a non-Muslim at Metropolitan State University and at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. I begin by narrating a conversation about conversion that I had with one of my Muslim students. Then I introduce the theme of multiplicity as a way of being, teaching, and learning. The third section illustrates the theme of multiplicity pedagogically with reference to institutional identity, choice of textbooks, topical organization of the course, the "mosque visit" assignment, and class composition and student roles in the classroom. I conclude in the fourth section with personal reflections on multiplicity in relation to credibility and identity, politics and transformation. The essay was inspired by my realization that I embody multiple religious identities, and that one of my purposes is to build community inside and outside the classroom in an effort not only to transcend the tendency of our culture to adopt an essentialist view of Islam as suspect and alien, but also to recover Islam as a universal religion and to consider its agenda for world transformation alongside those of other religions.

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Journal Issue. (This issue, and all "Spotlight on Teaching" issues prior to 1999, are not available on the AAR website.)

Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Religion and Film: Capturing the Imagination (Gordon Matties)
ch. 2 Apocalyptic Visions: Beyond Corporeality (Ann Pearson)
ch. 3 Seduction by Visual Image (Barbara DeConcici)
ch. 4 Teaching Film and Religion (Paul V. Flesher, and Robert Torry)
ch. 5 Teaching Field of Cosmogonic Myth (Mara E. Donaldson)
ch. 6 A Picture's Worth: Teaching Religion and Film (Irena S. M. Makarushka)
ch. 7 Religion and Popular Movies (Conrad Ostwalt)

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In the past decade, critical scholars such as Ronald Grimes and Talal Asad stated that there is a need to recognize the cultural and spiritual dimensions of religion, especially in an age of pluralism. While they call for an increased knowledge and application of techniques from anthropology, ethnology, and performance studies, what actually happens when one teaches from this perspective? As a religious scholar with training in dance anthropology, I created a class on World Religions that was based on these principles. Taught at interfaith and ecumenical seminaries, as well as a California university, the results were interesting, varied, and insightful. This paper discusses the problems, questions, and positive results of these classes, offering a base model for teaching religion in a multicultural, pluralistic age.

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When it came time to reevaluate and restructure the introductory year in Christian history and theology, I decided to use a roundtable of student consultants to help me in that work. Our research and reflection focused on the impact of postmodern thinking and learning, feedback from pastors in ministry, a desire to bring appropriate praxis into academically focused courses, and a hope to make greater use of technology. This article discusses the consultative process and sketches out key learnings from student research. Concluding reflections focus on technology, a topical, praxis-oriented approach to teaching, the process of utilizing student advisors, and personal, internal changes that resulted from the project.

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There has been a lot of buzz in higher education lately about the flipped classroom model for teaching and learning. It's not as easy as it appears, and it's not as new as others would have us believe.

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Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: In recent years there has been a renewed interest in textbooks, partly because they have maintained their position as an important genre. Not too many years ago – and perhaps currently as well – many considered textbooks outdated or archaic compared with technological advances such as the Internet and different kinds of educational software. Despite these changes, textbooks for school subjects and for academic studies continue to be in demand. Textbooks seem to constitute a genre in which established truths are conveyed, and may thus represent stable forces in a world of flux and rapid changes. Textbook Gods offers perspectives on representations of religion and religions in textbooks. The contributions emerge from different contexts, ranging from European countries, to North America, Japan and Australia. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Introduction: Theoretical Perspectives on Textbooks/Textbooks in Religious Studies Research (Bengt-Ove Andreassen)

ch. 1 Closed and Open Concepts of Religion: The Problem of Essentialism in Teaching about Relilgion (Torsten Hylén)
ch. 2 Establishing Religion through Textbooks: Religions in Japan's "Ethics" Program (Satoko Fujiwara)
ch. 3 Bad Religions and Good Religions: The Representation of Religion and Religious Traditions in a New Swiss Textbook (Katharina Frank)
ch. 4 To Learn about the Other and Get to Know Him: Judaism and the Jewish Community of Quebec as represented in Ethics and Religious Culture Textbooks (Sivane Hirsch and Marie Mc Andrew)
ch. 5 Researching Materials Used to Teach about World Religions in Schools in England (Barbara Wintersgill)
ch. 6 Representations of Indigenous Australian Religions in New South Wales (NSW) Higher School Certificate Studies of Religion Textbooks (Carole M. Cusack)
ch. 7 Visual Engagement: Textbooks and the Materiality of Religion (Mary Hayward)
ch. 8 Cartographic Representations of Religion(s) in Norwegian Textbooks (Suzanne Anett Thobro)
ch. 9 A Reservoir of Symbols: On the Conceptualization of "Religion" in Introductory Books for RE in Teacher Education in Norway (Bengt-Ove Andreasen)
ch. 10 Stones and Bones: Indigenous African Religions and the "Evolution" of World Religions (James R. Lewis)
ch. 11 "Christianity" for "the Christianity" - That is the Question (Annika Hvithamar)
ch. 12 School Bible in the Service of the Danish National Church - A Case Study (Jens-André P. Herbener)
Index

Additional Info:
Like religious studies, Jewish studies is an academic exploration of literature, ritual, history, philosophy, and experience across disciplinary boundaries. As with all area studies, Jewish studies balances itself – often precariously – as a bridge across that range of methodological options. The breadth of theories employed by each has complicated the teaching of an upper level seminar in Jewish studies. Conceived as a cross between a parade of scholars course and a senior capstone experience, the class employed the broad thematic principle of "identity." In doing so, it exposed the biases of the students, the subject, and the instructor.

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Teaching bioethics might be likened to a rollercoaster ride of twists, turns, and dips that invite teachers and students to experience something of their own edges of fear and comfort. Here the author provides readers with a glimpse into her distinctive approach to teaching bioethics that encourages students to move beyond boundaries of personal comfort zones by willfully transgressing traditional or comfortable boundaries. The essay describes how this is accomplished through a variety of methods – provocative readings, classroom discussion, student response papers, and student ethics committees. The author contends that teaching bioethics ought to include critical pedagogical methods and an alertness for real-life intersections of science and ethics. Teaching bioethics can be a subversive activity that encourages students and teachers to engage in making life morally livable.

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Table Of Content:
Acknowledgments
Introduction

ch. 1 How the Invention of the University-College Led to a Century of Dilemmas and a Tradition of Reform at Stanford
ch. 2 How Universities Tame Reform to Preserve the Research Imperative: Or Why There Is Change Without Reform
ch. 3 Scholar-Teachers in the Stanford History Department, 1891-1990
ch. 4 A Sturdy Way of Preparing Physicians: The School of Medicine, 1908-1990
ch. 5 How Research Trumped Teaching in History and Medicine
ch. 6 Scholars or Teachers: How Much Change is Possible?

Notes
References
Index
About the Author

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Biblical texts have been handed on to us through a long history of interpretation. Awareness of this rich but complex process is one of the goals of biblical teaching. Since the earliest centuries of the church there has been a parallel history of artistic interaction with the biblical text. These artistic treatments of biblical subjects have had a great cultural impact and have deeply influenced public perceptions and understandings of the Bible. Unfortunately, seldom does this history of artistic interpretation become a part of Bible courses. In this paper, I reflect on learnings from a serious effort to take artistic resources and methodologies into account in teaching Hebrew Bible in a theological school. My most successful efforts have employed the ancient Jewish interpretive method of midrash. Use of midrash opens new, imaginative possibilities that can enliven and extend our usual exegesis of texts. More specifically, midrash provides the ideal category for understanding artistic interactions with biblical texts. Through midrash students can understand artists to be both profound respecters of the power and integrity of biblical texts, while at the same time extending and entering into imaginative encounter with those texts. This article will appear as a chapter in the forthcoming book Arts, Theology, and the Church: New Intersections.

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Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: Best Practices for Flipping the College Classroom provides a comprehensive overview and systematic assessment of the flipped classroom methodology in higher education. The book:

• Reviews various pedagogical theories that inform flipped classroom practice and provides a brief history from its inception in K–12 to its implementation in higher education.

• Offers well-developed and instructive case studies chronicling the implementation of flipped strategies across a broad spectrum of academic disciplines, physical environments, and student populations.

• Provides insights and suggestions to instructors in higher education for the implementation of flipped strategies in their own courses by offering reflections on learning outcomes and student success in flipped classrooms compared with those employing more traditional models and by describing relevant technologies.

• Discusses observations and analyses of student perceptions of flipping the classroom as well as student practices and behaviors particular to flipped classroom models.

• Illuminates several research models and approaches for use and modification by teacher-scholars interested in building on this research on their own campuses.

The evidence presented on the flipped classroom methodology by its supporters and detractors at all levels has thus far been almost entirely anecdotal or otherwise unreliable. Best Practices for Flipping the College Classroomis the first book to provide faculty members nuanced qualitative and quantitative evidence that both supports and challenges the value of flipping the college classroom. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Acknowledgments

ch. 1 Introduction: Joining the Flipped Classroom Conversation (Erin Saitta, Brett Morrison, Julee B. Waldrop, and Melody A. Bowdon)
ch. 2 Flipping a Large First-Year Chemistry Class: Same-Semester Comparison with a Traditionally Taught Large-Lecture Class (Cherie Yestrebsky)
ch. 3 Flipped Calculus: A Gateway to Lifelong Learning in Mathematics (Robert Talbert)
ch. 4 Flipping the Graduate Course in Nursing: Application to Solve Patients’ Health Problems (Julee B. Waldrop)
ch. 5 Taking Ownership of the Past: Flipping the History Course as a Means of Increasing Student Engagement (Daniel Murphree)
ch. 6 Best Practices for Flipping the College Classroom: Elements of Psychology, an Introductory Psychology Course at the University of Oklahoma (Clarissa Thompson and April Martin)
ch. 7 Flip Don’t Flop: Best Practices for Flipping Marketing Courses (Michael S. Garver)
ch. 8 Don’t Flip Out: Inverting the Intermediate Microeconomics Course (Katherine M. Sauer)
ch. 9 Flipping the Creativity Class: Creating Active-Learning Environments for Student Innovations (Russell Carpenter)
ch. 10 Student Practices and Perceptions in Flipped Courses (Stacey Pigg and Brett Morrison)
ch. 11 Conclusion: Reflecting on the Flipping Experience (Melody A. Bowdon, Lissa Pompos Mansfield, and Julee B. Waldrop)

Contributors
Index

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An online journal publishing original syllabi, assessment instruments, assignments and activities, and articles related to college teaching. "A good syllabus is a piece of original scholarship; a great one is also an art form. A research or theory paper go through peer review process to be recognized and validated; the same process should be available to course materials. This is a small step towards taking college as seriously as we take research."

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"When I read this book it was like starting over as a teacher. I had been convinced of the importance of the flipped classroom, but not until Fink’s approach did I see how the various components of my courses—the goals and outcomes, assignments, learning activities, and evaluation—need to be aligned and integrated in a coherent way. For too long these connections were implicit and students had to figure out how it all made sense.  At the beginning of every semester, I pull Fink off the shelf and do a few of the exercises to make sure my courses are ready to go. I strongly recommend you do the same."
Kathleen Cahalan, St. John's School of Theology and Seminary

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Offering methods for improving teaching practices in higher education, Fink challenges educators to shift from the content-oriented "information dump" approach toward one that is learning-centered. Fink outlines his taxonomy of significant learning and shows how to combine new and traditional techniques to create powerful learning experiences. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Preface
The Author

ch. 1 Creating Significant Learning Experiences
ch. 2 A Taxonomy of Significant Learning
ch. 3 Designing Significant Learning Experiences I: Getting Started
ch. 4 Designing Significant Learning Experiences II: Shaping the Learning Experience
ch. 5 Changing the Way We Teach
ch. 6 Better Organizational Support for Faculty
ch. 7 The Human Significance of Good Teaching and Learning

App. A Planning Your Course: A Decision Guide
App. B: Suggested Readings

References
Index

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Georgia State University associate professor of religious studies, Molly Bassett, writes about a dual-level course she's teaching for a third time this fall titled "Religious Dimensions in Human Experience.” Part 2, is a reflection by one of her former graduate students, Sarah Levine, who took the course the first time Bassett taught it in the fall of 2010.

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This article responds to the exponential growth in academic textbooks on Western or American Buddhism by arguing that popular trade books written by Buddhist teachers in the West make more effective tools for teaching and learning about the growth of Buddhism in western societies. The use of such texts in the classroom provides students with opportunities to exercise critical thinking and permits instructors to avoid conveying misleading interpretations about the practice, thought, and identities of Buddhists in North America and Europe. The pedagogical advantages of using what could be described as primary sources on Western Buddhism include promoting active learning techniques, muting the differences drawn between convert and ethnic Buddhist communities, and encouraging students to become aware of and refrain from Orientalist approaches towards describing and knowing the religious and/or cultural Other. A list of practical suggestions for classroom exercises using trade books written by Buddhist teachers is provided at the end.

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Is it feasible for nonfluent instructors to teach Biblical Hebrew by communicative principles? If it is feasible, will communicative instruction enhance postsecondary learning of a classical language? To begin answering these questions, two consultants representing second language acquisition (SLA) and technology-assisted language learning led 8 Biblical Hebrew instructors and a graduate assistant through a 3-year process involving study of SLA principles, development of Biblical Hebrew classroom manuals, training of teachers, and field-testing of materials with more than 90 students in 7 institutions. More than two-thirds of the students and all instructors found the communicative approach both effective and preferable to grammar-translation and audiolingual methods customarily employed for learning classical languages.

