A Review of: “Practical Theology: On Earth as It Is in Heaven”

The nature of adult religious education has been expanding in recent years, requiring adult religious educators to be more flexible and expansive in their practice. This article describes how the traditional “expert” role of the educator can no longer be the only role or image of an adult religious educator; rather, to be a good adult educator requires that one be more of a learning consultant, operating within a matrix or kaleidoscope of roles.     

A Review of “The Church and the Crisis of Community: A Practical Theology of Small-Group Ministry“

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the role of leaders in building nonviolent organizations and the role of organizations in cultivating habits of peace, thereby preparing people as peacemakers in a violent world. Leadership literature asks how to build healthy organizations; conflict literature asks how to make global peace. Both ask how people are shaped by their leaders and communities, but conversations between organizational and peace theories are minimal, as are conversations about peacemaking in local and global contexts. This study identifies practices for building nonviolent organizations, recognizing the significance of educating leaders and organizations as just peace-builders.     

A Review of “Faith in Children: Stories from Faith-Based Children's Centers”

Islamic education has always recognized spiritual and moral values as significant elements in developing a “balanced” human being. One way of demonstrating spiritual and moral concepts is through effective teaching methods that integrate and forefront these values. This article offers an investigation of how the authors’ teaching approaches integrate spiritual and moral values in tertiary/university curriculum subjects as part of the students’ spiritual and moral development.     

A Practical Adoption of Methodologies in“Practical English”Teaching

ABSTRACT Teachers play a most important role in general-English teaching at college. They must constantly develop their practical skills in the light of their students level and purpose. The present essay focusses on different methodologies and provides materials based on the author's teaching practice.     

A Review of “Children and Childhood in American Religions. Edited by Don S. Browning and Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore”

Bearing the losses and inconveniences of our time as best we may, it is the part of men to labor persistently and patiently for the clarification and development of the positive creed of life implicit in democracy and in science, and to work for the transformation of all practical instrumentalities of education till they are in harmony with these ideas. Till these ends are further along than we can honestly claim them to be at present, it is better that our schools should do nothing than that they should do the wrong things. It is better for them to confine themselves to their obviously urgent tasks than that they should, under the name of spiritual culture, form habits of mind which are at war with the habits of mind congruous with democracy and with science. It is not laziness nor cynicism which calls for the laissez‐faire policy; it is honesty, courage, sobriety, and faith. (Dewey 1977,168)     

A Review of “Interreligious Learning”

This article considers Religious Education (RE) from the perspective of socialization theory. After clarifying the concept of socialization, an understanding of socialization processes, requiring the simultaneous development of both a personal and a social identity, is linked with RE. The development of both a personal and a social identity calls for hermeneutic and critical reflective skills, which may be acquired in RE classes. Therefore, RE is an important means of socializing children and youths that may have great civic value and has a rightful place in the school curriculum. The article concludes with the argument that schools with an open religious identity are best suited to provide the type of RE advocated here.     

A Review of: “LEARNING LATER By Brian Findsen”

Many older adults do not use health information available on the Internet. Older adults residing in affordable housing were taught to use the NIHSeniorHealth.gov Web site. Participants were predominantly African American women with limited education and income (N = 42). Outcomes included changes in computer and health Web site navigation skills. Results showed significant improvements for all demographic groups in both computer and Web site navigation (p < .001). Older minority adults with no prior computer experience were willing and able to learn to use health Web sites. Success factors included an instructor familiar with the community, peer training assistants, and a focus on new learner needs.     

A Review of: “Seeing Beyond Blindness Shelley Kinash”

This project addresses the challenge of preparing educational leaders for future roles in administration in K–12 schools. Through a project-based learning scenario set in a 3-D virtual world, graduate students in school administration and instructional technology worked together in simulated school teams to develop proposals for integrating technology into a fictitious school. The scenario provided parameters within which each team developed a proposal to a superintendent for the use of iPads, which included developing plans for professional development, collaboration among faculty and staff, infrastructure to support the technology, alignment with curriculum, and budgets. Teams worked independently of classes to develop proposals that were then posted in the virtual world for review by instructors and other students. The simulation offered opportunities to develop shared leadership and skills in collaboration outside the usual comfort zone of graduate school classes. Student perception of the value of participation provided insight into the design of the project, which will inform future such collaborative efforts among faculty. Results of student surveys and written reflections are shared as examples of the types of data collected for this project.