1. iPod for field visits to places of worship Religions in Wolverhampton Linked webfolio

2. Interesting religious history R ich variety religions Religions in Wolverhampton Budd Buddha Vihara ha Vihara Central Mosque Durga Mandir Collegiate Church LDS Chapel

3. Religions in Wolverhampton iPod for field visits to places of worship Book Saxon pillar Wool Lock Wulfrun + Huntun

4. eLearning and Field visits Religions in Wolverhampton Students Local Religious communities Technology

5. Pitfalls of field visits “In the field, religions are messy, paradoxical and chaotic, and they feed on the irrational. Indeed, it could be argued that fieldwork is diametrically opposite to the scholar’s rational process of ordering a faith tradition into neat packages of history, doctrine and practices.” (Chryssides and Geaves 2007: 241) Religions in Wolverhampton

6. Pitfalls 1.Shared understanding of the purpose of visits; 2.Spokespeople able to provide depth required, 3.Link between classroom study and the field visit. ‘disconnected field visits can become moments of hiatus from the course, rather than an expression of it.” (Carlson in Chryssides and Geaves, 2007, p. 249) 4. Students are passive Religions in Wolverhampton

7. Use of iPods 1.Shared understanding of the purpose of visits; 2.Spokespeople being able to provide the information required, 3.Link between classroom study and the field visit. 4. Students are passive Religions in Wolverhampton

8. Use of iPods Suitable depth: Link to methodology used in lectures: Range of media: Religions in Wolverhampton

9. The Collegiate Church of St. Peter. Wolverhampton Central Mosque Wolverhampton Buddha Vihara iPod tours for places of worship HEAT 3 Project Welcome to the tour of the Collegiate Church of St. Peter, Wolverhampton Map for Tour# No. 1. Lady Wulfruna No. 2. The Saxon Pillar No. 3. The Nave No. 4. The Font No. 5. The Stone Pulpit No. 6. The Lady Chapel No. 7. The Chancel No. 8. The War Memorial Chapel Lady Wulfruna This is the statue of Lady Wulfruna, believed to be the granddaughter of King Ethelred 1 and Queen Ethelred, the daughter of Alfred the Great. The first recorded reference of her is found in 943 C.E. when she was a prisoner of the Danes at Tamworth. In 985 C.E. Ethelred the 2nd granted her 10 hides of land (approx. 30 acres) at Heatune (Hightower). Lotus Position The statues and image you may see around the Vihara usually depict Buddha sitting cross-legged, with the feet placed on opposite thighs. This position is called the Lotus position and is believed to aid the meditation and breathing of the practitioner as well as stability. This position originated with the Hindu Yoga tradition, and famous Hindu depictions reflect this. The God Shiva is often seen sitting in this position and it is called Lotus as it resembles the Lotus Flower. Buddha Vihara Wolverhampton The Vihara, which follows the Theravada tradition of Buddhism was built on 14 April 1991 by Dr BR Ambedkar's followers. After his conversion and the mass conversion, some of these Buddhist converts settled in Wolverhampton and established this Buddhist centre. In 2000, a separate community centre, consisting of a large hall, stage and gallery, was added to the Buddha Vihara. It is the first community centre built outside of India and is available for meetings, seminars, and conferences. As Part of my second semester module 'Independent Study', I was asked to create a tour of the Wolverhampton Central Mosque looking in detail at specific features of the Mosque on an iPod touch. However, as this was of a collaborative nature, my task involved me to create such a tour which would allow students who would be working in pairs to share information about what they have learned at the end of the tour. The ‘Mihrab’ is most important element in any mosque, as this niche indicates the direction of Macca and functions as the focal point in prayer. This is also the place where the Imam leads prayer from, with his head and shoulders being placed in the niche during prostration. The arch shape of the Mihrab is important as it represents a path or doorway to Macca. Mihrabs can vary in size, colour and materials used. The advantage of conducting this tour on an iPod for people with disabilities ensured that they do not miss out on the tour. The iPod allows to stop and pause the tour at your own pace and does not rush the user to read the information. Students were table to take their time in reading the information and sharing what they have learnt when visiting each feature. iPod tour was a success. The tour was greatly enhanced by the technology and this imaginative learning experience was enjoyed by those students present and would be useful for students with hearing disabilities and other learning disabilities All of the students felt that the audio tour was a good way to deliver the information. Several commented that it allowed them to look around the vihara and concentrate on the images there whilst being 'fed' the information rather than having to read it. Also several commented that they liked that there was a picture matching the place in the vihara that they were standing. Although students were very positive about the benefits of a ‘virtual’ tour, they agreed it would be useful to have a member of the community there to answer questions. School of Law, Communication and Social Sciences: Religious Studies Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning: : Critical Interventions for Enhanced Learning (CIEL) IPods certainly helped the person to learn at their own pace by taking their own time around the tour. This flexibility helped to create a relaxing atmosphere… There was only one voice used through out, one way this could have been improved was to use at least another voice or maybe two to add variety. However it was good to have a local accent explaining the church as it makes the tour a bit more authentic. LDS C HAPEL W EDNESFIELD Worship Nursery Young women Cultural hall Baptism Priesthoo d Young men Relief/ Women Primary