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Most white, middle-class citizens see society from a monocultural perspective, a perspective that assumes, often unconsciously, that persons of all races are in the same cultural system together. This single-system form of seeing the world, is blind to its own cultural specificity. People who see persons of other races monoculturally cannot imagine the reality that those "others" think of themselves not in relation to the majority race but in terms of their own culturally specific identities. This paper presents an "interactive phase theory" with regard to race that is intended to reassess school curricula in terms of heightened levels of consciousness concerning race. In the context of U.S. history courses, five phases are presented: phase one: all-white history; phase two: exceptional minority individuals in U.S. history; phase three: minority issues, or minority groups as problems, anomalies, absences, or victims in U.S. history; phase four: the lives and cultures of people of color everywhere as history; and phase five: history redefined and reconstructed to include all people. (DB)

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This paper explores the use of Peter Berger's theory of religion and its features of alienation and dealienation to lead students to the critical awareness of the role that human beings play in the construction of social worlds, including most especially our religious worlds. After summarizing Berger's theory of the alienating and potentially dealienating capacity of religion, the paper describes how the author used the study of certain biblical texts, the Wisdom of Solomon and the pericope of the controversy over clean and unclean foods, as presented in both Matthew and Mark, to explore both the alienating and dealienating aspects of religion as presented in these selected biblical texts. The paper also describes how the author encouraged students to embrace as the most responsible stance a dealienating stance toward religion, especially one's own.

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This paper explores the use of the educational pilgrimage as an active learning strategy in the introductory world religions course. As we study pilgrimages from different religious traditions throughout the semester using Victor Turner as our theoretical guide, students also plan their own campus pilgrimage, paying homage to sites that help them reach their educational goals. Using student comments and my own observations, I highlight the ways in which the educational pilgrimage both affirms and raises critical questions about Turner's theory of pilgrimage. In this way, the educational pilgrimage is an opportunity for students to enhance and clarify their understanding of theory through practice.

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Includes syllabi from a variety of college and university courses, across all disciplines, that have a strong flavor of “civic agency,” the capacity to work across differences to solve public problems, create lasting civic goods, and shape the world around us in democratic ways. The project emphasizes courses that speak to citizens as citizens, concerned about co-creating their communities of different scale.

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Podcast. A robust and substantive podcast by the folks at Idea – “a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving student learning in higher education through analytics, resources, and advice” (famous for their Idea Papers.

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This essay discusses the process and findings of an experiment on the scholarship of teaching and learning conducted in a religious ethics classroom that utilized an experiential approach to teaching and learning about social justice. The first part lays out the focus of the investigation and the pedagogical principles drawn from experiential learning theory that provided the foundation for the experiment. The second part describes all of the components of the pedagogical strategy used in the experiment, the social justice action project. The third part discusses the qualitative methodology used to gather evidence and the findings drawn from that evidence. What the evidence shows is that an experiential approach to teaching and learning about social justice can be quite effective. The essay concludes with discussions of areas for further study and the implications for the practice of others.

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This paper will discuss some pedagogical principles and practices that can be employed in a particular type of distance learning that I refer to as asynchronous learning networks (ALNs). ALNs are courses offered exclusively on-line via the internet or a remote server in an asynchronous mode that involves no face-to-face interaction and no conventional classroom sessions. The pedagogical techniques described below were developed while participating in a Sloan Foundation supported distance learning project at the State University of New York at New Paltz (under the auspices of the SUNY Learning Network) and teaching a ALN sociology course titled "Social and Economic Development". Many of the ideas and strategies presented stem from conversations with, and the advice and comments of, teaching colleagues in the SUNY Learning Network and instructional developers at the Center for Learning and Technology at Empire State College.

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The undergraduate study of religion is predominantly undertaken by non-majors who are meeting a general education requirement. This means that, while curricular discussions make important distinctions between the work of lower- and upper-division courses, many religion and theology faculty are teaching hybrid courses that we call “introductory upper-level courses.” These play an introductory role in general education while also serving the study of religion in a more advanced way. Attention to how these courses fit into multiple curricular goals will be important for the scholarship of teaching and learning in religious studies and theology. This essay draws on scholarship about introductory teaching and a survey of faculty about introductory upper-level courses to argue that the content of such courses should be understood as serving the study of religion at an advanced level, the context should be understood as introducing general education goals, and the goals for intellectual growth must strike a challenging balance between the two.

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Click Here for Book Review
Buddhist studies is a rapidly changing field of research, constantly transforming and adapting to new scholarship. This creates a problem for instructors, both in a university setting and in monastic schools, as they try to develop a curriculum based on a body of scholarship that continually shifts in focus and expands to new areas.

Teaching Buddhism establishes a dialogue between the community of instructors of Buddhism and leading scholars in the field who are updating, revising, and correcting earlier understandings of Buddhist traditions. Each chapter presents new ideas within a particular theme of Buddhist studies and explores how courses can be enhanced with these insights. Contributors in the first section focus on the typical approaches, figures, and traditions in undergraduate courses, such as the role of philosophy in Buddhism, Nagarjuna, Yogacara Buddhism, tantric traditions, and Zen Buddhism. They describe the impact of recent developments-like new studies in the cognitive sciences-on scholarship in those areas. Part Two examines how political engagement and ritual practice have shaped the tradition throughout its history. Focus then shifts to the issues facing instructors of Buddhism-dilemmas for the scholar-practitioner in the academic and monastic classroom, the tradition's possible roles in teaching feminism and diversity, and how to present the tradition in the context of a world religions course. In the final section, contributors offer stories of their own experiences teaching, paying particular attention to the ways in which American culture has impacted them. They discuss the development of courses on American Buddhism; using course material on the family and children; the history and trajectory of a Buddhist-Christian dialog; and Buddhist bioethics, environmentalism, economic development, and social justice. In synthesizing this vast and varied body of research, the contributors in this volume have provided an invaluable service to the field (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Part 1: Updating Perennial Course Subjects
1) Teaching Buddhism as Philosophy - Mark Siderits
2) Teaching Nagarjuna - Roger R. Jackson
3) Teaching Yogacara Buddhism Using Cognitive Science - William S. Waldron
4) Teaching Tantric Buddhism in an Undergraduate Classroom Context - David B. Gray
5) Rethinking the Teaching of Zen Buddhism - Steven Heine
Part 2: Reimagining the Content of "Buddhism"
6) In Defense of the Dharma: Buddhists and Politics - Thomas Borchert and Ian Harris
7) Conveying Buddhist Tradition through its Rituals - Todd Lewis
Part 3: Issues in Teaching, Practice, and Connecting Students with the Tradition
8) Teaching Buddhism in the Western Academy - Jan Willis
9) Teaching Buddhist History to Buddhist Practitioners - Rita M. Gross
10) Deconstructing Identity Categories and Cultivating Appreciation for Diversity: Teaching Buddhism and Feminism - Hsiao-Lan Hu
11) Teaching Buddhism in the World Religions Course - Challenges and Promise - Gary DeAngelis
Part 4: Buddhism and the American Context
12) When The Iron Bird Flies: Seeking Western Buddhism in the Classroom - Charles Prebish
13) Conveying Buddhism in the Classroom: Working with Assumptions on Family and Children - Vanessa R. Sasson
14) Teaching Engaged Buddhism in Uncertain Times - Christopher Queen
Part 5: Buddhism in New Academic Fields
15) History of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue - Paul O. Ingram
16) Teaching Buddhist Bioethics - Damien Keown
17) Buddhist Environmentalism - Leslie E. Sponsel and Poranee Natadecha-Sponsel
18) Buddhism and Economic Development - Laszlo Zsolnai
19) "We Can Do No Less:" Buddhism and Social Justice - Anna Brown

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This book is based on the argument that detailed and developmental formative feedback is the single most useful thing teachers can do for students. It helps to clarify the expectations of higher education and assist all students to achieve their potential.

This book promotes student learning through formative assessment and feedback, which:

* enables self-assessment and reflection in learning
* encourages teacher-student dialogue
* helps clarify what is good performance
* provides students with quality information to help improve their learning
* encourages motivation and self-confidence in students
* aids the teacher in shaping teaching

Underpinned by the relevant theory, the practical advice and examples in this book directly address the issues of how to motivate students to engage in formative assessment effectively and shows teachers how they can provide further useful formative feedback. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Introduction
ch. 2 Student Learning Environment
ch. 3 Principles of Formative Assessment and Feedback
ch. 4 Using Formative Assessment and Formative Feedback in Learning and Teaching
ch. 5 Formative Feedback and Reflective Learning
ch. 6 Types of Formative Assessment and Feedback
ch. 7 Making Use of ICTs for Formative Feedback
ch. 8 Benefits of Formative Feedback for Academic Staff
ch. 9 Conclusions

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In a culture increasingly focused on visual media, students have learned not only to embrace multimedia presentations in the classroom, but to expect them. Such expectations are perhaps more prevalent in a field as dynamic and cross-disciplinary as religious studies, but the practice nevertheless poses some difficult educational issues — the use of movies in academic coursework has far outpaced the scholarship on teaching religion and film. What does it mean to utilize film in religious studies, and what are the best ways to do it?
In Teaching Religion and Film, an interdisciplinary team of scholars thinks about the theoretical and pedagogical concerns involved with the intersection of film and religion in the classroom. They examine the use of film to teach specific religious traditions, religious theories, and perspectives on fundamental human values. Some instructors already teach some version of a film-and-religion course, and many have integrated film as an ancillary to achieving central course goals. This collection of essays helps them understand the field better and draws the sharp distinction between merely "watching movies" in the classroom and comprehending film in an informed and critical way. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Introduction Teaching Religion and Film Gregory J. Watkins

Part I Establishing Shot: Viewing the Field of Religion and Film
ch. 1 What Are We Teaching When We Teach "Religion and Film"? (William L. Blizek and Michele Desmarais)
ch. 2 Teaching Religion and Film: A Fourth Approach (Conrad Ostwalt)

Part II Film and the Teaching of Religious Traditions
ch. 3 Teaching Biblical Tourism: How Sword-and-Sandal Films Clouded My Vision (Alice Bach)
ch. 4 Designing a Course on Religion and Cinema in India (Gayatri Chatterjeee)
ch. 5 Buddhism, Film, and Religious Knowing: Challenging the Literary Approach to Film (Francisca Cho)
ch. 6 The Pedagogical Challenges of Finding Christ Figures in Film (Christopher Deacy)
ch. 7 Film and the Introduction to Islam Course (Amir Hussain)
ch. 8 Is It All about Love Actually? Sentimentality as Problem and Opportunity in the Use of Film for Teaching Theology and Religion (Clive Marsh)
ch. 9 Women, Theology, and Film: Approaching the Challenge of Interdisciplinary Teaching (Gaye Williams Ortiz)

Part III The Religious Studies Approach
ch. 10 Seeing Is Believing, but Touching's the Truth: Religion, Film, and the Anthropology of the Senses (Richard M. Carp)
ch. 11 There Is No Spoon? Teaching The Matrix, Postperennialism, and the Spiritual Logic of Late Capitalism (Gregory Grieve)
ch. 12 Teaching Film as Religion (John Lyden)
ch. 13 Filmmaking and World Making: Re-Creating Time and Space in Myth and Film (S. Brent Plate)
ch. 14 Introducing Theories of Religion through Film: A Sample Syllabus (Greg Watkins)

Part IV The Values Approach
ch. 15 Touching Evil, Touching Good (Irena S. M. Makarushka)
ch. 16 Teaching Ethics with Film: A Course on the Moral Agency of Women (Ellen Ott Marshall)
ch. 17 Searching for Peace in Films about Genocide (Jolyon Mitchell)

Index

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Doll offers a post-modernist, process-oriented vision of teaching and curriculum built from the base of a constructivist and experiential epistemology where we engage ourselves in a conversation with each other in the context of our collective history and seek meaning through alternative interpretations and transformations. In this book he ably demonstrates the power of historical reflection to illuminate our present position on the cusp of change, and he provides a powerful vision of what might be. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Foreword
Preface
Introduction

Part I The Modern Paradigm: A Closed Vision
ch. 1 Descartes' and Newton's World Views
Pre-Modern Order
Descartes' Method
Newton's Stable Universe
ch. 2 Curriculum Carryovers
America and Technology
The Scientific Curriculum
The Tyler Rationale

Part II The Post-Modern Paradigm: An Open Vision
ch. 3 Piaget and Living Systems
The Biological World-View
Evolution and Entropy - Problems and Promises
Piaget's Equilibrium Model
ch. 4 Prigogine and Chaotic Order
Concepts of Chaos
Ilya Prigogine, Self-Organization, and Dissipative Structures
ch. 5 The Cognitive Revolution, Bruner, and a New Epistemology
Concepts of Cognition
Bruner
A New Epistemology
ch. 6 Dewey, Whitehead, and Process Thought
Traditions of Permanence, Change, and Interpretation
John Dewey and the Concept of Process
Alfred North Whitehead and the Concept of Process
Process Thought Beyond Dewey and Whitehead

Part III An Educational Vision
ch. 7 Constructing a Curriculum Matrix
Curriculum Concepts
The Four R's - An Alternative to the Tyler Rationale

References
Index
About the Author

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How will we teach the Bible in the twenty-first century? This essay is intended to contribute to that larger discussion in three ways: after a brief introduction, I will, first, state some general working assumptions about the present situation of the church and about teaching the New Testament in the context of a seminary or divinity school; second, I will describe the course "Reading James in Haiti" which I designed and taught in the Spring of 2002; finally, and much more briefly, I will comment on the implications of transformational travel experiences like this one for the ability of seminarians to understand New Testament texts more deeply than the classroom setting allows.

