- The Good Humor man drove down our street last Friday and I’d promised C that we’d get a treat from him sometime, so we bought an overpriced popsicle shaped like a Spiderman head (with two gumballs for eyes) and a Klondike bar.
My contribution to Freakonomics is to wonder whether the overprogramming of today’s children has had a negative impact on the ice cream truck industry. There was nobody outside on our block that day, despite temperatures in the low 80s and lots of kids living nearby. In fact, our suburb seems pretty darn deserted a lot of the time. We eat on our back patio several times a month and it’s like, where is everybody? Karate? Lacrosse? Computer camp? Playing video games?
- R asked me this morning how the experiment- that’s- not- an- experiment- anymore is going. (Don’t know if there was a message in that question or not…?) I have definitely cut down on my total time spent on the computer, but since vacation I have not been as successful partitioning my time. Part of it is the variability of summer—I don’t have a regular routine. And summer is slower, which means I can experience internet-creep more easily. I should think more about this.
- The online poetry workshop will begin soon. Some of you were wondering about format. The workshop is being conducted via a yahoo group. The instructor posts weekly lectures, including a homework assignment which is optional but recommended. Twice a week she will also post writing prompts, also optional but recommended. She will provide feedback on any and all homework and prompted writing. Each of us will workshop twice over the ten weeks, and that’s a requirement—submitting material as well as commenting on others. Looks like fun.
- Before enrolling at Crusty ol’ Theological Seminary I took several classes through an extension program offered through a seminary in Hip and Hilly Texas. Most of the time the professor flew down to teach the weekly class, but towards the end of my time with them they were experimenting with real-time video lectures and whatnot. I wouldn’t trade my time at CTS for anything and do feel like the resident component is valuable beyond belief, but as my family grows I am becoming more intrigued by institutions that are exploring distance learning in a meaningful way.
I have pondered being trained as a spiritual director, and/or a facilitator of spiritual retreats. Many of these programs are behind the curve when it comes to accommodating people who just cannot get away for two, three weeks at a time, though I did find one program (local even) that has week-long residencies, once a year. There is value in getting away from the everyday; it’s the one-size-fits-all approach that doesn’t work for me. I was lucky to go to seminary before I had kids and with a flexible spouse. What if I were feeling called to seminary today?
I wonder how much of this is people just not understanding how technology can really support learning, how much of it is economic on the part of the educational institution (though I think there’s lots of money to be made, there is an up-front investment required), and how much is about institutions feeling like they must control and manage the learning experience.
- Time to sermonize.
17 Responses to “monday mishmash”
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spiritual direction: are you referring to that new endeavor up at the cathedral? i’m with you on the time commitment and family obligations. i’d love to be trained in spiritual direction but 3 kids under 5 doesn’t make that easy. maybe that is why SD’s are usually 50’s and older? (that is an observation not a judgment).
writing a book about your dad, pastoring full (or part-time???) in parish ministry, writing articles for denominational magazine, taking on-line writing class, blogging, loving 3 kids and 1 husband and extended family. get a grip! i think if you take on anything else you’ll go bonkers.
yes, you are gifted in many areas, but you’re also human. think sequentially. i’ll do this now and that later.
i’m not usually so blunt, but wanted to get your attention.
now for a question. if a person could only show up for one of the harry potter sermons, which one should she aim for?
you’re writing a sermon on Monday?
Is that legal?
While I was at the seminary in Hip and Hilly for the D.Min. a couple of weeks ago, a woman also enrolled was talking about her time taking a class via video-feed. She and the other woman present said they found out how to mute the video b/c the professor was “dry as a bone” and they talked about the material and life until they would glance at the screen and see the professor yelling their names!
Yet, in South America (Argentina in fact) a man I met interfaced with all the country’s lawyers at one time with video-real-time-conferencing, and our presbytery is thinking about experimenting with it.
I think for a meeting, I would be all for it; but for a class I want to be in a room with other people. But I’m a dinosaur on this topic, so I think I speak for the minority…
Teri, I’m writing the series concurrently, so I guess you could say I’m writing three today!
Actually, if I get the bulletin done today I’ll consider today a success. We have a called session meeting tonight.
Anne, many of those things you listed ebb and flow. I’m not taking these things on, I’m exploring when/how I might do so in the future, near and long term.
It’s said, “You can have it all, just not all at the same time.” I couldn’t agree more.
Much to my children’s disgust, I am often telling them “you can do anything, but you can’ do everything”
When I was on the diocesan standing committee, we had lots of discussions about the value (or not) of living in community while in seminary. Is that controlling and managing the learning experience or is it being active in formation?
Chaplainmom, I’d rather be face to face too! But if the choice is traveling two/three weeks twice a year, or doing one week/ten days a year plus some creative use of technology, that is the difference between my being able to do it or not. That’s my reality for the next few years, at least. Thankfully I don’t feel any interest in the D.Min. at this point, though many friends of my age and vintage have begun the degree.
I know there is always a balance between being accommodating and maintaining the integrity of what you’re doing. I guess I’ve just been part of enough online community that I know it can work. And if the church and its educational institutions claim to value the younger clergy and seek to nurture them as leaders… well… are we just supposed to wait until our lives conform to the formula? (Meanwhile, what are the percentages of clergy leaving the ministry in the first five years?) Or can they meet us halfway?
