Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary : 2000 Seminar
Newsbrief
Eastern’s goal is to achieve more effective teaching by rethinking models of teaching and learning, and then retraining the faculty. The Seminar grant has facilitated the first step of this process—preparing themselves for change. To this end, the faculty and administration: researched institutions and individuals who could serve as resources; held a two-day workshop on major change in teaching and learning, facilitated by an educational consultant; and planned further steps. The focus of the teaching and learning and to develop a common set of issues they need to exchange in this process. Each faculty member has completed a one-page personal plan for changing their relationships with students and with faculty colleagues, and for describing how they will utilize outside resources. They are also considering how to ensure that their many adjunct faculty are involved in this process of change in preparation for delivering a new curriculum. In its change to a more learner-centered teaching, Eastern has also been seeking to get to know its students better by having faculty visit the students’ contexts of ministry. Dean Eric Ohlmann described how faculty met in Philadelphia’s “Badlands” to walk the streets and talk to the residents, and then later met for a few hours to process their experience. They then listened to the seminary students who work in this context, gaining a better understanding of both the setting and the students’ needs.
Eastern’s goal is to achieve more effective teaching by rethinking models of teaching and learning, and then retraining the faculty. The Seminar grant has facilitated the first step of this process—preparing themselves for change. To this end, the faculty and administration: researched institutions and individuals who could serve as resources; held a two-day workshop on major change in teaching and learning, facilitated by an educational consultant; and planned further steps. The focus of the teaching and learning and to develop a common set of issues they need to exchange in this process. Each faculty member has completed a one-page personal plan for changing their relationships with students and with faculty colleagues, and for describing how they will utilize outside resources. They are also considering how to ensure that their many adjunct faculty are involved in this process of change in preparation for delivering a new curriculum. In its change to a more learner-centered teaching, Eastern has also been seeking to get to know its students better by having faculty visit the students’ contexts of ministry. Dean Eric Ohlmann described how faculty met in Philadelphia’s “Badlands” to walk the streets and talk to the residents, and then later met for a few hours to process their experience. They then listened to the seminary students who work in this context, gaining a better understanding of both the setting and the students’ needs.