Additional resources at http://faithformation4-0.com/faith-formation-4-0; Faith Formation 4.0 by Julie Anne Lytle, PhD is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. 1

eFormation Conference @VTS May 31-June 2, 2013

Faith Formation 4.0 – Julie Anne Lytle, PhD SATURDAY, June 1, 2013 – CONFERENCE - Session 1: 9:00-10:14 (75 min); Session 3: 4:30-5:15 (75 min) Jesus told stories (1.0-Oral), Paul wrote letters (2.0-Written), Reformers used the printing press while televangelists used radio and television to bring the Good News into every home (3.0-Mass-Mediated). Today, faithful people are integrating digital media and social networking into their efforts to invite and welcome new members (evangelization) as well as share Christian wisdom and practices (faith formation) (4.0-Interactive). Their efforts depend not only on knowing the Christian message of God’s enduring love, but also how to use today’s tools appropriately, In addition to exploring the four eras of faith formation and the inherent characteristics of various communications media that influenced them, this workshop introduces a mantra, “Message, Method, then Media,” and the theological, educational, and technological wisdom necessary to guide decision-making in the Digital Age. Dr. Julie Anne Lytle is a digital evangelist, theological educator, media consultant, and author of Faith Formation 4.0: Introducing an Ecology of Faith in a Digital Age (Church Publishing, 2013). Evangelization and Faith Formation are Two Sides of the Same Coin

• Proclaiming the Gospel and Making Christians occurs throughout our life • Ideally the church supports (and intentionally directs) it • Faith Formation requires an Ecological View

o All of life Fashions and Forms Us o Different Contexts -> Different Experiences -> Different Assumptions -> Different Conclusions

There have been Four Eras of Human Communications that influence our contexts

• Oral o Story-Keeping, Story-Sharing, Story-Making are in our DNA

• Written o First written forms about 830 BCE o Paul’s Letters ~ 52 CE o Catacomb drawings/paintings ~ 3rd CE o Medieval Hand lettered manuscripts

• Mass Media Print and Electronic o 1450 CE Gutenberg’s Press – Systemic mechanization with interchangeable parts o 1847 Telegraph o 1890s Radio o 1920s Television o 1957 Sputnik

• Interactive – Digital Media and Social Networking o 1876 Telephone o 1940s First Programable Computer o 1957 DoD Advanced Research Projects/ARPAnet o 1991 Internet o 2001 Blogs o 2004 Facebook, Google…

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MEDIA: Storyteller(s) CHARACTERISTICS:

• RANGE: One-to-One to Many-to-Many

• Personal, Relational, Local • Hearers become part of the story – embodiment • Elastic – adapt to context • Limited by distance one can travel

PRIORITIZES MEMORY TRUTH from STORYTELLER

MEDIA: Unique artifact/object that transmits message - text, icons, paintings, structures, sculptures, etc CHARACTERISTICS:

• Separate knower -known • ->Opportunity for analysis, critique, introspection, self-examination • Durable, depending on medium • Portable, depending on medium -> Message shared more widely • Changed what thought & how thought occurs

PRIORITIZES LITERACY TRUTH from STORY

MASS MEDIA - Mass distribution of images, thoughts, ideas

PRINT–broadsheets, books, tracts, etc ELECTRONIC – radio, TV, satellite

CHARACTERISTICS • One-to-many – Controlled • Standardization – same message to

diverse audience • Uses Vernacular, colloquial • Multisensory, dramatic, immersive

Introduction of popular culture Prioritize uniformity/exact explicability

PRINT – Truth from the BOOK ELECTRONIC – TRUTH from EXPERIENCE

MEDIA: Bytes enable active, multidirectional sending/receiving of voice, video and data CHARACTERISTICS:

• Many-to-many • Open, dynamic, participatory • Designed to give Immediate and constant access to information and

people • Customizable/individualized • Global/local connectivity

PRIORITIZE INTERACTION TRUTH from CONTEXT (Search for authenticity)

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How Should We Connect with Seekers and Saints??

