| Project Title | Online Pedagogy Resource for Religious Studies |
| Principal Investigator | M. Willis Monroe |
| Co-Applicants | Dr. Carrie Arbuckle, Postdoctoral Fellow, Asian Studies Gillian Glass, Phd Student, CNERS Lindsay Fraughton, MA Student, CNERS Ryan Schroeder, PhD Student CNERS |
| Faculty | Arts |
| Funding Year | 2021 |
| Project Summary | The Database of Religious History (DRH) is an online platform of high quality expert sourced entries on religious traditions across the globe from ancient history to the present day. Because the entries are written by scholars in the field and provide a large amount of information as specific answers to questions in religious studies, further bibliographical sources, and rich media in the form of images and text, the platform serves as an ideal resource for students to conduct research in and out of the classroom. The DRH is working on a series of open access teaching packages to provide educators with digital resources that can be easily integrated into courses related to both religious studies, and wider cultural based learning. These pedagogical resources target different levels of students from secondary up through higher education, with appropriate levels of engagement throughout. The DRH has already received feedback from educators about using the project in their classrooms, but without a standard set of guidelines and explicit resources, teachers have had to form their own lesson plans and activities around the database. The DRH feels strongly that by offering clear-and-easy to use plans for in-class research, and out of class group work, we can facilitate and enhance the ability of educators to take full advantage of the wealth of academic information contained within the database. Each package will contain instructions for both the instructor and the students, with simple step-by-step guides for using the database, as well as introductory videos explaining the purpose and goals of the learning activity. Suggested rubrics for student assessment will also be provided. The guidelines and rubrics will be alterable, giving educators the option of adjusting them for their individual needs. Our first few pedagogy packages will promote two types of lessons. The first will help improve students’ general knowledge about religious traditions. Instructors can select specific practices, such as inhumation, and students will be able to use the database to generate information and additional sources about where and when inhumation has been practiced. The second type of lesson encourages the students to reflect on how data and knowledge is generated in the first place. Students will be able to investigate the makeup of the database, better understand the construction of scholarly consensus, and learn to appreciate the subjective nature of historical narratives. We feel that by providing these lesson plans for a variety of educational levels focused on these two tracks of learning, the DRH will help to expand the existing resources and techniques available to educators in History and Religious Studies classrooms. Additionally, with the current focus on distance and online learning, this project will provide accessible, online tools that can be easily used for remote or in-person instruction, encourage engagement with the digital humanities, and serve as a welcome addition to any pedagogical toolbox. |
| Grant type | Rapid Innovation |
| Funded Amount | $1,940.00 |
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