Prior to UNCG, I served The University of Virginia (UVa) for four years as the Human Interface Designer member on a Web Applications development team. I was hired by UVa following an internship during my last semester in their Master of Education in Instructional Technology program. While at UVa, on the side, I designed and taught web development courses at Piedmont Virginia Community College. If you’re interested, see my resume (March 2010)
My Scholarship: Educational Relationships
Technologies are tools. Tools are designed by humans to be employed to accomplish a task in a particular manner. We choose what tools to use based on goals, on expectations. Tools are designed and utilized because people have a end in mind, or because they value a particular way of working. This is true for making a work of art or making dinner. But is it true for education? Surely educational organizations are culturally informed, but are we to think of schools as tools? Are educators “making” something: disciples? citizens? leaders? Does this attitude give proper dignity to students?
What directs educational relationships? I wanted to interact with others who were thinking about similar ideas and so in 2006, I started taking classes on the side in educational philosophy at UNCG’s Curry School of Education in the department of Educational Leadership and Cultural Foundations. I was admitted Fall 2007 and am now working part-time toward a Ph.D. in Educational Studies.
My own theory is that the concept of Worldview provides significant insight into what drives and frustrates educational aims and can provide a framework for dialogue amongst educational theorist. I am particularly interested in the Model-aspect Theory developed by the Dutch philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd (1894-1977). The following note by Andrew Basden inspired me:
One problem is that Dooyeweerd himself did not seem to discuss learning. The word ‘Learning’ does not appear in his index, and ‘Education’ only three times, all within the context of his discussion of the family as a social structure (NC III: 267, 274, 275). (It seems that a Dooyeweerdian view of learning and education is long overdue.)
If that is not a challenge, I don’t know what is!
This blog is a repository of my thoughts regarding education, much of which are a direct outworking of my course of study. If you are interested in learning more about what a Dooyeweedian theory of education might entail, start with: Toward a Theory of the Structure of Educational Entities.
Vision: Shalom
In addition to my Scholarship, I have a particular vision to participate in the transformation of educational relations. My vision is informed by the Judeo-Christian concept of Shalom: relational flourishing. I’m interested especially in two areas. The first is in home-based education. I am concerned about the antagonistic rhetoric used by many home-based educators and advocates of state-sponsored education.
The second is higher education institutions in the Piedmont Triad area. It is my hope that the university would be a place where individuals could freely examine the theoretical and practical, everyday implications of their and their neighbor’s worldview. That all of it would be on the table and equally open to examination. Sadly, this does not appear to be the current reality. Too frequently, a particular worldview is dominant and scholars are pressured to adopt it. Any other worldview is seen as defective and with little too contribute to human flourishing. How can higher education come to truly pluralistic? I think that higher education cannot do that alone. It has to partner with the community. Some partnerships are not uncommon. The state sponsorship of higher education is a kind of partnership. What would a partnership between higher education and faith-based communities look like? Can a state school and the church form a partnership? Perhaps not a direct one, but certainly an indirect one. And so my vision is to establish a indirect partnership between higher education and the faith-based community I love, that of Christian Church, to foster the development of dialogue between those who hold a Christian Worldview and those who do not. Others who have established such entities often call them Christian Study Centers. It would be a place where individuals seeking to understand the Christian worldview and how it impacts what their Christian neighbors do can visit and find strange and wonderful books and art and dialogue freely with thinkers and practitioners who are attempting to live this life faithfully.
FYI
This blog has an occasional entry concerning things not educational-theoretical. I’m a husband to a wonderful bride who spends her days (and nights) caring for and directing the education our five children. My youngest son has a rare disease:Congenital Disorder of Glycosylation Type 1a. I am a member of Grace Presbyterian Church of Kernersville, most active in adult education. I occasionally enjoy talking about the books, movies and music I encounter. Like everyone, I take pleasure in argyle and bowties. I drink excessive amounts of coffee.
