British Journal of Religious Education

This Special Issue (SI) explores the theoretical and practical implications of integrating technology in religious and moral education, teaching about religion and ethics, and other initiatives for fostering religious literacy. The issue focuses both on the potential technology has for solving challenges in the field and on new challenges presented by its availability and use. Combining rigorous theoretical consideration with innovative empirical exploration, the aim is to develop new practices for, approaches to, and perspectives on the intersections of religion, education, and technology.

 

The integration of technology enables new kinds of mobility, allowing us to create and utilize innovative resources and learning environments in religious and moral education. From exploring digital versions of medieval manuscripts, curating digital humanities exhibits, and using artificial intelligence chatbots (Tran and Nguyen, 2021) to engaging with global religious leaders and practitioners via video conference and exploring ancient and modern religious sites through immersive technologies, the use of technology in the religion classroom has enabled new ways of bringing people, buildings, artifacts, and experiences into the classroom. These technologies offer the possibility of transporting students to places and situations that might otherwise be inaccessible due to geography or cost or that are impractical or unethical to bring a large group of students (Schott and Marshall, 2018).

 

As an example, a group of technologies referred to as “immersive technology” is quickly becoming more prevalent in education (Freina and Ott 2015; Suh and Prophet 2018). This includes technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Extended reality (XR) but may also refer to three-dimensional (3D) digital environments such as 360º images and video games (Johnson, 2018).

 

Integrating immersive technology in religious and moral education may involve students putting on a VR headset and finding themselves moving through a full-scale 3D model of the Chapel of St. Ananias in Damascus or observing Muslim pilgrims in Mecca as ethnographers via 360º videos. Furthermore, AR may be used to add digital layers to physical learning environments, allowing for a further element of discovery and interaction (Li et al, 2022). Immersive technologies can also create opportunities for embodied learning by employing 360º video experiences as part of moral education lessons (Smith-Gahrsen, Lindhardt, and Frestad in press). For instance, placing students in virtual situations where they face racism or bullying (Faye 2021) or take on the perspective of a person sexperiencing homelessness (Herrera et al. 2018) may inspire empathy.

 

These examples taken from ongoing research point to a range of opportunities, challenges and questions in the field related to representation (Jackson 1995), student involvement and agency, RE as intercultural education through encounters, and the possibility of encountering other perspectives of being in the world (Jackson 2014).

 

A common objection to the integration of technology is that it neither could nor should replace established practices such as field excursions and bringing physical artifacts into the classroom. Rather than putting technological tools in conflict with traditional teaching tools, we invite contributors to consider the ways in which technology may be combined with existing teaching practices in religious and moral education. For example, how might digital explorations of places of worship overlap or be different from a field excursion or other classroom activities (Aguayo, Eames, and Cochrane 2020) and how might these activities support each other? Further, we encourage contributors to explore the immediate and long-term implications of replacing traditional teaching practices with technology-assisted practices, a situation faced by many teachers with the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

Integrating technology in religious and moral education also raises new challenges and issues. Availability and access to technology are invariably tied to economic resources and risk furthering the distance between the more and less privileged students in the world. Furthermore, companies like Apple, Facebook or Google, whose commercial interests may come into conflict with the democratic aims of education, are often important innovators and providers of relevant technologies. How to negotiate, balance and contest these issues is a constant challenge for researchers in this field (Lee and Hu-Au, 2021).

 

This call invites theoretical and empirical papers that explore the possibilities and challenges of integrating technology in religious and moral education. We aim to include contributions offering perspectives from a variety of global contexts, from different parts of the confessional/non-confessional spectrum and from all levels of teaching, including higher education. The scope of the SI is inclusive to facilitate scholarly explorations across different fields and theoretical perspectives. The guest editors invite scholars, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners from a range of disciplinary perspectives interested in technology and religious and moral education, including Religious Studies, Worldview Education, Diversity Education, Experiential Education, Values Education, Theology, and Intercultural Education.

 

We invite the following kinds of contributions to the exploration and discussion of integrating technology in religious and moral education:

• Empirical studies of teaching practices in pre-school, primary, secondary, and higher education
• Studies of interventions with methodological approaches such as educational design research or action research
• Theoretical or philosophical studies, including different forms of critical perspectives
• Literature reviews
• Studies comparing teaching practices that integrate technology with traditional teaching practices
• Analyses of stakeholders’ understanding of and attitudes to integrating technology in religious and moral education (teachers, policy etc.)

 

The SI aims to stimulate debates around these thematic areas. Papers submitted will be peer-reviewed following a double-blind process via BJRE ScholarOne.

Information for authors                                                                         

• At the top of the abstract, please provide full name, title and affiliation of authors, along with a complete mailing address, contact information and primary discipline/area of work for each
• Please indicate clearly the title of your paper. Proposals should explain the paper’s objectives or purpose and ensure that it falls within the call of the paper. Proposals should describe the paper’s conceptual perspectives or theoretical framework, research methods/modes of inquiry (including data sources, evidence, and materials), and at least an outline of the paper’s results and/or substantiated conclusions or warrants for arguments/point of view (main argument). Proposals should present the scholarly significance of the paper related to the SI.
• Proposals should be no longer than 500 words. Proposals should be sent by email to: Prof Inge Andersland ([email protected]). Full papers should be no more than 6000 words, inclusive of tables, references, figure captions, footnotes and endnotes.
• For format, style and referencing of full papers, please visit BJRE website information: https://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?journalCode=cbre20&page=instructions

 

Important Dates

• Announcement of the call for papers (abstracts): 10 June 2023
• Submission of abstracts by authors: 30 September 2023
• Announcement of accepted abstracts: 14 December 2023
• Submission of full papers for accepted abstracts: 30 August 2024. Submission will be via BJRE ScholarOne - and ticking ‘Special Issue’. If you do not have an account on BJRE ScholarOne, please register.
• Author revised papers (after peer-review for accepted papers) due: Accepted papers for publication will appear on BJRE online before the launch of the SI.
• Papers will be published in the SI: May/June 2025
• As per BJRE practice, accepted papers will be published online before the official publication date.

Instructions for AuthorsSubmit an Article