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July 11, 2016
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My name is Dr. Nnenna Franciamore and I will be facilitating the discussion in this thread as a member of the Faculty Advisory Board. This discussion is presented as a part of the Faculty Training & Development Culture Initiative.
As faculty at GCU, we are all aware of the missional community we are a part of and this overarching goal ... "As a Christian university, we integrate faith, learning, work and service in an effort to honor God in all that we do, and we encourage others to join us in these endeavors." So how do we as faculty take on this great task and work to fulfill this mission? Let's start this discussion by sharing how we feel personally about the mission stated here. Be reflective? How is it going incoporating faith in your classroom?
Inr
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In the classroom I post an area in Questions to the Instructor where they can post prayer requests and be praying for each other. I facilitate primarily servant leadership classes, therefore I have many opportunities to share my faith and encourage my students to share their faith. This is one of the primary reasons that I love teaching servant leadership classes.
Phyllis Abbott
Hello! Even though I have been teaching online for GCU for many years, (10+), I only recently have begun reflecting on ways I can better integrate faith into the classroom. In my last few courses I have created a 'prayer forum', where I post a weekly scripture and ask students to reflect on what it means to them. I have also encouraged and invited students to share prayer intentions and request with the class. I believe this not only gives everyone the opportunity to share the faith with each other, but also promotes more cohesiveness and sense of community into the online classroom. Although not all students participate, I believe that promoting faith in the classroom is what GCU stands for, and adds depth and value to the student's overall school experience.
Thank you for the great discussion!
Dr. Kwapy
Hello Dr, Franciamore, and thank you for sharing your faith and commitment to Jesus Christ with us, and taking on the role of inviting our personal sharing.
As a dissertation chair for many online learners, I find a dual challenge in incorporating both pedagogy and inspiration/faith to my learners. The first challenge is the modality of the online classroom. We realize how critical face-to-face contact is when we cannot have it as we meet in an online class. Thus, I make much effort to encourage my learners to be active in the discussion forums. I must walk the talk, and I do. I post frequently. I ask questions about their lives; I offer prayer and support when chaos intervenes in their lives, as it does so regularly with all of us. I encourage online peer relationships and I have had good results. When a learner reveals a need for prayer, we all provide. My learners are sincerely interested in each other. The second challenge is the dissertation journey itself. The balance of daily life and vocation added to the dissertation journey can be overwhelming even on the best of days. What I do is share my own journey and how scripture and faith helped me. When I traveled the dissertation journey I kept a prayer and scripture journal. So, from time to time I post one of my prayer journal entries. They are graciously received. Providing my own spiritual experiences reveals my sincere empathy for what they are going through and I have found that in so doing it has brought me close to my learners. I want them to know how prayer and faith sustained me as I traveled the dissertation road, and how God never failed me. Blessings to ALL who join this forum!
Having taught at a Historically Black College/University it is easy enough to incorporate faith into my classrooms at GCU. As a faculty member at another University in the Delta Region of Mississippi it was just as easy to do so especially when the students interjected God and Christianity into the classroom. What I had missed was beginning class with a prayer and ending class with a prayer as we did at Simpson University in Northern California.
Here at GCU it is simple enough to interject faith based on students replies to the DQs as well as when they write of needs or problems taking place at their home or at their school. I keep my tablet handy on which I down loaded the King James version of the Bible. I find it quicker to locate a verse or phrase to fit the need of the discussion. I am truly thankful for the ability be a faculty member where I do not have to worry about what I, as a Christian, am able to relate regarding my faith.
I have been with GCU for almost 7 years now and incorporating faith in the classroom has never been my focus. My focus was always on the curriculum and the content. During my last evaluation this was a suggestion to incorporate faith in the classroom. I struggled with the suggestion to do so because working in the public this is highly discouraged. I have been thinking and struggling with ways to incorporate this in my classroom, because this is not something I am use to doing in a classroom setting. There were many times I wanted engage in more discussions with students when they share their personal statements with the class, but did not feel it was appropriate, but now, I am happy this is encouraged more in the classroom.
