Digital Literacies for Ministry: A Qualitative Study of Theological Educators Preparing Students for New Media Engagement

Abstract

The proliferation of religious and spiritual practices in new media spaces presents challenges and opportunities for religious leaders—and for the people who train them. This article reports on an interview-based study of theological educators actively engaged in preparing their students with skills and experiences for online engagement. We present and discuss seven digital literacies for ministry that emerged from our thematic analysis of transcript data and were subsequently refined with a subset of study participants. We conclude with a brief discussion of new initiatives this research has prompted.

Faith Leaders Developing Digital Literacies: Demands and Resources across Career Stages According to Theological Educators

“…Wishing to clarify simultaneously what "digital media for ministry" might mean in the context of ministerial leadership preparation and practice as well as how our colleagues were helping students foster such engagement, we designed a semi-structured interview protocol that asked our colleagues 1what digital media skills they believed were important for their students in their present and future work, (2) how these instructors and their institutions were helping their students develop these skills, and 3what kinds of student attitudes and responses they had observed in their teaching-including variation by demographic factors. The analysis that led us to identify the literacies themselves (Oliver et al, 2019) emerged from coding and subsequent informant feedback about the "what skills?" questions, but those literacy codes were then applied to the remainder of the transcripts in order to identify all the places in the interviews where these skills were discussed.…”

“…Our previous analysis of the interview data we return to in this article, together with subsequent development work with a subset of our study participants, led to the construction of a domain-specific framework consisting of seven digital literacies theological educators are seeking to help their students develop (Oliver, Williams-Duncan, & Kimball, 2019). Table 2 gives the names and definitions of these Digital Literacies for Ministry (DLM), as well as shorthand abbreviations used in this article.…”

Twist in Perception: Spiritual Needs and Technology in the Times of COVID-19. A Qualitative Research Study in the Czech Republic

“…The findings help us hypothesise regarding long-term changes in the perception of technology in the spiritual life of practising believers in the Czech Republic after the COVID-19 pandemic. They may also help clergy representatives prepare for their future online presence (Oliver et al, 2020 ). The study aims to contribute to the body of knowledge on the complex relationship between digital technology and contemporary religion (Campbell, 2013 ).…”

Networked religion meets digital geographies: Pedagogical principles for exploring new spaces and roles in the seminary classroom

“…Campbell and others (e.g., Drescher, ; Wagner, ; Hoover, ; Cheong, ) point to a contextual professional reality that will require sufficient new media literacy to offer and engage in the social presence and cultural practices that have long been the foundation of effective pastoral ministry (Hess, ; Zsupan‐Jerome, ; Copeland, ; Herring & Elton, ; Oliver, Kimball, Williams‐Duncan, & Blanchard, ; Oliver & Williams‐Duncan, ; Oliver & Kimball, in press; Oliver, Williams‐Duncan, & Kimball, ; cf. Jenkins, Purushotma, Weigel, Clinton, & Robison, ; Ito, et al, ; Thomas & Brown, ).…”

“…Consequently, in ongoing research supported by an innovation grant from the Association of Theological Schools, we are studying the use of a digital literacy toolkit (Oliver & Williams‐Duncan, ) to support instructors across the theological curriculum in adapting teaching practices, course assignments, and student support documents to better account for the religious realities and educational possibilities described in this paper. The materials we have created and collected are indexed to digital literacies identified in our qualitative study of the objectives of theological educators already engaged in such work (Oliver, Kimball, Williams‐Duncan, & Blanchard, ; Oliver, Williams‐Duncan, & Kimball, ). Several of these literacies speak to this paper's spatialized understanding of emerging ministry contexts.…”