麻豆淫院

Deborah Whitehead, PhD, of the Religious Studies Department at CU is not afraid to share a YouTube video of dancing Quakers in her lectures. 聽She is interested in how religion in the United States is changing and how young adults interact with religious authority today. 聽麻豆淫院 nominated Whitehead for a 2013 ASSETT Teaching with Technology Award for her efforts. 聽One student wrote of Whitehead:

Professor Whitehead was an overall OUTSTANDING professor. [emphasis original] 聽She effectively placed all highlighted points on the power point, but explained everything in an unbiased manner. In addition, she would share relevant videos and music to keep the class interesting. 聽She was passionate, informed, and wonderful at teaching.

Most of Whitehead's PowerPoint-based lectures in her Religions of the United States course include an element of multimedia intersected with readings of historic primary source tests. 聽Whitehead incorporates media into teaching because:

It helps me make connections between past and present...I also think that when you teach about religion to students today, you have to engage media because that鈥檚 how students get information.聽 I can鈥檛 tell you how many students today tell me they learned about religion through religious themes in television shows and music. 聽[I] bring聽that directly into the classroom [in] a head-on way.

For example, while studying the role of the Quakers in the founding of this country, Whitehead may play the YouTube video,聽聽that Quakers made to tell their history in a funny and accessible format. 聽The video聽is a parody of Ylvis's video聽聽(which itself seems a parody of the modern pop music scene). 聽Although goofy with colonial-era costumes and techno sound--at one point the Quaker founder George Fox does the hula hoop--the "What does George Fox Say" video's lyrics overview Fox's commitment to peace and integrity.

While entertaining, the "What Does George Fox Say" video also demonstrates a new "medium of expression" for religion, Whitehead says. 聽Videos like these聽show the growing role of "media and culture in religion, and give life to the past." 聽Whitehead stresses that such historic religious groups continue to be important in American society. 聽She feels that giving relevance to such videos lends credence to the increasing number of young adults who may take their time in choosing what religion feels right to聽them, if any at all ever do. ()

Course Blog

In addition to incorporating video into her lectures, Whitehead also maintains an interactive course blog on which students can access extensive background information on religions in the United States and submit assignments in an interactive format. 聽This way, students, too, have the opportunity to use media in their learning. 聽Recently, for example, students each wrote blog entries to share their experiences of exploring Native American websites to learn about the diversity of modern Native American culture.

Whitehead is聽committed to her teaching and says,

I love studying religion because there is always something new.聽 There is always human creativity.聽 There is always some new way of thinking...The most important thing I want to do in my classes is to teach religious literacy so that students can participate in conversations about religion in informed ways, both as private individuals and public citizens.