Learning objectives
David Greeff
It was great to see some activity in this group.
To reintroduce myself:
David Greeff, working in Namibia for a theological College, and appointed as 'E-learning' coordinator.
Apart from launching our online / blended learning platform, one of the tasks I have recently been given is to develop the 'Ministry Internship' course - for our BTh (hons) program which also will be launched next year. Its going to be for people who have been in full time ministry for at least 5 years.
We have something like a syllabus ... but I think nothing is cast in stone ... even the name of the course (as far as I am concerned). The conclusion I am coming to is that the substance of this course is 'ministry formation' which is what (more than?) a few of you seem to be interested in.
So: if you were designing such a course what would your learning objectives be? Bearing in mind that this 'course' will be done away from the campus, in one's ministry context, my role would be, once having designed the syllabus/objectives/outline of the course, to implement it on our LMS.
What formation issues would you explore?
Can we pool some ideas? - this would really give me one BIG kickstart!
Looking forward to being flooded with responses and emails! :-)
David
Mark Nichols
Hello David! Great to connect with you again!
So: if you were designing such a ['Ministry Internship'] course what would your learning objectives be?
I’m assuming that by ‘learning objectives’ you mean the “By the end of this course you should be able to…” variety. A lot depends on the level of study, but here’s a starter for me for what I’d expect if I was to successfully pass:
· A broad and biblical knowledge of what constitutes ‘ministry’, and biblical criteria for its effectiveness.
· The ability to discern when and what type of ministry might be appropriate or effective in a given situation.
· The ability to plan, prepare and perform ministry tasks appropriately.
· The ability to self-evaluate and reflect on my activities.
· The willingness to seek out and learn from others’ appraisals of my activities.
· The ability to serve as part of a team, both as a leader and as one working for or with a leader.
What’s really exciting is the opportunities this sort of course might give to those already involved in their local church. Imagine an intern, with their church leaders’ support, embarking on a customised plan of service within their congregation. A reflective journal (blog, perhaps?) supplemented by digital video of ministry activities, and pop vox-style feedback… Personally, I’d be inclined to also interpret ‘ministry’ as holistically as possible, including drying the dishes after the shared church lunch right through to visitation and an opportunity to preach and teach.
A reflection on ‘ministry’ as it is understood and experienced in the local church would be worthwhile, too – part of the value of higher theological education is the opportunity to critique one’s own experience and local expression of the church of Christ. The LMS can be a great conversational hub for sharing experiences and video clips!
Sorry, that’s a bit of a starter. I’d tend to start creatively and broadly, and make the very most of the natural church context of the student. The constraints come when the level of the course, hours of study, effectiveness of internet connection, and broad-mindedness of your academic board come into play!
Philemon 25,
Mark.
Mark Nichols
Executive Director, Faculty
Faculty
Phone
+64 4 9155822 or 0508 650200 extn 5822 |
Fax
+64 4 914 5278
3 Cleary Street | Private Bag 31914, Lower Hutt 5040
http://www.openpolytechnic.ac.nz
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David Greeff
I’m assuming that by ‘learning objectives’ you mean the “By the end of this course you should be able to…” variety. A lot depends on the level of study, but here’s a starter for me for what I’d expect if I was to successfully pass:
· A broad and biblical knowledge of what constitutes ‘ministry’, and biblical criteria for its effectiveness.
· The ability to discern when and what type of ministry might be appropriate or effective in a given situation.
· The ability to plan, prepare and perform ministry tasks appropriately.
· The ability to self-evaluate and reflect on my activities.
· The willingness to seek out and learn from others’ appraisals of my activities.
· The ability to serve as part of a team, both as a leader and as one working for or with a leader.
What’s really exciting is the opportunities this sort of course might give to those already involved in their local church. Imagine an intern, with their church leaders’ support, embarking on a customised plan of service within their congregation. A reflective journal (blog, perhaps?) supplemented by digital video of ministry activities, and pop vox-style feedback… Personally, I’d be inclined to also interpret ‘ministry’ as holistically as possible, including drying the dishes after the shared church lunch right through to visitation and an opportunity to preach and teach.
A reflection on ‘ministry’ as it is understood and experienced in the local church would be worthwhile, too – part of the value of higher theological education is the opportunity to critique one’s own experience and local expression of the church of Christ. The LMS can be a great conversational hub for sharing experiences and video clips!
Sorry, that’s a bit of a starter. I’d tend to start creatively and broadly, and make the very most of the natural church context of the student. The constraints come when the level of the course, hours of study, effectiveness of internet connection, and broad-mindedness of your academic board come into play!