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Teaching music in certain seminary contexts poses particular challenges for teaching and learning. The theme of disjuncture between teacher and student in courses that aim to incorporate music in the seminary curriculum are more vital than ever before because of the extreme cultural diversity of our population and integral nature of music in the worship life of religious communities. This essay tackles the difficulties associated with teaching worship music in seminaries where there are a plurality of religious traditions represented and a host of expectations held by diverse student bodies about what connotes worship music. Topics addressed include issues concerning terminology, repertoire, pedagogical methods for teaching worship music, and current issues in church music.

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Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Team Teaching in Religious Studies: Editor's Introduction (Ellen Posman, and Reid B. Locklin)
ch. 2 Embodies Religion, Embodied Teaching: Team Teaching "Food Religion" (Norma Baumel Joseph, and Leslie C. Orr)
ch. 3 Brain, Stomach and Soul (Cara Anthony, and Elsie Amel)
ch. 4 Building Interdisciplinary Networks: Team Teaching Benefits for Religious Studies Professors (Melissa Stewart, and Deborah Field)
ch. 5 Jews and Christians Learn from Memoirs: A Collegially Taught Course (Mary C. Boys, and Sarah Tauber)
ch. 6 Team Teaching India's Identities across State and National Borders (Amy L. Allocco, and Brian K. Pennington)
ch. 7 Team Teaching in Religious Studies: Suggested Resources

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This essay chronicles the academic odyssey of a young professor who sets out to revise the department's Introduction to Religion course only to realize that she must first clarify her vocational commitments before she can create a teachable course. She is convinced through working with many students who express disdain or even hostility toward the subject matter that she wants to model a relationship to the subject matter that says religion matters, but is uncertain how to do this. After an autobiographical foray into her academic upbringing in active learning, the author articulates four values to model in her teaching: personal relevance, academic responsibility, ethics, and community. The author then engages current scholarship in active learning, and narrates the process of translating those four values into concrete course goals and particular assignments. The essay concludes with an assessment of teaching the revised course.

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Journal Issue. Full text is available online.

Table Of Content:
cb. 1 Teaching Asian American Religions and Religiosities: Guest Editor’s Introduction (Jonathan H. X. Lee)
ch. 2 Teaching Asian Religions from within the Asian American Community (Emily S. Wu)
ch. 3 Teaching and Learning through the Manzanar Pilgrimage (Joanne Doi)
ch. 4 Teaching about Asian American Sacred Spaces at a Catholic College (Linh Hoang)
ch. 5 On Learning and Teaching the Art of Sho (Ronald Y. Nakasone)
ch. 6 Asian American Music and Religion: Scaffolding to Teach Hybridity and to Reduce Anxiety (Brett J. Esaki)
ch. 7 Teaching Asian American Islam and Racialization through Film (Rabia Kamal)
ch. 8 Critical Pedagogy for Sikh American Religiosity and Race Jaideep Singh, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) and Islamophobia Research & Documentation Project at the University of California at Berkeley’s Center for Race & Gender
ch. 9 Vietnamese American Religions within a Transnational Framework (Thien-Huong T. Ninh)
ch. 10 Inserting Christianity into Asian American Studies (Dean Ryuta Adachi)
ch. 11 Suggested Resources

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Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: Experiential Education in the College Context provides college and university faculty with pedagogical approaches that engage students and support high-impact learning. Organized around four essential categories—active learning, integrated learning, project-based learning, and community-based learning—this resource offers examples from across disciplines to illustrate principles and best practices for designing and implementing experiential curriculum in the college and university setting. Framed by theory, this book provides practical guidance on a range of experiential teaching and learning approaches, including internships, civic engagement, project-based research, service learning, game-based learning, and inquiry learning. At a time when rising tuition, consumer-driven models, and e-learning have challenged the idea of traditional liberal education, this book provides a compelling discussion of the purposes of higher education and the role experiential education plays in sustaining and broadening notions of democratic citizenship. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Preface
Foreword

Part One: Landscape of Experiential Education
ch. 1 Introduction
ch. 2 Defining Experiential Education
ch. 3 Models and Methodologies of Experiential Education
ch. 4 The Instructional Paradigm: Leaving Safe Harbors

Part Two: Principles and Practices of Experiential Education
ch. 5 Design and Experiential Education
ch. 6 Facilitation and Experiential Education
ch. 7 Assessment and Experiential Education
ch. 8 The Integrated, Experiential Campus

Afterword

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This volume of New Directions for Teaching and Learning is a practical compendium of advice and information on the development, administration, and assessment of interdisciplinary studies programs and schools. A bibliographic orientation to hands-on access, including electronic retrieval of information, precedes chapters reviewing the design of interdisciplinary courses, and how the role of administrators in interdisciplinary programs can further institutitonal goals. The final chapter looks beyond the local campus to national and international support networks. The contributors, who share their extensive experience in the teaching and administration of interdisciplinary studies, provide many examples of good (and bad) praxis. This is the 58th issue of the quarterly journal New Directions for Teaching and Learning. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Editors' Notes

ch. 1 Finding Interdisciplinary Knowledge and Information (Julie Thompson Klein)
ch. 2 Designing Interdisciplinary Courses (William H. Newell)
ch. 3 The Administration and Governance of Interdisciplinary Programs (Beth A. Casey)
ch. 4 Assessing Interdisciplinary Learning (Michael Field, Russell Lee, Mary Lee Field)
ch. 5 Organizational Networking: Taking the Next Step (Nelson E. Bingham)

Index

Additional Info:
Creating ways to make a discipline come alive for those who are not experts - even for students who may not take more than one or two courses in the disciplines they study - requires rigorous thought about what really matters in a field and how to engage students in its practice.

Faculty from Alverno College representing a range of liberal arts disciplines - chemistry, economics, history, literature, mathematics and philosophy - here reflect on what it has meant for them to approach their disciplines as frameworks for student learning.

The authors all demonstrate how the ways of thinking they have identified as significant for their students in their respective disciplines have affected the way they design learning experiences. They show how they have shaped their teaching around the ways of thinking they want their students to develop within and across their disciplines; and what that means in terms of designing assessments that require students to demonstrate their thinking and understanding through application and use. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Introduction

ch. 1 Common ground : how history professors and undergraduate students learn through history (James Roth)
ch. 2 Learning to think mathematically (Susan Pustejovsky)
ch. 3 Teaching students to practice philosophy (Donna Englemann)
ch. 4 Making economics matter to students (Zohreh Emami)
ch. 5 Reading and responding to literature: developing critical perspectives (Lucy Cromwell)
ch. 6 Articulating the cognitive processes at the heart of chemistry (Ann van Heerden)
ch. 7 Because Hester Prynne was an existentialist, or why using disciplines as frameworks for learning clarifies life (Rebecca Valentine)

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The content of Catholic social teaching suggests that an appropriate pedagogy for the teaching and learning of Catholic social thought is the teaching and learning of practical reason. This article explores the role of moral exemplars in the teaching and learning of practical reason in a Catholic university. Specifically, the article details the use of moral exemplars in the "Profiles in the Catholic Social Tradition" course taught at the University of Notre Dame in the Fall semester of 2000. After a brief explanation of the appeal to practical reason as an appropriate pedagogy for teaching and learning the content of Catholic social teaching, the article turns to a discussion of our particular experience of using moral exemplars in the classroom.

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This classroom note demonstrates that a course may be improved by paying specific attention to Elliot Eisner's distinction between a course's explicit, implicit and null criteria. In an attempt to ground and identify those notoriously slippery curricula, this paper appropriates French philosopher Michel Foucault's concepts of practice, discourse and archival research. Having explored Foucault's understanding of these concepts, the paper analyses the course Communication and Processes within Groups at two distinctive phases in its twenty–year history. The resulting excavation of the course's implicit and null curricula twenty years apart shows that two different sets of facilitators teaching the same explicit curriculum to a very different student body, in vastly changed venues, are working out of two different understandings of what competence in the practice of ministry entails, two very different ministerial education discourses. This paper demonstrates that with students' questions, a teacher's intentional probing and Foucault's framework in hand, it is possible to access and articulate a course's hidden curricula. In such ways, the practice of mining the archive offers an imaginative way of both evaluating and improving a course that has been taught for many years.

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Click Here for Book Review
Dancing in the Rain offers a lively and accessible guide aimed at helping education leaders thrive under pressure by developing the inner strengths of mindfulness and self-compassion, expressing emotions wisely, and maintaining a clear focus on the values that matter most. Jerome T. Murphy, a scholar and former dean who has written and taught about the inner life of education leaders, argues that the main barrier to thriving as leaders is not the outside pressures we face, but how we respond to them inside our minds and hearts.

In this concise volume, Murphy draws on a combination of Eastern contemplative traditions and Western psychology, as well as his own experience and research in the field of education leadership. He presents a series of exercises and activities to help educators take discomfort more in stride, savor the joys and satisfactions of leadership work, and thrive as effective leaders guided by heartfelt values.

Every day, education leaders find themselves swamped in a maelstrom of pressures that add to the complex challenges of educating all students to a high level. With humor and compassion, Dancing in the Rain shows educators how to lead lives of consequence and purpose in the face of life’s inescapable downpours. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Forward
Introduction
PART I Drowning in the Rain
Ch 1. The Difficulties of Leadership
Ch 2. Making a Hard Job Harder

PART II Introducing MY DANCE
Ch 3. The MY DANCE Framework
Ch 4. Getting Ready to Dance

PART III MY DANCE, Step by Step<.b>
ch 5. Mind Your Values
ch 6. Yield to Now
Ch 7. Disentangle from Upsets
Ch 8. Allow Unease
Ch 9. Nourish Yourself
Ch 10. Cherish Self-Compassion Ch 11. Express Feelings Wisely

PART IV Putting It All Together
Ch 12. Pick Up Your Feet and Dance

Appendix

Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
This powerful book explores how institutions of higher education can successfully serve “breakaway” students—first-generation, low-income students who are trying to break away from the past in order to create a more secure future. The gap between low-SES and high-SES students persists as efforts to close it have not met with great success. In this provocative book, Gross offers a new approach to addressing inequities by focusing on students who have succeeded despite struggling with the impacts of poverty and trauma. Gross draws on her experience as a college president to outline practical steps that postsecondary institutions can take to create structures of support and opportunity that build reciprocal trust. Students must trust their institutions and professors, professors must trust their students, and eventually students must learn to trust themselves. Visit the book’s website at breakawaylearners.com.(From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Preface
Acknowledgements

ch. 1 Can You See the Stars at Night?
ch. 2 Anchoring Lasticity
ch. 3 Who Are Our Students?-Now and Into the Future
ch. 4 Breakaway Students and Culture Change
ch. 5 Yes, the Positives of Toxic Stress and Trauma
ch. 6 Elasticity: One of the Lasticity's Building Blocks
ch. 7 The Untapped Power of Plasticity
ch. 8 Pivoting right
ch. 9 Lasticity's Reciprocal Heart
ch. 10 Belief in Self Isn't Easy
ch. 11 Animating Lasticity on a College Campus
ch. 12 Lasticity Goes Big
ch. 13 Lasticity's Hurdles and How to Surmount Them
ch. 14 Money and Its Meaning
ch 15. Lasticity's Growing Urgency
ch. 16. Lasticity's Entrance into the Lexicon
ch. 17. Promises Made and Kept

Notes
Additional Relevant Readings
Index
About the Author
Books Received
Index To Volume

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Over the last decade, the discipline of religious studies has promoted religious literacy as both an invaluable contribution to curriculum and an indispensable social good. While much has been written on the importance of the study of religion for the development of religious literacy, little attention has been given to the identification of the disciplinary skills and content knowledge (or what we refer to as religious studies competencies) a student develops through extended study of religion. In this essay, we present an example of how to integrate a religious studies competency‐based model into program design and implementation. We argue that the transition to a competency‐based religious studies program has two potential benefits. First, competency program design provides an opportunity to redesign and update religious studies programs in a more responsible manner that aligns with our students, institution, discipline, and profession. Second, competency program design facilitates the conditions where we can better avoid duplicating the much criticized world religions paradigm.

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Teaching Tactic: allowing students to establish parts of the curriculum of a course.

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Postcolonial biblical scholars use the hermeneutics of decolonization to reinterpret the biblical text. One goal is to find contemporary applications for an age-old message. This article explores the challenges and implications of postcolonial hermeneutics for biblical pedagogy. First, the author explores fundamental hermeneutical principles of postcolonial biblical criticism. Then she reviews its challenges for a liberative biblical pedagogy. Finally, the author applies these principles to a Bible study using the story of Hagar.