Incorporating ways for students to pray with one another, providing encouragement during times of frustration and times when they are feeling low, is something that I want to encourage. This is a great way to help uplift our students spirits because it is not easy. I like that we are not solely focusing on the content and curriculum, but also focusing on the mind and soul which will help and ensure students success. Our students have many struggles in their everyday lives; in addition, to trying to meet the educational requirements, so giving them an outlet to pray or give a word of encouragement is essential. I love teaching at GCU and as a Christian I am happy that I am getting more opportunities to share more through our discussions. This makes me love what I do even more.
I have been teaching online for little over a year now. As a novice teacher I focused on my classes and dealing with issues students present, but I have also encouraged students on what God would like them to do. At times, I had to remind them that we pass in life through situations beyond our abilities to fix them, but we are to trust God who does not give us more than we can carry. As a Christian university we are to proclaim the God's word the Bible as the book of all books who holds the past and the future and despite its existence, this book has the most actual power and guidance of our lives.
I recently had an instance where in a group project, a student brought into discussion a Bible verse and asked if the Bible should be placed in the reference list. I am aware that the publication manual does mention the fact that the Bible is an old book and does not have to be placed in the reference list??? I replied to the student that we are a Christian university who values the Bible as the true Word of God and we base our teachings on christian principles and therefore, she is to reference the Bible in the coursework presented as assignment for this university. The Bible will always be the book of books and the Word of God that will hold its power in any place. Therefore, we are to sustain its value and place it in our work regardless of what others are saying about it because we know its true value. If we as Christians are not keeping up the true God's standards, who's image are we showing and how can we let others know about it?
I am confused. I have been responding to a similar discussion the past week. Are there two conversations on the same topic going n at the same time?
Ron
Good morning,
I have been teaching online courses at GCU for 10+ years. Since late in 2015, I began including the Christian Worldwide View, GCU's Doctrinal Statement, Prayer Forum, and weekly Biblical verses within my courses and the feedback has been outstanding. The Doctrinal Statement is included in my welcome message with a link to
The Doctrinal Statement is included in my welcome message with a link which allows students to stay connected with the mission and vision of the university.
The prayer forum is posted in the main forum and I always start by posting the first initial prayer which includes asking for God to guide the course and students in a fruitful way during the semester and whatever other prayers I need at the time. The students have truly taken advantage of the prayer forum and I receive prayers throughout the course and the forum builds a sense of "community" within the online class.
I post a weekly bible verse and devotional that connects that verse to the Christian Worldwide View each week via Announcements and these postings have also yielded positive feedback from my students.
Thank you for reading.
Armando
This is to answer Ron's question!
Yes there was another discussion on the integration of faith which should be wrapping up, or has wrapped up and we started this one to keep the conversation going , and also for those who may not have been able to participate in that discussion.
Thus far, it is clear that many of us faculty feel very comfortable with sharing our faith in the online classroom.
I would love to hear more from my colleagues who are teaching in the traditional classroom where interaction is face to face. Do you find it more challenging to incorporate faith in the classroom? If you do, how do you go about doing so?
In the online classroom, many faculty share they include a prayer forum, in the traditional classroom, there is not really an opportunity to create this type of forum, or is there?
Looking forward to hearing about your experiences.
Armando,
Can you please post your welcome message as a sample especially for the new faculty? I think it will be a great visual example for us all.
Also, all those who are using a prayer forum, please share how you get it started by posting an example first post.
Connecting Current Events AS a Way of Incorporating Faith in the Classroom
We are experiencing great tragedies and the nation is in uproar about many issues, from the Orlando shooting to Black Lives Matter protests. How do we engage our students in the discussions about these issues while guiding them to think about them faithfully and spiritually?
Have any of you found yourselves in these discussions? If so how have you integrated faith in addressing these matters?
Thank you to everyone that has posted their views and suggestions, I really appreciate it. I am as others that have posted tend to focus on the course curriculum and I want to meet my responsibilities of incorporating Faith in my Classrooms. I look forward to all of your additional suggestions on how to do this and what is most effective; for instance in the Announcements v DQ forum, how to incorporate faith statement/prayer to a particular course topic (I instruct Psychology mainly research/stat courses), and where do you obtain your prayers/faith statements?
Thank you all for your assistance and guidance.
