Scot's+2008+Journal


 * April 15:** I tried for the last two mornings, to connect in iVocalize (our GFU online conference room) with Eloise Hockett, one of my EDFL colleagues. Eloise is in Kenya, along with two other School of Education faculty members and another colleague from the our institution. They are there to work with Kenyan educators on the implementation of a peace and reconciliation curriculum for ninth grade students in Quaker high schools in western Kenya. We had agreed prior to their departure, that we would meet each morning (our time) in the online conference room as a way of staying in touch and to test the viability of live interaction between Newberg and Kenya. We were not successful on Tuesday or Wednesday. Eloise has communicated via email both days and it seems that the internet connection, though provided through satelite, is sporadic. Eloise has also had difficulty in getting her Mac to connect to a wireless network there. We are very curious about whether internet tools may be used for synchronous and asynchronous communication with colleagues in Kenya. At the moment, we are stymied.


 * April 14:** I have been praying for John and Janny Wright. John is awaiting word from his physician as to whether he has pancreatic cancer. He is not in pain, but the symptoms are pointing to something quite severe. Janny is a friend of mine from the Quaker meeting in Second Life. The Wrights live in Scotland, though Janny is an Oregonian and has roots in the Willamette Valley that date back to pioneer days. John has been ill for quite some time, though the severity of his condition has not been discoverd until recently. Please remember to hold John and Janny in the light of Christ.


 * March 23**: This is the beginning of spring break. I refer you to a [|blog post]I wrote earlier today, reflecting on a visit we had yesterday with some Friends from other regions of the world. The Friends (Quakers) are a very small sect, yet they work had to stay connected with one another through the use of conferences, traveling ministers and sharing written documents. There is a lively Friends community of bloggers called [|Quaker Quaker]. While I have not actively investigated blogs from other Christian denominations, I have tried to keep up on the blogs coming from Friends of various sorts.

I would like to mention to you that if you don't know much about Quakers, it can be rather confusing to know who we are, where we are and what we believe. I am posting a link here to a great resource from the Friends World Committee for Consulation ([|FWCC]), which provides a little insight about Friends groups present in the world today. [|Kinds of Friends here]. See the image below for a thumbnail sketch, with more information at the link I provided.


 * March 9:** I am back from the SITE conference. the number of presentations, the scope of the content and the quality of learning was overwhelming. I will try to post a few highlights over the next couple of days. there were presentations on educational policy, on business practices, expectations of graduates, techniques in the use of ICTs and teacher preparation, it was a great conference. My colleagues did a great job in presenting their papers. I did a quick scan of the presenters and their institutional affiliation. There were about 1100 participants, mostly professors in education, from 43 countries. I would estimate that there were a total of 250 presentations. I was interested in seeing how many of the presentations were put on by professors at Christian institutions. I saw only three that were offered by professors at [|CCCU] institutions. There were several presentations from faculty at Catholic IHEs. There were several others that I was not able to identify and then a few from other religious institutions. My point is, at a rather significant gathering of professors involved with education and the usage of information and computing technology, very few Christian institutions were represented. I will leave it to you to draw a conclusion or consider the implication. Please note that this was not a scientific study, by any means.


 * February 26:** Quick notes**;** Jeanette is defending her dissertation today. She did a comparison of online and face to face developmental math courses at Concordia University in Portland. She has done a fine job with the work. What she concluded is that students do as well in face to face courses as they do in online courses, both in their success in the course, and also in subsequent math courses at the University. We also looked at student satisfaction. there was a similar degree of satisfaction in either instructional format.

I am traveling to Charleston SC next week to participate in the Society for Information Technology in Teacher Education conference. Beth Bartruff (from Corban College) and I collaborated on a paper in regards to the Community of Inquiry model used as an evaluation device for online instruction at Corban. I will report back to you from the conference. At the same conference, Anita Zidjemans (from Pacific Univeristy) and I are presenting a paper on graduate student impressions of Second Life as a learning platform.


