Final Project Ideas

Course home page / Mary Hess home page / Mary Hess email / Luther Seminary / Fisher's Net
Final projects can take a variety of shapes in this class. Below I've listed five common types. I am always open to suggestions, so please take these as fruit for your imagination and contact me about specific proposals.

 

Faith fair exhibit

Ordinarily this final project takes the shape of a three-fold cardboard exhibit much like a science fair exhibit. I'm not sure how to propose that you do such a thing in an online course, although I will leave the directions here in case you'd like to do this and simply find some way to ship it to me. I realize that not everyone taking this course is at a distance, so locally resident students might find this possibility feasible. Distance students might still make this choice and then send me a digital picture of the exhibit. This project includes a 3-5 page written piece to accompany the exhibit.


Curriculum review

This final project involves choosing a religious education curriculum, preferably one in active use in your own context. Once you've identified the curriculum, you then work with it to assess it -- both in its proposed frame (ie. what the published books or guides for the curriculum think it should be and do) and in its actual use. Harris' ideas, Boys' grid, the Vella principles, and Gardners' intelligences are all frames that you can and should be able to bring to bear on this exercise by the end of the class.This project requires a 3-5 page written component to your evaluation, NOT inclusive of appendices.


Research paper

This is probably the most open of the final project options. It is also an excellent choice if you are an MA student in educational ministries, or are intending to ask me for a reference for graduate study. Click here for a list of possible projects that are simply fruit for your imagination.This paper would likely be between 12 and 15 pages in length.


Poster presentation

This final project involves choosing one resource off of the Wabash Center bibliography (found here on the web). Once you've chosen a resource, you then read it (or watch it, since some of them are films), critique it in light of the ideas from the course, and prepare a "poster" that communicates the main content of the resource and your critique of it. Usually this is a 3' x 5' poster done on posterboard. Locally resident students can turn this in to me directly. Distance students could take a digital photograph to send to me. This project includes a 3-5 page written piece to accompany the poster.

Web journey

For those of you who already have web design skills, you can take any one of the previous ideas or create a new one, and embed them in a web site of some sort. Another idea would be to create a web-based treasure hunt that explores the ideas of the course in the context of good web sites you've found and evaluated. This is another example of a final project that you should discuss with me before finishing it.


 

5 February 2003