Building Community, Real and Virtual

Abstract

In a University of San Francisco course on Building Christian Community videotapes of weekly sessions were exchanged with students in Taiwan and students communicated over the internet. Students learned how to report on the content, critique the process, and to apply principles. They grew more and more comfortable in class discussions, interrupting and contradicting each other and the teacher. Their discussions via e-mail grew in breadth of interest and in depth of content. Goals, strategies, and results of the course are critically assessed. Several advantages of distance learning via the internet emerged.