FAITH PRESENCE: HOW STUDENTS LIVE FAITH IN THE ONLINE CLASSROOM

Abstract

With the increasing share of online learning in mainstream education systems around the world, there is no doubt that online learning has become a disruptive innovation in the current era. Even Christian schools, with their distinctively faith-integrated curriculum that aims to transform students’ lives, are increasingly engaged in the new modality. However, Clayton Christensen, the guru of disruptive innovation, believes that changing people’s lives is something hard for online learning to accomplish. Challenged by this argument, this paper attempts to answer the question: Is it possible to instill faith through online education? Course materials, discussion transcripts, and written interviews of students in three fully online classes in a Christian graduate school, were examined to find out if students experience faith presence in their classes. Results showed varying levels of faith presence in the three classes. Further observations and interviews revealed conditions for achieving faith presence in the online environment.