Lecture

Hi, this is Ken Gangel. This is a little different approach to an ITS course. We usually do things a little bit more formally, but this is a different kind of course. I wanted to introduce it myself by taking the first lecture not for content on the course itself, but for taking you through the syllabus at whatever pace is necessary. And having done this, you can listen to this tape over and over again if you wish if there’s anything that’s not clear. So whatever you do find in the syllabus packet will not just be in written form leaving you the need to put some kind of interpretation to it; you’ll have this back-up tape of explanation.

Now having said that, let me say it would be good at this point if you have your printed syllabus handy and listen to me talk about it as we go through. And we’ll just start right at the top and work right on through. Interestingly, this is what I would do in a class anyhow. It’s our intent to have this course coming to you in live performance. I’ll explain that in just a moment, but failing that we’ll go to some other format. As I talk to you at this moment, it is our intention to do it that way.

So we’ll start with a course description. Students review in this course the principles of andragogy. Now you’ll pick that up if you haven’t done any reading yet; you’ll pick it up very, very quickly in the principle text book. And the application of that basic set of educational principles to various adult age groups and special adult groups—singles, single parents families, students (that’s you)—will analyze and synthesize the church’s entire ministry to adults. So that’s our focus. Sometimes I’ve taught this course under the titled seminar “In Adult Education,” and it fits there. But in a broader sense, we’re looking at the whole package of ministry programs to adults in a church and the size of the church is irrelevant. We’re not talking about a church that has a staff position called Minister to Adults or something like that. We’re talking about anybody who has responsibility for adult ministries. So this is obviously great stuff for any pastor.

If you’re a pastor of a church of seventy-five, then it’s highly likely that you’re the only paid employee. Maybe you’re not even paid a living wage, but you are the de facto minister to adults whether anybody thinks of that title or not. So this kind of stuff is very important.

Objectives are always important in any course, and in this course it is our purpose that you will know and understand a basic biblical theology of adult education. We’ll spend some time on that. It’s hardly a thorough going, total theology, because this is not a course in theology. But we need to start there at any rate.

And then we develop a psychology of adulthood, especially looking at how adults learn. There has been enormous research in the last, let’s say, three decades on this. It is important for us to grasp some of those principles and plug them into our understanding of what’s going on in adult education and adult ministries in the church. And then we’ll want to talk about analyzing the characteristics and developmental areas of the three general adult age groups; those are young adults, middle adults, and senior adults. Now let me just say that you will find all kinds of age designations on these three categories. I’ll be giving my own age designations, but those are by no means the final word or the generally accepted norm of the industry or something like that. But in general, I think everybody accepts the categories. We’ll look at them in that way, category by category, with a special focus on senior adults for two reasons—one, because it’s the fastest growing category right now, and two because it’s the category about which you probably know the least.

And then number four, where the student will develop a ministering to sub-groups among the church’s adults—singles, single parents, young marrieds, the divorced, the ill, the elderly—people like that. What kinds of things, what special needs do we care for? What special groups must we handle? And then the student should be able to plan and program adult education in the church. This is as we say in the business world, “the bottom line.” It’s one thing to know about characteristics, understand philosophy, psychology, theology—all that stuff is marvelous—but the bottom line as Nike says is “Just do it!” and that’s what this fifth objective is about. Can you do it? Can you move ahead and design a program of ministry for adults in a local church that makes sense and that fits the needs, that fits the biblical patterns, and that does the job?

There’s one required textbook. It is, thankfully, the authoritative text on the subject at the moment, and will be, I suppose, until somebody writes something better. You have it there before you, The Christian Educators Handbook on Adult Education. It is not a book I have written, but rather co-edited, and you will find numerous authors from varying theological and sociological and educational backgrounds contributing here. And then on the basic reading list, I…well there’s no need for me to go down through that. We’ll come back to that as you look at that carefully. I’m not going to try to pick out some favorite books or anything of that type. You will notice, of course, that there are certain books that have a special focus. Well, let me just at least pick out the second one on the list; Harly Atkinson’s book that Harly edited, The Handbook of Young Adult Religious Education. So here’s a whole book just about ministry to young adults—a fairly thick paperback—published in 1995, so it is late information and it is good information. So where you need to specialize and where you need special kinds of information, that is available to you on the reading list, and some of the requirements of the course will fit in there as well.