 * February 9:** I had a conversation this morning with a faculty colleague in regard to using mobile computing devices in the work of supporting professional learning exchange between faculty members at George Fox and secondary teachers in Kenya. My colleague Brent is a computer science professor and I was interested in the new Center for Mobile Computing at Fox. I hope to work with the Center in developing a pilot project working with Kenyan teachers.


 * February 2:** Testing. Here is an example of a form from Google Docs which can be embedded right within your page. Ask me, if you are interested in learning how to use this tool.
 * media type="custom" key="3077434"

February 1:** I am involved with developing a new committee in our congregation. Today, I reflected on several challenges involved with that effort. the first challenge is simply getting people involved with an important aspect of congregational life (vision for and stewardship of the facility and land that is owned by the congregation). The second challenge is the competing ideals, visions and hopes surrounding the same. It seems as if people are very busy and yet still care about people, issues and projects that are meaningful to them. I am realizing to a greater extent today than previously how much effort and commitment has been expended to this point of this effort and how easy it is to question and even critique the efforts of other volunteers involved with congregational life. How does this concern of mine relate to our course objectives? Simply put, when we live in community with others, we just don't turn our interactions with them on and off with the stroke of a key or the push of an off button. I believe that one of the issues raised by our author is that the virtual environment creates the conditions by which we are able to disconnect from community, or create a false community in which people really don't have to struggle with the important and often intense issues of life. Do you agree?


 * January 28:** I want to share several examples of web-based tools that I am using that you might find helpful. I realized, in an exchange in the course lounge with Patti, that I could be helpful to you in demonstrating or exploring specific technological solutions that might fit your ideas for a project in this course. I have suggested previously and will again suggest to you that you look at past projects linked from this wiki to get an idea of what others have done in previous sections of this course.I also want to remind you that each page in this wiki has a discussion area attached to it so that colleagues have a chance to comment on your wiki page without actually adding content to your page (though that is possible as well). Two examples I want to share are a [|Wordpress]blog [|A2Z], which I use to share essays, reflections and poems with others and a Wordle image created from a recent blog post that I wrote. Take a look at the post in the blog, and then view the [|Wordle] image. Let me know what you think. Both of these tools are free and open for use by you. Wordpress is my favorite blogging tool and it does require you create an account. Wordle is a tool that manipulates text to portray the relative weight of words or phrases included in the text. One other tool you might be interested in is Flickr, which is a photo sharing technology. Flickr allows the user to upload digital images to the internet, organize and share them. I include here a [|set of pictures] I took at a congregational retreat during this past weekend.


 * January 26:** I met twice today with students from the EDFL 708 course. We used iVocalize and I had no complaints or issues. I am now convinced that the bugs are worked out and that students in EDFL 675 will be able to use the technology for our purposes here this semester. During session four and five I will provide opportunities for participants to share some live presentations using this platform. I finished reading the group's initial reactions to the Schultze text. It continues to be of great interest to me; the varied reactions that the text elicits.


 * January 22:** I had a good meeting today with colleagues involved with the [|ICCTE Journal]. I serve as an editor for this Journal and I met with editorial colleagues. The Journal is the official journal of the International Community of Christians in Teacher Education, loose association of faculty at [|CCCU] and similar schools that work in professional education and related fields. Two reasons for mentioning this; first, our meeting took place using a web-based conferencing tool which allows scholars from around the world the opportunity to meet in real time without leaving their office. We use the tool iVocalize, which has been adopted as a virtual classroom platform by George Fox University. We may have the opportunity to meet in real time using this same platform this semester. The second reason for mentioning this meeting in the fact that the Journal itself, which is an outlet for scholarly publication of articles of interest to Christians who work at education faculty and the medium of communication is digitial delivery, as opposed to print. The internet technolgies allow a group which is only able to meet every other year in a face to face gathering to continue conversations in the networked environment. I must admit though that we have not fully grasped the entire scope of functionality available to us as of yet.

