Missions Course “Teaching in Oral Cultures”: A Review
Recently I took an online course, led by Missiologist Tom Steffen called “Teaching in Oral Cultures.” It is part of a collection of online courses under “Ephesiology Master Classes.” that is overseen by Missions Professor Michael Cooper of Kairos University.
Under Ephesiology Master Classes, I took one regular course, “Teaching in Oral Cultures” (as noted led by Tom Steffen) and one Seminar (an “Areopagus Symposium” on Contextualization) led by Michael Cooper. The following reviews Steffen’s course, with a bit on the Contextualization seminar as well.
Course Review
I found “Teaching in Oral Cultures” to be a valuable course especially for one like myself who teaches Christian Missions but has limited experience and training in what is needed to teach in Oral Cultures. The course is Asynchronous Online utilizing a web-based module system. My online training experience is Moodle and Populi. This is noticeably different from either of those, but others with more experience with online training may find the format quite familiar. There were no live forums Zoom gatherings for this course. However, it sounds like some of the Ephesiology Master Classes do have those. Major types of modules include:
-Reading assignments. Three books of Tom Steffens served as textbooks for the course. At least two of those books had to be fully read through. I honestly can’t remember if the third one needed to be fully read or not (I had already been reading the third book on my own at the time I started the course, so I can’r remember if I finished it on my own or was required to). One of those three books is no longer in print, but Tom was kind enough to give me an electronic copy, even though I decided to purchase a used copy online). There were some additional articles that were required readings as well.
The three primary texts are:
Tom Steffen, Business as Usual in the Missions Enterprise? La Habra, CA: Center for Organizational & Ministry Development, 1999. (Written in story format).
Tom Steffen, Reconnecting God’s Story to Ministry: Crosscultural Storytelling at Home and Abroad. IVP, 2005.
Tom Steffen, Worldview-based Storying: The Integration of Symbol, Story, and Ritual in the Orality Movement. Richmond, VA: The Rainmaker, 2018.
-Videos. Each module (I think the term used is “lesson” not module) had one or two videos that one would watch of a video lecture by Tom.
-Assignments. Each lesson had at least one written assignment that must be submitted.
-Asynchronous Forum. To compensate for the lack of synchronous gatherings, a forum system was set up with required discussion inputs and discussion responses.
-Final Project. Research topic related to the course needed to be submitted. It is supposed to be (potentially at least) a publishable article on one of the many topics covered in the course.
I found the course to be a big help for me to become familiar with the movement and major issues in teaching in oral cultures. The course does not just focus on primary oral cultures (“illiterate” although this term is sadly often pejorative), but also secondary oral cultures (learn primarily through non-written channels).
I do highly recommend the course, especially for missions professors, and practitioners of teaching in primary or secondary oral cultures. I do however need to add a few notes to clarify this:
#1. I believe that I was the first person to take this course, as it is brand new. There were a couple of minor glitches the online format, but I was able to communicate with the instructor and move forward without problem. A bigger issue for me was that since I was the first, I did not have the interaction that comes from an asynchronous forum with other students. I truly believe that this would greatly enhance the course (depending on the students and their passion for the topic of course).
#2. Additionally, because I was taking it as an asynchronous course, and was taking it by myself… I took it VERY MUCH at my own pace. I moved, generally, at a decent clip, but got bogged down a couple of times. I started in early May and finished in early October. I took over a month for the final project, but even ignoring that, it took me around twice as long as the course was, I believe, would ideally take. If there were other students, I would have to stay more in line with the others because of the discussions. I am sure I could have taken the course faster if I needed to, but I am not sure how important it is to keep pace with a cohort.
#3. I found the course to be very valuable and interesting. However, I think the class would benefit from a follow-up “practicum” where there is both practice and discussion of more practical issues.
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Michael Cooper led a symposium on Contextualization. One would register for it on Ephesiology Master Classes. One could join the online seminar live. However, I live in the Philippines and so I would have to be up at 3am for it. So I did not join. I viewed it later, and then read a chapter on the topic later. I found it interesting and valuable. In truth, I have always had a different understanding of what “Under-contextualization” and “Over-contextualization” mean from how Michael defined and used it. Regardless… it gave me fuel for further thought and study.
For those interested, here are a couple of websites that relate to my reviews.
Ephesiology Master Classes: https://masterclasses.ephesiology.com/pages/innovating-theological-education
Kairos University: https://kairos.edu/