I considered the spiritual direction/formation program offered at Hip and Hilly Seminary, but the logistics of getting away for the immersion week –or even the “weekend”–would be pretty complicated.
There is a three-year program in spiritual direction offered by a well-regarded retreat center here. They alternate classes between a half-day on Friday, and a combination of Tuesday evening and Saturday morning. (Meaning, if you enroll in a “Friday” year, you stay on that schedule all three years, while the class behind you is a “Tuesday/Saturday” class for three years.) That sounds so much more manageable. But I don’t know of any seminary that is offering something that user-friendly.
well, my alma mater–the fancypants u divinity school where all the faculty love jesus—(there’s got to be a better moniker– basically, the fancypants that’s not That. Other. School.) by vote of faculty declared a unanimous NO to all online learning—including as transfer credit….which I think is awfully short-sighted of them. Especially the transfer credit piece.
I don’t think I’d ever take an online only course. It’s just not me. but online with a smaller in person aspect? Yup.
A friend who like me is in her 50s and in seminary (well, I’m *almost* there) have been discussing at length our utter frustration with schedules designed for 20-somethings. It’s very difficult for people who haven’t experienced it to understand how online relationships and learning develop — and there are those issues of control and this is how we’ve always done it. No online credit. Language classes MWF, making it virtually impossible for someone commuting from out of town to hold a PT job. Classes that are prereqs for other classes scheduled only one quarter a year, meaning if you can’t manage it that quarter, you might have to extend your education another one or two years.
And the spiritual direction program I am starting? Every other Wednesday night. For me, a major challenge but possible. For people who travel during the work week, not even possible. For people with significant church or community obligations on week-nights, often not possible. I have suggested every other Friday night or Saturday to the director, noting the plethora of colleges that offer week-end programs for working people returning for BAs or MBAs — no go.
Of course, the irony here is that it’s those of us well beyond our 20s who as students and workers outside the ivory tower have adapted quickly to technology and see its vast potential. While we no longer face the challenge of parenting small children, our lives usually have complex layer upon layer of obligation that make a traditional school schedule extremely difficult to manage.
When I started seminary, my husband and I had just separated and I had a five month old baby. And I was teaching full time in a public high school. It would have been impossible for me to pursue a seminary degree if I had not been fortunate enough to live a short distance from a small ARP seminary that seems to specialize in meeting the needs of non-traditional students. In addition to the regular day and night classes, they had Saturday classes that met once a month (all day), distance learning classes (which I never personally experienced), several off-campus centers for those who traveled from distances for classes, and intensive courses (short term, long hours). I wanted very much to have at least one year at a PC(USA) seminary. CTS was my closest option. What I discovered there, however, was that unless you fit exactly into their cookie-cutter mold, you could plan on at least one extra year added on to your degree program. That was back in the late 90’s, so maybe it has changed. I hope so. So I don’t have a PC(USA) pedigree. But I thank God for that tiny little seminary that was willing to think outside the box. Without them, I would not be where I am today.
Thanks, GG and PM—good perspective.
Ashley, I forgot to respond—I don’t know about the Cathedral program; say more. I am looking at the Shalem Institute at the moment.
We just found out that the entire MDiv program is now online for UDTS, something that’s been in the making for a little while now, that we’ve been watching earnestly. We’re blessed to be only an hour from this good seminary, but a combo of actual classes and online coursework in this time of our life feels right, like it’s part of the answer God’s giving in how to answer His call. Would love to hear you HP series!!! Will there be “theme music” as well? (I played several HP numbers on the organ for our service in January). –Karla
The Cathedral is offering a new spiritual direction program run out of their Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage. I got some stuff in the mail a few weeks ago but misplaced it. I need to ask some more details—is it for “layfolks” and clergy or more directed to laypeople. Not sure what difference that would make….but one of my questions. It also doesn’t have the time commitment. I’ll email my contact up at the cathedral and find out. i haven’t checked the web site for info: www.cathedral.org/cathedral
here it is
This looks interesting. It’s Monday evenings, basically, and much less expensive than Shalem. I couldn’t do it this year due to el bebe, but maybe another year.
I’m a DE seminary student. It has its ups and down. The ups are that I’m still home and “the mom” and can write papers in my jammies. The downs are that people often forget that other hat I’m wearing called “student”. So I’ve learned to not answer the phone (either landline or cell), not read email except when I have time to really respond, and disappear to the library “quiet room” when I have a paper to write and the distractions of writing in my jammies come crashing in on me.
I have to do a week every semester for an on-campus modular class, or the option of a local modular (two weekends - Thurs=Fri nights and Sat all day). But that’s just once a semester. And do-able
After 30 years of active lay leadership (and two church staff positions) I really am not enticed into the idea of a seminary bubble existence. But that’s just me. YMMV (your mileage my vary).
Deb
I will be starting the Distance MDiv at UDTS this fall.
I’m excited because as a 40ish mom with all the trappings of a two-career yuppie household (plus my mom living in), I couldn’t imagine how God was going to get me to - much less through - a seminary in the traditional way.
I’ll let you know how it goes