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Semelhante a Religious information literacy: using information to learn in church community
Semelhante a Religious information literacy: using information to learn in church community (17)
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Religious information literacy: using information to learn in church community
- 1. RAILS7 Religious information literacyusing information to learn in church community Authors Lyndelle Gunton | Christine Bruce | Ian Stoodley CC Image courtesy of Leonard John Matthews on Flickr
- 2. Information literacy Informed learning is... “a way of using information to learn” Christine Bruce, “Informed Learning”, 2008. RAILS7
- 3. Research goals Discover and describe the different ways members of church community experience informed learning Explore variations between these experiences Identify tangible ways in which awareness and use of information can enhance learning experiences in church community RAILS7
- 4. What is a church community? Religion as social phenomenon Religion as theological concept “A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, i.e., things set apart and forbidden--beliefs and practices which unite in one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them.” Émile Durkheim, 1912. The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, Book 1, Ch. 1 “The church is... Christ existing in community“ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1954, Life Together RAILS7
- 5. Relevant literature Contemporary IL research in community contexts (Bruce, 2000; Lloyd, 2005; Partridge, Bruce & Tilley, 2008; Yates, 2009 ) Research in learning & church community (Harris, 1989; Seymour, 1997) Research in Christian education (Everist, 2002; Littleton, 2008; Saines, 2009) Research in IL & church community (Wicks, 1999; Teske, 2002; Brunton, 2005; Delamarter, 2005; Phillips, 2007; Lambert, 2010) RAILS7
- 6. Research methodology Phenomenography Research focus = variation in experience “both process of construction and a process of discovery.” Christine Bruce, 1997, The Seven Faces of Information Literacy, p. 103 RAILS7
- 7. Data collection Semi-structured interviews Purposive sample taken from Uniting Church in Australia (14 interviews) Question 1: Describe your experience of using information as a member of the church community. Question 2: Describe your experience of using information to learn as a member of the church community. Question 3: Describe an experience you’ve had of using information to help others to learn in the church community. RAILS7
- 8. Data analysis -categories of description Informed learning is experienced in church community as using information to learn about: Growing faith Developing relationships Managing the church RAILS7
- 9. Informed learning in church community is aboutgrowing faith “A lot of those songs will possibly speak to me more than the sermon that evening if there’s a really good song in there because I will go away singing that for the rest of the week and you’ll be singing it... and can sort of reflect on that.” (Int.2) Kinaesthetic Personal study & reflection Group discussion Formal education Artistic expression Approaches to learning Text Audio Visual Digital Spiritual Forms of information RAILS7
- 10. Informed learning in church community is about developing relationships “I actually probably think of the relationships that we made with people above the knowledge that it gave me of the Bible. There were people there that we would never have met. They go to the early morning service and they've become really good friends... just got to know other members of the congregation at a really personal level.” (Int.7) Approaches to learning Planned activities- pastoral care Informal activities- Kinaesthetic Web 2.0 technologies Forms of information Audio Visual Digital RAILS7
- 11. Informed learning in church community is about managing the church “I actually find often conversations that happen informally inform me of a lot more because people are much more willing to be a lot more honest in verbal conversations than they are through the printed report.” (Int.4) Approaches to learning Text Audio Digital Visual Spiritual “As an extrovert, I learn best outside of my head. So, as much as I think dynamically inside my head, I then need to bounce that off people to understand and, I guess, qualify my own thinking and so the divergence of the process is really beneficial to me in a sense.” (Int.1) Forms of information Listening Personal study Group interaction RAILS7
- 13. Service to the church community
- 14. Mission beyond the church communityRAILS7
- 15. Research outcomes Strong relationship between developing relationships and growing faith Suggestion of a preference for interactive learning through planned and informal conversation and discussion Contrasts with current preference in church community to direct resources towards print and auditory delivery of information RAILS7
- 16. RAILS7
- 17. Significance Insights for church communities Lay people Church leaders and those in ministry Greater awareness for information professionals Church & theological libraries Wider industry RAILS7
- 18. Future directions Exploration of potential further research Web 2.0 in the church community Wider sample expanding into other Christian denominations Broader age group RAILS7
- 19. In summary… “The church should be that space where learning is a dynamic engagement of ideas, information and building a place where there’s an ability for people to have that engagement...in an affirming kind of context. So, regardless of the questions, regardless of the direction a conversation might take, a course of study might take, an engagement with the world might take, it’s a space in which that engagement is valued.” (Int.1) RAILS7 [All images used with permission from The Uniting Church in Australia, Queensland Synod unless otherwise acknowledged.]
