May 11th @ 1:00pm edt

An exciting videoconference will be offered by Saint Joseph's, Fordham and USF on May 11. Entitled “St. Ignatius in Cyberspace”, it will help make the connection between distance education and the Jesuit mission in higher education. Moderated by Dr. David Lees, Director of Instructional Media Services at Saint Joseph's University, the videoconference will feature three Jesuits­David Robinson, Rick Malloy and Nick Lombardi­with significant backgrounds in online learning and Ignatian identity.

 

Program:

1:00 – 1:15 Dr. David Lees, Director, Instructional Media Services, SJU

• Introduction

1:15 – 1:45 Jesuit Mission and Ignatian Identity in an Online Context

David Robinson, S.J., University of San Francisco

Jesuit education has a centuries-old tradition of attending to the whole person-intellectually, ethically, and spiritually. Learning is a transformational process, aimed at a constant expansion of creativity and insight. Such values are not left as a sidebar when the learning venue moves to cyber-space. The learning environment, the nature of dialogue, and the qualities of inquiry ought to maintain the same qualities that are sought in an on-ground classroom. Our reflections will explore some of the ways in which curricular design, syllabus structure, and online process can promote the values that have so long been part of a Jesuit classroom experience.

1:45 – 2:15 Ignatian Illuminations: Jesuit Education in the New Mission Territory of Cyberspace

Rick Malloy, S.J., Saint Joseph's University

Until rather recently, it was true to say that a doctor from 2500 B.C. would feel quite uncomfortable in a contemporary operating room, while a teacher from the same era would feel at home in a classroom.  Pedagogically, not much had radically changed over the centuries.  Today, teachers are in as challenging and transformative an environment in the classroom as their counterparts in the medical field.  Smart technology (e.g., Blackboard, etc.) is making the learning experience extend across time and space.  Learning how to integrate these new technological tools to foster the aims and goals of Jesuit Education is the challenge for the early 21st century.

2:15 – 2:45 The Ignatian Recipe for Instruction and its Natural Evolution into Modern Instructional Technology

Nick Lombardi, S.J., Fordham University

The spirit of the Ratio Studiorum was and is today a set of natural guidelines for modern pedagogy. Inspired by Ignatius' "First Principle and Foundation" of the Spiritual Exercises, the Ratio encouraged any and all experimentation in methodology along with evaluation of its successful applications in order to produce the very best in education, which was seen as the communication of knowledge, ideals, and values. Whatever enables the most efficient, flexible, and effective means of doing so is the goal of every instructor. Discovering and discarding the opposite, avoiding mindless tradition while maintaining the tried and true along with new methods is the achievement of a successful teacher. Cyberspace and modern Instructional Technology is another set of tools that a good Ignatian Pedagogue must keep in his arsenal of methodologies in the modern educational arena.

2:45 – 3:00 Dr. David Lees

• Wrap Up – Q&A Session