Abstract
The first online course produced and taught in Mason's Department of Religious Studies, "The Human Religious Experience," applies the situated learning approach where students "co-construct knowledge" through a 'social process' (Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, 1991) to meet the Mason Core "global understanding" requirement.The course covers the beliefs, practices, festivals, and history of the major world religious traditions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism. Several instructional strategies (e.g., online discussions, field trips) are used to allow students to experience other cultures and their religious practices.Student interaction is a large component of the course with discussion prompts carefully crafted around real-life situations to engage students in high-order thinking. Some of the discussions evolve around videos where guests representing different religions (selected by the faculty member) talk about religion and culture from their perspectives.Field trips to places of worship, interviewing congregants or religious leaders, and exchanging and discussing reports of these experiences are other examples of applications of situated learning.By the end of the course, students are able to articulate their own worldview (religious or otherwise) based on their own culture and backgrounds and their experiences in the course.
Highlights
Research Question What is the impact of the course design on the student learning outcomes that focus on developing global understanding?
Situated learning recognizes the importance of creating “communities of practice” (Mark Smith, 2003) for effective learning the course implements community-building strategies like contextualized learning, regular required responses to classmates’ discussion board and blog posts, and group projects
These strategies are effective in teaching world religious traditions since world religions themselves are communities of practice
Summary
The instructor and instructional designer conducted an analysis of The Human Religious Experience (RELI 100) course, including student demographics, issues students have had in the past with the course, and a narrative written by the instructor describing what students needed to be able to do when they finish the course. As this course fulfils the general education requirement in global understanding, they reviewed the associated learning outcomes and the existing learning outcomes for the course. The summative assessments included sanctuary reports of visits to places of worship and a final essay where they synthesized what they learned in the course
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