The Emerging Scholars Blog

Even across three generations, the love of MacBook is the tie that binds.

Last week, Tom and I, along with about a hundred other InterVarsity Graduate and Faculty Ministry staff, traveled to Techny Towers Bookstores and Conference Center for our annual staff meetings and training. For the past several years, our GFM team has been journeying through the Four Core Commitments of GFM, with teachers like Scot McKnight, Gordon Smith, and Andy Crouch. As I mentioned on Friday, our teacher this year was MaryKate Morse, George Fox professor and recent author of Making Room for Leadership. Our theme: Serving across Generations on Campus Together.

As part of our training, we participated in intentional listening to colleagues from other generations – uninterrupted time for each other to express our thoughts and feelings about our own generation and others.

One sign of the times: during our worship, I had the good fortune to sit near a couple of older staff who sung hymns in four-part harmony, a magnificent part of our Western church heritage that is rapidly being lost. As I tried to take a note about this later on my iPhone, the spellcheck didn’t recognize the word “harmony.” Read the rest of this entry »

A commonplace book from the 1620's, recording Francis Grosvenor's personal notes on witchcraft and geography

What are you reading, watching, thinking about this week? As usual, here’s a few which have been on our mind. Let us know your thoughts on any/all of them. If you have items you’d like us to consider for the top five, add them in the comments or send them to Tom or Mike.

1. The Collapse of Higher Education: Seth Godin on the coming melt-down in higher education:

For 400 years, higher education in the US has been on a roll. From Harvard asking Galileo to be a guest professor in the 1600s to millions tuning in to watch a team of unpaid athletes play another team of unpaid athletes in some college sporting event, the amount of time and money and prestige in the college world has been climbing.

I’m afraid that’s about to crash and burn.

[Editor's note: I'm not sure about the Galileo at Harvard claim, but Godin makes some very salient points in the rest of his post. ~ Mike]

2. Of the Making of Books: If you’re in literary studies, you probably love reading lists. Here’s a list of  books recommended by the Christianity & Literature listserv (HT: Mark Filiatreau). While you’re at it, check out the ESN Core Bibliography and our suggested readings for undergrads.

Teaser alert! We have in our possession a “Beginner’s Christian Bookshelf” reading list compiled by none other than the great Christian literary scholar David Lyle Jeffrey. It starts with Athanasius and ends with P. D. James. We’ll share it with you as soon as we’ve read all the books on it… Read the rest of this entry »

What tips/ideas do you have for InterVarsity’s National Graduate & Faculty Ministry Staff Team Members in Using Social Media Appropriately and Effectively to Grow Communities?  Now’s your opportunity to give input.  I’m leading a seminar on the topic at our April Team Meetings.  Here’s some material I’m seeking to address:

1. How do we use social media appropriately to
   1. build community?  Note:  How does social media influence our/your definition of community or the various forms of community in which we find ourselves?  The seminar will take the direction of building local, face-to-face campus communities, but I’m also interested in the other forms of community, such one finds in the Emerging Scholars Network.
   2. invite others to engage with our community?
   3. engage others with ideas we are discussing in our communities?
2. What are some do’s and don’ts for healthy, appropriate and effective use of technology?
3. What’s available? What’s changing? How do we make decisions?
4. How do we make decisions about the use of technology when engaging with audiences of different generations in our ministry?  Note:  Please don’t skip.  Due to the overall conference theme, it has particular relevance.  :-)  Feel free to also share How you make decisions about the use of technology when engaging with audiences of different generations in higher education?

Calling out to the community/network for input. …

You might remember various Technology in Higher Education posts exploring:

“Creepy Treehouse”? Friending Your Professors or Students

New Technology and Academic Research
 
Who do you trust? Google and information gathering

What Tools Do You Use?

Should we not leave Twitter out as a tool for a new generation of academic conversation? A brief piece from The Chronicle of Higher Education reports on how Ed Techie, an education blogger, finds On Twitter, Academic Debates Fall Short.  Note:  Comments on the The Chronicle of Higher Education post, include suggestions for sharpening the use of Twitter for such excercises. Read all about it (and more) on Ed Techie’s blog.

What do you think of Twitter as a tool for educational conversation AND creating virality in education?  Something you’d be interested in trying w/ESN?