Digital Life & Faith Formation
Principles & Practices
5 Improvements Your Church Website Needs Immediately
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No longer are websites a simple source of information for local visitors, church websites are now an active and growing source of ministry, sharing the Gospel and making disciples all around the world.
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Blended Learning |
Blended learning is a formal education program in which a student learns at least in part through online learning, with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or peace; at least in part in a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home; and the modalities along each student's learning path within a course or subject are connected to provide an integrated learning experience.
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Building and Sustaining
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Verity Jones explains how social media can throw relationships and communities into high relief, including communities of faith.
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Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century
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A central goal of this report is to shift the focus of the conversation about the digital divide from questions of technological access to those of opportunities to participate and to develop the cultural competencies and social skills needed for full involvement. Participatory culture shifts the focus of literacy from one of individual expression to community involvement. The new literacies almost all involve social skills developed through collaboration and networking. These skills build on the foundation of traditional literacy, research skills, technical skills, and critical analysis skills taught in the classroom.
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Connected Educator Starter Kit
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This guide is separated into 31 days worth of online activities to get you started into your journey as a connected educator and learner. How you use the kit is up to you. Try a few activities and then explore on your own, follow this guide to the letter, find a tool or community that fuels your passion and spend your time really cultivating your presence there.
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Connected Learning |
There is wide agreement that we need new models of education, and not simply new models of schooling, but entirely new visions of learning better suited to the increasing complexity, connectivity, and velocity of our new knowledge society. We now have the capability to reimagine where, when, and how learning takes place. Connected Learning is an educational approach designed for our ever-changing world. It makes learning relevant to all populations, to real life and real work, and to the realities of the digital age, where the demand for learning never stops. To learn more about connected learning go to the Connected Learning website, read the articles below, watch the videos, and download the report: Connected Learning - An Agenda for Research & Design (a report of the Connected Learning Research Network).
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Digital Media and Technology in Afterschool Programs, Libraries, and Museums
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This MacArthur Report examines the ways in which afterschool programs, libraries, and museums use digital media to support extracurricular learning. It investigates how these three varieties of youth-serving organizations have incorporated technological infrastructure and digital practices into their programs; what types of participation and learning digital practices support. The authors review a range of programs, and then use the idea of “media ecologies” to investigate the role that digital media play (or could play) in these “intermediary spaces for learning.”
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Expanding the Reach of Faith Formation with Hybrid Networks
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New patterns of American religiosity are changing (or should be changing) the tried-and-(no-longer)-true ministry models that churches have been using for decades. But congregational leaders are reluctant to give up on programs that have worked in the past, especially when the replacements are far from certain. There is an opportunity in this situation to be led by the Spirit into new territory. Kyle Oliver describes the development of new hybrid models of faith formation.
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Flipped Classroom |
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Five Best Practices for the Flipped Classroom
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A short and realistic article about best practices for “flipping” the classroom to move teaching from a “sage on the stage” approach to a “guide on the side” one. (New to this idea? The article links to this excellent introductory infographic.) The short discussion of each topic will help faith formation leaders better think through their own efforts to enliven in-person time with learners and supplement faith formation programs with appropriate online content.
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How Digital Learning Contributes to Deeper Learning
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The authors believe that over the next five years there is an opportunity to significantly improve the preparation of American students. The implementation of college- and career ready standards, the shift to next-generation assessments, the rise of blended learning and the prevalence of affordable devices has laid the foundation for a national shift to personal digital learning. This paper identifies three primary ways that digital learning promotes deeper learning: personalized skill building in preparation for deeper learning, schools and tools that foster deeper learning, and extended access. (GettingSmart.com)
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Faith Formation in a Media World
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This article presents a conceptual framework by which to develop and assess faith formation within a media culture.
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Moving Online: Faith Formation in a Digital Age
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This article helps “digital immigrants” catch up with “digital natives." After reflecting on the “why” and “what” of faith formation, the article explores the vast array of technological possibilities to assess their potential for faith formation. It explains the approach of Message, Method, then Media for making decisions so that digital tools are appropriately used, and offers concrete examples of ways faith communities can appropriately use digital resources to provide faith formation online.
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New Media Project Case Studies |
The New Media Project's research fellows conducted case studies of six innovative projects in digital communication based in congregations, religious institutions, or para-church organizations. The six case study subjects are as follows:
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Nurturing Faith Online
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Websites remain essential communication tools for congregations. Email, Facebook, Twitter, and blogs are now used by congregations to supplement the website and to point people toward it. The various forms of online communication work together to direct people back and forth between them. At their best, all these forms of communication highlight the central priorities of the congregation. And one of those priorities should be lifelong faith formation. This article sketches some of the ways the various forms of online communication can work together to nurture faith.
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Online Learning Communities: The Heart of Online Learning
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The article explores the development of online courses and programs in Christian higher education, with specific attention given to graduate theological online education at Northwest Nazarene University. The article provides evidence, from research and experience, that online learning communities are central to learning and formation in online courses. The article also discusses the benefits of developing online learning communities as it relates to ministry and the local church.
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Preparing for a Future of Digital Media Ministry: Trends in Technology Training
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Where and how are we getting ready for a future shaped by digital media? Kyle Oliver identifies significant trends in technology training and proposes answers to how to prepare for the future of digital ministry that may surprise you.
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Quest to Learn: Developing the School for Digital Kids
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Quest to Learn, an innovative school for grades 6 to 12 in New York City, grew out of the idea that gaming and game design offer a promising new paradigm for curriculum and learning. The designers of Quest to Learn developed an approach to learning that draws from what games do best: drop kids into inquiry-based, complex problem spaces that are built to help players understand how they are doing, what they need to work on, and where to go next. Content is not treated as dry information but as a living resource; students are encouraged to interact with the larger world in ways that feel relevant, exciting, and empowering.
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Teaching & Learning with the iGeneration
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This article summarizes a variety of perspectives and strategies for teaching children today - the "iGeneration” - offering practical ways that teachers and leaders can use the new Web 2.0 technologies with children in faith formation.
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Thinking Theologically about Using Social Media
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The New Media Project wants to help faith leaders become more theologically savvy about social media, which is rapidly changing the landscape of Christian life.
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This is the World You Live and Lead in Now
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Pastor Keith Anderson helps us understand that they advances in technology in the last eight years can have “profound implications for how we live, lead, and minister today.” How can we use the tools that are at our disposal rather than run from them?
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Using Social Media to Strengthen Family Bonds: A Practical Guide for Parents
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We can learn a few things from research that shed light parenting in a digital world. The good news for parents is that the very digital tools that have the potential to be destructive for families can also be used instead towards building new bridges of communication and family intimacy.
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Using Technology in Faith Formation
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The possibilities for expanding our ministry efforts with technology are mind-boggling to say the least. The more vehicles we use to transmit the Gospel message, the more likely we are to be heard. Technology gives us the opportunity to speak the faith in multiple ways, making the message more accessible to a broader spectrum of church members and others. How will we use technology to form people in faith?
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The Virtues of Online (Faith) Learning
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There are distinctive Christian virtues being nurtured when disciples learn and grow in faith online. And I think these virtues matter for faith formation ministers serving in congregations. This essay seeks to articulate the distinctive Christian virtues of online learning for the faith formation context.
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