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This series of three essays by educators from Georgia, Texas, and Alabama examines teaching Asian Religions in the American South. Through reflection on individual experience, each essay offers concrete strategies for the classroom that can be utilized by fellow educators working in the American South, but can also inform pedagogy in other North American regions. Introducing the idea of the “imagined student,” Esaki discusses teaching African American students and tailoring Asian religions courses towards their interests by producing positive buy‐in, while also acknowledging their potential isolation from White peers interested in similar topics. Mikles builds on Esaki's idea of the imagined student to discuss her own experience teaching Mexican and Vietnamese American students in Texas, while presenting specific strategies to overcome preconceived educator bias about students in Southern classrooms. Battaglia closes out the series by suggesting the use of a phenomenological approach for students to sympathetically enter into an Asian religious worldview. She offers specific exercises that can help students unpack their own assumptions – their “invisible backpack” – and approach Asian religions on their own terms.

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Click Here for Book Review
Every year, more online or technology-enhanced learning experiences are added to the landscape of education, and the number of students taking online courses on residential campuses continues to grow. In addition, new instructional tools are creating environments that are mobile, interactive, and collaborative. These trends present challenges to the online classroom, and this book will help instructors meet those challenges.

Jump-Start Your Online Classroom prepares a first-time online instructor to successfully manage the first few weeks of a course, including activities to help instructors plan, manage, and facilitate online instruction; and provides resources helpful during the beginning weeks of class. Each chapter is developed around the immediate challenges instructors face when teaching online. The authors address everyday problems and suggest solutions informed by their extensive research and experience. The five challenges, which are designed to be addressed in five days, are to:
• Make the transition to online teaching
• Build online spaces for learning
• Prepare students for online learning
• Manage and facilitating the online classroom
• Assess learner outcomes in an online classroom

The book is based on the authors’ design and facilitation model that identifies five elements comprising an online learning environment: digital tools, participants, social practices, learning community, and outcomes. The book shows how each of those aspects influences instructional practices and interacts to create an environment for a meaningful online educational experience. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Preface

ch 1. The Online Environment

First Challenge: Making the Transition to Online Teaching
ch 2. Are You Ready to Teach Online?
ch 3. Addressing Concerns About Teaching Online
ch 4. Thinking and Acting Like an Online Instructor

Second Challenge: Building Online Spaces for Learning
ch 5. Building Spaces and Places for Learning

Third Challenge: Preparing Students for Online Learning
ch 6. Preparing Your Students for Online Learning

Fourth Challenge: Managing and Facilitating the Online Classroom
ch 7. Managing and Facilitating the Online Classroom

Fifth Challenge: Assessing Learner Outcomes
ch 8. Assessing Learning in the Online Classroom
ch 9. Reflecting on Your Experience
ch 10. Challenge for the Future: Building Knowledge

Appendices
References
About the Authors
Index

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In an attempt to build a better "intensive course," Torma "does the math" on credit hours, student-directed learning, and instructor-directed learning. This piece provides a helpful framework for anyone working through "seat hour" issues regarding fully online courses, blended/hybrid courses, face-to-face "intensives," or other game-changing learning contexts.

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This website is a rich repository of resources to support the design model advocated in the book "Understanding by Design" (Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, 1998), particularly around backwards design for effective "outputs."

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Instructional-Design Theories and Models, Volume III: Building a Common Knowledge Base is perhaps best described by its new subtitle. Whereas Volume II sought to comprehensively review the proliferating theories and models of instruction of the 1980’s and 1990’s, Volume III takes on an even more daunting task: starting to build a common knowledge base that underlies and supports the vast array of instructional theories, models and strategies that constitute the field of Instructional Design. Unit I describes the need for a common knowledge base, offers some universal principles of instruction, and addresses the need for variation and detailed guidance when implementing the universal principles. Unit II describes how the universal principles apply to some major approaches to instruction such as direct instruction or problem-based instruction. Unit III describes how to apply the universal principles to some major types of learning such as understandings and skills. Unit IV provides a deeper understanding of instructional theory using the structural layers of a house as its metaphor and discusses instructional theory in the broader context of paradigm change in education. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
List of Figures and Tables
Preface

Unit 1 Frameworks for Understanding Instructional Theory
ch. 1 Understanding Instructional Theory (Charles M. Reigeluth, and Alison A. Carr-Chellman)
ch. 2 Understanding Instruction (Charles M. Reigeluth, and John B. Keller)
ch. 3 First Principles of Instruction (M. David Merrill)
ch. 4 Situational Principles of Instruction (Charles M. Reigeluth, and Alison A. Carr-Chellman)

Unit 2 Theories for Different Approaches to Instruction
ch. 5 Direct Approach to Instruction (William G. Huitt, David M. Monetti, and John H. Hummel)
ch. 6 Discussion Approach to Instruction (Joyce Taylor Gibson)
ch. 7 Experiential Approach to Instruction (Lee Lindsey, and Nancy Berger)
ch. 8 Problem-Based Approach to Instruction (John R. Savery)
ch. 9 Simulation Approach to Instruction (Andrew S. Gibbons, Mark McConkie, Kay Kyeongju Seo, and David A. Wiley)

Unit 3 Theories for Different Outcomes of Instruction
ch. 10 Fostering Skill Development Outcomes (Alexander Romiszowski)
ch. 11 Fostering Understanding Outcomes (Martha Stone Wiske, and Brian J. Beatty)
ch. 12 Fostering Affective Development Outcomes: Emotional Intelligence (Barbara A. Bichelmeyer, James Markin Tamar Harris, Melanie Misanchuk, and Emily Hixon)
ch. 13 Fostering Integrated Learning Outcomes across Domains (Brian J. Beatty)

Unit 4 Tools for Building a Common Knowledge Base
ch. 14 The Architecture of Instructional Theory (Andrew S. Gibbons, and P. Clint Rogers)
ch. 15 Domain Theory for Instruction: Mapping Attainments to Enable Learner-Centered Education (C. Victor Bunderson, David A. Wiley, and Reo H. McBride)
ch. 16 Learning Objects and Instructional Theory (David A. Wiley)
ch. 17 Theory Building (Charles M. Reigeluth, and Yun-Jo An)
ch. 18 Instructional Theory for Education in the Information Age (Charles M. Reigeluth)

Author Index
Subject Index

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The creation and implementation of a Christian theological seminary course, "The Education of Christian Pilgrims," in which the purpose was to prepare students to teach members of a church to be and become a consciously "pilgrim Church." This article describes the genesis of the course, creating a syllabus, the actual pilgrimage undertaken by students and professor, and suggested modifications.

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Papers, projects, and presentations are excellent opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning and investment in a course.

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Special issue of “Syllabus,” an online journal that posts annotated syllabi and short-article course descriptions submitted by college and university professors. 

Table Of Content:
Editorial
Special Issue: Teaching with and about Games (Jennifer deWinter, Carly A. Kocurek)

Syllabi
Video Game Studies (Judd Ethan Ruggill)
How to Play Games of Truth: An Introduction to Video Studies (Bryan Geoffrey Behrenshausen)
Novel Interfaces for Interactive Environments (Robert W. Linderman)
Educational and Serious Game Design: Case Study in Collaboration (Jon A. Preston)
Introduction to Games Design (Nia Wearn)
Representing the Past: (Video Games Challenge to the Historical Narrative (Stephen Ortega)
Learning Through Making: Notes on Teaching Interactive Narrative (Anastasia Salter)
Video Games as a New Form of Interactive Literature (Anne Winchell)
Writing In and Around Games (Wendi Sierra)
Hints, Advice, and Maybe Cheat Codes: An English Topics Course About Computer Games (Kevin Moberly)

Tool Box
Teaching Network Game Programming with the Dragonfly Game Engine (Mark Claypool)
Root of play - Game design for digital humanists (Andy Keenan, Matt Bouchard)
Alternative Reality Games to Teach Game-Based Storytelling (Dean O’Donnell, Jennifer deWinter)
“Continue West and Ascent the Stairs”: Game Walkthroughs in Professional and Technical Communication (Stephanie Vie)
Annotated Bibliography for Game Studies: Modeling Scholarly Research in a Popular Culture Field (Cathlena Martin)

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Journal Issue.

Table Of Content:
Deborah J. Haynes
Contemplative Practice: Views from the Religion Classroom and Artist's Studio (Linnea Wren)
Can Religious Faith and Contemporary Art Flourish Together? An Academic, Collaborative, and Experiential Seminar Culminating in Student-Based Art Commissions (Paul O. Myhre)
Encountering Navajo Cosmology Through Sand Painting: Teaching a Method for Engaging Visual Texts (Theresa Mason)
Opening Eyes To The Emmaus Story: A Case Study of Visual Art in Biblical Studies (Daniel G. Deffenbaugh)
Humans In The Landscape (Kimberly Vrundy)
The Dissonant Gaze: Redemption, Liberation, and the Theological Imagination (Rebecca Berru Davis)
Image Resources: An Inventory

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"Ancient Christianity, Ancient Cities – and Cyberspace?" was a teaching experiment combining the study of theology, religion, history, and new computer technologies. The course included both a regular class meeting and a concurrent digital media lab. All student assignments were digital. Students came in with a wide variety of technical knowledge and backgrounds in classical and religious studies. In addition to learning about the history and theology of early Christianity, students became critical learners of technology within the ideal of a liberal arts education.

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This article emerges from the experience of incorporating doctoral students into our Contextual Education (CXE) Program at Emmanuel College (Toronto). This change, I argue, helped us to distinguish more clearly among and thus distinctly orient the different kinds of relationships and theological practices that make up our program towards the often-elusive goal of curricular integration. After outlining a definition of integration, I contextualize that definition in our particular practices at Emmanuel College using Kathryn Tanner's (1997) understanding of theology as a cultural practice as my guide. I then offer a brief overview of our CXE Programs to demonstrate how nurturing strategic partnerships within them has made certain forms of integration possible for our students. I close with some activities for practical application in other CXE contexts.

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This series of short essays considers the complex choices and decision-making processes of instructors preparing to teach, and continuing to teach, introductory courses in religious studies. In a paper originally presented in the University of Chicago's “The Craft of Teaching in the Academic Study of Religion” series, Russell McCutcheon explores a “baker's dozen” of such choices and the larger pedagogical problems with which they are entwined, ranging from classic questions of skill development and content coverage to philosophical concerns around students' identification with their topics of study and institutional concerns around governance and assessment. Aaron Hollander provides a brief introduction and four doctoral students at the University of Chicago Divinity School respond to McCutcheon's essay, widening its scope, testing its applicability, and interrogating its undergirding suppositions from the perspective of early-career educators in the field.

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An overview of the research on “universal design,” which aims to design instruction to maximize the learning of students from a wide variety of ethnic and racial backgrounds, English language skills, learning styles, and disabilities.

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Discoveries by both the professor and the students, in a seminar on the anthropology of Christianity at Candler School of Theology.

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This paper, co-authored by two instructors and four of their undergraduate students, details an experimental use of 'Open Space Technology' in a Religion course on social constructionism at the University of Toronto. In addition to describing the format and its purpose, four undergraduate evaluations of the course are offered.

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This article examines the theoretical and practical concerns of a White professor who teaches a course on African American religious thought. It begins with a discussion of what it means to be embodied White, and how that affects the teaching of another embodied reality. From there it moves to the major assignment of the course, the evolutionary essay, and how this assignment facilitates student reflection upon their own embodied existence, particularly in terms of race. The article concludes with a brief reflection on the continuing challenges the author faces when teaching such a course.

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Assessment and Learning: The ICE Approach shows how to maximize learning potential through an improved understanding and appreciation of the learning process. ICE represents the three stages of learning: Ideas: The building blocks of learning Connections: Establishing and articulating the relationships among Ideas Extensions: Learning is internalized and used in novel ways. The authors show how to recognize the stages of learning development--from a state of beginning to one of competence and expertise--and demonstrate how educators can foster that development in their classrooms. ICE is a framework for assessing learning growth--across students, across subjects, across ages, and across levels of schooling. To encourage and assess learning progress, the authors provide comprehensive guidelines for developing effective discussion questions, developing qualitative rubrics, selecting and using experiential learning activities, journals in the classroom, projects, presentations, and assignments, grading and reporting. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
vii Acknowledgments
1 1. Ideas, Connections, and Extensions
1 Introduction to ICE
6 The Theory Behind ICE
9 2. Applying ICE to Teaching and Learning
13 Monitoring Progress in Hard-to-Assess Areas
15 Class Discussions
17 Sample Question Starters
18 Guidelines for Developing Good Discussion Questions
19 Group and Experiential Work
21 Guidelines for Selecting and Using Experiential Learning Activities
23 Journal Assessment
27 Guidelines for Effective Use of Journals
28 Projects, Presentations, and Assignments
29 Guidelines for Successful Use of Projects, Presentations, and Assignments
30 Mapping Progress Through Rubrics
31 Constructing ICE Rubrics
33 Differences Between Quantitative and Qualitative Rubrics
38 Differences Between Checklists and ICE Rubrics
40 Summarizing Progress with Tests
42 Tables of Specifications
47 Grading and Reporting Progress
52 A Final Note About Grading
53 Sharing ICE With Learners
59 A Final Note About Sharing ICE with Learners
60 Students' Reactions to ICE
63 3. The Versatility of ICE
63 Across Curriculum Areas
63 Drama and Music
65 Trades and Technology
67 Sports and Physical Education
68 Across Products of Learning
69 Language Arts
72 Second Language Acquisition
74 Social Studies
75 Sciences
77 Math and Math Readiness
79 Music
81 Conclusion
83 Black Line Masters
85 Bibliography

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Finding themselves teaching to increasingly diverse student populations, two mid-career faculty from different disciplines embarked on a common voyage to make their foundational courses more sensitive to student learning styles. Adrift in the seas of multiple intelligences and multiculturalism, the researchers quickly abandoned any hope of developing distinctive teaching portfolios for individual learning profiles. Instead, they structured the syllabus to be the passport into a common culture of teaching and learning in the classroom. Syllabus design and on-going "spot" assessments proved trusty guides in re-centering learning on the students' needs. In the process of outlining these two strategies for creating a common culture of teaching and learning, the article offers testimony that old dogs can learn new tricks! Additional materials, including syllabi used in these courses and in class assessment tools, can be found on the Web page of the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion: http://www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/journal/greenstortz.html

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Written for Higher Education teaching and learning professionals, Learning with Digital Games provides an accessible, straightforward introduction to the field of computer game-based learning. Up to date with current trends and the changing learning needs of today’s students, this text offers friendly guidance, and is unique in its focus on post-school education and its pragmatic view of the use of computer games with adults.