Now this course rationale is different from anything that ITS has done before. A practical course, such as this one, should emphasize process as well as content. In other words, it’s effective as well as cognitive. We’re interested in your attitudes and your feelings about the course, the process, as well as the knowledge input. Now those goals are difficult to achieve. Every educator knows that. It’s especially difficult to achieve through an audio tape course or through the reading of a book, which are the only options which we basically have. But with your intentional cooperation, and if you really try, we can see if we can make this work. As I explain right now, lectures are only a portion of the course. Nor will there be questions on the lectures. There’ll be no questions on the textbooks. There’ll be no final exam. This is not a course that we’re monitoring to make sure you’ve been through every step-by-step and have done all of the stuff and all of the cognitive input is there. We don’t want it to be that kind of a course.

So even though you and I won’t interact face-to-face probably, I’ve built in several course features which can take you beyond the transfer of content to whatever level of participation you choose, and I want to talk about those various things. We’re still grappling with the possibility of live lectures, but that’s what we want to do.

Rather than recording the lectures in a studio, I’ve chosen to bring you into a functioning graduate class so that the ambiance, the flavor of that setting, might set a tone for your listening. Now do we lose something in recording quality doing that? No question about it. There’s no way I can wear a remote mic, wander around a classroom, and pick up the kind of quality that we can do right now, as on this tape, in a studio. It just can’t be done.

Now what we’re hoping is that what we have lost in recording quality, we make up in dynamics. So be patient if at times my voice fades or you hear a squeak or a sound or a humor I have to reach over and turn the volume up. And recognize that what you’re getting here is real live stuff. You know, people really looking at this together and the dynamic of responding really right there. And sort of picture yourself in the group. Get a feel for being right there with us in the class.

The second thing we want to do in a course like this is practical assignments. In lieu of the kinds of questions I mentioned above that I have constructed for two or three other ITS courses, I have substituted assignments which you can relate to your present ministry or at least to the church that you regularly attend. So do stuff that’s real. And if you’re just taking this course to pass a requirement for some seminary class, well, that’s really too bad. At least try to find some situation in a church that you attend where you can get realistic information about real people to fulfill these practical assignments.

Third, and very important in this kind of class, is a learning contract. This is your choice not only to do it or not to do it, but should you choose to do a learning contract; the project you work on is your decision. See, that’s andragogy. That’s what we’re talking about. You make decisions. You take responsibility for your own learning. Generally speaking, what we have done in ITS courses is say, “We’ll take responsibility for your learning. We’ll tell you everything you need to know. We’ll tell you exactly how you have to demonstrate that you know that and some proctor will make as clearly as possible objective determinations of that learning.” In andragogy, we say, “Hey, you want to learn something? We’ll put it out there where you can find it. Go for it!”

Now this kind of flexibility carries with it much more subjectivity in grading. Your proctor knows this and you better know this. Rather than a set of right and wrong answers to questions, you and your proctor will both see criteria according to which that person will determine grades. So I’ll publish criteria. You’ll see in advance what the proctor will be using, so you’ll be able to design your responses and assignments to predetermined criteria. But this is not objective kind of stuff where you’ve got a lot of yes and no and right and wrong answers and it’s 1923 or 1614 or whatever it is.

Well, what every student wants to know about every course is the requirements and, of course, we have some reading. Master the textbook. Just master it. Just go through it and scribble things in the margin and underline stuff and work through each page. You’ll notice that this course does not have any abundance of reading. You’re not reading five and six books. You’re reading one required text and then two other books from the basic reading list, which are, again, your choice. This is andragogy. You make the choice. What do you want to learn? If you’re working with the young adults, maybe you want to pick those books. If you’re working with older adults, if you’re working with families, pick books that will help you do what you are trying to do. And for each of these three books, prepare a one or two-page review. Every assignment should be typed for graduate work so I’ll say that, but it really doesn’t need to be said, I wouldn’t think.

