Religious Studies News

A great deal of trust must be established for this guided journal writing method to work, and I have found it to be highly effective. In fact, at the end of one iteration of this course, some students wrote about learning how to listen carefully and respectfully to others, agreeing to disagree, and having the confidence to speak one’s perspective with an authority that is tempered by humility. Again, this may evoke the “touchy-feely” campfire storytelling that overvalues self-referential experiences in education. However, the underlying pedagogical strategy here comes from active-learning, and learner-centered pedagogical models, which inform much of my approach to teaching. Student satisfaction improves by having more say regarding the format of the course. Because of the high demand placed on student-driven discussion, students come to class more prepared in part because they do not want to let down their peers, yet also because they have taken more control over their learning experience. The students and I are both pushed out of our comfort zones initially: they drive the discussion, and I relinquish a good deal of control over where the conversation will lead. Nevertheless, I frequently — some students would say too frequently — bring the organic discussion back to key ideas. This tactic is how I can use my expertise to guide students and to provoke further reflection.

Guided journal writing is one means of addressing the chasm between course objectives of professors (e.g., critical thinking and analytical skills) and those of many students (e.g., a combination of mental and “spiritual” growth; see Walvoord) in religious studies courses. In that sense, journal writing can be shaped in a variety of ways to fit with numerous courses. Regardless of the specific course or journal format, the emphasis remains on learner-centered approaches to pedagogy. A learner-centered method often shifts significantly away from a traditional course-content mastery model, which usually involves a disciplinary expert transmitting a body of knowledge to be replicated in some fashion by the student as a measure of student learning. The learner-centered model must, however, have flexibility built into the course — merely “getting through all the content on the syllabus” does not translate into learning. Some instructors might think the “less is better” approach actually to be “just less” (i.e., not real education). Learner-centered education demands more of students and instructors alike. Given the research and service demands placed upon instructors, retooling one’s approach to pedagogy may seem overwhelming, especially to nontenured and contract faculty members. And why redo one’s teaching post-tenure? For some folks, that may actually prove the only chance to do so!

The journal writing I use in teaching ethnography of religion is specific to that course, but surely can be adapted to other courses. Whether journal writing becomes one of many teaching tactics or a teaching strategy depends on how well such assignments reach the course objectives. I began using journal writing after positive feedback from students in introductory courses to short, creative nonfiction essays. One example came from having students write a letter to a loved one telling that person how the student had adopted a new religion. This assignment forced students to try to write accurately about an “other,” so they had to draw upon readings and class discussions. But they had the creative license to craft the letter as they saw fit. Much more came through in those letters about students’ understanding of, and personal experiences with, religion than straightforward descriptive writing. For my introductory course to Hindu traditions (a 200-level course), students wrote short essays in which they adopted a particular “Hindu” viewpoint and had to argue effectively not only about who they were, but also how they were different from other Hindus. Here, again, students found the creative nonfiction approach to be very challenging, yet also more rewarding than mere description. These are but two examples of how I see “journal” writing branch off into other types of writing. For me, getting course objectives, student assignments, and learning objectives to align in an integrally structured manner is critical to all of my courses. Guided journals are part of a larger, strategic arc to “Ethnography of Religion,” and have proved to be highly effective in reaching my alignment goals.