Good Day, Teaching in the nursing program, I find that many of the topics we discuss on a weekly basis lend itself to talking about the integration of faith in their personal practice.
For example in a class about different age groups: I look to have the students give real world examples of what resources are available in the Faith community for the patient population we are discussing.
Another example in a class about professionalism in nursing: We discuss Faith based nursing organizations, and also working in Parish nursing.
These are done as additional clarifying questions within the original discussion question(s) for the week.
I generally also do a prayer forum near the end of week 1, as an additional place for them to offer prayers for each other. This seems to be well received in the first class of the RN to BSN program. We discuss that this can be requests or offering of prayers, and that it does not have to be just school related.
Dr. Johnson, I agree that it seems more than ever that we need God's help.
I am a great believer that as much and perhaps more is caught than taught. A few years ago I was teaching at another university that included references to Jesus Christ in their vision statement. As there was no intentional requirement by the university that faculty to include a Christian worldview or prayers or verses or a doctrinal statement in our teaching., I did not include any of those elements. (All of the classes were traditional format.) I am also an ordained minister who has other decrees that allow me to teach counseling classes. I never told students that I was a pastor as well as a counselor. It was not uncommon for students to talk to me on the last night or via an email that because of who I was they made renewed commitments to Christ and were going back to church.
Thoughts?
Ron, What a powerful response and to be able to say that you are making that kind of difference in a student's life is incredible. I do believe that modeling Jesus love is what makes a difference. I often pray for the Lord's guidance and to give me the ability to model Jesus love. I am proud of you for modeling for the faculty also. Do you have any specific things (suggestions?) on how you work with students to make this occur? I also have a counseling background and am aware how much some of those techniques and natural values and habits open doors with students and take care of problems in a positive fashion.
God bless you.
Shawn
Nnenna - I embrace the mission whole-heartedly. Every individual strives to live a better and fulfilling life. "Education is the passport to success." Education lifts people out of poverty. As a college professor, I remind myself that I am not only working with students but with people who are trying to help themselves and their families. When I stay focused on that it reminds me how what I do impacts others. I pray that I make a difference in the lives of students and their families. Some students make not respect you at first but down the long road they often do.
Wanda, it is so true that our students are people just like we are with real lives. It makes me think of the scripture that says in 1 Thessalonians 2:8 "so we care for you. because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well."
As professors at GCU we get to share the gospel but also share our lives as we take the opportunities given to share our faith an our lives.
Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2016 3:05:49 PM
To: Nnenna Franciamore
Subject: New Comment: Incorporating Faith in the Classroom
Nnenna - I embrace the mission whole-heartedly. Every individual strives to live a better and fulfilling life. "Education is the passport to success." Education lifts people out of poverty. As a college professor, I remind myself that I am not only working with students but with people who are trying to help themselves and their families. When I stay focused on that it reminds me how what I do impacts others. I pray that I make a difference in the lives of students and their families. Some students make not respect you at first but down the long road they often do.
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Ron, very powerful. The example you set in your tone and your presence is showing Christ to your students. To God be the glory.
Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2016 10:58:41 PM
To: Nnenna Franciamore
Subject: New Comment: Incorporating Faith in the Classroom
Dr. Johnson, I agree that it seems more than ever that we need God's help.
I am a great believer that as much is caught as taught. A few years ago I was teaching at another university that included references to Jesus Christ in their vision statement. As there was no intentional requirement by the university that faculty to include a Christian worldview or prayers or verses or a doctrinal statement in our teaching., I did not include any of those elements. (All of the classes were traditional format.) I am also an ordained minister who has other decrees that allow me to teach counseling classes. I never told students that I was a pastor as well as a counselor. It was not uncommon for students to talk to me on the last night or via an email that because of who I was they made renewed commitments to Christ and were going back to church.
Thoughts?
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Deborah,
Thanks for sharing these suggestions. Excellent ideas.
Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2016 2:30:41 PM
To: Nnenna Franciamore
Subject: New Comment: Incorporating Faith in the Classroom
Good Day, Teaching in the nursing program, I find that many of the topics we discuss on a weekly basis lend itself to talking about the integration of faith in their personal practice.