About
My name is Kevin McClain. I am a staff member and student at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). Since 2003 I’ve served UNCG as a “Web and Technology Coordinator” in the Division of Student Affairs, meaning I use my Information Technology skills to advance the extra and co-curricular goals of the division and its units. I do this a couple of ways. Read about my mission and tasks and explore some of my work-related news.
Prior to UNCG, I served The University of Virginia (UVa) for four years as the Human Interface Designer member on a Web Applications development team. I was hired by UVa following an internship during my last semester in their Master of Education in Instructional Technology program. While at UVa, on the side, I designed and taught web development courses at Piedmont Virginia Community College. If you’re interested, see my resume (March 2010)
My Scholarship: Educational Relationships
Technologies are tools. Tools are designed by humans to be employed to accomplish a task in a particular manner. We choose what tools to use based on goals, on expectations. Tools are designed and utilized because people have a end in mind, or because they value a particular way of working. This is true for making a work of art or making dinner. But is it true for education? Surely educational organizations are culturally informed, but are we to think of schools as tools? Are educators “making” something: disciples? citizens? leaders? Does this attitude give proper dignity to students?
What directs educational relationships? I wanted to interact with others who were thinking about similar ideas and so in 2006, I started taking classes on the side in educational philosophy at UNCG’s Curry School of Education in the department of Educational Leadership and Cultural Foundations. I was admitted Fall 2007 and am now working part-time toward a Ph.D. in Educational Studies.
My own theory is that the concept of Worldview provides significant insight into what drives and frustrates educational aims and can provide a framework for dialogue amongst educational theorist. I am particularly interested in the Model-aspect Theory developed by the Dutch philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd (1894-1977). The following note by Andrew Basden inspired me:
If that is not a challenge, I don’t know what is!
This blog is a repository of my thoughts regarding education, much of which are a direct outworking of my course of study. If you are interested in learning more about what a Dooyeweedian theory of education might entail, start with: Toward a Theory of the Structure of Educational Entities.
Vision: Shalom
In addition to my Scholarship, I have a particular vision to participate in the transformation of educational relations. My vision is informed by the Judeo-Christian concept of Shalom: relational flourishing. I’m interested especially in two areas. The first is in home-based education. I am concerned about the antagonistic rhetoric used by many home-based educators and advocates of state-sponsored education.
The second is higher education institutions in the Piedmont Triad area. It is my hope that the university would be a place where individuals could freely examine the theoretical and practical, everyday implications of their and their neighbor’s worldview. That all of it would be on the table and equally open to examination. Sadly, this does not appear to be the current reality. Too frequently, a particular worldview is dominant and scholars are pressured to adopt it. Any other worldview is seen as defective and with little too contribute to human flourishing. How can higher education come to truly pluralistic? I think that higher education cannot do that alone. It has to partner with the community. Some partnerships are not uncommon. The state sponsorship of higher education is a kind of partnership. What would a partnership between higher education and faith-based communities look like? Can a state school and the church form a partnership? Perhaps not a direct one, but certainly an indirect one. And so my vision is to establish a indirect partnership between higher education and the faith-based community I love, that of Christian Church, to foster the development of dialogue between those who hold a Christian Worldview and those who do not. Others who have established such entities often call them Christian Study Centers. It would be a place where individuals seeking to understand the Christian worldview and how it impacts what their Christian neighbors do can visit and find strange and wonderful books and art and dialogue freely with thinkers and practitioners who are attempting to live this life faithfully.
FYI
This blog has an occasional entry concerning things not educational-theoretical. I’m a husband to a wonderful bride who spends her days (and nights) caring for and directing the education our five children. My youngest son has a rare disease:Congenital Disorder of Glycosylation Type 1a. I am a member of Grace Presbyterian Church of Kernersville, most active in adult education. I occasionally enjoy talking about the books, movies and music I encounter. Like everyone, I take pleasure in argyle and bowties. I drink excessive amounts of coffee.