Philemon 25,Mark.Mark Nichols
Executive Director, Faculty
Faculty
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Phone +64 4 9155822 or 0508 650200 extn 5822 | Fax +64 4 914 5278
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Diane Hockridge
Hi,
Thanks Mark for your great suggestions, which I think pick up on the underlying qualities and perspectives that we want people to develop in their ministry, rather than focusing only on skills development.
I might throw in a couple of comments about measuring these sorts of learning outcomes, as David has raised the question of how these might be measured. (This is a challenging question – I was part of a workshop last year at which we got a whole group of very experienced theological educators to sit down and try to come up with learning outcomes, learning activities and assessments related to developing spiritual formation – they found it a difficult task.) However, Les Ball, who has started work at the SCD this year, takes what I think is a really helpful approach to this question of how to assess ministry formation. He suggests that while ministry formation outcomes may be difficult to measure, they are surely demonstrable in some way. So once you have defined your learning outcomes, if you can then work out some criteria or markers of what it might look like to achieve this, which you can use as a means of assessing the students progress towards the goals.
Focusing on demonstrability of outcomes then naturally suggests some ways of assessment – you need to think of ways in which the student can demonstrate their progress. Eg. “the ability to plan, prepare and perform ministry tasks appropriately”– as well as students submitting planners, you could ask for feedback from their supervisor or others about their planning and prioritising ability. Or, for “the ability to seek out and learn from other’s appraisals of my activities”, you would first need to ensure that there were some “others” who provided an appraisal of the activities, and then you could ask the student to write a reflective response to this appraisal, setting out what they have learned about themselves and giving examples of how they had responded in concrete ways to the appraisal.
Some good examples of ways to assess ministry formation that I have come across include:
· Reflective journaling and writing tasks (fairly obvious one)
· Asking students to put together a portfolio of materials (using whatever formats/media they wish) which allows them to demonstrate their progress during the ministry training. This could be focussed around a number of specific questions that relate to the learning outcomes.
· Entry and exit interviews with supervising lecturer. These might be based around the student’s verbal presentation of the portfolio, or could take place by phone or skype. Entry and exit (and mid-point) interviews can be used to discuss setting goals and then checking on whether these were achieved, identifying strengths and weaknesses, reflecting on lessons learned etc.
· Observation reports from supervisors or peers.
There are probably plenty more that others would add to this.
One more thing I would add is that it seems that the development of strong peer support in a cohort of students that go through a course, or subject or experience together can be really beneficial. Establishing an ongoing cohort of students is not always possible in distance courses or in colleges with small enrolment numbers, but it is worth trying to develop wherever possible I believe. I’m not sure whether this is viable in your context?
All the best with this important work and let us know what you end up doing J
Kind regards,
Diane Hockridge
Distance & Online Education Coordinator
Sydney College of Divinity
email: dia...@scd.edu.au
PO Box 1882
Macquarie Centre NSW 2113
Tel:(02) 9889 1969 Fax: (02) 9889 2281
Mobile: 0402 978 038
Web: scd.edu.au
The Sydney College of Divinity is a Higher Education Institution providing Quality Theological Education through its member institutions: Australian College of Ministries (Sydney), Catholic Institute of Sydney (Sydney and Auckland), Emmaus Bible College (Sydney and Perth), Nazarene Theological College (Brisbane), NSW College of Clinical Pastoral Education (Sydney), St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College (Sydney), The Salvation Army Booth College (Sydney).
ACN 002 653 036
CRICOS Provider Code 02904K (QLD), 02948J (NSW) 03284C (WA)
David Greeff
Hi,Thanks Mark for your great suggestions, which I think pick up on the underlying qualities and perspectives that we want people to develop in their ministry, rather than focusing only on skills development.
I might throw in a couple of comments about measuring these sorts of learning outcomes, as David has raised the question of how these might be measured. (This is a challenging question – I was part of a workshop last year at which we got a whole group of very experienced theological educators to sit down and try to come up with learning outcomes, learning activities and assessments related to developing spiritual formation – they found it a difficult task.) However, Les Ball, who has started work at the SCD this year, takes what I think is a really helpful approach to this question of how to assess ministry formation. He suggests that while ministry formation outcomes may be difficult to measure, they are surelydemonstrable in some way. So once you have defined your learning outcomes, if you can then work out some criteria or markers of what it might look like to achieve this, which you can use as a means of assessing the students progress towards the goals.
