Cluster Questions

The “cluster questions” are sets of questions grouped by cluster that help you to practice the ideas and skills with which this class is working. They are ways into our discussion, and should help us bring multiple lenses to the larger course conversation. Think of them as “jumping off” points, not final or conclusive statements.

During the online version of this class, in the fall of 2010, we will work with five focus texts/exercises roughly connected to Maria Harris’ identification of five facets of learning in the church, and we will use five clusters of questions to engage them. The situations are embedded in each week’s content. The cluster questions are as follows:

• biblical ideas and learning
• ritual practices and learning
• the history of individuals and communities around religious education and faith formation
• the art of learning design
• the art of assessing learning

Each week each small group will work with one cluster of questions, mulling them over amongst themselves, and then posting a summary of their thought to the course blog in the middle of the week. Those summaries will then become the catalyst for further discussion by everyone in the class throughout the latter half of the week, using the comments mechanism on the course blog.