[|conference link] Colleagues, the above link is to a wonderful online conference that occurs april 14-18 out of Hawaii that I have been a part of for about the last 6 years. I have submitted a proposal and you can too, if you do so by the 23rd of January. This conference has been free to graduate students in the past and I highly recommend it, even if you do not put in a proposal.
 * January 19:** I put an announcement in the newsforum of the foxtale site for this course in regards to an upcoming conference to this course group:

Please spend 10 minutes and take a look at the conference site. This conference is not run by or for Christians per se. It is a conference which examines issues related to online education, technical, political, philosophical and practical. Even if you cannot submit a proposal, you can participate and it is a wonderful way to learn about technologies in the networked world, in addition to using state of the art web 2.0 technologies for conferencing with others.

Last spring, five students from a fall session of this course presented with me at this conference, it was very meaningful and well received. Ask me immediately if you have interest and want questions answered. the proposal for presentations is quite brief and as long as you have an idea about what you would do, you can do it in about 10 minutes.

I would be happy to collaborate with anyone who has an idea but wants a partner. Let me know now. scot


 * January 14:** I am putting a link [|here]for you to go over to a journal I am maintaining on a colleague's wiki site that features my work with her and our colleagues working in Second Life this spring. Second Life is a multi user virtual environment that you might consider investigating as part of your journeys this semester.


 * December 20:** I forgot to charge the battery in my camera and I lost power while taking pictures of our daughter, Ruth's birthday party. Today was graduation day at George Fox and we had our hooding ceremony in the morning and commencement in the afternoon. Many people were no shows at both events as the weather here is a full blown blizzard. All five our our doctoral program graduates and about ten of our masters students (out of about 20) participated in the hooding. It was a very nice event, with many stories shared by students and families alike as part of our gathering. The significance of strong and loving relationships was shared by most of those who spoke. We hear about studying, we heard about computers and we heard about research. But mostly, we heard about love and patience and persistence, trust and commitment and diligence. We heard about how professors encouraged students, how spouses were gracious, children patient, and lives changes for the better. It was a wonderful day! Hi Scot: Thanks for sharing this with us! Jimmy


 * December 15:** Go [|here] to read a Christmas story I wrote for my family. I thought to include this after reflecting on contemporary technologies and the opportunities to share faith and worship through media other than face to face discussion.

Our daughter, Abby (age 12), has been living with a fever for two weeks. She has been to the doctor three times, been in the hospital overnight and has had a multitude of tests performed on her. As of today, there is still no knowledge of the cause of the fever. I must admit I am frustrated and concerned, and several thoughts have crossed my mind in regards to Abby's situation. The first thought is that we have access to incredible medical technology. Abby's blood has been tested for numerous issues and a number of diseases and conditions have been ruled out. Yet the matter-of-fact nature of lab testing these days is built on a clear science that was not actualized even a generation or two before. In addition to the lab tests, Abby has gone through a serious of imaging tests, fairly remarkable technological advances in themselves. Utlrasound, XRay, CAT scan and MRI have all been done for various reasons and regions. While the results in Abby's case are inconclusive, technologies themselves are amazing.again, what I take for granted would be considered fantastic, miraculous or downright absurd in past generations (or in many regions of the world).
 * December 8:**

When the technological solutions are exhausted, we are left with love, trust, hope and prayer. Indeed, even in the midst of the technological solutions, love, trust, hope and prayer are in place. I try and make meaning of my daugher's difficulty. What meaning I make is that in pain and grief, our relationships remain, what is between us is between us and in this case hope and trust are between us and among us. We go on into an unknown future, not knowing what comes next. Yet, we go on.

