Summer 2015/Hybrid +

Pasadena

YF521

Howell

YF521: YOUTH AND FAMILY MINISTRY IN A CULTURE OF DIGITAL RELATIONSHIPS (4 units: 160 hours). Bradley Howell.

DESCRIPTION: This course provides a background to the psychosocial, technological and spiritual reasons for the almost universal adoption of the Internet and social media among adolescents. The course will provide an understanding of adolescent social media use, theological implications for youth and family ministry and historical and contextual responses of the Church to mediated communication. This course is designed to help the student think theologically about social media concerns and practices of youth, families and Christian communities, providing practical tools to enable the student to design a theologically informed social media strategy in a local ministry context.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Upon the successful completion of this course, students will have (1) an understanding of social media, its influence and affect on adolescents and their families; (2) an ability to communicate a theology and philosophy of social media informed by a ministry of adoption into a local church body; (3) an awareness of the unique social media ministry needs of early, middle and late adolescents; and (4) developed a social media strategy that enables discipleship and Christian nurture within a theological framework of congregational ownership and strategic adoption of adolescents.

COURSE FORMAT: This is a hybrid+ course, meaning that it is a ten-week course with nine weeks of online instruction and one week of classroom instruction during week seven of the quarter. Online instruction will include a combination of lecture, individual research and online postings. The week of classroom instruction will include four hours daily of lecture and discussion. Classroom and online instruction will include lecture and discussion for a total of 40 instructional hours.

REQUIRED READING: Approximately 1,200 pp. assigned.

Adams, Paul. Grouped: How Small Groups of Friends Are the Key to Influence the Social Web. New Riders, 2012. ISBN: 978-0321804112, Pub. Price $29.99 [168 pp. assigned].

Boyd, Danah. It’s Complicated: the Social Lives of Networked Teens. Yale University Press, 2014. ISBN: 978-0300199000 Pub. Price $25.00 [214 pp. assigned].

Clark, Chap. Hurt 2.0: Inside the World of Today's Teenagers. Youth, Family, and Culture Series. Baker Academic, 2011. ISBN: 978-0801039416, Pub. Price $17.99 [202 pp. assigned].

Mahan, Jeffrey. Media, Religion and Culture: An Introduction. Routledge, 2014. ISBN: 978-0415683203, Pub. Price $44.95 [160 pp. assigned].

Turkle, Sherry. Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other. Basic Books, 2011. ISBN: 978-0465031467, Pub. Price $16.99 [200 pp. assigned].

Wagner, Rachel. Godwired. Routledge, 2011. ISBN: 978-0415781459, Pub. Price $39.95 [266 pp. assigned].

RECOMMENDED READING: See course syllabus.

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:

  1. Attend and participate in both the online and in-person portions of the class. During weeks one through six, students will be able to work ahead, but must at a minimum keep up with the current week in order to receive credit for that week’s work. Students will be expected to be on campus and participating with all class sessions during week 7. Weeks eight through ten will return to the online format of the first portion of the class (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, 2, 3, and 4]. [40 hours].

  2. Complete ~1,200 pages of required reading (10%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, 2, 3, and 4]. [60 hours].

  3. A 1,500-1,750-word research paper that develops an adoptive theology of mediated spiritual community (30%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, and 2]. [20 hours].

  4. A 3,250-3,750-word final project that reflects a programmatic interpretation of the course content in a given context. (40%) [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, 2, 3, and 4]. [40 hours].

PREREQUISITES: None.

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Option to meet the C2 requirement in the 120 MDiv Program. Option to count for Youth, Family, and Culture emphasis.

FINAL EXAMINATION: None.


NOTE: This ECD is a reliable guide to the course design but is subject to modification. Textbook prices are set by publishers and are subject to change.

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