Learning with Digital Games enables readers to quickly grasp practical and technological concepts, using examples that can easily be applied to their own teaching. The book assumes no prior technical knowledge but guides the reader step-by-step through the theoretical, practical and technical considerations of using digital games for learning. Activities throughout guide the reader through the process of designing a game for their own practice, and the book also offers:

A toolkit of guidelines, templates and checklists.

Concrete examples of different types of game-based learning using six case studies.

Examples of games that show active and experiential learning

Practical examples of educational game design and development.

This professional guide upholds the sound reputation of the Open and Flexible Learning series, is grounded in theory and closely links examples from practice. Higher Education academics, e-learning practitioners, developers and training professionals at all technical skill levels and experience will find this text is the perfect resource for explaining how to integrate computer games into their teaching practice.

A companion website is available and provides up-to-date technological information,additional resources and further examples. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Series Editor's Foreword
Acknowledgements

ch. 1 Introduction

Part I
Theory
ch. 2 Recognizing the Characteristics of Digital Games
ch. 3 Understanding the Pedagogy of Digital Games
ch. 4 Identifying Types of Digital Games for Learning

Part II
Practice
ch. 5 Integrating Digital Games Into the Curriculum
ch. 6 Designing a Digital Game for Learning
ch. 7 Assessing the Impact of Digital Games on Learning

Part III
Technology
ch. 8 Using Existing Digital Games for Learning
ch. 9 Developing New Digital Games for Learning
ch. 10 Evaluating Digital Games for Learning
ch. 11 Case Studies
ch. 12 Conclusions

Glossary
References
Index

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A paper by Curtis Bonk of Indiana University discussing ways to use videos as 'Anchors and Enders' for learning experiences.

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The challenge of learning to teach online leads a junior faculty person to achieve greater levels of teaching satisfaction and proficiency overall. For this professor transitioning an on-campus pastoral liturgy course to an online environment brings about serendipitous discoveries that allow him to do more than survive as a frustrated teacher. The transition creates a revolution in one professor's whole approach to teaching.

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Five ideas on how to structure your course so students will stay engaged in your classroom and in the learning process.

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In this study we explored faculty and student experiences of accelerated learning. We conducted interviews with faculty members who had delivered the same course in 12 and 6-week timeframes, and we analysed a student survey. Students reported overall positive experiences in the accelerated courses, particularly in the social aspects of learning, higher than usual motivation, and confidence in their learning. However, both faculty and students raised concerns about the scope and timing of assessment tasks, student workload expectations, faculty workload, and administration of courses. We offer recommendations regarding implementation, assessment practices, and management of learning in an accelerated timeframe.

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Creating effective and engaging learning experiences has too often been viewed as an uninspiring task. Shouldn’t this be where our passion as teachers comes through? Could it be we are focusing on a limited aspect of learning?

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Intensive mode teaching involves classes on fewer days and for longer on each day than is traditional in the discipline. The mode is used increasingly in universities in Australia. In a national research project, we developed an Intensive Mode Teaching Guide based on a survey of 105 coordinators of intensive mode units at 26 universities, and investigations in 8 intensive mode units at 4 universities. The guide was reviewed by 161 university staff members at 10 workshops, and 27 students in a survey. Threshold capability theory and threshold concept theory were used. We found that intensive mode offers opportunities including a retreat-like focus; development of learning communities; and time and flexibility for interactive, practical, and authentic activities that provide exposure to practice and/or practitioners. However, intensive mode also increases risks such as students falling behind. We recommend that teachers intentionally design to optimise the benefits and mitigate the risks.

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This essay discusses an approach to teaching religious studies in a general education or core curriculum that I have experimented with for the last decade, which I call the "Learning Covenant." The Learning Covenant brings together various pedagogical theories, including transformational, experiential, contract, and cooperative learning, in an attempt to address diverse learning styles, multiple intelligences, and student learning assessment. It has advantages over more traditional teacher-directed approaches to teaching, including meeting student resistance to "required" courses head-on by inviting them to identify learning needs regardless of chosen vocation and meeting them in the context of a religious studies course, recognizing the multiple ways in which students learn and providing a variety of opportunities for students to express their learning, and allowing students opportunity to take increased responsibility for their own learning. The essay will focus on the Learning Covenant's development, components, strengths, and drawbacks.

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This study provides insight into how highly rated instructors approached teaching compressed summer session courses, and offers a set of best practices that others might use when teaching in similar settings. Top-rated instructors indicated differences in the way they taught compressed-format summer session courses, with respect to course planning, classroom instruction, student assessment, and interaction with students. The study is of value to continuing educators, as universities are increasingly challenged to think about flexible delivery models, including teaching and learning in compressed formats.

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Almost akin to the “first date,” the first day of class is critical both for students and for faculty.

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This chapter outlines the best teaching strategies to use in intensive courses to achieve the best possible learning outcomes. It explores how students experience intensive courses differently than they do traditional scheduling formats and the factors that contribute to high-quality intensive course experiences.

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This note argues for the importance of using primary legal sources, trial transcripts, opinions, law codes, and so forth, in teaching religion. The advantages of using legal documents in the religious studies classroom include: highlighting the importance of church/state issues, the existential givenness of law for religion; serving as mini-ethnographies, a slice-of-life view of religion; and, displaying a range of voices about a particular event, tradition, or idea. The note also describes two possible courses, an introductory course in American religion and a seminar in religion and law, listing recommended sample materials and showing how legal documents could be used in the classroom.

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The authors’ purpose in this seventh book in the “It Works for Me” series is to demonstrate that “everyone possesses creative talent, though it may be latent in some and difficult to bring out in others.  It’s not just a talent possessed by artists and engineers, mind you, but everyone.”  Furthermore, “Creative people have figured out consciously or un- that a small seed of creativity can be made to grow by having the proper environment and a minimal set of skills.  And people can be taught or self-taught this process.”

The authors/editors also believe that “all creative ideas link themselves to other creative ideas to develop something new and useful, be it a concept, a process, or a product.  In order to disseminate and perpetuate [their] belief that the creative impulse resides in all of us, [they] have asked a host of friends to demonstrate it with essays and practical tips touching on supportive creative environments, strategies that foster and enhance creativity, and assessments that demonstrate creativity has indeed taken place.” (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Acknowledgements
Forward: A Space for the Rising Creative Class
Introduction: Creativity R Us

I. Overviews
Creativity—Defining the Undefinable
Dispelling Some Myths of Creativity
A Good Question
Teaching Creativity: A Call to Action
Collaborative Creativity
The Meddler in the Middle
Developing a Space for Creativity

II. The Creative Process
Introduction: Process
Creating Acronymic Processes
How To Expand Without Losing Focus
Creativity in Faculty Development: EXPLORE
Design Thinking is Creative Thinking
Creative Strategies Inherent to Scholarship
What Makes Creative Writing Creative
Communication Fosters Creative Thinking
Creative Connections in a Graduate Advanced
Health Assessment Course
Bending the Realities of Iron
Inventing Parables to Use as Pedagogical Tools
The Creative Classroom: A Model for Developing Creative Students
Sorting It Out: A Hands-On Approach for Promoting Higher-Order Thinking
The Play’s the Thing: Being Creative in the Teaching of Lit
Wait … You Want To Do What?
Creative Use of Film: Students as Hollywood Consultants
Hey! My Dad Takes That: Making
Pharmaceuticals Relevant to Non-Majors
Using Guided Imagery To Cultivate
Creativity in Learners
Unlearning Rules and Embracing Creativity: Using Prezi to Rethink PowerPoint
An Online Debate
A Creative Exercise: A Joke-Telling Simulation to Learn About Capitalism
Le’go My Ego: An Exercise for Ego Separation and Team Building
Creative Options for Characterization
Engaging with Text and Eliminating Highlighting
A Creative Way to Choose a Research Topic
“In Which Ways” Can You Foster Creativity?
Beach Ball
Center Managers
Natural Disasters
Field Connections
Changing Perspectives: A Negotiated Agreements Scavenger Hunt
Using Inquiry to Spark Creativity

III. The Creative Environment
Introduction: Environment
But I’m Not Creative
Practicalities in Teaching Creativity
Unleashing Student Creativity by Unveiling the Mystique of General Education
Developing a Creative Environment
Going Green: Creating a Creative Environment
Trust as a Foundation of Creativity
A Creative Use of Student Evaluations
Building Creative Learning Environments in Higher Education
Using Culturally Relevant Pedagogy to Create a Bridge to Learning
The Reality-Based Approach to Learning
Channeling Your Inner Ms. Frizzle
Something New and Imaginative in Student Learning
Modeling the Creative Process in the Classroom
Finding the Strength in All Types of Learners
Creativity as a Disposition
Creative Networking
Roleplaying as Creativity
Music in the Key of See
Got Character?

IV. The Creative Product
Introduction: Product
Creating Musical Group Names to Aid Student Memory
“It’s Only Words, and Words Are All I Have …” 
Creating Theory Stories
Challenging Developmental Writers to Use Their Creativity
A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Bucks, But Maybe Not in Creative Writing Classes
What’s Wrong With This Picture
Promoting Creativity in the Learning Process
Creneology
TIP for a Creative Summary Project
Shifting Perception
Changing Student Perceptions: The Family History Museum
An Exercise for Creating a Poem
Discovering Creativity Through Color Exploration
Fundamental and Powerful Concepts
Play It Again: A Creative Technique for Creative Writing and Literary Analysis
 
V. Assessing Creativity
Introduction to Assessment
Assessing the Creative Environment
Assessing Creative Strategies
Assessing Instructors of Creativity
She Blinded Me with Science
Obtaining Mid-semester Feedback from Students
Issuing Creative License
 
VI. Afterword

Additional Info:
Offering a review of four short introductory books on Christianity, this essay discusses how introductory textbooks, and introductory religion courses more generally, are like storytelling. Books by Lindberg, Tomkins, Norris, and Woodhead are reviewed with an emphasis on their classroom use. These books share several things in common – most notably, each is a "short," popular text. Dealing with the topic of Christianity in abbreviated form presents certain challenges and possibilities in the task of teaching. After examining these short histories, the essay reflects on several questions that emerge: When should we use textbooks in college classrooms? What are the goals that teachers have in the use of textbooks? How do textbooks define the subject matter of a course? And finally, how do teachers use texts to aid in telling a story in the classroom?

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A discussion about how instructors can host a hospitable online learning environment can address one of the fundamental philosophical and theological concerns frequently expressed about online learning – the loss of face-to-face interaction and, with it, the loss of community building (cf. Delamarter 2005, 138). This perceived link between physical presence and community creation, sometimes articulated, frequently assumed, often stands in the way of instructors, administrators, and even institutions fully embracing online learning. This article will argue that when one gives due attention to hospitality, the potential for building online community is greatly enhanced, and with it comes a more effective pedagogical strategy for deep learning. It will conclude with some general recommendations for employing hospitality for building online learning communities.

Additional Info:
This post offers ideas for different types of final exams and instructions for implementing them effectively. Try using one that fits your course and your students.

Additional Info:
Journal issue. Full text is available online.

Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Teaching with Site Visits (Tazim R. Kassam)
ch. 2 Unexpected Learning Opportunities of the Site Visit (Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger)
ch. 3 An Insider Perspective from the Temple (P. Ravi Sarma)
ch. 4 Site Visits and Epistemological Diversity in the Study of Religion (Jeffrey Carlson)
ch. 5 The Nuts and Bolts of Site Visits (Grace G. Burford)
ch. 6 Native American Site Visits in the Context of Service Learning (Michael D. McNally)
ch. 7 Site Visits to Synagogues (Michael S. Berger)
ch. 8 Site Visit to a Mosque (Amir Hussain)
ch. 9 Integrating Field Research in the Introductory Religion Course (Sheila E. McGinn)
ch. 10 Integrating Site Visits in the Pluralism Project at Connecticut College (Patrice C. Brodeur)
ch. 11 Site Visits from a Journalist’s Perspective (Gustav Niebuhr)
ch. 12 Temples of Culture: Using Museums for Site Visits (Lisa Bellan-Boyer)

Additional Info:
Assessments are a necessary part of gaining knowledge, and they can help point students toward more learning in the future. Learn how to create inspiring assessments that do just that.