For example in a class about different age groups: I look to have the students give real world examples of what resources are available in the Faith community for the patient population we are discussing.
Another example in a class about professionalism in nursing: We discuss Faith based nursing organizations, and also working in Parish nursing.
These are done as additional clarifying questions within the original discussion question(s) for the week.
I generally also do a prayer forum near the end of week 1, as an additional place for them to offer prayers for each other. This seems to be well received in the first class of the RN to BSN program. We discuss that this can be requests or offering of prayers, and that it does not have to be just school related.
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Pamela,
I love that you share you own personal prayer journal entries. There is nothing more powerful that people just hearing our "gospel" our personal good news about Jesus. I believe that sharing you, is the most non-threatening and genuine approach for incorporating faith in the classroom.
Sent: Monday, July 11, 2016 12:02:55 PM
To: Nnenna Franciamore
Subject: New Comment: Incorporating Faith in the Classroom
Hello Dr, Franciamore, and thank you for sharing your faith and commitment to Jesus Christ with us, and taking on the role of inviting our personal sharing.
As a dissertation chair for many online learners, I find a dual challenge in incorporating both pedagogy and inspiration/faith to my learners. The first challenge is the modality of the online classroom. We realize how critical face-to-face contact is when we cannot have it as we meet in an online class. Thus, I make much effort to encourage my learners to be active in the discussion forums. I must walk the talk, and I do. I post frequently. I ask questions about their lives; I offer prayer and support when chaos intervenes in their lives, as it does so regularly with all of us. I encourage online peer relationships and I have had good results. When a learner reveals a need for prayer, we all provide. My learners are sincerely interested in each other. The second challenge is the dissertation journey itself. The balance of daily life and vocation added to the dissertation journey can be overwhelming even on the best of days. What I do is share my own journey and how scripture and faith helped me. When I traveled the dissertation journey I kept a prayer and scripture journal. So, from time to time I post one of my prayer journal entries. They are graciously received. Providing my own spiritual experiences reveals my sincere empathy for what they are going through and I have found that in so doing it has brought me close to my learners. I want them to know how prayer and faith sustained me as I traveled the dissertation road, and how God never failed me. Blessings to ALL who join this forum!
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Servant leadership, truly should be a theme that runs through out all courses and fields at GCU since servant leadership is the key to success in any field of study and the greatest way to impact change in our societies. We have the greatest example in Jesus when it comes to servant leadership.
PLEASE SHARE.... What are the servant leadership qualities of Jesus that you love that you can highlight in your courses? specify the courses you teach.
Sent: Monday, July 11, 2016 10:06:32 AM
To: Nnenna Franciamore
Subject: New Comment: Incorporating Faith in the Classroom
In the classroom I post an area in Questions to the Instructor where they can post prayer requests and be praying for each other. I facilitate primarily servant leadership classes, therefore I have many opportunities to share my faith and encourage my students to share their faith. This is one of the primary reasons that I love teaching servant leadership classes.
Phyllis Abbott
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The best way to demonstrate servant leadership skills in your courses is to SERVE our students. How do I do this?
For no other reason than to share small wins which is vital in leadership, here is a comment from a student last week when I posted my mid-course message asking them how they are doing and feeling about the course:
I hate to accept the fact that this class is coming to an end. You are one professor that exhibits the characteristics of a servant leader. You are a master and a life example of the course you teach. You make this course come alive with your actions and interactions with the students. So far my most enjoyable class in GCU is Servant Leadership, more to that it ties to my own personality. I enjoy every lesson and every post in this class. You will be truly missed when this course comes to an end. Hope you stand by for some of us who aspire to become like you some day. Thanks so much.
The above is the WHY I DO WHAT I DO. This is why I love GCU and have been a part of this family since 2005. I urge each one of you to reflect on your personal leadership plan and strive to SERVE our students, colleagues, and communities at a higher level moving forward.
Blessed beyond worthiness,
Armando D. Sotero Jr.
Nnenna,
Thank you for your feedback and participating in this forum. I truly understand my purpose in life which makes life much easier and enjoyable. The message below is what I share with students:
Now that we are past the halfway point in the course, I wanted to ask a few simple questions and check on my students:
Please take a few moments and provide some feedback if you wish about the course and/or my teaching style and attentiveness to your needs.