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 * December 8:

December 4:

December 1:** I have been thinking about a conversation I was a participant in at a doctoral defense last week. Our student colleague presented his completed study which involved an examination of factors related to technology integration into teaching by recent graduates of a teacher preparation program in Oregon. During the defense, one of the faculty members cited a study which revealed that a thorough analysis of doctoral dissertations has revealed a decline in the number of resources cited since the advent of digitized online databases of scholarly journal articles and research reports. We discussed the possible reasons why this could occur. While we came to no definitive answers, one possible reason why this is so could be that with the over abundance of articles now available, doctoral students spend much more time searching and passing on by articles and less time reading and reflecting on each piece. I cannot tell you whose study this was, nor can I independently confirm the findings. It seems counter-intuitive, yet rather interesting to think in this day and age of open access to more and more information, a basic function of scholarly work at the doctoral level (engagement with the literature base) may be adversely affected. I am open to alternative theories.

In a similar vein, the vast stores of information now available to me through electronic means probably contributes to a widening of my areas of interest and the reach of my network of friends and colleagues in the field. However, I find myself with less time for the leisure of scholarship I had as a full time doctoral student in the early 1990s. Could it be that the wealth of information available has created for me a poverty of riches? I am so rich that I cannot enjoy the wealth and indeed have created for myself a scattered attention and a broadening yet more shallow field of professional relationships. Think about some of the dangers that Schultze has reminded us of. In a sense, I am a victim of my own success. In a very real sense, the traditional signposts to effective living that are cited by our author in the concluding sections of his book have confronted me subtly, pointing toward a reality that indeed I can acknowledge and should heed. I suspect that resolve, courage and accountability are all necessary factors in my working back toward the balanced center.

Hi Scot: You bring up some very good points here in my opinion. There is only so much one can read and comprehend. I am working on a literature review now and it does become difficult to remember which is which. However, I always print them so as to have them handy to reread. With all of the databases, one can become overwhelmed. Jimmy


 * November 25:** My colleague Robin Ashford, shared a video from the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet studies that some of you might find helpful. It is 60 minutes long and deals with educators in virtual environments. See it [|here].


 * November 20:** Michael sends me the link to a video produced at Kansas State about students in the year 2008. Amazingly enough, the same video is presented at the conference yesterday by a speaker contrasting the changes in the music industry with those in the education industry. Check out the video [|here]. Are we paying attention, boomer friends?


 * November 19**: I am in Las Vegas at the eLearn conference. Today I present a poster session on my work in Second Life. Yesterday, the first day of the conference, I attended several sessions on the [|Connexions] project, which I commend to you. This is an open source site, hosted by Rice University which features educational content developed for use by K-12 and higher education faculty. The project provides opportunity for educators to be producers, as well as consumers of educational content. I attended a session on the use of handheld devices for higher education instruction and a session on the use of Second Life for businesses and educational institutions.


 * Congratulations!** I'll look forward to reading your work! - Keith
 * November 13:**Yes, they pay me to review [|this stuff]. Its tough, but someone has to do it. I received notice yesterday that two proposals for papers had been accepted for me by the Society for Information Technology in Teacher Education ([|SITE]). Beth Bartruff, from Corban College is the lead author on one paper. In this paper, we investigate the use of the [|Comunnity of Inquiry] model as a framework for assessing online teaching and learning. The second paper is a collaborative effort with Robin Ashford, distance services librarian; Anita Zijdemans-Boudreau from Pacific University and myself. That paper looks at our experiences in working in Second Life.


 * November 6:** There has been some kind of major disruption of the internet service provided through GFU for about three days that made my normal work activities very difficult. It is interesting, as I think on it today (with fully restored service), how easy it is to have the lifeline cut when one works primarily in the online environment. While I was able to read student and colleague posts in my course sites, the basic functioning that we take for granted, such as changing pages on a website, became so slow as to render normal work practically impossible. This brings up several thoughts, some related to our course objectives and some not.

In the first place, in the online environment I know that "absence does not make the heart grow fonder". I know from my own experience that I get frustrated when I send messages via electronic means and don't get a response. I assume others do as well. So, regardless of the cause, when we are not online, in the space that we expect others to be in, we cannot interact; and therefore communication becomes strained or nonexistent. The two-edged sword of distant communication, distant learning and distant relationships is quite clear. Maintaining ties is enhanced through contemporary technological tools, but are maintained on the thin line of radio waves and fiber optic cables; both of which are susceptible to disruptions of one sort or the other.

