Theological Convictions and Pedagogical Practices

Introduction to Resources

In this moment of ongoing disruption in higher education and growing criticism and repudiation of overarching narratives, including religious narratives, for their exclusionary character and harmful effects, the task of conveying an institution’s animating vision and mission with credibility has become more difficult. And yet, doing so is essential to higher education institutions navigating the challenges before them with integrity. 

The resources provided on this page were created to approach questions of institutional vision and mission not from the top down, words delivered by those who hold formal leadership positions, nor as marketing and recruitment strategies.  Rather these resources and the grant project for which they were developed asked questions: “How are an institution’s animating vision and mission present in the primary work of most faculty, namely their teaching? What difference does it make in the lives and work of faculty for them to recognize that they are, or that there are strong resonances between their commitments and institutional vision? And does faculty seeing those resonances influence their teaching and benefit students and the institution? 

What follows are resources created to engage questions of institutional identity and mission through the place where they pulsate most strongly — interaction between students and faculty. (We know the same is true of interactions between students and professional staff, but the project from which these resources came was not able to include staff in its focus.)

• Resource 1 "Incidents (Or Narrative Slices) of 'Teaching at Its Best'" is an assignment to help faculty prepare to reflect with others on their teaching, not abstractly but in the thick and textured reality of actual teaching occasions.
• Resource 2 "Process for Reflecting on Incidents of 'Teaching at Its Best'" is a process for faculty in pairs or small groups to explore incidents from their teaching.
• Resource 3 "Categories for Questions to Explore Incidents of 'Teaching at Its Best'" is a visual representation of the conceptual design for exploring incidents of teaching.  The design goes deep, through the particulars of each instructor’s incident to uncover the values, commitments, and purposes embedded in the incident, and to explore their resonances with institutional vision and mission.  This approach of going down into a specific incident, rather than using incidents as skipping stones or jumping to broad generalization yields surprising insights. Faculty often discover a more organic and anchored coherence and trajectory in their pedagogy than they previously realized.  Project participants spoke to how empower that discovery was to them.
• Resource 4 “Considerations for Using the Reflective Process Beginning with Incidents of 'Teaching at its Best',” is a facilitator’s guide.  It explains the design of the entire process, why each piece has the shape it does and how the pieces are placed in the sequence they are.

We are making these resources available for the use of faculty and administrators whose commitments bring responsibility for conveying and cultivating institutional identity, animating vision, and mission.

The grant project from which these materials come was generously funded by the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion and Baylor University’s Academy of Teaching and Learning.  We are sharing the resources in large part because the participants in the project, found the activities so helpful.  Should you be interested in the research project, please reference Patricia O’Connell Killen and Mikeal C. Parsons, “Theological Convictions and Pedagogical Practices, and Institutional Identity at Faith-Related Universities,” Perspectives in Religious Studies, 51.3 (2024). Print copies are available for $15.00 each; please contact Mikeal Parsons.

The articles are also available through the ATLA platform.

Terms of Use of Materials

You are welcome to use these resources in their current form as well as with modification. When you do so, please credit as follows:

Patricia O’Connell Killen and Mikeal C. Parsons, “Resource [#] for Theological Convictions and Pedagogical Practices Website.” Academy of Teaching and Learning. Baylor University. URL: https://atl.web.baylor.edu/theologyandpedagogy

Project Directors

Patricia O’Connell Killen, Ph.D.
Professor Emerita, Religion, Pacific Lutheran University
killenpo@plu.edu

Mikeal C. Parsons, Ph.D.
University Distinguished Professor, Baylor University
mike_parsons@baylor.edu