Religious Education and Emergent Technologies

April 2022 features Paul Hopkins.

Culham St Gabriel’s funded an innovative project to explore the use of current and emergent technologies in religious education. This project has been both hampered and raised in importance by the pandemic – as this has thrown into sharp light the need and relevance of technology in teaching and learning.

After some initial baseline data gathering a number of teachers and advisors were identified who were doing interesting things with technology in the classroom. Some very much “of the now”, things that could easily be replicated in other classrooms and some more forward thinking. All of these were focussed on learning in RE not on the technology per se.

These teachers all provided a case study of the work they were doing including ideas and exemplifications and these will be put together in both a report and also a series of electronic books to be available via the Culham online portal to all teachers of RE – these will hopefully inspire and develop future practice among teachers of religious education.

As we emerge from the pandemic it is vital that we do not just “snap-bacK’ but consider seriously the opportunities that technology offers us to develop, enhance and challenge our practice both in terms of space, time and content. I hope watching the video will offer you some markers to consider the following questions and I would fascinated by any thoughts you have in these areas.

1. What technology do you currently use in your classroom that enhances your teaching of RE?
2. What opportunities are there for the development of the use of technology in your classroom?
3. What barriers are there to stop this development?