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In this article we argue for an introductory course in the study of religion that proceeds through interactive interpretation as a responsible form of comparison. Interactive interpretation proceeds provisionally, and encourages students to formulate new questions of the materials instead of making final categories about the materials. We use examples from a typical classroom to show how we work with three pedagogical principles: (1) critical reading; (2) pluralism within religious traditions as well as between religious traditions; and (3) the use of the working hypothesis as a tool in analyzing religious texts. We also make an argument for textual reading as a form of living intellectual practice, which can work alongside of, and not in opposition to, other approaches to the study of religion, such as ethnographic or historical approaches.

Additional Info:
The present article describes a modular approach to teaching Genesis 1–3 that values depth over breadth even in an introductory class. The module allows students to learn about the text and its original context by orienting discussion around contemporary issues of practical concern. Specifically, the creation-evolution debates provide an opportunity for students to learn about contemporary political, social, and legal implications of interpreting Genesis 1–3. The conflict of traditional and modern values emerges also in issues surrounding gender and autonomy in Genesis 2–3. This pedagogical approach challenges various student worldviews to promote discussion and greater intellectual sophistication. The correlation of the text with ongoing contemporary issues engages student interest and motivates learning. It also allows the class to explore both the ancient text and its interpretation in diverse communities. Finally, the module allows considerable flexibility for student and teacher interest and the needs of a given class.

Additional Info:
This article reflects on an effort to incorporate constructivist pedagogies (learner-centered, inquiry-guided, problem-based models of teaching) into an introductory class on Christian Ethics in an M.Div. curriculum. Although some students preferred more traditional pedagogies, the majority found that constructivist pedagogies better accommodated different life experiences, diverse learning styles, and other features of the M.Div. curriculum. Further, a qualitative assessment of one student exercise indicates that constructivist pedagogies have benefits over traditional pedagogies. Specifically, students' work on a learning-group research project displayed creativity, depth, and breadth not found in individual research papers. Nonetheless, lukewarm student feedback also demonstrated the need to consider wider factors when attempting such innovations.

Additional Info:
Tomoko Masuzawa and a number of other contemporary scholars have recently problematized the categories of “religion” and “world religions” and, in some cases, called for its abandonment altogether as a discipline of scholarly study. In this collaborative essay, we respond to this critique by highlighting three attempts to teach world religions without teaching “world religions.” That is, we attempt to promote student engagement with the empirical study of a plurality of religious traditions without engaging in the rhetoric of pluralism or the reification of the category “religion.” The first two essays focus on topical courses taught at the undergraduate level in self-consciously Christian settings: the online course “Women and Religion” at Georgian Court University and the service-learning course “Interreligious Dialogue and Practice” at St. Michael's College, in the University of Toronto. The final essay discusses the integration of texts and traditions from diverse traditions into the graduate theology curriculum more broadly, in this case at Loyola Marymount University. Such confessional settings can, we suggest, offer particularly suitable – if somewhat counter-intuitive – contexts for bringing the otherwise covert agendas of the world religions discourse to light and subjecting them to a searching inquiry in the religion classroom.

Additional Info:
Effective pedagogy in the capstone course or integrative seminar — a 1000 word response to a Call for Papers.

Additional Info:
AAR Teaching Religious Studies Series (Oxford University Press)
Classes organized by means of the 'religion and …' rubric cut both ways: they are elastic enough to attract wide student interest, thereby enhancing a department's enrollment statistics, but they are often theoretically unsophisticated, thereby hampering the future development of scholars of religion. After discussing the costs and benefits of such classes, this article focuses on one particular example of this popular rubric that would benefit from redescription: the use of films in the religious studies class. After identifying two competing approaches to using films, the essay concludes by discussing three feature films that can be used in all of our classes to teach a fundamental theoretical topic in our field: the insider/outsider problem.

Additional Info:
Syllabi of five courses taught within new interfaith and interreligious studies programs. Also  model student learning outcomes and curricular programs. 

Additional Info:
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.

Additional Info:
A 1000 word essay on using textbooks in introductory courses (or not).

Additional Info:
A 1000 word essay on using textbooks in introductory courses (or not).

Additional Info:
A 1000 word essay on using textbooks in introductory courses (or not).

Additional Info:
Info page on Understanding by Design, on a site to which one of the developers of UbD (Grant Wiggins) contributes.

Additional Info:
How to extract "big picture" open-ended discussion questions (what Understanding by Design calls "Essential Questions") from one's stated learning goals, and to embed them into the syllabus and the course activities.

Additional Info:
Self-assessment of instructional goals to help faculty become more aware of what they want to accomplish in individual courses, locate Classroom Assessment Techniques they can adapt and use to assess how well they are achieving these goals, and provide a starting point for discussion of teaching and learning goals among colleagues.

Additional Info:
In this comprehensive resource, Raymond J. Wlodkowski and Margery B. Ginsberg describe how to meet the challenge of teaching intensive and accelerated courses to nontraditional learners and working adults. By making motivation and cultural relevance essential to instruction, they clearly show what instructors can do to enhance learning in classes that can last from three to six hours. Teaching Intensive and Accelerated Courses makes full use of the authors' twenty years of experience researching and teaching accelerated courses, along with selected strategies from Wlodkowski's classic Enhancing Adult Motivation to Learn, to offer tried-and-true practices instructors can use to provide continuously engaging learning. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Preface
About the Authors

ch. 1 Understanding Accelerated and Intensive Courses as Excellent Learning Experiences
ch. 2 Using a Motivational Framework to Enhance Learning in Accelerated and Intensive Courses
ch. 3 Being a Motivating Instructor
ch. 4 Establishing Inclusion in a Learning Environment
ch. 5 Developing Positive Attitudes Toward Learning
ch. 6 Enhancing Meaning in Learning
ch. 7 Engendering Competence Among Learners
ch. 8 Designing Instruction for Intensive and Accelerated Courses
ch. 9 Strengthening Instruction and Retention

References
Index

Additional Info:

Additional Info:
A 1000 word essay on using textbooks in introductory courses (or not).

Additional Info:
This essay distills pedagogical principles that have emerged through a dozen years of experience teaching a seminary introductory Old Testament course online. The rich interactions and social cues that professors rely on to monitor student learning in face‐to‐face classrooms are replaced by a carefully choreographed pattern of student learning activities and peer‐to‐peer discussion prompts through which the professor “engineers” student learning. A careful description and analysis of the pedagogical intentions and choices embedded in the design of an online course reveals a sociology of online learning and the author's implicit theory of how learning happens.

Additional Info:
A 1000 word essay on using textbooks in introductory courses (or not).

Additional Info:
A 1000 word essay on using textbooks in introductory courses (or not).

Additional Info:
Excerpts from a post by Marilla Svinicki of University of Texas at Austin for the National Teaching and Learning Forum. Discusses some of the benefits of flipped classrooms. Argues that the flipped classroom is not easy or new. Hosted on Stanford University's Teaching Commons.

Additional Info:
When it was first published in 1997, The Course Syllabus became the gold standard reference for both new and experienced college faculty. Like the first edition, this book is based on a learner-centered approach. Because faculty members are now deeply committed to engaging students in learning, the syllabus has evolved into a useful, if lengthy, document. Today's syllabus provides details about course objectives, requirements and expectations, and also includes information about teaching philosophies, specific activities and the rationale for their use, and tools essential to student success. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments

Part I Focus on Learning
Planning Your Learning-Centered Syllabus: An Overview of the Process
Composing a Learning-Centered Syllabus
Using a Learning-Centered Syllabus

Part II Examples
Checklist
Title Page
Table of Contents
Instructor Information
Letter to the Student
Purpose of the Coarse
Course Description
Course and Unit Objectives
Resources
Readings
Course Calendar
Course Requirements
Evaluation
Grading Procedures
How to Use the Syllabus
How to Study for this Course
Content Information
Learning Tools
Checklist

Part III Resources
Suggested Readings

References
Index

Additional Info:
Online companion to the PBS weekly news show, with lots of resources for teachers (lesson plans, tips, additional links). Explicitly aimed at K-12, but helpful for college age students as well.

Additional Info:
Lesson plans, classroom tips, and teaching resources, on the website of the popular PBS news show.

Additional Info:
An index of more than 25,000 peace and conflict resolution related Web pages, books, articles, audio-visual materials, organizational profiles, events, and current news articles – including links for syllabi, simulations and case studies for use in higher education settings.

Additional Info:
A handout from BYU's Faculty Center, based on the work of L. Dee Fink, provides a series of detailed questions to guide you through the construction of a course, organized in categories such as: where are you? where do you want to go? how would you know if the students got there? how can you help them get there? what are the students going to do? etc.

Additional Info:
Most anyone who has taught a college course more than once realizes that students' learning does not proceed in a uniformly smooth fashion. All instructors encounter bottlenecks, places where the learning of a significant number of students is blocked. We used to think these bottlenecks were simply conceptually difficult places.

Additional Info:
New lecturers, part-time teachers and graduate teaching assistants are often required to both deliver an existing course and design their own teaching based on a module description. But where do they start?
Underpinned by sound theory, Designing Learning is a practical guide that aims to help busy professionals design, develop and deliver a course, from module outcome outline to effective teaching. Illustrated with useful checklists and action points, this book covers the essentials of designing learning: supporting and promoting student learning, matching content to outcomes, selecting effective teaching and learning methods, assessment that supports and promotes learning and provides feedback, learning materials and resources for diverse learners, C&IT tools and how to use them best, creating an inclusive learning environment, managing and evaluating your course, quality enhancement and assurance processes. Guided by principles of good practice and reflecting the educational research that underpins them, this book is essential reading for anyone new to teaching in higher education.(From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
List of illustrations
Foreword
Series preface
List of abbreviations
The higher education context
How your teaching fits into the bigger picture
What are your students supposed to learn and be able to do?
Matching your content to outcomes and not the other way around
Horses for courses: selecting the appropriate teaching and learning methods
Matching your assessment to outcomes
Learning materials and resources for diverse learners
Supporting your learners
Managing your course
Does the course work?
References
Index

Additional Info:
This introductory course fulfills a number of goals for students and colleges, including recruitment ad screening of majors, provision of prerequisite knowledge, explorations of learning, commitment to college, and cognitive development.

Additional Info:
A brief abridgement (37 pages) of Fink’s best-selling book, "Creating Significant Learning Experiences” (2003). A “workshop” to help faculty through the course-design process step by step.

Additional Info:
Series of detailed questions to guide you through the construction of a course, organized in categories such as: where are you? where do you want to go? how would you know if the students got there? how can you help them get there? what are the students going to do? etc.

Additional Info:

Additional Info:
The article looks at illusions of rigor we often accept in teaching our courses and what in fact are more realistic approaches that can provide the same high quality outcomes.

Additional Info:
The article looks at illusions of rigor we often accept in teaching our courses and what in fact are more realistic approaches that can provide the same high quality outcomes.

Additional Info:
An interactive web page for calculating the number of hours of work your course requires of students.

Additional Info:
An interactive web page for calculating the number of hours of work your course requires of students.

Additional Info:
Good teaching begins with good preparation. But many instructors and teaching assistants are unsure about how to plan their courses in order to teach more effectively.

Charting Your Course is a systematic approach to course planning that applies to all disciplines and course types. Prégent stresses analysis, planning, critical thinking, and careful evaluation and provides step-by-step examples of how actual new courses were designed and prepared. Whatever type of course you teach, use Charting Your Course to complement your current planning. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Introduction

ch. 1: Analyzing the Conditions of Your Teaching Situation
ch. 2: Formulating Course Objectives
ch. 3: Planning to Evaluate Learning
ch. 4: Choosing Your Teaching Methods
ch. 5: Choosing Your Teaching Materials
ch. 6: Detailed Course Planning
ch. 7: Preparing and Delivering a Lecture
ch. 8: Training Students for Group Work
ch. 9: Evaluating Your Teaching

Conclusion
Bibliography

Additional Info:

Additional Info:
A persistent question for pedagogy is that of whether and how the content of a course ought to shape the teaching method. Both the understanding of practical reason and the substantive concepts of modern Catholic social teaching support a classroom dynamic of a relatively egalitarian dialectic. The author grounds the case for this pedagogy in the understanding of practical reason as found in Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, and shows that such an understanding is continued in modern Catholic social teaching. He then shows how the social teaching's substantive move to a more egalitarian social theory reinforces the egalitarian mode of reasoning. The author and others are attempting to practice this pedagogy in the context of the University of Notre Dame's new Program in Catholic Social Tradition. The investigation as a whole raises the question of whether colleges and universities that have actively maintained religious affiliations have a decided advantage in sustaining an academic culture where faculty and students can practice practical reason.

Additional Info:
A 3-part overview of easy to digest bulleted points. The flipped classroom is a learning workshop instead of a lecture stage.

Additional Info:
An online application that helps you develop instructional objectives for courses and instructional programs.

Additional Info:
Without practice and feedback, students often are in the dark about how well they are learning—sometimes overestimating their comprehension and skill, sometimes underestimating them.

Additional Info:
Streamlined ID: A Practical Guide to Instructional Design presents a focused and generalizable approach to instructional design and development – one that addresses the needs of ID novices, as well as practitioners in a variety of career environments. Emphasizing the essentials and "big ideas" of ID, Streamlined ID presents a new perspective – one that aims to produce instruction that is sustainable, optimized, appropriately redundant, and targeted at continuous improvement.