Of course, if there is something you wish to say and remain in private, please send me a note on the individual forum.
I look forward to hearing from you and 3 more weeks to go and remember to finish STRONG!! (End of message)
In addition, I post videos to personalize the class and bring the course to life. Here is a sample video from week 8 in my servant leadership course:
https://youtu.be/uLqQhoRjXxQ
I welcome any feedback for growth opportunities and please share your strategies as these forums should be considered learning communities.
Armando
Here is an example of the 'prayer forum' I post at the beginning of each course, and I add a scripture reading to it each week, and encourage students to do the same and/or post prayer intentions and requests:
Hello all, please feel free to post any prayer requests/intentions or bible verses here to share with the class.
This is one of my favorites:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6
Hi Nnenna and fellow faculty,
I am personally encouraged by the desire to share Jesus Christ with students and the excellent suggestions that have been offered; it is great to serve with faculty at a university that desires to infuse its curriculum with biblical values and the Christian Worldview. I just finished an outline for a group Bible study on Daniel 6 and found a correlation from the life of Daniel to this discussion topic. Daniel 6:4, 5 records, ". . . the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. Finally these me said, 'We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God'" (NIV - emphasis mine). The correlation I find is this - our lives should demonstrate that Jesus is on the throne as we are faithful and conscientious in life and the facilitation of our classes. If we live in this way it will spill over into the classroom as a natural outflow of who we are and why we do the things we do. Great suggestions have been offered about referencing the GCU Doctrinal Statement in our Welcome Announcement, posting a weekly devotional, posting a "Prayer Announcement" in the Questions to the Instructor Forum, and posting a mid-course announcement that demonstrates we truly care about our students and their success. I also think that if we live our lives as did Daniel our interchange with students will exalt Jesus Christ as a natural outflow of who we are in Him.
Blessings,
Ron S.
I love your message from your student. When we get things like that - I print it off and post it on my bulletin board in my home office for those times that I get frustrated and it reminds me to stay positive because we touch lives. Your list is excellent and I appreciate you sharing it. What a gifted instructor you are !!!
God bless.... Shawn Feaster Johnson, Ed.D.
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2016 6:26:00 AM
To: Shawn Feaster Johnson
Subject: New Comment: Incorporating Faith in the Classroom
The best way to demonstrate servant leadership skills in your courses is to SERVE our students. How do I do this?
For no other reason than to share small wins which is vital in leadership, here is a comment from a student last week when I posted my mid-course message asking them how they are doing and feeling about the course:
I hate to accept the fact that this class is coming to an end. You are one professor that exhibits the characteristics of a servant leader. You are a master and a life example of the course you teach. You make this course come alive with your actions and interactions with the students. So far my most enjoyable class in GCU is Servant Leadership, more to that it ties to my own personality. I enjoy every lesson and every post in this class. You will be truly missed when this course comes to an end. Hope you stand by for some of us who aspire to become like you some day. Thanks so much.
The above is the WHY I DO WHAT I DO. This is why I love GCU and have been a part of this family since 2005. I urge each one of you to reflect on your personal leadership plan and strive to SERVE our students, colleagues, and communities at a higher level moving forward.
Blessed beyond worthiness,
Armando D. Sotero Jr.
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Armando Sotero
LET'S USE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO POST PRAYERS FOR CURRENT EVENTS HAPPENING WORLD WIDE.
This is something that we could definitely incorporate in our classrooms.
Let us pray.
God and Father in Heaven,
The creator of all things, we come before you humbly and faithfully confident that we can approach your throne of grace and you want to hear our voice. Father we first of all give you thanks for the many blessings we have, I know that when I watch the news and I see all that is wrong in the world it can be a temptation to feel like everything is going wrong and question why, but you have said in your word that we are to rejoice in the Lord always, and not be anxious about anything but in every situation by prayer and petition to offer our requests before you.
