With the fall semester approaching as summer courses enter into their final phase, faculty are reviewing and preparing their syllabi for next semester. One of the exciting parts of teaching at SCS is the ongoing opportunity to evaluate teaching strategies and make changes for the better. Teaching professionally applicable content and skills at SCS, which are dependent on ever-evolving trends in society and the marketplace, demands this kind of regular review. Through student feedback and other means, faculty are encouraged to continuously refine their pedagogical methods in pursuit of Academic Excellence, one of the core values in the Spirit of Georgetown. Regular evaluation that informs reflective action is also an essential component of Jesuit Pedagogy, a framework for teaching and learning inspired by the dynamics of Ignatian spirituality.
SCS has made considerable efforts in recent years to support its faculty with guidance and resources about how to incorporate the University’s defining mission and values into online and on-ground courses. The SCS “Strategies to Integrate Georgetown Values into Online and On-Campus Courses” takes each of the Spirit of Georgetown values and offers ideas about how to operationalize these values into practical learning activities. The value of “Interreligious Understanding,” which we hold dear at Georgetown given our long-standing commitment to honoring a pluralism of religious and spiritual traditions, deserves a closer look. In my experience, many faculty are uncertain about how to make this particular value animated in coursework or might be inclined to avoid it altogether because of the potential for conflict or misunderstanding about a sensitive topic like religious difference.
Recently, Georgetown’s Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS) took up this teaching challenge by hosting a podcast, “Religious and Spiritual Diversity in the Classroom.” In a packed 30 minutes of insightful conversation, religious leaders at Georgetown representing Jewish, Muslim, and Dharmic communities offered insights about the concerns that arise for students when religious identity is marginalized or ignored. There are several important takeaways from the conversation that I would like to highlight as best practices for faculty who want to discern how to activate religious diversity as a valuable component of the learning process.
Rabbi Rachel Gartner (most recently Director for Jewish Life), Imam Yahya Hendi (Director for Muslim Life), Brahmachari Sharan (Director for Dharmic Life), and David Ebenbach (Professor of the Practice at CNDLS and the Center for Jewish Civilization) point to the need for faculty to express humility and a willingness to listen and learn about religious traditions with which they are unfamiliar.
First, false assumptions about religious traditions can be perpetuated unless the classroom fosters an open-ended atmosphere in which individual students are invited to educate the class about their religious or spiritual identities. Having book knowledge about a cultural or religious tradition is not the same thing as having felt knowledge based on a relationship of trust with someone belonging to that specific tradition. While sharing openly about religious identity might not be comfortable for everyone, it is good practice to provide the opportunity (either in a group setting or individually) for students to express this part of themselves during a class.
Second, learning is inhibited when students feel like aspects of their religious identity are not properly respected or valued. This often comes up when seemingly harmless comments are made about religious practices related to wardrobe and eating. Faculty can encourage respectful engagement about such cultural differences by establishing a set of shared community agreements at the start of the course and then regularly reinforcing their importance during moments of conflict that come up along the way.
Finally, learning is an opportunity for growth. In today’s increasingly globalized workplaces, there is an ever-greater need for interreligious literacy and understanding. By actively listening to the experiences of religiously and spiritually motivated students, especially those belonging to non-dominant traditions, classrooms can become a place where religious difference is more than merely tolerated. These learning experiences have the potential to be transformative for all involved.