Week of April 7

Course home page / Mary Hess home page / Mary Hess email / Luther Seminary
Welcome to the wonderful world of online learning! (ok, I'm only half serious about that) On this page I have listed the things I'd like you to work on during this week, including what I hope your small group will contribute to the larger process. I realize that this kind of experience may well feel unsettling, and you may not know if you've "gotten" what you need from it. Even that kind of experience, however, can contribute to our learning together. So please keep track of what you're thinking/feeling as you go through these materials.

Learning objectives

Experience learning via an online, asynchronous format

Catch a glimpse of the larger issues swirling around the Web and its impact within communities

Confront some of the more difficult dilemmas of this medium (digital divide, access/tech, etc.)

Learn how to use a listserv for conversation

Ponder a variety of web resources for ministry

 


Small group work

Find a way to communicate with your small group members! You can do this via whatever technology you prefer (e-mail, phone, in person, and so on). If you've never exchanged methods to reach each other, you can start by going to the class roster through the Luther Seminary Intranet page (hint: check for courses under my name).

Once you've established communication, figure out amongst yourselves three web sites you think all of us should visit, and why (hint: referring to David Weinberger's arguments will help). Send a message to the course listserv (ce4515@mailman.fishersnet.net) giving us the URL's to those sites and your rationale for why we should visit them.

In addition to the group post (that is, the message your small group sends to the listserv), each member of this class should post one original comment (that is, share something with the class that you've learned this week) AND respond to one post from a classmate with something more substantive than simply "I agree." Here again, using Weinberger's ideas in your argument is highly encouraged!



Required reading

Primary text for this week is David Weinberger's "Small pieces, loosely joined." (This link does not take you to the book, but rather to resources about the book.) You might enjoy his "kid's version" of the same material.

In addition to that, take some time to read about the digital divide issues at: "Losing ground bit by bit"

If you have time, you might find the following resources interesting:

Public Knowledge .Electronic Frontier Foundation . Creative Commons . Center for Media Education .Center for Digital Democracy . Media, culture and teens . Tactical Media .


Additional resources

Resources for American Christianity . Some working examples in ministry . Journal of Lutheran Ethics .


 

3 April 2003