Focusing on demonstrability of outcomes then naturally suggests some ways of assessment – you need to think of ways in which the student can demonstrate their progress. Eg. “the ability to plan, prepare and perform ministry tasks appropriately”– as well as students submitting planners, you could ask for feedback from their supervisor or others about their planning and prioritising ability. Or, for “the ability to seek out and learn from other’s appraisals of my activities”, you would first need to ensure that there were some “others” who provided an appraisal of the activities, and then you could ask the student to write a reflective response to this appraisal, setting out what they have learned about themselves and giving examples of how they had responded in concrete ways to the appraisal.Some good examples of ways to assess ministry formation that I have come across include:· Reflective journaling and writing tasks (fairly obvious one)· Asking students to put together a portfolio of materials (using whatever formats/media they wish) which allows them to demonstrate their progress during the ministry training. This could be focussed around a number of specific questions that relate to the learning outcomes.· Entry and exit interviews with supervising lecturer. These might be based around the student’s verbal presentation of the portfolio, or could take place by phone or skype. Entry and exit (and mid-point) interviews can be used to discuss setting goals and then checking on whether these were achieved, identifying strengths and weaknesses, reflecting on lessons learned etc.· Observation reports from supervisors or peers.There are probably plenty more that others would add to this.One more thing I would add is that it seems that the development of strong peer support in a cohort of students that go through a course, or subject or experience together can be really beneficial. Establishing an ongoing cohort of students is not always possible in distance courses or in colleges with small enrolment numbers, but it is worth trying to develop wherever possible I believe. I’m not sure whether this is viable in your context?All the best with this important work and let us know what you end up doing JKind regards,Diane Hockridge
Distance & Online Education CoordinatorPO Box 1882
Macquarie Centre NSW 2113
Tel:(02) 9889 1969 Fax: (02) 9889 2281
Mobile: 0402 978 038
Web: scd.edu.auThe Sydney College of Divinity is a Higher Education Institution providing Quality Theological Education through its member institutions: Australian College of Ministries (Sydney), Catholic Institute of Sydney (Sydney and Auckland), Emmaus Bible College (Sydney and Perth), Nazarene Theological College (Brisbane), NSW College of Clinical Pastoral Education (Sydney), St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College (Sydney), The Salvation Army Booth College (Sydney).ACN 002 653 036
CRICOS Provider Code 02904K (QLD), 02948J (NSW) 03284C (WA)
Mark Nichols
For the suggested outcome “The willingness to seek out and learn from others’ appraisals of my activities”, a basic questionnaire of some sort might be given to other lay leaders/elders/ministers to be included in the narrative, along with reflections on the questionnaire comments. A good questionnaire would reflect biblical standards. I’d also suggest making part of the course concerned with how to give and receive feedback, which is arguably an element of ministry often overlooked (how to give feedback should also be included in the questionnaire by way of instructions!) This approach might also work for the “ability to serve as part of a team, both as a leader and as one working for or with a leader” outcome.
Reflection is a simple suggestion, but experience would indicate that it needs to be well structured to be truly effective. If your course is a certificate level one, structuring reflection becomes so much more important. A case study narrative, with clear prompts both descriptive and reflective, might work well.
All the best,
Mark.
Mark Nichols
Executive Director, Faculty
Faculty
Phone
+64 4 9155822 or 0508 650200 extn 5822 |
Fax
+64 4 914 5278
3 Cleary Street | Private Bag 31914, Lower Hutt 5040
http://www.openpolytechnic.ac.nz
Join us:
Please
consider the environment before printing this email.
Join us: 
David Greeff
For the suggested outcome “The willingness to seek out and learn from others’ appraisals of my activities”, a basic questionnaire of some sort might be given to other lay leaders/elders/ministers to be included in the narrative, along with reflections on the questionnaire comments. A good questionnaire would reflect biblical standards. I’d also suggest making part of the course concerned with how to give and receive feedback, which is arguably an element of ministry often overlooked (how to give feedback should also be included in the questionnaire by way of instructions!) This approach might also work for the “ability to serve as part of a team, both as a leader and as one working for or with a leader” outcome.Reflection is a simple suggestion, but experience would indicate that it needs to be well structured to be truly effective. If your course is a certificate level one, structuring reflection becomes so much more important. A case study narrative, with clear prompts both descriptive and reflective, might work well.All the best,Mark.
Mark Nichols
Executive Director, Faculty
Faculty
<image001.gif>
Phone +64 4 9155822 or 0508 650200 extn 5822 | Fax +64 4 914 5278
3 Cleary Street | Private Bag 31914, Lower Hutt 5040
http://www.openpolytechnic.ac.nz
Join us:
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From: chre...@googlegroups.com [mailto:chredits@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Diane Hockridge
Sent: Tuesday, 18 June 2013 12:33 p.m.
