Date

4-2020

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Education in Curriculum & Instruction (EdD)

Chair

Mark A. Lamport

Keywords

Reflective Practice, Christian Higher Education, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Graduate Theological Education, Theological Reflection

Disciplines

Education | Higher Education | Online and Distance Education

Abstract

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the lived experience of teaching theological reflection in the online environment for instructors at Christian institutions accredited by the Association of Theological Schools. The central theories guiding this study were reflective practice and transformative learning theory as they explore the relationship between experience and reflection. Since relatively few inquiries have been published on the ways in which seminary professors assist future religious leaders in the use of reflective practice, the central research question for this study was: How do instructors at Christian institutions accredited by the Association of Theological Schools describe their experience of teaching theological reflection in the online environment? Through a transcendental phenomenology involving the data collection methods of individual interviews and a focus group triangulated with letters to future theological educators, I described the lived experience of teaching theological reflection in the online environment for a purposive sample of 13 instructors of online theological reflection employed by Christian institutions accredited by the Association of Theological Schools. Data analysis yielded the four themes of time, relationships, experience, and space as well as the essence of teaching theological reflection online; this essence, or concise summary of teaching theological reflection online, was hospitality in cyberspace for the purpose of fostering discussions about theology and experience.

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