Conference will take stock of online education experiences

A “Theological Education: Pandemic and Pedagogy” conference will convene from 5-7 December at the Trinity Theological Seminary, in Accra, Ghana. The hybrid conference is being organized by the Evangelische Mission Weltweit, Lutheran World Federation, World Communion of Reformed Churches, and World Council of Churches.

As COVID-19 restrictions challenged most institutions with a choice to go online or close their doors indefinitely, many theological institutions around the world were either pedagogically unprepared or lacked infrastructure for online learning. Some adapted well to the online format, but for many the lack of residential fees and ancillary institutional support exacerbated the existing crisis of sustainability.

Even as acute restrictions of the pandemic ease, theological education will not return to the situation as it was before COVID-19. While new threats to educational equity and theological discourse must be addressed, the conference will also celebrate the ways that increased connectivity can provide new opportunities for decolonizing learning and transformative pedagogies.

Participants will take stock of online education experiences and explore the threats and opportunities that have surfaced in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This hybrid conference for theological educators will explore:

• educational methods related to pandemic traumata
  • impact of stress/isolation on the quality of life and learning for staff and students
  • providing curricular spaces for sharing the strains and strategies for healing and resilience
• how networks of theological institutions and ecumenical cooperation can shape the content and methods of theological discourse in digital space
  • possibilities for new forms of online ecumenism that include digital pilgrimages, and webinars that broaden the experience of global fellowship and spirituality
  • reconceptualizing the scope, reach and aims of formal and informal theological education as a question of equity
• pedagogical promise in the wake of the pandemic
  • networking for online access to teaching material and new ways to share resources for educational support
  • new avenues for transformative pedagogies and methods of decolonizing digital based theological education
  • case studies of online pedagogical lessons learned by those who previously hosted online teaching and those who transitioned to online theological education

Online sessions will be hosted on Zoom. Transformative pedagogies may be incorporated into the online format, so that the methods of the conference communicate the content.

Click through to register your interest and save the date. Once times and topics of each session are confirmed, those interested will receive an agenda, so that preferences can be designated.