Now the criteria for this assignment are three in number, and I think reasonably clear. First is evidence of awareness and comprehension. Are you picking up on what this book is about? Are you understanding it? Are you comprehending it? Secondly, a critique of the author’s ability to contribute new insights to the field of adult ministries. That’s particularly important in the textbook, the required text. In other words, you’re critiquing this book for all practical purposes and then in the other books as well. You know, don’t write the thing that says over and over again, “I liked it or I didn’t like it or this was nice or it wasn’t nice,” or whatever, but be a serious critique. Critique doesn’t necessarily mean negative comments either.

And then number three, a clarity of written communication, whether you have expressed in your written response exactly what it is you intended to say. Graduate students ought to be able to speak clearly and they ought to be able to write clearly, and both speaking and writing ought to reflect good thinking. Please pick up on the note there: readings and lectures should be completed before beginning the remaining assignments. In other words, if you have not done your reading of the three books up to this point, then don’t go any further than this.

If you haven’t listened to the lectures up to this point, then don’t go any further than this. You cannot do the remaining requirements without the learning background that the reading and the lectures provide.

All right, B, church evaluation. Find a local church. I hope it’s one that you attend. Maybe it’s one that you pastor. Maybe it’s one where you serve on the staff. Select the local church with which you’re familiar and evaluate its ministries to adults. No, there’s no special evaluation form in here. You design one. How is this ministry to adults strong? Where is it weak? What needs to be done? What needs to be changed? And from the evidence that you gather, prepare at least a four to five-page analysis. That is a very minimal length, but it would not be andragogical to say any more than that. What I think is going to happen, if you take this seriously, is that you’re going to end up with, you know, eight or ten pages. And along with the analysis, you’re making recommendations. This church ought to do this; this church ought to do that. Please be very careful the way you put it together. It would be your hope in mind that the people about whom you are writing will actually do some of the things that you say, but they won’t do it if it sounds like just a complaining sheet. They’ll only do it if it really looks like a very positive evaluative “let’s do better” kind of project.

Criteria. Evidence of thorough evaluation of the church’s adult ministry program. Does it look like you really looked at every aspect? Secondly, perception of the church’s strengths and weaknesses and your ability to candidly point these out. And then, third, demonstrate a competence in the recommendations, all of which should be feasible. In other words, are you really functioning as a competent educator to adults in making these recommendations? Do they make sense, or is this off the wall stuff that nobody’s ever going to do? And the feasibility factor. You know, is something happening here that people can really make work and something that they can really do?

C is an adult need project. I have been doing this assignment in classes for years, and it has proven very, very useful. I hope you’ll enjoy doing it. Find a current need which you uncovered in your church evaluation. Notice the progression of the assignments. Or maybe one which surfaced in your reading or listening to the tapes or whatever; just something that caught your fancy. This need may focus on an age group or on some other aspect of adult ministry.

Or you might zero in on some crucial current issue like homosexuality or abuse or divorce or church roles for women or daycare or paternal neglect. This could go on and on. You know, child abuse, spousal abuse; anything that clearly relates to adult ministries. Things that happen in the lives of adults. Don’t go running off and write a need paper on five year olds or on teenagers. You know, if you want to do that take a course in youth ministry. This is a course in adult ministry and this particular project must really focus on adults needs.

Criteria. First of all, comprehension of the basic issues involved in the need, including those which either complicate or facilitate service to the need group. Do you really understand the issues and have you been able to point up where the church complicates this? For example, is a church that you’re studying—or do churches in general—make life more difficult for families by over-programming the week and taking away family time? That would be a complication. Or are there ways that you’ve seen churches facilitating services to a particular need group that you want to point out?

