[Oe List ...] curriculum development

Sun Oct 7 11:35:46 EDT 2007

Greetings all,  I (Jim Wiegel) put a post up on the colleague dialogue list with some questions about the development of the curriculum of the Ecumenical Institute which has resulted in quite an interesting off line conversation and a search for Fred Buss.

  Conversation below, please add stories --  Anyone have contact with Fred Buss??

  Jim Wiegel reply:  When I came along (1967 or so), there were religious and cultural courses and basic and advanced courses.  The advanced courses were divided into theoretical and practical.  The basic course on the Religious Studies side was RS-1 "The 20th Century Theological Revolution, and there were courses on the New Testament, the Old Testament and Church History on the theoretical side.  On the practical side there was The Local Church course, and World Religious and I don't remenber what else.  On the Cultural Studies side there was CS-1 The 20th Century Cultural Revolution, and the theoretical courses were Psychology and Art, Sociology and History and Science and Philosophy.  The practical courses were Individual and Family, Commuity and Polis, and Nation and World.  In each course (weekend ones) each session consisted of a meal and conversation, a contextual lecture, then, either a seminar (corporate study of a paper), or a "workshop" like building a family
 budget (in the Individual and Family Course) or gridding your Parish (in the local congregation course)

"Warren, Donald" <dwarren at indiana.edu> wrote:
        v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}  o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}  w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}  .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}        st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }                Jim and all –

  The queries about Fred leave me worried.  Joe Slicker told me recently (in a series of phone conversations) that he had been unable to contact Fred.  We haven’t exchanged emails in over a year, which is unusual.  As I recall, incorporating mealtime conversations within the plan of study began with the first programs at Laos House.  Doris and Charles may remember differently.  Jim, I’m unsure what you mean by the “practical” courses.  Maybe they were developed after Beverly and I left the EI in the early summer of 1964.

  If anyone knows how to reach Fred Buss, please let me know.

  Don

    Donald Warren
  Professor, History of Education and Policy, and
  University Dean Emeritus
  School of Education
  Indiana University
  Bloomington, IN 47405

---------------------------------

  From: James Wiegel [mailto:jfwiegel at yahoo.com] 
Sent: Saturday, October 06, 2007 12:33 PM
To: Charles or Doris Hahn; Carol Pierce
Cc: Warren, Donald
Subject: Re: curriculum development 

    Carol, what year was it that you first encountered Mathews (you mentioned during the interview JWM spending a day and a half most all in a lecture format. . . )

    Thanks, Don, and also the Hahn's for responding -- thought you would like to see both posts.  Do either of you have contact information for Fred Buss??

    (from Don Warren)

    Jim,

    Joe began this process of formalizing the curriculum before I joined the Faith and Life Community staff in 1960, and it picked up speed after we moved to Evanston two years later.  It was rather a self-conscious and intentional strategy to “clone” Joe.  With so many of us teaching the basic courses – Joe couldn’t do it all – we wanted to ensure that various ones of us followed essentially the same content and pedagogy.  Success was mixed but over time we standardized the program of study, including course lectures and readings.  Participants in the Chicago area, of course, had no experience with the original format when Joe more or less ran the show.  The staff, both in Austin and Chicago, spent hours discussing and planning the transformation.  The curriculum became a liturgy.  There was more give and take among teachers and participants and less reliance on formal lectures.  It looked and felt spontaneous, but it wasn’t and it wasn’t intended to be.

    I haven’t offered any stories, only a bit of background.  Joe Slicker and Fred Buss could tell many tales.

    Don

      Donald Warren

    Professor, History of Education and Policy, and

    University Dean Emeritus

    School of Education

    Indiana University

    Bloomington, IN 47405

    Charles or Doris Hahn <cdhahn at flash.net> wrote:

    Jim, it would be interesting to know what year that
was that Carol mentioned re JWM's extended lectures.

The last course I attended at the CFLC was some sort
of mix, but the last session was a presentation by JWM
where he put all the extended curriculum on triangles
and did a "song and dance" about them. That was
probably 1962. Then, as I mentioned during our
interview with you, when we visited Chicago in 1964,
JWM said he thought the comprehensive curriculum was
the most significant development since they came to
Chi.

Summer '65 was the first summer program (6 weeks?) It
was for college students, and David McCleskey did the
lion's share of the work on the curriculum. I don't
remember whether most of the papers were fairly well
established and he worked on teaching plans, etc. or
whether he was also digging out materials, honing
lectures, etc. All of that was a precursor to the
Academy (I think the first one was in 1968). David may
remember this stuff, but it is probably a bit fuzzy
for him too.

In the meantime (1962-to the mid-60;s), JWM had a
gazillion speaking engagements, mainly at college
campuses. These afforded quite a bit of income for the
Order and gave Joe a chance to clarify his thinking on
lectures for the curriculum.

JWM used art forms (Rite of Spring, eg.) as well as
other kinds of presentations in his courses at
Perkins. Then, at the CFLC, this practice grew, often
using local art from neighbors or profs at the U. of
Texas. They worked with movies a lot during those six
years, too. For a time, they showed a movie followed
by a trailer with some of the faculty members having a
conversation about the movie, but they gave that up in
favor of movies followed by live conversations by
seminar participants.

During the last two or three years in Austin, they
began to use centerpieces in the seminar rooms. I
remember watching a young man creating a centerpiece
out of berries. He called it "laissez faire" art. 

Enough for now.

Doris Hahn 

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401 North Beverly Way   
Tolleson, Arizona 85353-2401
+1  623-936-8671
+1  623-363-3277
   jfwiegel at yahoo.com

Now and then it's good to pause in the pursuit of happiness and just be happy.  Guillaume Apollinaire

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