Drawing on the Board

Authors

  • Michael Ostling Arizona State University Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/rsth.38285

Keywords:

teaching technology, Michel Desjardins, critical pedagogy, world religions, embodied learning, technophilia

Abstract

Students and teachers alike tend to think of drawing on the board as an old-fashioned teaching technology, and to prefer electronically mediated pedagogies even in the face-to-face classroom. In this article, I celebrate the chalkboard and whiteboard as potential sites of collaborative and open-ended teaching and learning. Arguing that technological choices are always also political choices, I suggest that the problematizing, slow-paced, and inconclusive teaching style encouraged by board-work is a style worth fighting for – especially in the Religious Studies classroom.

References

Alonso, Maria A. Perez. 2015. “Metacognition and Sensorimotor Components Underlying the Process of Handwriting and Keyboarding and Their Impact on Learning. An Analysis from the Perspective of Embodied Psychology.” Procedia: Social and Behavioral Sciences 176: 263–269.

Barany, Michael J. and Donald MacKenzie. 2014. “Chalk: Materials and concepts in Mathematics Research.” In Representation in scientific practice revisited, edited by Catelijne Coopmans, Janet Vertesi, Michael E. Lynch, and Steve Woolgar, 107–129. Cambridge: MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.1002/bewi.201601792

Bulbulia, Joseph. 2005. “Are there any religions?.” Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 17(2):71–100.

Carr, Nicholas. 2014. The Glass Cage: How Our Computers are Changing Us. New York: Norton.

Daniel, David B. and Daniel T. Willingham. 2012. “Electronic textbooks: Why the rush?” Science 335(6076): 1569–1571. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.335.6076.1569

Delbanco, Andrew. 2012. College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Franklin, Ursula. 1999. The real world of technology. Second edition. Toronto: Anansi.

Freire, Paolo. 2013 [1974]. Education for Critical Consciousness. New York: Seabury.

Gleick, James. 1987. Chaos: Making a New Science. New York: Penguin.

Herzig, Tamar. 2016. “Fear and devotion in the writings of Heinrich Institoris.” In Emotions in the History of Witchcraft, edited by Laura Kounine and Michael Ostling, 19–36. London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52903-9_2

Lipner, Julius J. 2006. “The rise of ‘Hinduism’; or, how to invent a world religion with only moderate success.” Hindu Studies 10: 91–104. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-006-9004-6

Mueller, Pam A. and Daniel M. Oppenheimer. 2014. “The pen is mightier than the keyboard: Advantages of longhand over laptop note taking.” Psychological Science 25(6): 1159–1168. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614524581

Nüssli, Christos. 2010. “Periodis Web: A Historical Atlas and Gazetteer of Europe from Year 1 to 2000.” Euratlas. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003598x0006868x

Perez-Hernandez, Danya. 2014. “Taking notes by hand benefits recall, researchers find.” The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/taking-notes-by-hand-benefits-recall-researchers-find/51411

Religion Facts. 2016. “The Big Religion Chart.” http://www.religionfacts.com/big-religion-chart

Sax, David. 2016. “The Analog Spaces in Digital Companies.” The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/the-analog-spaces-in-digital-companies

Smith, Jonathan Z. 2013. On Teaching Religion: Essays by Jonathan Z. Smith. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Published

2019-05-14

How to Cite

Ostling, M. (2019). Drawing on the Board. Religious Studies and Theology, 38(1-2), 64-79. https://doi.org/10.1558/rsth.38285