Community and Spiritual Formation Online (Part 4 of 4)
KRISTEN FERGUSON
Christian institutions of higher education have a conviction that education is more than simply knowledge transfer. We have not achieved our mission if our students are simply smarter. Instead, we aim for whole-person transformation as our students engage in a Christian worldview that integrates faith and learning, apply truth to their lives in meaningful ways, and grow towards Christlikeness as they interact in community.
Facilitating this sort of spiritual formation in an online course has always been a concern of professors even since the earliest days of online education.[1] Those concerns have continued to be expressed over the years[2] and still linger in our minds as we all engage in this emergency transition to online education during COVID-19. Thankfully, it is precisely because Christian educators have always been concerned about this topic that we already have established research on hand about how to cultivate spiritual formation online.
The problem that many faculty perceive with spiritual formation in the online environment is what we in online education call “transactional distance.”[3] This theory holds that the physical separation between professor and student results in a psychological distance causing potential hindrances to learning and relational barriers.[4] Applied to the goal of student spiritual formation, the fear is that the physical distance between professor and student will result in stymied opportunities for spiritual growth that come as a result of interaction with biblical content through meaningful relationships with the student’s professor and peers.
The Community of Inquiry
Research in the field of Christian online education has identified one important curriculum design framework called “the community of inquiry” to reduce transactional distance.[5] This framework consists of three relationships that are established in the online environment by intentional interaction. Those relationships are between the student and content of the course, the student and professor, and the student and other students. When all three are present, the educational experience results in a learning community in which students grow in meaningful ways.
As we seek ways to develop a community, we know that the center of a Christian educational community is Christ. Therefore, although the community of inquiry was originally developed for a secular learning environment, our convictions will direct the way we execute this community creation in our institutions. For example, students won’t just interact with neutral content, we provide them with content that is rich with Scripture and saturated with the Christian worldview. Professors won’t just engage with students about their grades and homework but seek every opportunity to move them closer to Christ. Student interaction with peers won’t just pertain to acing the final but will be spiritually substantive as they grapple with biblical truth together.
All of that can happen online, and therefore spiritual formation can be a reality in the online course. From a Christian education standpoint, here are some ways that professors can design this community of spiritual formation online:
Student to content: Whether you deliver the content live or via video, as a Christian professor, you are giving your students the subject matter from a Christian perspective. That perspective can be communicated regardless of delivery format. As you provide content for students, be sure to assign regular activities that require students to grapple with the material throughout the term rather than cramming right before the final. This slow steeping in the content will help them reflect on how it can transform them in meaningful ways. The frequent activities also allow you as the professor to monitor and encourage that spiritual formation wherever possible.
Student to professor: The professor has countless opportunities to cultivate spiritual formation online beyond just providing the content. Through class discussion, assignment feedback, and even answering emails, the professor can seek opportunities to build relationship, apply truth, and identify growth. He or she will model to the student what it looks like to pursue Christlikeness in every interaction. It is vital that the professor not wait too long to grade, respond to an email, or engage in discussion. It must be regular and substantive throughout the length of the course so that the student knows that the professor is an active participant in the community of learning.
Student to student: Even if students receive excellent content and interaction with the professor, regular peer to peer interaction is a necessary component to a healthy community. Asynchronous discussion, peer review, group work, and other creative ideas can provide students opportunities to reflect with one another and learn from one another. With clear expectations regarding their engagement, they will share their own growth, observe the growth of their classmates, and contribute to the growth of the community as a whole.
A Missing Piece
Although the community of inquiry is an incredibly rich learning environment that can foster spiritual formation, there is still something missing. There is an end goal to spiritual formation that can be realized in a unique was online. The mission of the Christian is not just to soak up knowledge to be personally transformed, but biblical transformation seeks spread the name of Christ throughout the world. This is where online learning gets really fun.
As you create a community of spiritual formation among your online students, you can design ways for them to connect that meaningful transformation to their own context. Assigning them work that takes them offline and into their own community – interacting with people, gathering research, conducting interviews, or making observations – can foster an even deeper growth opportunity as they bring those contextual experiences back to the online classroom. As each student takes what they are learning about Christ into their own context, they can learn together how the Christian worldview is relevant in all contexts, to all people, and for all time.
The point is this – you can see spiritual formation in your online courses. In some ways, you can see a contextual realization of the Christian mission in ways that cannot be accomplished even on campus. It happens by intentionally designing a community where content, professor interaction, and peer interaction are all present and heading towards the specific goal of growth. Online courses can even provide opportunities to further our mission as we seek to reproduce growth in others by applying truth in our own contexts wherever they may be. So whether this is your first attempt at online education or you are an established pro, know that there is a path forward and even if it looks a bit different than your typical face-to-face class, don’t give up until you see transformation even in the online environment.
[1] Steve Delamarter, “Theological Educators and Their Concerns about Technology,” Teaching Theology & Religion 8, no. 3 (July 2005).
[2] Kristen Ann Ferguson, "Evangelical Faculty Perceptions of Online Learning in Graduate-Level Theological Education." Order No. 10240930, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2016. In PROQUESTMS ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, https://gbtssbc.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.gbtssbc.idm.oclc.org/docview/1849021866?accountid=11145.
[3] Roger White, “Promoting Spiritual Formation in Distance Education,” Christian Education Journal 3, no. 2 (September 2006).
[4] M. G. Moore, “Theory of transactional distance.” In D. Keegan (Ed.) Theoretical Principles of Distance Education (New York: Routledge, 1993).
[5] D. R. Garrison, T. Anderson, & W. Archer, W. “Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education model.” The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), (2000), 87-105.
Kristen Ferguson (Ed.D.) serves as Director of Online Education at Gateway Seminary.