Clarion 2002-10-02 Vol. 78 No. 03

              Wednesday, October 2, 2002
NEWSPAPER OF BETHEL COLLEGE
Volume 78 * Number 3
Bush Grant providing technology education for faculty
By Amber Grob
StaffWriter
Bethel is entering its third
consecutive year with the Bush
foundation to receive a three-
year grant that will end in 2003.
This grant provides $300,000
over a course of three years in
annual payments each year. Its
purpose is to allow faculty to
address an important question:
"how can our faculty and students become knowledgeable
and critical users of informational technology in achieving
Bethel's educational mission?"
The goal of the Bush grant is
to ensure the development of
the faculty's teaching procedures within Bethel's own goals
and priorities. It will also make
the faculty more aware of how
technology can be effective and
how they can use it to improve
their teaching and student learn
ing.
Faculty must apply to participate in the Bush Grant and then
agree to attend a week-long
workshop during the summer
that teaches and guides them
through many aspects of teaching, including critical thinking
from different points of view
and how to practice teaching
with new technology. They will
learn skills such as operating
Power Point, making web-
pages, and using archival web-
page storing.
During the year the faculty
will have the opportunity to
teach a course in light of the
changes they've made to educate students.
"This is new stuff for a lot of
us, but the more we get a chance
to use it the more we realize
how it betters the students learning," said Kathy Nevins, coordinator and director of the Bush
grants. "That is our real goal."
Fry, Runion solidify pastoral
positions in Campus ministries
By Meika Vogel
StaffWriter
To replace the departed Keith
Anderson,   Eldon   Fry    was
recently hired and will officially
assume his position on Oct. 15.
In   addition,   Darin
Mather    also    left
recently,   and   Matt
Runion has taken his
place   as   the   new
Assistant    Campus
Pastor.
"Campus
Ministries is a key
part of Bethel," said
Provost Jay Barnes.
Those   involved   in
the process of searching
for    and    interviewing
applicants   for   the   positions
wanted to find the best people
that God was calling for the job.
The process resulted in Fry and
Runion being hired to join the
Campus Ministries staff.
After leaving Bethel,
Anderson accepted a one-year
position at Northwestern
College in Orange City, Iowa
where he is currently serving.
At this point, he is unsure of
what he will be doing after that
time.
Meanwhile, Fry has
left his position as
Manager of Pastoral
Care at Focus on the
Family in Colorado
Springs to come to
Bethel. Before that he
worked at Messiah
College for 13 years,
which is where he first
met Provost Jay
Eldon Fry    Barnes.
Barnes hired Fry at
Messiah in 1984 and is excited
about working wilh him again.
"I saw him have an incredible
continued on page 3
After participating in the
grant, faculty have the opportunity to write a report document
on technology and the effects it
has on their teaching as well as
what they plan to do in the
future.
To help the faculty throughout the year, Bethel has appointed two faculty coordinators who
provide help and expertise to
whoever may need it. Faculty
meets monthly as a large group
as well as every other week with
a small group in order to go
over any questions or guidance
they may have for one another.
"I think teachers have a better idea on the use of technology but the jury is still out on
whether or not it improves student learning," said Nevins.
The Grant has provided
Bethel faculty with some space
to reflect on their teaching and
given them room to try new
things  to  help  students  learn
BeM>et Hot*ecor*ln$ 1001
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better.
As the program is approaching its last year available to
teachers, there are still measures
that will be taken to provide
services to faculty and help
when needed.
Nevins is working so that
after this year there will continue to be consultants, training,
and support. "All we will really
lose after this year is course
release," said Nevins.
Humanities offers integrated alternative
By Jennielee Cordes
A&E Editor
Faculty voted 39-27 on Sept.
11 to approve Western
Humanity in the Christian
Perspective (Humanities) as a
new, four-course program.
Starling next fall, incoming
students may choose to take
Humanities as a cohesive alternative lo five separate General
Education courses: CIFA,
CWC, College Writing, Modern
Age and Christian Theology.
"We felt that we could make
connections among the arts,
humanities and theology that
are not being made now," said
english professor Daniel
Ritchie, who proposed the program. "At the present, these five
courses have very Utile lo do
wilh each other. The problems
they address... have a great deal
to do with each other."
"It takes many content areas
and looks at Ihem by definition
in an integrated way," said
Debra Harless, dean of
Academic Development. The
workload should be equivalent
to the original five courses, but
the two-year Humanities program examines the different disciplines simultaneously over an
extended period of time.
Humanities will be offered in
two mods each term, with a
team of al least five professors
for the freshmen and a second
team of at least five for the
sophomores. There will be one
lecture per week "to provide
historical background and a
model of expertise by faculty
specialists," said Ritchie. Twice
weekly students will meet in
smaller seminars "to provide a
place where textual analysis,
writing instruction, group activities and significant listening
can occur."
The first two semesters of
Humanities are currently being
piloted by five sections of 28
students  each.  According  to
Ritchie, "response to the course
has been overwhelming. There
were enough students on the
wailing list to fill another section of the course."
Biblical and Theological
Studies Professor Mark
Reasoner, one of the professors
teaching the pilot course, said
that there is a "narrowing of the
focus" when pursuing one's
education. "The tendency is to
become so compartmentalized,"
he said. "One of the goals of our
team of teachers is to model
learning for our students."
Harless said this program
caused a great deal of deliberation "by definition of how
extensive it is. It did lead to
quite a lot of discussion among
the faculty because General
Education is the core of the curriculum. It represents a new
delivery model for a number of
Gen Ed courses. A lot of faculty
are interested in those categories."
continued on page 4
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