10. No. 1. Lady Wulfruna No. 2. The Saxon Pillar No. 3. The Nave No. 4. The Font No. 5. The Stone Pulpit No. 6. The Lady Chapel No. 7. The Chancel No. 8. The War Memorial The Collegiate Church of St. Peter Lady Wulfruna Saxon Pillar The Nave The Font Stone Pulpit Lady Chapel The Chancel War Memorial What are the key features of this church? Yvonne Johnson

11. The stone pulpit This octagonal stone pulpit is the most outstanding feature in this church. It is thought to have been built in 1475, the same date as the tower according to Cox (1915), and it is unique in England because of the ancient 12 step stone staircase around the stone pillar. This is the only remaining stone staircase left, most were destroyed in medieval times when replaced by the more fashionable wooden pulpits. Note there were originally two pulpits, the other one being on the opposite side of the nave, however, this has not survived. This particular pulpit would have originally been painted in colours and in guilt and must have been a memorable site. It has elaborate carvings, including flowers, leaves and fruit and the Swinnerton coat of arms is seen on the north side.

12. Buddha Vihara Wolverhampton Start 2 3/5 4 3 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 1 Clare Walker Why do Buddhists use the lotus flower? Who was Dr Ambedkar?

13. Wolverhampton Buddha Vihara Dr Ambedkar Religions in Wolverhampton

14. Central Mosque (Collaborative) Aims: -To develop a collaborative package Research: -About the mosque - technology Findings: -tour was greatly enhanced by the technology - students enjoyed the opportunity to collaborate Religions in Wolverhampton

15. iPods and Field visits Benefits Individualised learning Consolidation of learning Collaborative learning Tailored tours Religions in Wolverhampton

16. eLearning and Field visits Conclusions 1.iPods positive contributions: -Individual / personalised - audio support -Collaborative learning 2. Challenges -Technological -Pedagogical Religions in Wolverhampton

17. Bibliography Apple computers. (no date) education page. [online] [cited 12th February 2009] http://www.apple.com/education/teachers_professors http://www.apple.com/education/teachers_professors Frechette, J.D. (2002) Developing Media Literacy in Cyberspace: Pedagogy and Critical Learning in the 21st Classroom.[online] London: Greenwood.[cited 30 May 2009] Available from World wide Web: http://site.ebrary.com/lib/wolverhampton/docDetail.actio n?DocID=10040715&p00=schools%20%20religion. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/wolverhampton/docDetail.actio n?DocID=10040715&p00=schools%20%20religion. Mayer, R.E. (ed.) (2005) The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning. New York: Cambridge University. Nottingham Trent University (2009) What is e-Learning [online]. Nottingham Trent University. [cited 27th April 2009]< http://www.ntu.ac.uk/elearning/elearning_at_ntu/what_is _elearning/index.html http://www.ntu.ac.uk/elearning/elearning_at_ntu/what_is _elearning/index.html Salmon, G., Edirisingha, P., Mobbs, M., Mobbs, R., and Dennet, C. (2008) How to Create Podcasts for Education. Maidenhead: Open University. Religions in Wolverhampton