TEACHING DEVELOPMENT GRANT - 2008

To promote effective learning by creating safe and respectful spaces in which students can encounter FACE TO FACE members of various world religions as real people.

To encourage students to engage with these people FACE TO FACE at the level of enquiry, and through this engagement become more aware of the five religious traditions - Aboriginal Spirituality, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam .

To foster an openness and willingness to recognise and respect diversity of belief in the context of Australian pluralism and thus develop “Social Literacies”.

The first involved engagement prior to, during and after the teaching of the unit between ACU staff and representatives from the various religious traditions. This collaborative planning, monitoring and evaluation of the project demanded a significant allocation of time beyond that normally given to preparing for, monitoring and evaluating a unit.

Brought in representatives of the five major religious traditions to engage students in the second week of the unit. They each spoke of their lived religious experience and explored how it influences their life as an Australian in 2008.

After each presenter had spoken for about ten minutes, the students were asked to remain quiet, reflect on what they had heard and then to write down some responses they had to the various presentations.

The students were then invited to ask questions or make observations after having reflectively considered what had been presented. The ensuing questions were intelligent and insightful.

Towards the end of the unit there was a structured forum bringing together the representatives of the religious traditions again, as well as some young people from those traditions with the ACU students in the unit.

In small groups of about 5 students they moved around the various traditions.

This final and ongoing initiative was a mentoring component, in which an older and a younger member of each tradition was available for consultation with students (both on-campus and via e-mail) two or three times during the semester. This process allowed engagement by the students with an ‘elder’ and a ‘traveller’ from each tradition in a constructive learning conversation.

Students responses- The evaluations made it clear that for many of the students

this was the first time they had encountered and engaged face-to-face with a Hindu (or Muslim or …) and as a result they were hoping to develop a more positive approach when they confronted difference, or fear or mistrust of ‘strangers’.

One student commented:“I found the engagement with representatives of the World Religions informative and eye-opening. They both clarified aspects of their faith … and … helped debunk any myths or misconceptions about their religion which had not been explained or are distorted in society.”

Another wrote:“The realization of religious diversity allowed me to understand in a better way the need for religious tolerance and how lucky we are in a country like Australia to have this opportunity to meet and exchange ideas.”

There was a high correlation between the responses given by the presenters and the students with an overall very favourable assessment of the unit.

The majority of the presenters rated the Meeting World Religions Face-to-Face initiative a maximum score of ten.

There was general agreement that the most valuable aspect of the initiative was in allowing dialogue between the various faith communities and the students,

The presenters found that the interaction with the students was invigorating and informed their own ideas, their teaching and their perceptions of how other groups understood them.

As with the students, most presenters felt that the major problem with the initiative was the limited time available.

Study of Religions (coded THSR) THSR100 Indigenous Spiritualities THSR101 Introduction to Judaism and

Islam THSR200 Hinduism and Buddhism THSR201 Ethics and Peace Studies in

World Religions THSR202 Religion in Australian Culture THSR203 Interfaith Relations and

Dialogue

Anthony Steel- incredible organisational and facilitating skills.

Institute for Advancing Community Engagement (IACE) – a joint venture.

Those who made this teaching and learning initiative possible with finance.

Thank you to the students who participated.