- 20. Contact information Lyndelle Gunton Email:lyndelle.gunton@student.qut.edu.au Information Studies Group Faculty of Science & Technology Queensland University of Technology Twitter: lyndelleg Professor Christine Bruce Email: c.bruce@qut.edu.au Information Studies Group Faculty of Science & Technology Queensland University of Technology Dr Ian Stoodley Email: i.stoodley@qut.edu.au Information Studies Group Faculty of Science & Technology Queensland University of Technology RAILS7
Notas do Editor
- Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share this research with you today on behalf of my co-authors, Professor Christine Bruce and Dr Ian Stoodley.The ways in which people use information in the learning experience and the degree to which they are aware of that has become a focus of contemporary information literacy research.While this field of research has previously focused its attention on formal education settings, in recent times there has been a shifting of attention to the engagement of information in other contexts, such as workplaces and communities.One of the communities that some people consider themselves to be members of is that of the church. As a member of one such community, I am interested in the role of churches as learning communities, and specifically how members use information in learning experiences.
- I began by exploring what is meant by the term church community.Emile Durkheim offered a sociological perspective of religion and church community and analysed religion as a social phenomenon.Contrast this with the theological perspective offered by the German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who suggestsWhen people of God come together to share their lives openly and freely, those who come together experience a delightful cohesion and sense of belonging.Both of these are useful in helping to develop a broad context for this research.
- The relevant literature areas for this research and their key authors are listed on the slide.Of particular interest is the indication that there is little literature available focusing on the the relationship between informed learning and church community. While some research has addressed the information behaviours of members of the church community, it is normally concerned with clergy and theological students rather than lay people.Furthermore, the data concentrates on skills associated with information-seeking behaviours with little attention directed to the ways people in the church use information in the learning experience.
- Analysis of the gathered research data reveals some interesting preliminary findings about religious information literacy in the church community. The collection and subsequent analysis of the data has resulted in the construction of 3 categories of description. That is, there are 3 generalised understandings of how the church community engages information in the learning experience.These are displayed on the slide.For each of these experiences, both the approaches to learning and the forms of information are considered in the following analysis. Quotes are provided from a number of the interviews to show the data.
- The growth of faith through informed learning can be described in terms of how members of the church community uses information to develop their spirituality and move forward in their faith journey. When experiencing informed learning this way, members of the church community are motivated by a desire to understand and grow in their relationship with God and to develop their spiritual understanding of God’s Word and how it impacts everyday life. Therefore, the primary focus in this category is to learn about God, to remind and confirm their faith.According to the research data, when informed learning in the church community is experienced as growing faith, people use a variety of types of info.Some examples include:Engaging with information that is artistically expressed, such as art, music, and drama Use of personal reflection and encouraging others to invest in the reflective processUse of stories and parables to explain the meaning of God’s WordMeeting together and participating in worship servicesParticipants indicate a preference for exploring and developing skills and knowledge in interactions with others, or peer learning in the form of discussion or conversation.***************************Notably, while participants are conscious of which types of information they find easiest or most difficult to learn with, this awareness does not appear to convert into deliberate planning or searching for learning experiences using those preferred types of information.***************************
- The wellbeing & strength of a community is linked to the quality of relationships exist within that community. This depends on the ability of members to initiate and foster relationships with each other. The information generated through the interactions that contribute to those social and pastoral relationships is valuable in the life of the church community.Community members are inspired to build relationships in order to fulfil the basic human need to be social and to act in accordance with God’s instructions to love and care for one another. When the church community uses information to develop relationships, the types of information are usually auditory and visual in nature, and are usually communicated in face-to-face contexts. Examples of such information include church notices, sharing of stories, anecdotes, and personal experiences, and sharing of beliefs and faith journey and artistic expression through music, song, drama, poetry, etc. The experience of using information to develop relationships is rarely an individual one. Rather, the research data reveals that it usually involves two or more members of the community engaging in face-to-face interaction.***************************Members of the church community share and source information in a variety of planned and informal contexts, including participation in community pastoral activities, the engagement of ministry colleagues in informal and social interactions outside the workplace, and sharing in worship services.As people participate in these learning experiences, they are engaging in kinaesthetic learning, or learning by doing.*************************************There is an indication that some members of the church community are beginning to use digital technologies, such as email and social media tools like FaceBook, in an intentional effort to develop relationships. While some of these experiences are tentative in nature, they hint at the potential that Web 2.0 technologies can offer in the way church community uses information to learn.