The second thought I have had along these lines harkens back to the Y2K scare and some of the rhetoric and reflection that occurred in the lead-up to that "fateful" moment. Divide the entire pre-Y2K world population into three groups: a) the totally ignorant, b) those convinced that the it was "the end of the world as we know it", and c) and those who could care less. Of those of us who fell into the second group, there were varying degrees of response and reaction. I would say that there were three basic types of folks who fell into this group. We had the, "my goodness, the whole system is going to collapse so I am going to go to a cabin in the woods, grow my own food, stockpile toilet paper and bottled water and have my guns to protect my family" folks. We had the "we are all going to hell anyway, so why should I be concerned too much about whether it happens now or later" group. And finally, we had the, "we are all in this together and the only way to plan for an emergency of the size and scope that is being postulated is to work together with others in our communities (family, georgraphy, faith, etc.) to ensure that we all take care of one another".

It seems to me that the third group had it right. While Y2k did not have the impact as was thought by many, those folks that realized that we are all connected in this life and on this world were on the right track. We have always been interconnected as humanity, through blood, through history, through psychology, through our common conditions and our common origin. Yet, increasingly we recognize, through the advancing sophistication and pervasive nature of our information and computing technologies how truly inter-related and interdependent we are. I don't believe that any of us are an island. Those of us who follow Christ must go beyond accepting the body language of the scriptures as merely a nice metaphor, but rather as a dead-on accurate representation of the truth. We are genetically linked, biologically bound, socially intertwined, there is no escaping it. And to my way of thinking, the body of Christ can be viewed as a body within a body, a body of transformed cells within the larger body of humanity. And unlike cancer, our genetic programming is not to destroy our "host", but to transform it in similar fashion as we have been, by providing the conduits, the channels, the connecting points through which the genius, the creativity, the beauty, the awesome wonder of our Creator can pass through and make connection with all of humanity.

Let us not shy away from the challenges of distance (spatial, cultural and conceptual). Let us embrace the use of all of our fortitude, patience, humility; as well as the gifts and talents we have been blessed with to refine, expand, improve and beautify our channels and conduits. Whether these channels be intellectual, familial, collegial, technological, we must recognize the marvelous opportunity we have to partner with God in the work of advancing his purposes in this world. May we be able to say with confidence and joy, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven"!


 * October 28:** Several of the points that have been made in the text discussion and in your participant journals over the last few weeks center on the difficulties in communication in the online environment. Some of you have written about the lack of generally recognizable cues from face to face communication. Others have written about the lack of clarity in online postings. Still others have expressed concern about rudeness or perceived rudeness. Finally, at least one of you has expressed an interest in discussing the relationship between Myers Briggs types and preferences for communication and learning vehicles. Let us all recognize the "differences" there are in communication media and the difficulties associated with those difficulties. Let us also acknowledge that the media are in some regard driving the type of communication messages. And finally, let us reflect on the possibilities that there are generational differences emerging on choice of media for interpersonal communication.


 * October 21:** I heard some commentary on a television news and analysis show last night (flipping back and forth between CNN and Fox News). The commentator, Clarence Page, was discussing Senator Obama's strategy for advertising on television in South Carolina. Page remarked that South Carolina was solidly Republican and that there was no way that Obama was going to win in that state. The anchor asked Page why then did Obama spend to buy commercial time in South Carolina. Page replied, "Because he can". The discussion involved information about the huge campaign warchest that Obama has amassed and his ability to invest in just about every medium and market. So, what does this have to do with our course? Well, the concept of being able to do something because we can is the issue, not politics. We have discused at length in this course the fact that new technologies allow us to carry out actions that we have previously been unable to. As a number of my colleagues in this group have pointed out, the technology enables behavior, but there is a difference between doing what we are able to and doing what we ought to do. Technological issues can be dealt with technologically, but issues of the will must be dealt with, I believe, in the manner in which our author directs us. Much of the concern raised in this seminar has to do with choices we make in regard to investments of our time, our attention and our resources. Just because we can does not mean we should, does it?