Secondly, application of solid biblical and theological principles to the need. This should not be a sociological analysis only. We need textual support wherever it’s appropriate, and we need to demonstrate that you were looking at this thing biblically. And then third, identification of solutions—specific ways that a congregation can address the need or needs you have identified and explained. I have students do the most amazing projects on this because I haven’t been choosing it for them. I’m not saying, “Now you do a paper on this and you do a paper on that and you do a paper on this because I’m writing a book and I want all of you to do a chapter for me.” No, none of that stuff here. You are selecting something that you are interested in where you feel that the evangelical church is failing. There’s a need group here that’s not being well-serviced and you’re about to attack this and you’re going to write the final word on how to do this in the local church. Take the challenge.

A learning contract. Now, I want to talk more about that on this tape than you have actually in your hands. That’s because it’s something that you may or may not have done before. If you are very familiar with learning contracts then you don’t need a lot of this information. But if you are not familiar with learning contracts, then that’s something that we really need to address and work with.

I do need to emphasize as it says on the sheet that you have that the completion of requirement D is essential for earning an A; that is, if you don’t do a learning contract, you can pass the course, but you will not be able to get an A. An A is dependent upon doing a learning contract. Now having said that, let me say that I don’t find it absolutely essential for you to get an A in anything. I have never believed that getting a grade is the goal of learning. It is crucial for us to recognize that there are choices to be made in andragogical procedures, and one of the choices you have to make here is a choice of whether or not to do a learning contract. So it’s going to be up to you to do the learning contract or to not do the learning contract and if you choose to receive a B, fine. Given whatever time constraints you may have, that may be a good choice. But if you decide to complete a learning contract, then you need to find the appropriate form in the syllabus and fill it out and get approved by your proctor before proceeding. A contract is just that—a contract. It should focus on some area of concern close to your present or future ministry. Pick something that you really want and need to do. Something you really want and need to learn. Not just to improve your grade.

The criteria. Competence in structuring the contract itself—clear goals, adequate evaluation procedures, thoroughness in following through to complete the contract, finding the right resources—human resources, literary resources—to achieve the goals, and then goal achievement. This is the litmus test of a learning contract. Did you learn what you said you would learn and has someone affirmed that you have learned it?

Now it is at this point that you need to find that page in your syllabus—and I am not able to tell you as I am here in a recording studio what that page is—labeled “Learning Contract.” And you’ll notice that there is a place for you to describe at the top what this is about and a place for your name and instructor and the proctor or the supervisor who is handling this course for you. Then there are five columns, starting from left to right, of course. The learning objectives. What are you going to learn? You should identify these precisely, preferably even by number. One: I’m going to learn this. Two: I’m going to learn this. Three: I’m going to learn this. And go right on down through.

Secondly, learning resources and strategies. How are you going to learn it? What are you going to learn? How are you going to learn it? I’m not telling you this. The proctor is not going to tell you this. You see, that’s pedagogy. That’s childish education.

If you make the choice and you decide what it is you want to learn and you decide how you’re going to learn it, now you’re not only learning about andragogy, you are practicing andragogy and that is a very essential point of this course.

And then there should be a target date for the completion, whatever you and your proctor agree on. Then you need evidence of accomplishment of objectives. How are you going to know that you learned it? What are you going to learn? How are you going to learn it? How are you going to know that you learned it? What evidence will there be that you know internally in your heart, in your mind, “Yes, I have learned what I set out to learn.”

And then the toughest one of all, let’s face it, is the final category; criteria and means for validating your evidence. How are you going to prove to your proctor that you learned it? It’s one thing to have a confidence, you know, that inner quiet confidence, “Yeah, I think I know how to do this.” Let’s use an example here. Let’s say you’re going to learn how to fly an airplane. How to fly an airplane. Something I never intend to do in all of my life. Never had a desire, never will have a desire to fly an airplane. I don’t even like to ride in an airplane. At any rate, you want to fly an airplane. Alright that’s what you want to learn. How are you going to learn it? Well, you’re going to go to pilot school and you’re going to do this and the FAA has regulations and you’ve got to get this and so on and so forth. Evidence of accomplishment. How are you going to know that you learned it? Well, because you can fly. You know, you’re up there and the instructor says, “Okay, you take the controls now and for the next thirty minutes you fly the thing around and you fly under the power poles and, you know, you do all the tricks down through the…fly under the freeway underpass and then finally eventually land at some airport. Now you don’t have any paper yet. Nobody has said to you, “Okay, you’re a pilot,” but you know you can fly. You know you can do it.

