an on-line tool for Local Preacher Development by Martyn Evans and Marion Beckham

I am the Local Preachers’ Tutor for the Keswick and Cockermouth Circuit. Marion is my student. In this article, we are going to describe how the social networking site ‘Facebook’ supports her learning and development as a ‘student’ Local Preacher and mine as her Tutor.

Social Networking
I live in the small market town of Cockermouth (pop. 8,000) on the northern edge of the Lake District National Park. It is home to the birthplace of William Wordsworth, the Malcolm Wilson Rally, its own Festival and Georgian Fayre. In a place on this scale, a walk to the town centre can involve several conversations with friends and acquaintances. We might bring each other up to date on what has happened since we last met. There might be photographs to share, recommendations of things to do, groups to join and so on. This is social networking as it happens in the real world.

There is also a place for supplementary social networking between real people in the virtual world of the world wide web. Whereas distance might tend to separate people, the web has the capacity to bring them together via its various services. For example, my Mum is thrilled to bits to be able to see her sons, their families and living space in Seattle, Singapore and Aberdeen during on-line telephone conversations. The social networking site ‘Facebook’ puts Marion and me in touch with others who are undertaking or tutoring the Faith and Worship Course anywhere in the world.

The Student’s Tale
I live in a small village 8 miles from the nearest town and this presents some unique difficulties in respect of any sort of social interaction. I therefore rely quite heavily on Facebook, emails and Skype for keeping in contact with friends and family.

I am the only Local Preacher in training in my circuit and either Martyn or I incur a 16 mile round trip for each tutorial. It would be lovely to be part of a larger group of preachers in training and to have a tutorial group with which to share my learning experience but for me, here in Cumbria, this is not physically possible.

I was delighted, therefore, when I discovered that there were others out there on the same journey through Faith and Worship with whom I could communicate. I have been able to share my doubts and frustrations and ask questions as well as give emotional and practical support to others on the course and I have valued hearing the views of other students on aspects of the course and matters of theology.

We have in effect a virtual tutor group. I think that there is great potential in this. There are dangers too, of course, in that we cannot know the credentials of our correspondents and there is no way that this could ever replace the sound tutorial system that already exists. However I think it is a really useful and welcome additional resource for others like myself.

The Tutor’s Tale
It was Graeme Dutton, our minister, who first suggested that I might find ‘Facebook’ interesting. A discussion thread on ‘Faith and Worship’ itself was running and the course was not coming off too well!  I began to see Facebook’s potential for tutoring, support and sharing experiences at a distance, supplementing but not replacing face to face tutoring. Marion was already on ‘Facebook’ as a means of keeping in touch with friends and family. She is now an enthusiastic participant in discussion groups.

Student interaction and tutoring over a distance using electronic means are not new. They are essential to the operation of far flung student populations such as those of the Open University. What is new, being with us for relatively few years, is the ready availability of applications that can do much the same kind of job for anyone with access to the web.

Marion and I are members of the ‘Facebook’ Groups ‘UK Methodists’ and ‘Worship Leaders and Preachers’ among others. In the latter there are currently six ‘Faith and Worship’ discussions on the audio material, exegesis and units 5, 6, 7 and 9; no idea why unit 8 is unworthy!  Students are offering suggestions and assistance to one another. Experiences of preaching in general are also shared; for example, there is a discussion running on ‘preaching’s scariest moments’!  Occasionally a tutor will pitch in with a suggestion to a student that is not technically theirs. Is there an ethical issue here? 

We should not, I think, compromise the freedom that students and tutors enjoy by trying to regulate or moderate ‘Facebook’ discussions. We do not need a District or Connexional Facebook Oversight Committee!  That said, individual tutors and students do need to take note that ‘Facebook’ is not being used as much as it might be for Local Preacher development. Let this grow organically. If this article has aroused the interest of tutors and students alike, then it will have done its job. Join in!