Online Teaching

I'm teaching a summer course on Prophets and Prophecy. I love the material, and I have taught this course several times. But what is atypical is that for the first time I'm teaching the course entirely online. Through "Blackboard" course management software and by placing my lectures on vimeo, I'm hoping that the course will be a success for the 40 students taking it. I will definitely miss the student interaction. Often times I can gauge the level of student learning by listening to students try to verbally make sense of the material. Now though I'll be limited to answering email and by giving feedback on their papers and study guide answers. But for self motivated students who are good with time management, I think the course format could be fabulous.

I've finished the Introductory lecture, as well as lectures about the four 8th century BCE prophets: Amos, Hosea, Micah, and Isaiah. The lectures can be seen in this Vimeo Album. I thought quite a bit about making them public. There are dogma police who will seek to cause trouble for me and my university for the things that I say in these videos. It's happened a few times in the past with things that I've published here in this blog and in other more academic publications. I'm also very aware of the escalating dogma battle between the U.S. bishops and Catholic Sisters in academia. But in the spirit of spreading knowledge about these amazing ancient prophets and the texts that bear their names, I decided to keep with my policies of transparency.