ASSUMPTION: Media Provide Numerous Ways to Connect with and Form Seekers and Saints CHALLENGES: There is not a “one-size-fits-all” solution

• Diverse needs and backgrounds of our “audience” • Characteristics of each medium

How Should We Design Faith Formation Options?

• Identify Audience and Context • Message -> Method -> then Media

Circle of Conversion/Cycle of Discipleship

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Who are We Trying to Reach?* • GI – born 1901-1924 (87+)

(Pew - 75+) • Silent – born 1925-1942 (69-86)

(Pew - 66-74) • Boomers – born 1943-1960 (51-68)

(Pew - Older Boomers 57-65; Younger Boomers 47-56) • Thirteenth (also called Gen X) – born 1961-1981 (30-50)

(Pew - Gen X 35-46) • Millennials (also called Gen Y, GeNext) - born 1982-2002 (9-29) (Pew - 18-34)

* William Strauss& Neil Howe (Generations, 1992) Howe and Strauss do not continue naming generations. Some refer to the current birth cohort as Gen Z or the Internet Generation. Author Marc Prensky calls them “Digital Natives” inferring that the rest are “Digital Immigrants.”

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EDUCATIONAL/FORMATIONAL ENVIRONMENT –Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory The microsystem: the immediate environment, the settings where people experience their daily lives. It includes relationships with each parent, siblings, the extended family, peers/friends and other adults. The influence of the microsystem comes from direct interactions with the immediate environment. The adolescent is an active agent in the microsystem. The mesosystem: the network of interconnections between the various microsystems. An example is a teenager who is experiencing abusive treatment from parents may become difficult to handle in relationships with teachers. The exosystem: the societal institutions that have indirect but potentially important influences on development. These institutions include schools, religious institutions and media. The macrosystem: the broad system of cultural beliefs and values and the economic and govern-mental systems that are built on those beliefs and values. These beliefs include laws, customs, etc. The chronosystem: the changes that occur in developmental circumstances over time, both with respect to individual development and historical changes.

TIME/PLACE MATRIX

What MUST be done PHYSICALLY TOGETHER and what could be done

VIRTUALLY?

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Distributed Faith Formation Continuum

Onsite – at participants’ location • may include web and other media enhancements (synchronous)

Offsite – at host’s specified location • may include web and other media enhancements (synchronous)

On-line – Internet and Mobile interaction • text-based – threaded discussion (asynchronous) as well as chat and instant message (synchronous) • animations and videos – asynchronous • virtual worlds – ie avatar in SecondLife - synchronous • web conference – synchronous

Hybrid On/Off site and Online • Blended – immersion @ location w/online interaction before, after, or both before and after

immersion (synchronous and asynchronous) • Simulcast - in class and online (synchronous and asynchronous)

Distributed learning is not just a new term to replace the other 'DL,' distance learning. Rather, it comes

from the concept of distributed resources. Distributed learning is an instructional model that

allows instructor, students, and content to be located in different, noncentralized locations so that instruction and learning occur independent of time and place.

The distributed learning model can be used in combination with traditional classroom-based courses, with traditional distance learning courses, or it can be used to create wholly virtual classrooms" - Saltzberg, S., & Polyson, S. (1995, September). Distributed learning on the World Wide Web. Syllabus, 9(1), 10.

Chris Dede emphasizes that distributed learning is based not only on new media

but also on new pedagogy. Distance learning emphasizes the learning environment,

whereas the focus of distributed learning is on pedagogy. Faith Formation 4.0

Opportunities/Benefits • Active Engagement • Multidirectional (feedback!) • Anytime/Anyplace • Multi-Perspectival

G/local – local/global • Multigenerational Access • Bridge Sacred/Secular conversations,

particularly around ethical issues

Limitations/Liabilities • Technological - Internet access is not ubiquitous • Financial - Hardware, software, training, bandwidth… • Ethical - Privacy, anonymity, cyber-theft, addictive

behaviors, commercialism, behavioral norms • Moral - Access, digital divide • Time Investment • Information Overload

Current Examples of Faith Formation 4.0 are online at http://faithformation4-0.com/faith-formation-4-0.