Dr. Mary Hess

The 2008 SACEM Annual Conference to be held February 15-17 in Columbus, Ohio, will feature Dr. Mary Hess as the keynote presenter. Dr. Hess is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at Luther Seminary and the author of Engaging Technology in Theological Education among other books, journal articles, and the blog, Tensegrities.  In preparation for coming together in conversation at the Annual Conference, we have asked Dr. Hess a few questions related to the challenges and opportunities for lifelong learning providers in the digital age.

Q: Mary, in light of all that you have written about the use of communications technologies in theological education and the many ways that you are involved in using those technologies, why you see the use of today's online learning opportunities as beneficial to continuing theological education programs and providers?

Dr. Hess: I would say there are multiple benefits and point off to an article I wrote a while back that was titled "What difference does it make? Digital technology in the theological classroom.” It might be "cheating," but let me start with that article's suggestion that there are six benefits to point to:

1. Providing a richer, more multiply intelligent environment within which to learn;

2. Providing more opportunities for real collaboration;

3. Giving teachers a better angle of vision on the challenges their students are facing and the specific assumptions with which they enter courses;

4. Providing better access to primary source materials;

5. Overcoming constraints of geography and time; and,

6. Attending to the meaning-making contexts of our students and our communities of faith.

I also tried, in that article (and in my book, Engaging Technology in Theological Education) to argue that underlying the fear and resistance is a very real recognition that much of theological education is embedded in forms of pedagogy whose disadvantages can be overcome in typical classrooms (meaning: those where people gather together in person), but when such pedagogies are put into online formats their problems become glaring.

I wrote that article two years ago and now there are even more examples of ways in which digital technologies -- particularly Web 2.0 applications -- are creating all sorts of opportunities for continuing theological education programs. Far too many such programs find themselves caught up in "expert" paradigms, rather than in promoting ways in which learners collaborate on learning. Continuing education by definition is adult learning, and ought to emphasize active, learning-centered pedagogies. Web 2.0 applications are great examples of ways in which people are collaborating together to learn. For example, check out the links at Web 2.0 for the Classroom Teacher at: http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/listweb20s.html)

Q: When you speak of "providing a richer, more multiply intelligent environment in which to learn," how might we use some of the current educational technologies in doing this with lifelong learning for ministry?

Dr. Hess: One really crucial thing to keep in mind with the new technologies is their keen focus on supporting collaboration (think Web 2.0). Part of that ability comes from the addition of tools that make it possible to work with image and sound, with movement (via video) and interactivity. Consider a confirmation program that invites kids to interview senior members of a congregation with video recording, and then utilizes the video in other settings. Pastoral leaders can learn -- often very deeply! -- from that kind of project, at the same time as the kids are being invited into a community of faith journeying.

Q: What three new educational technologies do continuing education providers most need to be aware of and why?

Dr. Hess: First, we need to take advantage of RSS feeds and news readers because they make working with blogs so much easier, and thus make connecting and communicating so much easier.

Second, we want to take advantage of digital cameras and photo/video tools because we can tell so much more of a story with an image, in so much less time. We are immersed in images throughout our culture and the best way to learn how to decode such images is by learning how to make your own.

Third, we want to use and help our constituents learn to use the social networking tools. These tools make it possible for "ordinary" people with very low tech skills to build their own webpages and news groups, use photos and recordings, author blogs, etc.

And fourth, we also want to take advantage of the new audio/video recording tools and podcasting technologies because they make adding sound and video, including traditional presentations, to web pages and distributing presentation to mobile devices so much more accessible.

You know, even before these tools (the four I listed above), it's important to know about a set of tools for collaboration that are free and available for anyone to use -- these are tools that pastoral leaders can use in a variety of settings, not simply for learning. Things like Skype, Gmail, Google calendar and Google docs, and so on.

Also, for a more thoughtful and complete take on learning tools, check out this website: 
http://elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=articles&article=56-1 

Q: What are 2-3 key things that continuing education providers need to consider from your perspective in using educational technologies for lifelong learning for ministry?

Dr. Hess: Begin from the learning goals -- make LEARNING the central task, and choose tools that support your goals (not the other way around!).

Recognize that knowledge is socially constructed, and that Christians are fundamentally a relational people, so that ALL learning should be structured in ways that build relationality and that promote collaboration.

Do more with less -- don't let the high cost of certain technologies make you swear off technology all together. Rather, figure out what your learners are already doing with technology, and help them build more personal and social agency with it.

Q: What do continuing education for ministry providers need to be helping those in pastoral ministry learn with regard to current communications technologies and those who most use them? (Well, that is really two questions, isn't it?)

Dr. Hess: I want to go back to something I've said before in lots of different ways -- all of this is about communication and learning. Communication technologies just happen to be the media in which we're living and learning these days. God speaks in the midst of digital cultures, and if we aren't willing to listen for God in those contexts, what does that say about us?

Your question about "those who most use them" goes to the heart of all of this, because it implies that perhaps there's a generation of people who use these technologies more than others (the so-called "digital natives" vs. "digital immigrants" argument). I'm not at all sure that that's true -- certainly recent research and polling is problematizing that characterization -- but even if it is, communities of faith dare not fall into those kinds of generational divides.

What we need to be about is listening for God's creative activity in the world, and helping our communities to participate in that -- in the "missio dei" -- and that means being open to all of the ways in which we communicate with each other, and learn with each other. Far too often religious communities have decided to label something as "out of bounds" and "off limits" rather than risk being transformed by it. Do we really distrust our faith that much? Think of all the ways in which Jesus invited his friends and followers to engage people on the margins of their community. Can we do less?

Thank you so much for your time in sharing with us Dr. Hess. We look forward to being with you in Columbus for the Annual Conference and hearing what you have to share with us.