Dr. Charlotte McCorquodale – “Ministry Formation 2.0: Online Education and Web 2.0 Technologies into Lay Ministry Formation
Charlotte recognizes that technology, for better or for worse, is a part of our world. It must therefore be part of our ministry preparation.
Using the image of shifts in music technology, we see that shifts in technology have led us to:
New formats
Large storage
Easier to use
More mobile
All of us have made the transition from record player to ipod.
In web work, there are multiple levels of technology that are interlaced into what has become known as “Web 2.0”. This refers to the increasingly interactive and engagement potential of the internet.
Web 1.0 tended to be more content-centered. Web 2.0 tends to be more user-centered.
Refer to “What is Web 2.0? Ideas, technologies, and implications for education.” The idea that a new ‘social fabric’ is being constructed before our eyes.
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/documents/twweb2.aspx is the link for the article
Web 2.0 is often seen as a “harnessing of collective intelligence.” It will fundamentally change the way we live and relate to one another.
Focus around areas of contribution, collaboration and community (the three “c”’s). These are fundamental categories for our ministry in our day to day interactions. Now the web has caught up to us!
Other key ideas of Web 2.0:
1) Individual production of User Generated Content
2) Harnessing the power of large groups and organized persons
3) Data available on an epic scale
4) Architecture of participation – systems are created to make participation possible
5) Network effects
6) Need for openness with technology – a key example is the sharing of the iPhone platform so that new applications could be created
Disinction between “digital natives” and “digital immigrants”:
See research articles on Generations Online:
http://www.pewinternet.org/topics/generations.aspx
Digital natives tend to look at tech and ask “what will it do for me?”
(My comment: Charlotte didn’t mention this but this reality touches upon the possibility of a self-centered and individualistic use of technology, which is a real threat to the values we approach in ministry formation. We need to be attentive to this attitude and articulate a coherent theologically grounded response to the use of technology in a way that indicates a way to emphasize the use of tech for the “common good” and the building up of relationships.)
Why blog? Why Wiki? It provides information to many people for free.
This is a challenge, as Charlotte noted, for publishers and educators. Much of this content is now available for free and so more traditional forms need to develop new styles of presenting their information.
Information literarcy is required more than ever to sort through good and bad info on the web.
We are living into best practices for this approach to formation, so part of it is struggling with the technology.
Issues of diocesan restrictions on facebook and social networking related to child protection were raised as a challenging issue. However, like it or not, children are creating facebook pages with organizational attachments and it is happening even if not blessed by the institutional church.
(I’ll also mention that many social networking sites give people the ability to control their “brand”; if there is a need to work with others to organize organizational branding on social networks better, many social networking sites provide help for you to do this, but you do need to prove you are who you say you are.)
A final thought from me: This is an area in great need of theological, pastoral, and spiritual research and development. If we don’t get this work right, I believe the Catholic Church will continue to become more marginalized that it has already become in society without finding a way to navigate these waters.
So we have a lot to do. How can we go forward?
Also, NALM is forming a web 2.0 committee. Those interested can contact me and I’ll be happy to talk with you more.
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