Alternative Assignments

Professor Glenn T. Miller

Although small, Bangor Theological Seminary is a diverse community with students with varied backgrounds and vocational interests. While the assignments in any particular class are designed to be useful to most students, they do not fit all students’ needs. Hence, in Church History Courses, students are allowed to elect certain options, after consultation with the instructor, that are more nearly tailored to their particular learning styles. Some of these alternative assignments may be more demanding than those in the regular syllabus.

Traditional Examinations: Many students find that tradition, sit-down, timed examinations are most useful for them. In general, these are students who are skilled in discerning the significance of the different materials that they read and who have little difficulty storing such material for ready use at a later time. Students with these skills generally find that they need less time to prepare course materials, since less formal library work is required to complete the assignment. Another group that benefits from the more traditional examination format are those people who have to work irregular hours, including mothers with small children, who have short, intense periods to devote to their classes.

Research Papers: Students may always substitute a short research paper (10 to 12 pages] for one or two take home examinations or a major research paper {20-25 pages for both). These papers have to be more than a summary of a few readings. The student needs to demonstrate a familiarity with the literature on a subject, formulate a question that focused their study, and present their material in an intellectually compelling way. In most cases, students who elect this option will be expected to include a "literature" survey in their papers in which they discuss some of the past research on their subject and locate their research in the larger context of present-day study.

Research work, done well, is the most time consuming of the possible ways to complete a course. Generally speaking, it requires a student to spend much time in the library, to use computer-related resources, and struggle with abstract concepts and methods.

Some students confuse research writing with the preparation of a report. Basically, a report is a quick and somewhat hasty summary of what can be easily known about a subject. In that sense, it is much more like a take home examination where the student writes one or more of the questions and then seeks to answer it. If what you want to do is prepare several reports, the best format for that is to ask that one or more of your take home questions be of that type.

Projects and Demonstrations: Many creative or artistic students have proposed a project or a demonstration as a substitute for one or more take home examinations. A project is basically doing something with the materials that one is studying in a professional situation. Some successful projects in the past have been: A Youth Class on the Different Faiths found in a city or town; a lecture, prepared for a local church organization, on Women and Christian Ministry; and a series of sermons on "Our American Faiths." One of the best was a worship service, carefully annotated, that featured women hymn writers and included a sermon on the specific contributions of women’s religious life to common worship. If you do a project, we have to determine together how it will be evaluated. In many cases, you will be responsible for securing a "jury" or to evaluate your work.

Demonstrations are similar, although they sometimes lack the direct professional context. One excellent demonstration several years ago was a presentation of African American Religious Music. A well-done pamphlet explaining the various pieces and how they illustrated aspects of African American faith supplemented the performance. Another very successful demonstration was a collection of reproductions of American religious art, complete with a catalog that the student displayed for the class.