To: 'chre...@googlegroups.com'
Subject: RE: Learning objectivesHi,Thanks Mark for your great suggestions, which I think pick up on the underlying qualities and perspectives that we want people to develop in their ministry, rather than focusing only on skills development.
I might throw in a couple of comments about measuring these sorts of learning outcomes, as David has raised the question of how these might be measured. (This is a challenging question – I was part of a workshop last year at which we got a whole group of very experienced theological educators to sit down and try to come up with learning outcomes, learning activities and assessments related to developing spiritual formation – they found it a difficult task.) However, Les Ball, who has started work at the SCD this year, takes what I think is a really helpful approach to this question of how to assess ministry formation. He suggests that while ministry formation outcomes may be difficult to measure, they are surelydemonstrable in some way. So once you have defined your learning outcomes, if you can then work out some criteria or markers of what it might look like to achieve this, which you can use as a means of assessing the students progress towards the goals.
Focusing on demonstrability of outcomes then naturally suggests some ways of assessment – you need to think of ways in which the student can demonstrate their progress. Eg. “the ability to plan, prepare and perform ministry tasks appropriately”– as well as students submitting planners, you could ask for feedback from their supervisor or others about their planning and prioritising ability. Or, for “the ability to seek out and learn from other’s appraisals of my activities”, you would first need to ensure that there were some “others” who provided an appraisal of the activities, and then you could ask the student to write a reflective response to this appraisal, setting out what they have learned about themselves and giving examples of how they had responded in concrete ways to the appraisal.Some good examples of ways to assess ministry formation that I have come across include:· Reflective journaling and writing tasks (fairly obvious one)· Asking students to put together a portfolio of materials (using whatever formats/media they wish) which allows them to demonstrate their progress during the ministry training. This could be focussed around a number of specific questions that relate to the learning outcomes.· Entry and exit interviews with supervising lecturer. These might be based around the student’s verbal presentation of the portfolio, or could take place by phone or skype. Entry and exit (and mid-point) interviews can be used to discuss setting goals and then checking on whether these were achieved, identifying strengths and weaknesses, reflecting on lessons learned etc.· Observation reports from supervisors or peers.There are probably plenty more that others would add to this.One more thing I would add is that it seems that the development of strong peer support in a cohort of students that go through a course, or subject or experience together can be really beneficial. Establishing an ongoing cohort of students is not always possible in distance courses or in colleges with small enrolment numbers, but it is worth trying to develop wherever possible I believe. I’m not sure whether this is viable in your context?All the best with this important work and let us know what you end up doing JKind regards,Diane Hockridge
Distance & Online Education CoordinatorPO Box 1882
Macquarie Centre NSW 2113
Tel:(02) 9889 1969 Fax: (02) 9889 2281
Mobile: 0402 978 038
Web: scd.edu.auThe Sydney College of Divinity is a Higher Education Institution providing Quality Theological Education through its member institutions: Australian College of Ministries (Sydney), Catholic Institute of Sydney (Sydney and Auckland), Emmaus Bible College (Sydney and Perth), Nazarene Theological College (Brisbane), NSW College of Clinical Pastoral Education (Sydney), St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College (Sydney), The Salvation Army Booth College (Sydney).ACN 002 653 036
CRICOS Provider Code 02904K (QLD), 02948J (NSW) 03284C (WA)
Join us: <image003.jpg>
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Diane Hockridge
Thanks Mark
Hey I’m wondering with all these good ideas floating around whether we should find some way of sharing them more widely?
Any ideas? Perhaps we could create a blog, or use an already existing blog or webpage? (I’ve got a wordpress blogsite which doesn’t get used much, but it is meant to be about distance and online theological education. So we could add info to it, but I don’t want it necessarily to be associated only with me, so perhaps we could create a new blog? Or add some of these details to an already existing site related to distance theol ed perhaps?)
Anyway, just a thought. Any suggestions? J
Diane Hockridge
Distance & Online Education Coordinator
Sydney College of Divinity
email: dia...@scd.edu.au
PO Box 1882
Macquarie Centre NSW 2113
Tel:(02) 9889 1969 Fax: (02) 9889 2281
Mobile: 0402 978 038
Web: scd.edu.au
The Sydney College of Divinity is a Higher Education Institution providing Quality Theological Education through its member institutions: Australian College of Ministries (Sydney), Catholic Institute of Sydney (Sydney and Auckland), Emmaus Bible College (Sydney and Perth), Nazarene Theological College (Brisbane), NSW College of Clinical Pastoral Education (Sydney), St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College (Sydney), The Salvation Army Booth College (Sydney).
ACN 002 653 036
CRICOS Provider Code 02904K (QLD), 02948J (NSW) 03284C (WA)