Dancing Online with Your Students Print

Marla J. Selvidge, University of Central Missouri

Marla J. Selvidge is currently director, professor, and founder of the Center for Religious Studies at the University of Central Missouri. The Center currently offers online programs in religious studies. Selvidge has authored or edited at least ten books including The New Testament: A Timeless Book for All Peoples (Prentice Hall, 1998) and Notorious Voices: Feminist Biblical Interpretation, 1550–1920 (Paragon House, 1996). Recently she produced a collection of articles entitled “Slavery and Nineteenth Century Feminist Biblical Interpretation,” and contributed an article, “Menses, De Secretis Mulierum, and the Dead Sea Scrolls: A Comparative and Theoretical Analysis,” to a forthcoming book. Selvidge earned her PhD from Saint Louis University. An avid member of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature, she has presented papers at the Annual Meetings almost every year since 1980. She served two terms as co-Chair of the Religions, Social Conflict, and Peace Group at the AAR and as president of the Central States meeting of the SBL. She resides in Missouri with her companion and husband, Thomas C. Hemling, a PhD chemist and vice president of an animal health company.

Enlivening the Dance with Audiovisual Aids

Effective online teaching is analogous to dancing. Each partner must pay attention to the feet and body of the other while listening to the music. To walk away and lose sight of your partner ends the dance.

In all of my classes I attempt to keep students engaged in dancing with me throughout the entire semester. That dance includes constant assignments that feature videos, photographs, music, and objects of art that claim their interest. They discuss, report, take an exam, or create a presentation over materials that illuminate a textbook. Invited online specialists answer questions or analyze assignments. I have even invited the authors of our textbooks to chat with the students online in a discussion board format.

I have always been a “sound and light” professor. Face-to-face classes teemed with at least six different types of teaching strategies each time we met. I started with music, demonstrated key concepts with visual presentations, and involved students in discussion questions every fifteen minutes or so in the class. On most days I brought in art objects that illustrated the topic and began class with reports on religion and the news. Invited guest speakers brought diversity to the assigned topics.

Audiovisual aids help to bring religions to life. Comprehending religious traditions takes more than words on a page. Students experience religions through viewing pictures and videos of the people, rituals, art, and architecture, and through listening to music. Bringing art objects to class was a thrill for students. For instance, students could touch a Tibetan prayer flag or wheel, or statue of a deity, or try on a Jewish prayer shawl in class, but online they would have to experience these objects through video or photograph.

For every class I search the Web and university library to find free audio and video examples that will help illustrate the textbook or topic. During the past twenty years I have invited scores of speakers to campus. With their permission, we taped all of those lectures and use them in our classes. I also received copyright permission for scores of videos. Only a few producers rejected my requests. So now we have hundreds of short clips of speakers and religious practices that are housed on a closed server and that can be used in any of our classes.

Here are two examples: In my “Islam” class, I received permission to use the video Empire of Faith. Since the drop-add period is almost ten days at my university, I have students enrolling after we have been in class for two weeks. I solved the problem of needing students to catch up in the “Islam” class by beginning with a very long video that covers the history of Islam. Students produce a report on key places, characters, and movements at the end of this film. We begin the regular assignments after the showing of the film, which gives an excellent historical view of Islam. I have also used Who Wrote the Bible? for both “Ancient Israel and Judaism” and “The Bible as Literature” classes. Students produce a report that asks them to answer questions based on the film.

Using videos is an excellent strategy to employ in order to make the topic live and keep the dance exciting for students who are visually oriented. The films keep them interested and asking questions. Many students thank me for taking the extra time to add videos that illustrate the religions. While the same videos may be viewed in a face-to-face class, online students can fit the video into their schedule. They may watch all or part of it and may repeat it often if they did not understand it. They may even share it with their families.

Free videos illustrating important historical and ethical issues in religions can be linked directly to an online class using YouTube, the History Channel, PBS Frontline videos, JSTOR videos, Open Education Resources, National Geographic videos, Films on Demand (Films Media Group), NBC Learn, and more. Companies like Ambrose Video Publishing allow faculty to rent an online film for a semester for a price.

Obtaining copyright permission is not very difficult. Every religion hopes for an audience that understands it, and many produce informative videos explaining their history and traditions. After teaching such courses as “Religions in America” and “New Religions,” I e-mailed the headquarters of several religions and asked for permission to house their videos on our closed server. Almost every religion has their own Website these days, and most have their own server that houses videos or audios that can be linked to your online class. If you can’t find what you want for free, consider requiring students to buy a DVD.


You can bring your entire self into the online classroom in a variety of ways. Carol Knight, from our institution's instructional technology department, spent two years videotaping face-to-face lectures in my world religions class “Exploring Religions.” Those lectures are not required but are available for the students. It helps them with pronunciation of key concepts and studying for exams. Taping your lectures can help both face-to-face and online students. If they are uploaded to a secure server, students who miss a class can view a lecture so that they are not lost during the next session. Many students have thanked me for uploading lectures that include discussions and question-and-answer sessions. It helps place the topic or religion in perspective.

Another way to be visually present is through Adobe Presenter Files. For years I developed visual PowerPoint presentations based upon my travels to over fifty countries. They focus upon the religions, culture, rituals, architecture, music, and art of the world. During the past year I have added voice to these presentations. I do not film myself while lecturing. I would rather add voice to illustrations that help students to understand the material we are studying.