The book features an enhanced version of the classic ADDIE model (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation) that emphasizes the iterative nature of design and the role of evaluation throughout the design/development process. It clearly lays out a systematic approach that emphasizes the use of research-based theories, while acknowledging the need to customize the process to address a variety of pedagogical approaches: Instructivist, Constructivist, and Connectivist.

The book opens with an overview of the basics of ID and each subsequent chapter describes major activities in the ID process with step-by-step instructions and tips for streamlining the process. Numerous job aids serve to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of your design efforts. Each chapter highlights key concepts and provides additional exercises and assignments based on the work of Benjamin Bloom. Streamlined ID is an ideal reference guide for optimizing professional practice. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
This Book: At a Glance
Acknowledgments

ch. 1 Mastering the Basics
ch. 2 Analyzing Needs to Define the Project
ch. 3 Analyzing to Identify the Learners
ch. 4 Analyzing the Contexts of Instruction
ch. 5 Analyzing the Content & Project Scope
ch. 6 Identifying the Outcomes & Aligning Instructionv ch.7 Assessing Learning
ch. 8 Selecting Strategies: The Heart of Instructional Design
ch. 9 Selecting Technologies that Support Instruction
ch. 10 Designing & Delivering an Effective Message
ch. 11 Producing & Implementing Instruction

Glossary
Reference
Index

Additional Info:
A google docs wiki with effective questions to ask yourself when designing assignments for students when emergencies result in missing face-to-face meetings. Hosted by Suffolk University’s Center for Teaching and Scholarly Excellence. Includes links to other resources. 

Additional Info:
What is understanding and how does it differ from knowledge? How can we determine the big ideas worth understanding? Why is understanding an important teaching goal, and how do we know when students have attained it? How can we create a rigorous and engaging curriculum that focuses on understanding and leads to improved student performance in today's high-stakes, standards-based environment?

Authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and many other questions in this second edition of Understanding by Design. Drawing on feedback from thousands of educators around the world who have used the UbD framework since its introduction in 1998, the authors have revised and expanded their original work to guide educators across the K16 spectrum in the design of curriculum, assessment, and instruction. With an improved UbD Template at its core, the book explains the rationale of backward design and explores in greater depth the meaning of such key ideas as essential questions and transfer tasks. Readers will learn why the familiar coverage- and activity-based approaches to curriculum design fall short, and how a focus on the six facets of understanding can enrich student learning. With an expanded array of practical strategies, tools, and examples from all subject areas, the book demonstrates how the research-based principles of Understanding by Design apply to district frameworks as well as to individual units of curriculum.

Combining provocative ideas, thoughtful analysis, and tested approaches, Understanding by Design, Expanded 2nd Edition, offers teacher-designers a clear path to the creation of curriculum that ensures better learning and a more stimulating experience for students and teachers alike. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Introduction
ch. 1 What Is Backward Design?
ch. 2 What Is a Matter of Understanding?
ch. 3 Understanding Understanding
ch. 4 The Six Facets of Understanding
ch. 5 Thinking Like an Assessor
ch. 6 How Is Understanding Assessed in Light of the Six Facets?
ch. 7 What Is Uncoverage?
ch. 8 What the Facets Imply for Unit Design
ch. 9 Implications for Organizing Curriculum
ch. 10 Implications for Teaching
ch. 11 Putting It All Together: A Design Template
Afterword
Bibliography

Additional Info:
Higher education today is being called on to deliver a new and more powerful kind of education, one that prepares students to be more engaged citizens, better equipped to solve complex problems at work and better prepared to lead meaningful lives individually.

To respond to this call, teachers in colleges and universities need to learn how to design more powerful kinds of learning into their courses. In 2003, Dee Fink published a seminal book, Creating Significant Learning Experiences, that offered teachers two major tools for meeting this need: the Taxonomy of Significant Learning and the model of Integrated Course Design. Since that time, educators around the world have found Finks ideas both visionary and inspiring.

This issue of New Directions for Teaching and Learning contains multiple stories of how college-level teachers have used these ideas in a variety of teaching situations, with subject matter ranging from the sciences to the humanities. Their conclusion? The ideas in Finks book truly make a difference. When used properly, they lead to major improvements in the level of student engagement and the quality of student learning! This is the 119th volume of the Jossey-Bass higher education quarterly report series New Directions for Teaching and Learning, which offers a comprehensive range of ideas and techniques for improving college teaching based on the experience of seasoned instructors and the latest findings of educational and psychological researchers. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Preface

ch. 1 Shoeboxes and Taxes: Integrated Course Design Unleashes New Creativity for a Veteran Teacher (Marsha M. Huber)
ch. 2 Bringing Language to Life in Second-Year Spanish (Debra Dimon Davis)
ch. 3 More Significant and Intentional Learning in the Economics Classroom (Laurence Miners, Kathryn Nantz)
ch. 4 Inspiration and Intellect: Significant Learning in Musical Forms and Analysis (Bruce C. Kelly)
ch. 5 Using Fink's Integrated Course Design: How a Book Changed Our Students' Learning, Our University, and Ourselves (Carolyn R. Fallahi, Laura E. Levine, Joan M. Nicoll-Senft, Jack T. Tessier , Cheryl L. Watson, Rebecca M. Wood)
ch. 6 Using Integrated Course Design to Build Student Communities of Practice in a Hybrid Course (Harriet R. Fayne)
ch. 7 Integrating Big Questions with Real-World Applications: Gradual Redesign in Philosophy and Art History (Marice Rose, Roben Torosyan)
ch. 8 Integrated Design of a Virology Course Develops Lifelong Learners (Joseph C. Mester)
ch. 9 An "Extreme Makeover" of a Course in Special Education (Joan M. Nicoll-Senft)
ch. 10 Sooner City: Reflections on a Curriculum Reform Project (Randall L . Kolar, David A. Sabatini, K.K. Muraleetharan)
ch. 11 Still Learning (L. Dee Fink)
ch. 12 Lessons We Can Learn from the Voices of Experience (Arletta Knight Fink, L. Dee Fink)

Index

Additional Info:
University of Tennessee (Knoxville) site with a “course design chart” to guide you through the instructional design steps of analyzing, designing, developing delivering, and evaluating an online course. Plus a compendium of teaching tools and a glossary of definitions.

Additional Info:
Designing and Assessing Courses and Curricula reflects the most current knowledge and practice in course and curriculum design and connects this knowledge with the critical task of assessing learning outcomes at both course and curricular levels. This thoroughly revised and expanded third edition of the best-selling book positions course design as a tool for educational change and contains a wealth of new material including new chapters, case examples, and resources. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Part 1 A Frame of Reference
ch. 1 A Learning-Centered Approach to Course and Curriculum Design
ch. 2 The Expanding Role of Faculty in Accreditation and Accountability
ch. 3 Staying Informed
ch. 4 Scholarship and Faculty Rewards
ch. 5 An Introduction to the Model and Its Benefits
ch. 6 Diagramming

Part 2 The Process
ch. 7 Making the Decision to Go Ahead
ch. 8 Getting Started
ch. 9 Linking Goals, Courses, and Curricula
ch. 10 Gathering and Analyzing Essential Data
ch. 11 Thinking in the Ideal
ch. 12 Adjusting from the Ideal to the Possible
ch. 13 Clarifying Instructional Goals and Learning Outcomes
ch. 14 Designing and Implementing Your Assessment Plan: Overview and Assessing a Curriculum
ch. 15 Designing and Implementing Your Assessment Plan: Assessing a Course

Part 3 Designing, Implementing, and Assessing the Learning Experience
ch. 16 Designing the Learning Experience: The Research on Teaching and Learning
ch. 17 Designing the Learning Experience: Your Instructional Options
ch. 18 Using Technology to Support Learning Wallace Hannum
ch. 19 Distance Learning Wallace Hannum
ch. 20 Meeting the Needs of Adult Learners G. Roger Sell
ch. 21 Addressing Diversity G. Roger Sell
ch. 22 Developing a Learning-Centered Syllabus

Part 4 Your Next Steps
ch. 23 Using Your Data: Curriculum and Course Revision
ch. 24 Learning from Experience

Resources
Case Studies
References
Index

Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: Become an effective adult educator by approaching teaching systematically

As the author describes at the beginning of Creating Courses for Adults, "The big idea of this book is that education for adults has to be designed." Whether in basic skills training, English language classes, professional development workshops, personal interest courses, or formal degree programs, good teaching tends to conceal all the planning and decisions which had to be made in order to present participants with a seamless and coherent process for learning. The author posits that nobody is a completely intuitive teacher and that everybody has to make a series of choices as they put courses together. The decisions they make are important and far-reaching, and deserve to be considered carefully.

Starting with the three core factors which must be taken into account when creating courses, Creating Courses for Adults walks readers through a manageable process for addressing the key decisions which must be made in order to design effective learning.

- Instructor factors are what the teacher brings to the teaching and learning process, such as experience and preferences.
- Learner factors are the influences that students bring with them, including their past experiences and expectations for the class.
- Context factors include the educational setting, whether in-person or online, as well as the subject matter.

Readers of Creating Courses for Adults will learn a systematic approach to lesson and course design based on research into the ways adults learn and the best ways to reach them, along with pointers and tips for teaching adults in any setting. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Preface
Why Design?
Perspective on Learning
Further Information
Acknowledgments
About the Author

PART ONE - Core Factors in Teaching
ch. 1 All About You
Why Who You Are and What You’ve Done Matters
Reflecting on Your Approach
What Are We Doing It For?
Why Identity Matters
Going Further
Conclusion: Pulling It Together

ch. 2 Engaged and Involved Learners
How Do People Learn?
Engagement in Learning
Learner Diversity
Responding to Diversity
Conclusion: Making Difference Matter

ch. 3 Context Drives Design
Why Context Matters
Ball Gown or Boots: Formality
Wired Learning
Organizational Context
The Aims of the Course
Time, or the Lack Thereof
Somewhere to Sit: Physical Resources
Conclusion

PART TWO - The Key Decisions
ch. 4 Knowing Where You Are Going
Objectives—And Some Objections
The Educator
The Learners
The Context
Conclusion

ch. 5 Content and Resources for Learning
Information and Objects
Resources and Materials
The Educator
The Learners
The Context
Conclusion

ch. 6 Ways of Working Together
The Range of Methods
The Educator
The Learners
The Context
Conclusion

ch. 7 What Do the Learners Say?
Designing Evaluation
The Educator
The Learners
The Context
Conclusion

ch. 8 Making Learning Visible
Counting What Counts
The Educator
The Learners
The Context
Conclusion

ch. 9 You Can Take It with You!
Moving Learning beyond the Course
The Educator
The Learners
The Context
Conclusion

ch. 10 Design Frames Practice
The Book in a Box
An Example of a Program Design
For New Educators of Adults

Conclusion
References
Appendix A: A Blank Design Framework
Appendix B: Where to Find Further Resources
Index

Additional Info:
Seminaries have a responsibility to engage students in reflecting upon the spiritual life, as well as providing opportunities to deepen their own spiritual journeys. It also is important that they consider the intentional ways that their understandings and experiences of the spiritual life influence their leadership in the Church. Spiritual formation of seminarians provides particular challenges to faculty of liberal, ecumenical seminaries. This article describes a course designed to address these issues and argues that spiritual formation can be effectively integrated into the curricula of liberal, ecumenical seminaries.

Additional Info:
This guide will help you design your course in the Children and Family Ministry and the Youth and Student Ministry M.Div. concentrations at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. Using two proven educational frameworks for course design you will be able to create a powerful course that will facilitate a meaningful learning experience for your students, and a rewarding teaching adventure for you.

Using the frameworks of Understanding by Design (Wiggins and McTighe) and the learning principles of that classic educational theory of Constructivism you will be able to design a course that:
Is student-centered
Applies theory to practice
Is experiental
Leads toward self-understanding
Is congregationally focused
(From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Introduction

ch. 1 Constructivist Teaching and Learning
ch. 2 Teaching for Understanding
ch. 3 Designing Your Course for Understanding
ch. 4 Using Learning Objectives
ch. 5 Organizing Your Course
ch. 6 Assessing Learning

Appendicies
Sample Course Syllabus
Sample Discussion Board Assessment Rubric
Teaching On-Line: Principles and Practices
Faculty and Instructor: Responsibilities for On-line Teaching

Additional Info:
Here is a practical, how to book written for new online web instructors. It will also be helpful to course designers, trainers, administrators, or anyone interested in the potential of online learning and training by providing an excellent introduction to the online education arena. The format provided will easily fit into any course design while utilizing a variety of current resources and tools. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Preface
Illustrations
Tables
Acknowledgments
Introduction

ch. 1 The Constructivist Approach to Online Learning with Technology
Constructivist Learning Environments and New Technologies
Social Nature of Learning

ch. 2 Effective Planning and Design for Online Teaching
Web-enhanced Teaching
Translating Content to Web-based Environments
Conclusions

ch. 3 Foundation for Instructional Screen Design
Figure-Ground Relationships
Principles of Graphic Design for Your "Web Office" or Class
Conclusions

ch. 4 Communication and Community Create Online Success
Creating Community
Strategies for Successful Online Learning
Best Practices
Translating Instructor Presence Online
Continuous Improvement

ch. 5 Evaluating the Student
Creating and Optimizing Assessment Strategies
How to Measure Student Learning
Types of Assessments
Designing Performance Assessments
Feedback
Assessing the Student
Technology Piece Evaluation
Exhibition
Conclusions

ch. 6 Conclusion
Course Maintenance Checklist
Five Challenges for Online Learning
Online Teaching and Learning: The Winning Combination

App. A Technology Resources
App. B Tools
App. C Online Tutorials
App. D Journals
App. E Instructor's Web Site
App. F Real-time Chat Activity

Glossary
Bibliography
Index
About the Author

Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Flipped learning is an approach to the design and instruction of classes through which, with appropriate guidance, students gain their first exposure to new concepts and material prior to class, thus freeing up time during class for the activities where students typically need the most help, such as applications of the basic material and engaging in deeper discussions and creative work with it.

