Fun with class blogs

I only have the opportunity to teach my “proactive ministry in a media culture” class every other year or so, given that it’s an elective. But it’s really one of my favorites. Not least because students are required to blog and I find that they always provide interesting reflections. This year is no exception, we’ve only met once and yet many of my students have already set up their blogs (you can find the list embedded in the course page here).

Interesting issues they've raised include: the connection between the ads automatically embedded in the page and the content they're working with, the challenge to theologically engage "stuff", how discrete objects can get invested with deeper meaning, and the mutability of meaning.

On this last point, betweenthealreadyandnotyet wrote:

"I've found that for me, I am able to enter more fully into a story when I am not being told exactly what to think- when I am able to turn it over in my mind, relate it to my own experiences, and see what it has to speak to me. It's a different kind of learning and reflection than what takes place while reading textbooks and writing papers, so when this happens- when I am pulled into a story and can find my own place in it- it is refreshing, exciting, and thought-provoking."

I am both hope-filled by this comment -- what an excellent observation about the power of constructive meaning-making -- but distressed by the way in which it also illuminates the default mode of teaching/learning in seminary.

Part of what I LOVE about teaching, is this kind of learning with my students.