In this regard, you may be interested in reading an article in the summer 2008 issue of The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture. [|This article], entitled //Fundamentalist Christians, Raunch Culture, and Post-industrial Capitalism//, provides insight into the tension between popular culture and religious values.


 * October 16:** This morning I met with eleven members of the ICCTE steering committee. The group is the International Community of Christians in Teacher Education. Go [|here] to see a wiki site which presents some information about the formation of a formal association growing out of the steering committee's work. Go [|here] to visit the site of our Journal. The meeting that was held this morning occurred in an online conference room hosted by George Fox University. The online conference room, powered by [|iVocalize], a web-based conferencing system. This system allows for live voice, video, text chat, whiteboard, shared browsing, and shared computer desktop. I have been using this system for about three years and have found it to be quite effective in connecting distant people for live interaction. Indeed, I was expecting to host live events in this course, using this system, but have not due to some technical difficulties. I believe the bugs are worked out and will be inviting all of you to participate in a live session sometime during the life of this course.


 * October 10:** I met with Loren Kerns this morning. Loren directs our [|Doctor of Ministry] program at George Fox University. I told him of my Spinoza project in SL. I hope to get doctor of ministry students interested in establishing a Christian congregation in that community. It is unlikely that the program would adopt Spinoza as a project, but Loren tells me that individual students may be interested in using the project as a centerpiece for their dissertation. I hope so. I am also considering conversing with leaders of the Anglican community in SL in an attempt to secure on ongoing church presence there.


 * October 7** Today, I participated in two significant events in Second Life**.** This morning I had the opportunity to participate in a meeting with several founding members of the Port Spinoza project. We are finalizing the charter for this community and will have a community meeting on Saturday afternoon to ratify the charter. In short, Port Spinoza:

is a Second Life community with a theme based on Age of Enlightenment Netherlands. In that age people began to question the world view handed down to them by prince and church, and to weigh ideas with their own rational thought, scientific experimentation, and though critical dialog. Port Spinoza is dedicated to promoting that kind of examination of our political, social, and spiritual assumptions.

Port Spinoza is a community of learners. Our mission is to provide a home in Second Life for people who see learning as an integral part of their lives, and to provide opportunities for our members and visitors to engage in activities that support exploration, learning, and growth. To do this the Port Spinoza community:
 * 1) Hosts people, events, and ideas that encourage thoughtful, pluralist discourse among community members and with other individuals and groups.
 * 2) Encourages individual learning and scholarly activity by providing space, activities, opportunities for collaboration, and accountability.
 * 3) Openly pursues knowledge through exploration of the life of the mind, spirit, and culture.
 * 4) Engages with global human society and culture through presentations, seminars, exhibits and experiential learning activities.

If you would like to see the full charter for the community [|go here]: I have been involved with a group of people putting together this project for quite some time. I have a particular interest in how the Quakers, in the mid 17th century, joined the conversation in Amsterdam and other cities in Holland, engaging the church, the culture and the skeptics of the day in ongoing dialogue about truth, life and service. My intent in helping to develop this project is to allow for such interactions to occur today, in an online environment, facilitating dialogue that may be difficult to create face to face. To this end, I have proposed a sabbatical project for the 2009/10 academic year that will allow me to invest more heavily in the project.

The second meeting was actually one that I led. I made a presentation to a group of colleagues in Second Life, in the Lodge on Sea Turtle Island (some of you were there earlier in the summer). My presentation was entitled The Quaker Mission on Port Spinoza, and I presented to my colleagues my plan for the work there. Included was a brief summary of my proposed sabbatical project.

In addition, I shared an outline of what the Quaker mission would look like.

The Quaker Mission

I have been thinking about how I might center my activities in SL to advance my personal, professional and technological interests and have come up with the idea of The Quaker Mission to Port Spinoza. The Mission might consist of:


 * Quaker Resource room**: Housing information on the Friends thought and practice, including space (synchronous and asynchronous) for dialogue for Friends of different backgrounds and beliefs.