- The experience of using information for the purpose of managing or administrating the church is a significant part of learning in church community.Managing the church is defined as those activities that contribute to the strategic, administrative, and financial functions of the various departments and communities within the church. Members of the church community are motivated to learn about how the church is managed by the desire to contribute to decision making processes, using the consensus model adopted by the Uniting Church in Australia. When experiencing informed learning this way, members of the church community focus primarily on learning about the business or operations of a church community. These functions allow the church to operate on a day-to-day basis and enable the community to put into practice God’s purpose for the church as discerned in the missions and visions of the church. The range of information used in managing the church is extensive. Members of the church community who contribute to these functions of the church are expected to maintain awareness about a broad range of documentation, commonly shared in print, digital format via email, or in audio, as presented during meetings or conversations. This is often shared to aid preparation for debate and decision making.*******************************Once again, the data suggests that members of the church community prefer to learn in groups, where the sharing of information is interactive.While members of the church community do engage with information as a part of individual learning activities in order to effectively manage the church, it is not uncommon for these learning experiences to be used to complement interactive learning opportunities that also focus on these administrative functions.********************************This way of using information to learn could be considered unique to the church community, in that, unlike other contexts, learning is impacted by the discerning of the will of God. Regardless of the degree to which a decision makes good business sense, decisions about church functions are made with the mission and values of the church community, that is, God’s purpose for the church, in mind.
- As data analysis progresses, we are also considering the construction of these other tentativecategories of description.
- The data indicates that the church community is informed by a variety of forms of information as they learn: spiritual, theological, organisational, corporate, academic, educational, philosophical, community, and personal. These types of information may be delivered in numerous ways, most commonly print and auditory means for formal purposes and face-to-face interactions for informal learning. The research senses increasing interest in engaging with information via digital technologies.The emphasis in the data for the preference to learn via interaction was initially surprising, given the priority placed in the church on directing resources towards other ways of informing the community. However, when we return to the fundamental principles of community and why people become part of communities, particularly church communities, it really shouldn’t be cause for question. The words of religious educator, Maria Harris, remind us that collaboration in community has long been valued as a learning tool.
- Keywords from the interviewtranscripts were used to create a wordle to aid in data analysis.Of particular interest is the contrast in the size of words of a collective nature – congregation, community, sharing with that of words like individual.
- Insights resulting from this exploration may help church organisations, church leaders and lay people to consider how the engagement of information can be used to learn about growing faith, developing relationships, and managing the church, which supportsthe pursuit of spiritual wellness and the cultivation of lifelong learning. An example of such an outcome could be in the awareness of how the church community uses information to learn about growing faith.Learners recall and apply more information acquired during sermons that use visual imagery and narrative than those with auditory relaying of knowledge alone. Therefore, worship leaders could intentionallyprepare material using a higher proportion of visual and narrative information. Information professionals within the church community and the broader profession are encouraged by this research to foster their awareness of the impact that engagement with information has in the learning experience and in the prioritising of lifelong learning in community contexts. These findings, particularly that highlighting the preference for informal learning and group discussion, alert information professionals within church organisations to the need to create physical and online spaces that encourage and enable those types of learning.