While flipped learning has generated a great deal of excitement, given the evidence demonstrating its potential to transform students’ learning, engagement and metacognitive skills, there has up to now been no comprehensive guide to using this teaching approach in higher education.

Robert Talbert, who has close to a decade’s experience using flipped learning for majors in his discipline, in general education courses, in large and small sections, as well as online courses – and is a frequent workshop presenter and speaker on the topic – offers faculty a practical, step-by-step, “how-to” to this powerful teaching method.

He addresses readers who want to explore this approach to teaching, those who have recently embarked on it, as well as experienced practitioners, balancing an account of research on flipped learning and its theoretical bases, with course design concepts to guide them set up courses to use flipped learning effectively, tips and case studies of actual classes across various disciplines, and practical considerations such as obtaining buy-in from students, and getting students to do the pre-class activities.

This book is for anyone seeking ways to get students to better learn the content of their course, take more responsibility for their work, become more self-regulated as learners, work harder and smarter during class time, and engage positively with course material. As a teaching method, flipped learning becomes demonstrably more powerful when adopted across departments. It is an idea that offers the promise of transforming teaching in higher education. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
PART ONE: WHAT IS FLIPPED LEARNING?
ch. 1. What is Flipped Learning, and Why Use It?
ch. 2. The History and Theory of Flipped Learning
ch. 3. Models of Flipped Learning
PART TWO: FLIPPED LEARNING DESIGN
ch. 4. Designing a Course Around Flipped Learning
ch. 5. Designing Flipped Learning Experiences, Part I: Building the Framework for a Lesson
ch. 6. Designing Flipped Learning Experiences, Part 2: Designing Effective Activities
PART THREE: TEACHING AND LEARNING IN A FLIPPED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
ch. 7. Variations on a Theme
ch. 8. Living and Working with Flipped Learning

Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Social presence continues to emerge as a key factor for successful online and blended learning experiences. It is commonly described as the degree to which online participants feel connected to one another. Understanding social presence with its critical connections to community-building, retention, and learning outcomes allows faculty and instructional designers to better support and engage students. This volume, Social Presence in Online Learning, addresses the evolution of social presence with three distinct perspectives, outlines the relevant research, and focuses on practical strategies that can immediately impact the teaching and learning experience. These strategies include creating connections to build community, applying content to authentic situations, integrating a careful mix of tools and media, leveraging reflective and interactive opportunities, providing early and continuous feedback, designing with assessment in mind, and encouraging change in small increments. Because student satisfaction and motivation plays a key role in retention rates and because increased social presence often leads to enriched learning experiences, it is advantageous to mindfully integrate social presence into learning environments.

Social Presence in Online Learning brings together eminent scholars in the field to distinguish among three different perspectives of social presence and to address how these viewpoints immediately inform practice. This important volume:

• Provides an overview of the evolution of social presence, key findings from social presence research, and practical strategies that can improve the online and blended learning experience

• Differentiates three distinct perspectives on social presence and explains the ideas and models that inform these perspectives

• Explores specific ways in which social presence relates to course satisfaction, retention, and outcomes

• Offers practical implications and ready-to-use techniques that are applicable to multiple disciplines

• Introduces current research on social presence by prominent researchers in the field with direct inferences to the practice of online and blended learning

• Looks at future directions for social presence

Social Presence in Online Learning is appropriate for practitioners, researchers and academics involved in any level of online learning program design, course design, instruction, support, and leadership as well as for graduate students studying educational technology, technology-enhanced learning, and online and blended learning. It brings together multiple perspectives on social presence from the most influential scholars in the field to help shape the future of online and blended learning. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Series Foreword (Michael Grahame Moore, Series Editor)
Foreword (Charlotte Nirmalani Gunawardena)
Acknowledgements

Part One: Introduction to Social Presence in Online Learning
ch. 1. Multiple Perspectives on Social Presence in Online Learning: An Introduction to This Volume (Karen Swan)
ch. 2. Social Presence: Understanding Connections Among Definitions, Theory, Measurements, and Practice (Amy Garrett Dikkers,; Aimee L. Whiteside; Bethany Tap

Part Two: Understanding Social Presence as Technologically Facilitated
ch. 3. Understanding Social Presence as Technologically Facilitated: Introduction to Part Two (Karen Swan) ch. 4. Social Presence and Communication Technologies: Tales of Trial and Error (Patrick Lowenthal; Dave Mulder)
ch.. 5. Evolvements of Social Presence in Open and Networked Learning Environments (Chih-Hsiung Tu)

Part Three: Understanding Social Presence as Learners' Perceptions ch. 6. Understanding Social Presence as Learners’ Perceptions: Introduction to Part Three (Karen Swan)
ch. 7. Social Presence and the Community of Inquiry Framework (Karen Swan; Jennifer C. Richardson)
ch. 8. Social Presence and Student Success: Retention, Satisfaction, and Evolving Expectations (Phil Ice; Melissa Layne; Wally Boston)
ch. 9. Instructor Social Presence: Learners' Needs and a Neglected Component of the Community of Inquiry Framework (Jennifer C. Richardson; Patrick Lowenthal)
ch. 10. Creating Social Cues through Self-Disclosures, Stories, and Paralanguage: The Importance of Modeling High Social Presence Behaviors in Online Courses (Jessica Gordon)
ch. 11. Cultural Perspectives on Social Presence: Research and Practical Guidelines for Online Design (Charlotte Nirmalani Gunawardena)

Part Four: Understanding Social Presence as a Critical Literacy
ch. 12. Understanding Social Presence as a Critical Literacy: Introduction to Part Four (Aimee L. Whiteside)
ch. 13. Making Learning Relevant and Meaningful: Integrating Social Presence into Faculty Professional Development Programs (Aimee L. Whiteside)
ch. 14. Blending Face-to-Face and Online Instruction to Disrupt Learning, Inspire Reflection, and Create Space for Innovation (Amy Garrett Dikkers; Aimee L. Whiteside; Somer Lewis)
ch. 15. Personalized Learning to Meet the Needs of Diverse Learners (Somer Lewis; Amy Garrett Dikkers; Aimee L. Whiteside)
ch. 16. Overcoming Isolation Online: Strategies to Enhance Social Presence in Practice (Aimee L. Whiteside; Amy Garrett Dikkers; Somer Lewis)

Section V: Concluding Thoughts ch. 17. Future Directions for Social Presence: Shared Metacognition, Emerging Technologies, and the New Educational Ecosystem (Jason C. Vickers; Peter Shea)
ch. 18. The Future of Social Presence: Advancing Research, Uniting the Perspectives, and Allowing for Innovation in Practice (Aimee L. Whiteside; Karen Swan; Amy Garrett Dikkers)

Editors and Contributors
Index

Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: Today’s seminary and religious-education instructors are expected to design and redesign their courses more nimbly than in the past. We have to adapt our courses to novel learning environments, for more diverse learners, toward more diverse vocations. At the same time, institutional rewards for time invested in course design are fewer than ever. Understanding Bible by Design introduces the reader to Understanding by Design: an approach to course design that is proven time-efficient and grounded in the instructor’s most closely-held convictions about her subject matter’s “big ideas and essential questions.” This book’s contributors (one in Old Testament, one in New Testament, and one in Jewish Studies) demonstrate the value of Understanding Bible by Design for the Biblical Studies instructor, whether at seminary or university, face-to-face or online, from the intimate seminar to the massive MOOC.

Lester’s synopsis of course design and suggested action is followed by a collaborative dialogue with Jane S. Webster and Christopher M. Jones. Webster and Jones provide practical commentary regarding the successful implementation of Lester’s proposed approaches. As a group, Lester, Webster, and Jones create a text that extends pedagogical innovation in inspiring but practical ways. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Setting the Problem (G. Brooke Lester)
ch. 2 Understanding by Design (G. Brooke Lester)
ch. 3 Understanding by Design: Old Testament in Seminary (G. Brooke Lester)
ch. 4 Understanding by Design: Putting Your Course Online(G. Brooke Lester)
ch. 5 Understanding by Design: New Testament at University(Jane S. Webster)
Exhibit 3: Annotated Sample Template for Essay in "New Testament" (Jane S. Webster)
ch. 6 Understanding by Design: Judaism Studies at University (Christopher M. Jones)

Appendix
Exhibit 1: Rubric for Presentations (G. Brooke Lester)
Exhibit 2: All-Purpose Rubric for "Introduction to the Old Testament" (G. Brooke Lester)
Exhibit 4: Interdisciplinary Institutional Rubric for Writing at Barton College (Jane S. Webster)
Exhibit 5: Rubric for Essays in "New Testament"(Jane S. Webster)
Exhibit 6: Rubric for Ritual Analysis Papers in "Ritual and Ritualization" (Christopher M. Jones)
Exhibit 7: Rubric for Drafts in "Space and Place in Early Jewish Literature" (Christopher M. Jones)

Additional Info:
Susan Toohey focuses not on teaching techniques but on the strategic decisions which must be made before a course begins. She provides realistic advice for university and college teachers on how to design more effective courses without underestimating the complexity of the task facing course developers. In particular, she examines fully the challenges involved in leading course design teams, getting agreement among teaching staff and managing organizational politics. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Acknowledgements
Introduction

ch. 1 Pressures for Change
ch. 2 The Course Design Process
ch. 3 Beliefs, Values and Ideologies in Course Design
ch. 4 Thinking about Goals and Content
ch. 5 The Structure of the Course
ch. 6 Making Learning Opportunities More Flexible
ch. 7 Deciding on Goals and Objectives for Units of Study
ch. 8 Choosing Teaching Strategies
ch. 9 Assessment
ch. 10 Implementing the New Course

References
Index
The Society for Research into Higher Education

Additional Info:
Info page, with files and web links, on Understanding by Design, and approach to "backward course design" developed by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe.

Additional Info:
Grant Wiggins, one of the developers of "Understanding by Design," proposes standards for course design and offers "prompts" toward a purposefully-designed course. Part of a series of blog posts on the topic.

Additional Info:
The "School of the Future" (grades 6-12) describes "authentic assessment" as involving performances that are 1) real-life, 2) engaging for learners, and 3) requiring synthesis and critical thinking. Narrators situate "authentic assessment" in the context of "backward course design."

Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
In Creating Wicked Students, Paul Hanstedt argues that courses can and should be designed to present students with what are known as “wicked problems” because the skills of dealing with such knotty problems are what will best prepare them for life after college. As the author puts it, “this book begins with the assumption that what we all want for our students is that they be capable of changing the world….When a student leaves college, we want them to enter the world not as drones participating mindlessly in activities to which they’ve been appointed, but as thinking, deliberative beings who add something to society.”

There’s a lot of talk in education these days about “wicked problems”—problems that defy traditional expectations or knowledge, problems that evolve over time: Zika, ISIS, political discourse in the era of social media. To prepare students for such wicked problems, they need to have wicked competencies, the ability to respond easily and on the fly to complex challenges. Unfortunately, a traditional education that focuses on content and skills often fails to achieve this sense of wickedness. Students memorize for the test, prepare for the paper, practice the various algorithms over and over again—but when the parameters or dynamics of the test or the paper or the equation change, students are often at a loss for how to adjust.

This is a course design book centered on the idea that the goal in the college classroom—in all classrooms, all the time—is to develop students who are not just loaded with content, but capable of using that content in thoughtful, deliberate ways to make the world a better place. Achieving this goal requires a top-to-bottom reconsideration of courses, including student learning goals, text selection and course structure, day-to-day pedagogies, and assignment and project design. Creating Wicked Students takes readers through each step of the process, providing multiple examples at each stage, while always encouraging instructors to consider concepts and exercises in light of their own courses and students. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Acknowledgements

Ch 1. Rethinking the Whole Student in Wicked Ways
Ch 2. Setting Goals for Our Courses
Ch 3. Structuring Wicked Courses

Intermission
Ch 4. Creating Wicked Assignments
Ch 5. Creating Authoritative Exams
Ch 6. Day-to-Day Teaching Methods

Intermission

Ch 7. Assessing Wickedness

Conclusion

Additional Info:
An online tutorial describing a methodology for creating online learning. Upon completion of the course you should be able to: explain why online education is an effective learning format for adult learners; write measurable learning objectives; organize content into an online format; and create assessment tools/exercises that measure achievement of learning objectives. University of Tennessee.

Additional Info:
"This guide is primarily for the Master of Divinity degree program ... and the M.Div. concentrations"--P. 1.

Table Of Content:
Introduction

ch. 1 A Quick Start Guide to Designing Your Course
ch. 2 Constructivist Teaching and Learning
ch. 3 Teaching for Understanding
ch. 4 Designing Your Course for Understanding
ch. 5 Using Learning Objectives to Design Your Course
ch. 6 Organizing Your Course
ch. 7 Assessing Student Learning

Appendices