Interrupting Adult Learning through Online Pedagogy

Abstract

This paper considers online pedagogy in relation to Christian adult learning and asks how this might be interpreted by theological educators. The online community of inquiry is proposed as one recognized pedagogical approach and illustrated by reference to a continuing professional development programme for online adult learners across the church school sector in the UK. In seeking an online pedagogy that is also theologically informed, attention is given to Belgian theologian Lieven Boeve's work concerning a theology of interruption. Insights gained from this are considered alongside reflection from the author's experience as online educator. The paper concludes that online pedagogy can be interpreted as interruptive when influencing and shaping the online environment for adult theological learning

IJCE and Scholarship on Christianity and Education

“…There will be distinct denominational responses to such questions, as reflected, for example, in Anglican and Roman Catholic approaches (see, for example, Jensen, 2009;McLaughlin, 2002;Sullivan, 2006), and then there are other educational contexts to consider. For example, what rethinking or creative carrying forward needs to take place among Christian educators as education moves online (Dalziel, 2011;Stuart-Buttle, 2014)? Or how does Christianity relate to servicelearning, field-based learning, vocational learning and adult education (Feenstra, 2011)?…”

The Impact of Globalization on Church Mission in Zambia: Some African Perspectives

“…The Christian story is always open to a new reality of God at work in the church, in the world, in personal living, and in those encountered through a plurality of worldviews, cultures, and situations. 62 Any attempt to isolate the Christian church from the globalized contemporary context removes it from present-day lived experience. On the other hand, if globalized and secular beliefs and practices are uncritically adopted, there is a risk of reducing the Christian 57 frames of reference to the private domain only, or of immersing the church in a conflicting plurality of worldviews leading to serious differences of opinion regarding the identity and the claims of truth of Christianity in a secularized and relativist world.…”