Stuart Baker
Catholic Education South Australia
Our call as Catholic Educators is to engage our students in coming to
know Jesus more fully through learning experiences that draw out
religious meaning for young people of the 21st century using texts,
tools and resources of the popular culture and equip them to be
confident, appreciative and critical users of them.
Into the
st
21
Century
……educators and systems spent
the 20th century perfecting the
19th century model of schooling.
Heppell, S. (2005). Episode 1: Learning in the
third millennium
(as quoted by Greg Whitby, Pedagogies for the 21st
Century, ACEL Conference 2007)
When we adapt our materials to the culture
of students we follow the teaching
methods of Jesus himself. The aim of
each generation is to find a fresh new
language that resonates with students so
that they may encounter Jesus at the
heart of their lives and culture.
Gerard Holohan, Australian Religious Education –
Facing the Challenges, NCEC, 1999
Our work…
spread the good news!
Evangelisation loses much of its force
and effectiveness if it does not take into
consideration the actual people it
addresses, if it does not use their
language, their signs and symbols, if it
does not have an impact on their lives.
(Pope Paul VI – EN n.63)
A new proclamation for our times
‘New Evangelisation’ - an
approach to evangelisation
that is “new in ardour,,
methods and expression”.
What ways could Web 2.0 tools be
used to proclaim the gospel?
The Church must always
communicate its message
in a manner suited to
each age and culture…
so today it must
communicate in and to
the emerging media
culture. (no.9)
Aetatis Novae (Dawning of a New Era)
Pontifical Council for Social Communications
Will Richardson
Literacy 2.0
Educational Leadership, March 2009
Outside school, many students are
accomplished authors, filmmakers,
animators and recording artists. They
are concerned with the quality of their
work and the meaning it conveys. (p22)
How do we harness this inside the classroom?
Visual images / Photos / Clip Art / Podcasting
Movies / Animations / Digital Storytelling
http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/StoryTools
http://www.acmi.net.au/screenit.htm
Australia's moving image
competition for primary school
students and secondary school
students.
Screen It is a fun way of engaging
students whilst they learn about the
creative and technical processes
that lie behind their favourite forms
of entertainment - cartoons, films
and computer games.
The theme for Screen It 2008 was
Australian Identity
MESSAGE OF POPE BENEDICT XVI
FOR THE 43rd WORLD DAY OF
COMMUNICATIONS May 24, 2009
"New Technologies, New Relationships.
Promoting a Culture of Respect, Dialogue
and Friendship."
Young people, in particular, have grasped the
enormous capacity of the new media to foster
connectedness, communication and
understanding between individuals and
communities, and they are turning to them as
means of communicating with existing friends, of
meeting new friends, of forming communities and
networks, of seeking information and news, and of
sharing their ideas and opinions.
Partnerships in
Faith & Education - Family
Parents have a particularly
important part to play in the
educating community, since it
is to them that the primary
responsibility for their
children’s education belongs.
[CSTTM n20]
http://www.antonioonline.com.au/forum/index.php?www
http://year2pc.wikispaces.com/
http://voicethread.com/#home
Evangelisation -Telling the Story in Cyberspace
By Geoffrey Plant
Compass: A review of topical theology
Vol 42(winter) 2008
… we must put an electronic ‘skin’
on our proclamation of the
Gospel, to incarnate its truth in
picture, image and story and
proclaim it in… Websites,
podcasts, videocasts, blogs and
Facebook.
“The Church would feel guilty before
the Lord if she did not utilise these
powerful means that human skill is
daily rendering more perfect.”
Pope Paul VI, 1975
Evangelii nuntiandi (On Evangelisation in the Modern World)
Finding Jesus…
Christian art doesn’t have to speak
about Jesus in order to be
Christian. It has to possess the
truth that is Jesus in order to be
Christian... He can live in the body
of the work, behind the words and
through the images. (p.5)
Hogan, J. (2008) Reel Parables: Life lessons from Popular
Films. Paulist Press: New York
http://www.food-force.com/
The Guardian, Thursday
12th Feb 2009
“A report from the
European
parliament
concluded that
computer games
are good for
children and teach
them essential life
skills.
http://www.thelearningfederation.edu.au/tlf2
file:///C:/CD%20ROM%20April%2007/resources/L949/index.html
This term in the month of May, the students will be participating in KESAB’s Gutter
Guardian Campaign. Part of the exercise is collecting litter that has blown out of the
schoolyard into the nearby street gutters. Playground Rules highlights how important
it is, to put school litter in the bin. Therefore, this ICT resource has Science and
Studies of Society and Environment links.
“Teaching about the Internet and the
new technology involves much more
than teaching techniques; young
people need to learn how to function
well in the world of cyberspace, make
discerning judgments according to
sound moral criteria about what they
find there, and use the new
technology for their integral
development and the benefit of
others.”
(Pontifical Council for Social Communications – The Church and the Internet)
Australian Bishops ConferenceGo Tell Everyone: A Pastoral
Letter on the Media, 2006
Educators have a special responsibility to
ensure that children are given sufficient
opportunities to develop those skills which
will enable them to live in our
audio-visual world…
Young media users need to be taught to be
appreciative, critical and discriminating with
the media of social communication.
MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER BENEDICT XVI
FOR THE 41st WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY
Theme: "Children and the Media:
A Challenge for Education"
May 20, 2007
…training in the proper use of the
media is essential for the cultural,
moral and spiritual development of
children. (n.2)
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/communications/documents/hf_benxvi_mes_20070124_41st-world-communications-day_en.html
Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs
(MCEETYA) 2006
http://www.mceetya.edu.au/verve/_resources/SOL06_ICT.pdf
Conceptual
Organisers
INQUIRING with ICT
COMMUNICATING
CREATING
with ICT
with ICT
Five
conceptua
l
organiser
s
Operating
ICT
Ethics, Issues
and ICT
Statements of Learning for Information and Communication Technology page 4
http://www.mceetya.edu.au/verve/_resources/SOL06_ICT.pdf
Cybercitizenship
www.acma.gov.au/cybersafety
• Digital Literacy
– Critical literacy, publishing & downloading
ethically
• Positive Online Behaviour
– E-communication, cyber-bullying
• Personal and Peer Safety
– Safe social networking, privacy, inappropriate
content
• E-Security
– Anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewalls
“As we educators stick our heads up and
get the lay of the 21st century land, we
would be wise to remember: if we don’t
stop and listen to the kids we serve,
value their opinions, and make major
changes on the basis of their valid
suggestions they offer, we will be left in
the 21st century with school buildings to
administer – but with students who are
physically or mentally somewhere else.
(Marc Prensky, 2006)
Archbishop Oscar Romero
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they
hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our
capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of
liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very
well.
Pope John Paul II
The Church and the Internet
I dare to summon the whole Church bravely
to cross this new threshold, to put out into
the deep of the Net, so that now as in the
past the great engagement of the Gospel and
culture may show to the world "the glory of
God on the face of Christ”
(2 Cor 4:6).
May the Lord bless all those
who work for this aim.
Questions
How do we speak meaningfully to this
generation?
As “new evangelisers…” What is already going
well? What new ways are possible?
How do we inform, form and transform young
people as consumers and producers of media?
How can we put an “electronic skin” on the
Jesus story?