Adobe Presenter files add dimension to a class where you want to add material or consider an important ethical or religious discussion. They can also be used in a face-to-face class by placing them on a server and asking students to watch the presentation before class in order to be prepared for a discussion. The advantage of placing these materials on a server is that in face-to-face classes they would take up several days of discussions since they are time-consuming. And students can watch these at their leisure. Online students may complete the assignment in parts and take several days to do it depending upon their schedule.

Let’s take an example from Hinduism. I created the following Adobe Presenter Files:

  • Visual Introduction to Hinduism
  • Journey through India
  • Hindu Gods and Goddesses
  • Modern Hinduism and Ethical Issues

Below is an assignment based upon watching and listening to these files:

Use complete sentences. Answer the following questions. All of your answers MUST come from the presentations.
  1. What are two new “things” that you learned about India?
  2. What did you learn about gods and goddesses? Choose two and describe them and their meaning for people.
  3. What did you learn about ethical issues within Hinduism? Chose two and explain the controversies.
  4. Which historic person do you like the most within Hinduism and why?
  5. What is one “thing” that really stands out in these slides for you? Or, what changed you or informed you the most?

When I began teaching online I read dozens of books. I made notes of strategies and then developed my own teaching tools based upon my knowledge of our student population. One of the most important strategies is to keep the students engaged. Class assignments are set up as if they are a two- or three-day class (either Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, or else Tuesday and Thursday). Since I am a linguist, I know that practicing or studying regularly helps students to retain material better and to become more disciplined. And the dance becomes so much better.

Current research supports a dance strategy and the excellence it produces. E. Fredericksen in Online Education (2000) discovered that instructor–student interaction was the most significant contributor to perceived learning. Karen Swan in Distance Education (2001) suggests that instructors who interact frequently and productively with students “contribute significantly to the success of asynchronous online courses.” And Veronica Thurmond in the American Journal of Distance Education (2002) found that “when students believe that their learning was being assessed in a variety of ways and that they were receiving timely feedback . . . [these factors] were among the strongest predictors of student satisfaction.”

Students receive e-mails from me five days a week. I have attempted to use the calendar option on Blackboard, but students seem to respond better to daily e-mails that remind them of due dates and give information on work they have completed. After grading each assignment, I share one or two of the best reports with the students and ask them to compare their work with the best of the class. After each major unit I send out a tentative grade scale so that students can determine how well they are doing in the class. I am available by phone or e-mail from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm. Students have never abused the use of my phone. I return their e-mails within hours. They know that I am their partner in the long dance through the semester.


Many students today are visual learners. We can capture their minds through the use of audiovisual aids. I have outlined only a few of the strategies I use in my classes to keep the dance interesting. Professors must be constantly researching and changing their teaching strategies. The Web is expanding so fast that in a matter of minutes something better might be uploaded that would significantly enhance the online classroom.

The future is now for many of us. Teaching online has become an international effort with faculty and students talking to each other across the ponds. Specialists guest lecture in my classes by answering questions using a discussion board. Minicams give us access to almost anyone in the world. One professor using a minicam (with her students) on campus is interviewing journalists in the Middle East. Students are creating presentations and videos that are uploaded for their peers to critique. Some faculty have created games to take the place of tests. One fellow faculty member has taught his classes in a virtual environment for years. There are avatars all over campus. Many of my students use their phones to access materials, quizzes, and tests on Blackboard.

For years I have taken students on study tours to places such as China, Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand. In the past, I always felt that what we were studying was outdated after we arrived in the country. Today we can give them the “here and now” before they leave. These days, prior to departure, instructions for the tours can link and locate students directly with these countries. And students do not have to be physically present for this orientation — they can join us from anywhere in the world. They will be better prepared because they will have first-hand knowledge of the topics under consideration. While touring we can link together online and in person. We can produce on-the-spot videos and analyses because of the links with the Web and our experiences. While the same thing could be brought back to a face-to-face environment, the virtual class is instantaneous.

In sum, we want to dance together because we love what we are doing. We enjoy the music. And this dance keeps getting better and better as we explore the infinite steps that can be created, especially online when we keep in touch with each other. Online education is more egalitarian than face-to-face because it allows many, many people to participate in educational advancement who could not physically attend or economically afford a face-to-face environment.

Today the rigid distinction between the face-to-face classroom and online environment is beginning to blur with the creation of hybrid/blended and alternate types of classes that include both face-to-face meetings and online support. But the dance remains just as important. We must reach our students with as many tools and strategies as possible in order for them to appreciate the great opportunities and content that lie ahead of them.

As a sad addendum, one more comment can be made about the safety factor in online education. Teaching online is a neutral environment where students cannot physically or verbally assault their professors. Teaching religious studies can produce volatility in the classroom. No matter what precautions or foundations we lay for students, many do not like to have their assumptions regarding their historic religious beliefs analyzed. They often do not like being forced to think of multiple religions as being on an equal plane. I remember face-to-face students who called Russian Orthodox services devil-worship. Religious images are termed “idols” by some students who detest their presence in the classroom.  Others have stood up and witnessed to the class. I have a hundred such stories.

Having taught for more than thirty years, I have had my share of student verbal abuse, disrespect, physical threats, and even a gun placed on my desk early in my career. Students may also act out their frustrations online, but since you always have a record of that abuse, many tone down their e-mails.

Teaching online is safer for both the student and faculty member. I find the environment to be even more creative than teaching in a face-to-face classroom.

Students are so often tired or don’t want to participate, or for some reason want to disrupt the class environment. Many students have problems with a female authority figure and cannot find it in themselves to respect her. For the most part, you don’t have those problems in online classes, and the semester moves much more smoothly without the ups and downs associated with the antisocial and abusive behavior of some students.