Alright, but the criterion means for validating that evidence is when somebody hands you a pilot’s license. Unfortunately, in this course, nobody’s going to hand you a pilot’s license, but you’re going to have to demonstrate in the same general manner that you can do this. You’re going to have to prove that you learned whatever it is so that somebody—doesn’t have to be the proctor, the proctor has to make the ultimate decision—but somebody is going to have to evaluate your work and say, “Yes, I am satisfied that you have learned what you have set out to learn,” and that’s very, very important.

Okay, course grading is very simple. Couldn’t be more basic. Couldn’t be more foundational. Reading reports are twenty percent. Listening to lectures, and you’ll have a written affirmation form for this, twenty percent. Church evaluation, which we have just discussed, twenty percent. Adult ministry need paper, twenty percent. And learning contract, which is optional, twenty percent. And the proctor will take off points accordingly on each assignment as he or she sees fit.

Now, there are two other things here that we need to look at and then we’re finished. Course models. There is no way that I can provide you with every transparency that I use in teaching this course live. The fact of the matter is an audio tape course is not like a live course. I probably used 100 transparencies in teaching this course live, and if you want to do it that way, then you need to sign up for the course somewhere where it’s being taught live. But you’re not taking it live. Well, you say, “Well, just give me the pictures.” I’m sorry, I can’t. They are under the copyright of our very stringent audio video department in Dallas Seminary and they own that copyright and every one of them that they have created so magnificently for me—that group of geniuses—has a label at the back that says, “This is copyrighted and if you do anything with this, we’ll shoot you at dawn.” So no, I’m not giving you all of those.

But there are a number of diagrams that I have created myself and did not run through that system, and I will provide those. So look for a dozen maybe, maybe twelve or fifteen (I haven’t counted them) models that will help you with your learning. Just like having pictures in a book. So those will help you, but when I refer to a diagram in class, there will be sufficient information on the tape for you to get that information. But there will not always be a model or diagram, so please understand.

And then, finally, support documents. In addition to the syllabus and the outlines and the models, you’ll find a set of what we call in class handouts—information which I have gathered over the years and now pass on to you. This is the typical “for classroom use” only kind of thing. Don’t write a book and put this in. Each document is coded to the outline lecture with which it coincides and these are for your reading and your reference and your filing.

Notice especially the “Sir/Madam Letter.” This is an assignment that is used sometimes in class. I chose not to use the assignment in this particular class as an assignment; however, from my point of view (you’ll have to have your proctor’s approval on this), you may want to use this in lieu of assignments C, D, or E. Once again, with your proctor’s approval, of course, if you choose to do it. And you can read through that “Sir/Madam Letter”, and you can figure out whether you want to do that rather than one of the others or not. Maybe the proctor will say, “No, no I don’t like that assignment. You need to do what’s in the basic syllabus.” That’s not going to be my call. You work that out with him.

Now, I want to close by saying again that this course has been carefully structured to be as andragogical as possible without being there in person. It would be very, very different in the classroom, but we don’t have a classroom. So you’re having the advantage of not having to sign up for a course and go to a room somewhere at certain hours on certain days of certain weeks and take it in that way. You have that great flexibility of time. What you are losing is all the ambiance of the andragogical atmosphere, so I have tried to recreate as much as that as can possibly be done in this kind of what we call “distance learning” experience. Now short, obviously, short of using video or CD-ROM or something of that type.

Well, we’re out of time, and fortunately it coincides with the fact that we’re also finished, and God bless you as you work through this course.