In these past few weeks so many innocent lives have been lost here in America and all over the world. We ask that you provide comfort to the families of those who are mourning. We ask that you give wisdom to our leaders so that there can be a change in society. We ask that you open the eyes and the hearts of our leaders so that they fear you and recognize that they can do nothing without you. We ask for your protection O lord in the midst of this war, we pray that no matter what happens, we who are in Christ, who have a relationship with you, will stand firm, and that we will let our lights shine before all men.
Use us oh God to do your will. We know that we need you. We ask and pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
Amen.
AGAIN PLEASE JOIN US IN PRAYER. LOOKING FORWARD TO READING YOUR PRAYERS.
I have found that when I share my faith in the online classroom, the learning increases simultaneously. It is as if the students feel more energy and work harder. The relationships among the online students also naturally become more profound.
There have also been times when I logged into the class and found that a student had written a prayer or shared a scripture that encouraged and blessed me.
The online classroom then becomes a welcoming and warm presence in our lives, whether professor or student. I am very grateful to teach at GCU where we can incorporate our faith.
I have read this thread and enjoyed all of your contributions!
Nancy James
Dr. Franciamore,
I truly enjoyed reading the posts full of excitement to integrate faith and prayer into our classrooms. I post a weekly Faith Integration CATS (scripture) in the forum just as I post a weekly Academic focused CATS in the forum. Students are asked to read, meditate and reflect on the scripture in 250 words or less. They are to connect the scripture to the COE dispositions, their job or the GCU Doctrinal Statement.
It has been very rewarding and helping me to connect spiritually with those who choose to participate. I respond to each student response, commenting on their response and sharing my reflection. The testimonies were so great as they share how the scripture applied to something that is going on in their lives and how it lead them to handle it differently. I found myself in tears as I thanked God for the privilege of sharing His Word. Many students have thanked me for this opportunity and mentioned it as a positive in the end of course survey comments.
Thank you for the opportunity to share in this great conversation. I will continue to pray for my students as they share serious storms they are experiencing. I stop as I am informed and have prayer. I ask how they are doing or the family member who is having problems.
Barbara Lee, Ed.D.
Dr. Franciamore,
Thanks for responding to my comments. I enjoy reading the responses to my Faith Integration CATS. The testimonies are uplifting. It is great to know that we have educators who can relate to the Word and take that understanding into the schools as they work with their staff and students.
When I choose the scriptures, I am concentrating on the behavior of the educator as they interact with the staff and students. They are designed to remind students of the COE dispositions and the model that Jesus left for us. I have several books where scriptures are grouped by topics such as Compassion, Integrity, Love, Courage, Trust, Caring,etc.
Please find attached three sample scriptures used for 3 weeks, one week at a time.
Thanks.
Barbara Lee, Ed.D.
Attachments
SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION
A big thank you to everyone who participated in this discussion. It was truly encouraging to see that so many are truly incorporating faith in your classrooms, in innovative and unique ways.
It is evident through this discussion, that both the online and ground faculty by and large, are striving to include GCU's doctrinal statement in their classrooms in the following ways:
These are great suggestions and tools that we can all use to effectively incorporate faith effectively in our classrooms.
I have really struggled with incorporating faith into the classroom. Or at least it felt like a struggle. I now add a prayer forum to my classes and it has opened many avenues of communication between students and between myself and my students. I have found this to be a way that creates an open forum where they are comfortable to post, share, and openly support each other. I have found that these interactions have helped immensely with students seeing each other as people and not just a classmate who is late on their part of the group project, for example. I do think I have a hard time tying class discussions in with scripture though. I am concerned that it could turn the discussions away from the objectives for the course for the week when I am teaching nursing and not bible study group. I am open to ideas on how to better at this or even approach it. Is my concern valid?
Sent: Monday, July 11, 2016 8:49 AM
To: Lorilee McAfee
Subject: New Forum Topic: Incorporating Faith in the Classroom
My name is Dr. Nnenna Franciamore and I will be facilitating the discussion in this thread as a member of the Faculty Advisory Board. This discussion is presented as a part of the Faculty Training & Development Culture Initiative.
As faculty at GCU, we are all aware of the missional community we are a part of and this overarching goal ... "As a Christian university, we integrate faith, learning, work and service in an effort to honor God in all that we do, and we encourage others to join us in these endeavors." So how do we as faculty take on this great task and work to fulfill this mission? Let's start this discussion by sharing how we feel personally about the mission stated here. Be reflective? How is it going incoporating faith in your classroom?
