My learning goal for this class is to explore some ways that media and technology can be used to encourage learning communities. This fits under goal 1e familiar with a variety of ways of supporting, facilitating and trouble-shooting learning communities.
I would like to explore the how technology can open up new ways for the members to engage in learning communities in the church.
In working toward this goal, I discovered the following:
- The dynamics of media are not random, there are patterns and trends that explain this phenomenon. Those patterns and trends can help learning communities reach more of its members and potential members by expanding the reach of the message. (Gleaned from Shirky's book)
- Not one approach is magically going to reach everyone. The days where we can put something in the church newsletter and expect it to reach all are gone. But maybe that's not a bad thing. Now with getting the word out through many channels, we can be less exclusive and reach others beyond our church walls. (From blog discussions)
- There is a gap between the younger and the older regarding technology, or maybe we should say there is a gap between those who use technology and those who don't. (The numbers just generally fall along age lines.) As church leaders and in learning communities, we must be aware of that gap and work to gather rather than separate. (From blog posts)
- God works in many ways and in many places -- even through media and technology ;)
- Be willing to risk and try and also be willing to fail. (The importance of that came out through this class, but it's also true for all of life!)
- Be aware of what it being said through my media approaches, but also be aware of the message that is being conveyed by what is not said (from Mary Hess's book)
- The final piece of this goal will be accomplished as I finished up my project. My final project was to design a way for people of our church to deepen their faith through engaging with the scriptures for each week. I set up a blog and have invited several people to participate during the month of July. After I finish the project and determine the best approach to implementing it, we will evaluate taking the project church-wide and open it to all this fall.
Have a great end of the summer, everyone! Blessings!
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteExcellent analysis of the class and blogging experience. Your insights are always good, but these were especially helpful to me. I particularly struggle with the amount of time it takes to bring clergy and lay leaders up to speed with simple "modern" advertising techniques to get the word out about God and evangelism and even regular church happenings. On top of that, it is especially difficult to add the "postmodern" kind of social media that is relevant to many people, most of whom are younger than me and the clergy and lay leaders I am trying to educate about social media. I agree that we need to get the word out through many channels, and that we can be less exclusive and reach others beyond our church walls, especially using traditional means and social media together. Finally, I agree that God works in many ways and in many places -- even through media and technology. Or as Brigette said, "God is in the computer because God is everywhere, after all." This means that we should reach out in any and all ways to point out the presence of God, including through the use of social media. I don't know if this is related to your other point about being willing to try and fail, but I suppose it is. Even Jesus healed ten lepers, but only one came back to him, so we might see a 10% success rate in that for Jesus. The parable of the sower is also a story about being willing to try and fail in the hopes of succeeding all the more with the few seeds that find good soil. God's many blessings to you and yours.
Peace,
Arthur