 * Welcome Center**: Functions which help newcomers become aware the needs, peculiarities and competencies of SL “citizenship”.


 * Conversations**: Hosting conversations around issues and needs of the broader community and involving representatives from many communities.


 * Service**: Looking for opportunities to serve needs in SL and beyond.

**October 4**: We celebrated our 20 year old son's birthday this evening. Two thoughts have crossed my mind in regard to the course content. One is how the information and computing technology we are reviewing in this course may act as either a barrier or a support to communication. I have heard the word community used by several in this course. Some have stated that community occurs in a physical locale. And, in this model, electronic networks and devices are a barrier to community in that they prevent people from actually engaging with those in their immediate community. "You spend more time on that cell phone with someone half way across the world than you do with the person who lives next door to you". Another way in which technology may hinder or support is in the educational process. Some of the people who are registered for this course do not prefer to take courses in an online environment. they do not invest in the interactions with colleagues here as they would in a face to face course. They can be somewhat reticent to speak up because of a discomfort with the mode of communication. However, there is the related phenomenon that if the course had not been offered in an online format, some of the participants could not have participated due to geographic barriers. In that regard, do electronic networks become a support as opposed to a barrier?

The other thought I had is how new technologies shift the power structures in societies. Think about what the repeating rifle did to change the power structure in the mid 19th century. Think about what the printing press did to alter the power structure in Europe in the middle ages. Think about the power structure shifts occurring in the beginning of the 21st century as the race is on to develop viable options to petroleum. This analysis can be applied to information technology and the internet as well. How much longer can the traditional academic journals have a strangle hold on publishing scholarly work? How much longer will textbook publishers control information in the university classroom? How much longer will a small town pastor provide significant influence over the lives of people in his/her congregation? Significant questions if you pose them within an examination of where power shifts to when technologies change.

If you care to discuss any of these questions with me, link off my page here with your comments on a new page, or add your comments here in another color or, add comments using the discussion tab at the top of my page.


 * October 1**: I am sitting on Silver Lake in Everett Washington. Today is the last full day of our visit here and we return to Newberg tomorrow. I have just completed my morning office hours, reading and addressing about 90 email messages, making some amendments to several wikis, and checking our course sites. I am reflecting on the learning that is occurring in my own life in regard to the use of networked information and communication. What have I given up in teaching online? What have I gained personally? Is it worth it to open up or graduate courses to students who are not within commuting distance of Newberg? More than for me personally, is it worth it for our learning community within the EDFL department to have a group of students join in who are not able to physically get here during the week to take this course?

Well, worth is a hard concept to define and operationalize. However, as I read the responses to Schultze and the emerging thoughts on projects and your beginning work in this wiki, I realize that for some, online courses are places to flourish and for others, to flounder. For some, online courses are opportunities to shine and for others, opportunities to hide. A lot of the concern that Schultze raises about the digital culture are legitimate for sure. However, I tend to think, as several others of our group think, that tools themselves are neutral, its what we do with tools that counts. I would argue that we have people hiding and shining within face to face courses, as well. Does that mean we should not meet face to face? Significant changes in technology do bring sigfnificant changes in behavior. Basic charater issues and behavior choices remain. How are we to live, how do we treat one another, what is ultimately true and meaningful and important? These questions are asked in primitive cultures, in addition to post modern cultures.

As you explore and move through the opportunies, both conceptual and technological, presented in this seminar, reflect on the meaning of the experience for you. Are you taking time to have a sabbath of rest and meaning making? Are you listening well to the voice of the Lord, speaking softly to your heart, and perhaps more loudly through the words of scripture and through the lives of people around you? Is your experience of fellowship and love with other people in your family and community enhanced by your use of tools (such as telephones, cameras, automobiles, etc)? Or are your feelings of seperateness and alienation influenced by the space created by our networked culture?