Inr
Nnenna Franciamore
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Lorilee,
I think your concerns are valid, because ultimately your goal in teaching the course content is to make sure that the students comprehend and can apply what was taught in their profession. So I think the prayer forum is the play where you can share scriptures and open dialogues about faith that do not interfere with the course content.
Sent: Tuesday, September 6, 2016 11:18:11 PM
To: Nnenna Franciamore
Subject: New Comment: Incorporating Faith in the Classroom
I have really struggled with incorporating faith into the classroom. Or at least it felt like a struggle. I now add a prayer forum to my classes and it has opened many avenues of communication between students and between myself and my students. I have found this to be a way that creates an open forum where they are comfortable to post, share, and openly support each other. I have found that these interactions have helped immensely with students seeing each other as people and not just a classmate who is late on their part of the group project, for example. I do think I have a hard time tying class discussions in with scripture though. I am concerned that it could turn the discussions away from the objectives for the course for the week when I am teaching nursing and not bible study group. I am open to ideas on how to better at this or even approach it. Is my concern valid?
Sent: Monday, July 11, 2016 8:49 AM
To: Lorilee McAfee
Subject: New Forum Topic: Incorporating Faith in the Classroom
My name is Dr. Nnenna Franciamore and I will be facilitating the discussion in this thread as a member of the Faculty Advisory Board. This discussion is presented as a part of the Faculty Training & Development Culture Initiative.
As faculty at GCU, we are all aware of the missional community we are a part of and this overarching goal ... "As a Christian university, we integrate faith, learning, work and service in an effort to honor God in all that we do, and we encourage others to join us in these endeavors." So how do we as faculty take on this great task and work to fulfill this mission? Let's start this discussion by sharing how we feel personally about the mission stated here. Be reflective? How is it going incoporating faith in your classroom?
Inr
Nnenna Franciamore
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When I started at GCU I struggled for a while to incorporate faith in the classroom. After working in colleges where this was tabooed, it was very hard to get to that place in the classroom. However after it was pointed out to be on an evaluation I started by adding a bible verse with each week’s announcement, many students would response to say the verse help them so I starting adding a weekly reflection in the forum. Not everyone respond, however most do. At times I try to incorporate it in the discussion but it can be very difficult to connect it to the content. I am also worried that the discussion might focus more on the bible verse than the content. I see this happen when one student post something to make their point and others run with it because it interest them and it is easier to discuss than the content at hand.
I had the most wonderful experience just last week spiritually. One of my students called me and was struggling and asked me to pray with her on the phone. It was powerful and made me so proud to work at a Christian university where this is allowed and encouraged. Thank you GCU.
Shawn Feaster Johnson, Ed.D.
Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2016 5:50 PM
To: Shawn Feaster Johnson
Subject: New Comment: Incorporating Faith in the Classroom
When I started at GCU I struggled for a while to incorporate faith in the classroom. After working in colleges where this was tabooed, it was very hard to get to that place in the classroom. However after it was pointed out to be on an evaluation I started by adding a bible verse with each week’s announcement, many students would response to say the verse help them so I starting adding a weekly reflection in the forum. Not everyone respond, however most do. At times I try to incorporate it in the discussion but it can be very difficult to connect it to the content. I am also worried that the discussion might focus more on the bible verse than the content.. I see this happen when one student post something to make their point and others run with it because it interest them and it is easier to discuss than the content at hand.
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Adjunct Faculty
College of Education
Grand Canyon University
Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2016 8:12:08 PM
To: Nnenna Franciamore
Subject: New Comment: Incorporating Faith in the Classroom
I had the most wonderful experience just last week spiritually. One of my students called me and was struggling and asked me to pray with her on the phone. It was powerful and made me so proud to work at a Christian university where this is allowed and encouraged. Thank you GCU.
Shawn Feaster Johnson, Ed.D.
Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2016 5:50 PM
To: Shawn Feaster Johnson
Subject: New Comment: Incorporating Faith in the Classroom
When I started at GCU I struggled for a while to incorporate faith in the classroom. After working in colleges where this was tabooed, it was very hard to get to that place in the classroom. However after it was pointed out to be on an evaluation I started by adding a bible verse with each week’s announcement, many students would response to say the verse help them so I starting adding a weekly reflection in the forum. Not everyone respond, however most do. At times I try to incorporate it in the discussion but it can be very difficult to connect it to the content. I am also worried that the discussion might focus more on the bible verse than the content... I see this happen when one student post something to make their point and others run with it because it interest them and it is easier to discuss than the content at hand.
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You received this notification as part of your personal "instant" subscription. Manage your subscriptions..
Replies to this email will post a comment.
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Adjunct Faculty
College of Education
Grand Canyon University
Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2016 7:50:25 PM
To: Nnenna Franciamore
Subject: New Comment: Incorporating Faith in the Classroom
When I started at GCU I struggled for a while to incorporate faith in the classroom. After working in colleges where this was tabooed, it was very hard to get to that place in the classroom. However after it was pointed out to be on an evaluation I started by adding a bible verse with each week’s announcement, many students would response to say the verse help them so I starting adding a weekly reflection in the forum. Not everyone respond, however most do. At times I try to incorporate it in the discussion but it can be very difficult to connect it to the content. I am also worried that the discussion might focus more on the bible verse than the content.. I see this happen when one student post something to make their point and others run with it because it interest them and it is easier to discuss than the content at hand.
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I see this thread is still active.
In my cohort classes (mixed online/face-to-face), I include a Bible verse in the weekly Announcement. I also include a Bible verse at the beginning of my powerpoint and I include a "Christian Worldview" application at the end of of the powerpoint. I am quite direct in the GCU environment about my Christian faith. I have tried a "prayer room" in the online portion of the class, however, it has never seemed to have been used very much.
Those are my current thoughts.
Hello Colleagues,
My name is Barbara Lee, an adjunct professor with the College of Education. I share some of the same thoughts expressed by many of you when I was informed that we were to include faith integration in our weekly classes. I was resentful and felt that it was one more thing to do when I was grading all of the time to keep up. However, it has become a true blessing to me and to the students who choose to participate by responding to the post.
When I post a carefully chosen scripture to the forum each week as the faith integration CATS, students are asked to read it. meditate on the words and interpret it as it relates to their daily work as an educator. They may connect it to GCU's Doctrinal Statement or to the COE Dispositions. They are to resond in no more than 250 words. So many students have responded positively about how they were blessed with the scripture through the week and ho the words helped them to deal with some complex decisions that they had to make involving students, parents and colleagues. I feel blessed as I red and respond to their posts. It is the post that keeps on blessing. I continue to pray for students and their families as they share personal struggles with me. I usually stop whatever I am doing to sent up that prayer so that I would not make a promise and forget to pray. This is a wonderful addition and I look forward to reading these weekly posts.
Barbara M. Lee, Ed.D.
Adjunct Faculty
College of Education
Grand Canyon University
Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2016 7:41:04 PM
To: Nnenna Franciamore
Subject: New Comment: Incorporating Faith in the Classroom
Hello Colleagues,
My name is Barbara Lee, an adjunct professor with the College of Education. I share some of the same thoughts expressed by many of you when I was informed that we were to include faith integration in our weekly classes. I was resentful and felt that it was one more thing to do when I was grading all of the time to keep up. However, it has become a true blessing to me and to the students who choose to participate by responding to the post.
When I post a carefully chosen scripture to the forum each week as the faith integration CATS, students are asked to read it. meditate on the words and interpret it as it relates to their daily work as an educator. They may connect it to GCU's Doctrinal Statement or to the COE Dispositions. They are to resond in no more than 250 words. So many students have responded positively about how they were blessed with the scripture through the week and ho the words helped them to deal with some complex decisions that they had to make involving students, parents and colleagues. I feel blessed as I red and respond to their posts. It is the post that keeps on blessing. I continue to pray for students and their families as they share personal struggles with me. I usually stop whatever I am doing to sent up that prayer so that I would not make a promise and forget to pray. This is a wonderful addition and I look forward to reading these weekly posts.
Barbara M. Lee, Ed.D.
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