Editor's Note

Abstract

In this issue of the journal we inaugurate a new manuscript form we are calling “Design & Analysis.” Like a Forum, it is composed of several short essays providing different perspectives on a single topic. But in this case, the focus is on describing and analyzing a specific learning design. Chad Bauman, Associate Professor of Religion at Butler University and a “graduate” of a Wabash Center pre-tenure workshop, approached me with a short text describing an assignment he had developed for his introduction to religion class. The manuscript described in some detail a semester-long assignment requiring students to “invent” a new religious system and then seek to attract converts by explaining its characteristics. This is a creative assignment, to be sure, engaging his students in a playful game that requires them to think about and apply the various theories of religion they are learning during the semester. But the text was too short for the journal. How could this be developed into a full-fledged article? We discussed the manuscript for a while, pointing out places where he could provide a bit more analysis, give us more details about his teaching context and students, say more about the learning goals he had for the assignment, and so forth. I realized that what we had was a very clear and compelling description of a learning design and an analysis of its strengths and weaknesses, why it works, and how it might be improved. It was rather like an extended Teaching Tactic – referring to our very popular 400-word (one page) manuscripts describing a particular teaching strategy through rigorous adherence to four specific prompts: the context, the purpose, description of the strategy, and why it is effective. (For more on writing and submitting Teaching Tactics, see: http://www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/journal/article2.aspx?id=14417.) But a Teaching Tactic, however extended, does not constitute a true article. What is the argument or claim being made: “You should try this too,” I suppose. We then decided that the way to turn this into a fully developed essay for the journal was to solicit short responses – make it into a Forum of sorts, in which the authors together would pull out pedagogical insights from this learning design. The teaching context The pedagogical purpose A description of the strategy (or assignment) Assessment of how it worked and Reflection on what he would do differently next time. Five respondents contribute 500 to 1000 words each, analyzing the effectiveness of the assignment, and articulating larger questions about teaching religion and theology that are made visible in the submission. We are very pleased with the results. And just a few weeks after receiving the initial inquiries from Chad Bauman we received a similarly focused short essay on a creative teaching moment that developed rather spontaneously in a seminary classroom discussing the book of Genesis. You can look for it fleshed out into a Design & Analysis forum in the next issue (April, 19:2). This issue also includes two Teaching Tactics: one describes a method for engaging students' religious questions in an Islamic Studies course, and the other uses visual arts in the biblical studies classroom. This issue also includes a Forum that arose from a paper that Russell McCutcheon delivered to the University of Chicago Divinity School's “Craft of Teaching” workshop for doctoral students: “Crafting the Introductory Course in Religious Studies.” The four articles in this issue cover a wide spectrum. Nathan Loewen uses Derrida's arguments about hospitality to analyze learning in a classroom that he has connected with other classrooms around the globe via Skype. Molly Bassett explains how she teaches – and assesses – critical thinking skills through innovative multiple-choice exams in large introductory courses. Natalie Wigg-Stevenson's essay describes Emmanuel College's Contextual Education seminars that help MDiv students develop integrative learning while simultaneously providing doctoral students with a much-needed teaching practicum. And finally, Willa M. Johnson uses the social theory she teaches to her students to help them (and us) understand how they respond to her as an African-American teaching about European anti-Semitism in a large southern university with a horrific racist history of its own. And, since January 2015, our book reviews are now available for free download on the Wabash Center's website: http://www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/resources/article.aspx?id=29111.