Sister Angela Ann Zukowski, MHSH, D. Min.
By Frances Forde Plude
[From profile for the Talbot School of Theology’s Christian Educators of the 20th Century.]
Sister Angela Ann Zukowski, D.Min., is a member of the religious community known as the Mission Helpers of the Sacred Heart. She served as a member of her community’s Leadership Service Board from 2000 to 2008. She is a Professor in the Department of Religious Studies of the University of Dayton (UD), in Ohio. She is the Director of the Institute for Pastoral Initiatives at UD. Sister Angela Ann is the former World President for the International Catholic Association for Radio and Television, known as UNDA, and a former member of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications at the Vatican.
Angela Ann has been involved with distance or e-education for over 40 years – in cable TV, radio, satellite communication, multimedia, and computer technologies. She currently directs the Virtual Learning Community for Faith Formation (VLCFF), at the University of Dayton, a Christian formation network that offers 100 courses in seven sections. Each section may have up to 45-60 e-courses per cycle. Some materials are available in Spanish. Courses serve learners in the United States and in 32 other countries. Over 10,000 e-learners have registered for courses.
The Institute for Pastoral Initiatives (IPI)
The home base for Professor Angela Ann Zukowski at the University of Dayton has been the Institute established as an umbrella agency for interacting with many units in the Christian Education field – locally, nationally, and globally. The Institute for Pastoral Initiatives has grown out of various centers at the university, including the Center for Christian Renewal founded by the Marianist Foundation and the university to address the pastoral, catechetical and lay leadership formation needs of the Catholic Church and other faith communities. Today, for example, IPI provides a support network and teaching resources for those working with individuals with disabilities. Digital and print resources and consultations are available for sacramental preparation and many other aspects of making inclusion a part of church religion education programs.
For many years IPI conducted an annual Summer Institute with courses that attracted religious education personnel from around the globe. The faculty assembled for courses and workshops also reflected expertise from around the world. The famed French educator Pierre Babin, an early collaborator with Marshall McLuhan, attracted many to the Institute.
The Virtual Learning Community of Faith Formation (VLCFF)
One of the most energetic and effective programs Angela Ann has developed within the Institute for Pastoral Initiatives is a virtual learning community. As distance learning has begun to change education (and will do so even more in the future), she conceptualized applying online learning systematically to develop leaders for religious education at the diocesan level throughout the United States and around the globe.
The Virtual Learning Community of Faith Formation was launched in 1996 with the support of a University of Dayton Special Initiative Grant that supported major research before establishing VLCFF. The goal of the distance learning program is to engage in research and development of effective e-learning environments for adult religious education. The original concept was to work directly with individual bishops and diocesan training programs rather than develop a separate training movement apart from existing church structures.
E-learners have been enrolled from over 100 dioceses and 40 countries. Some courses are available in Spanish and a Certificate program in Spanish Catechesis is available. In 2012, 1500 were enrolled in the online Certificate for Catechesis. University of Dayton Alumni can enroll in courses. Requests are emerging from the field to design high school VLCFF courses.
Courses are designed and offered in seven cycles each year. Each course is refreshed every 18 months and the course is totally reviewed every three years. By 2010 there were 145 facilitators working directly with e-learners and 19 course designers in the VLCFF program. Seven online full certificate tracks have been available including Youth Ministry, Social Justice; Marianist Studies, Foundations for Leadership in Ministry, Adult Formation Leadership, and Catechesis. The Institute continues to collaborate with various religious media entities in the United States for supporting ongoing digital media formation and education.
One specific certificate example is instructive. The online Course of Study for a Certificate in Catechesis has two levels of course work involving theology, method, and formation. Level one theology courses include Survey of Catholic Doctrine, Introduction to Scripture, Images of Jesus, and Sacraments. The method course is Introduction to Catechesis and the formation course is Introduction to Prayer. In level two, theology courses are offered in the Hebrew Scriptures, the New Testament, Ecclesiology, and Introduction to Practical Morality. The method course is Faith and Human Development. The formation course is entitled Vocation, Spirituality and Discipleship of Catechists.
In addition, a two-year program for UD undergraduate and graduate students have been developed in collaboration with several other units at the university. This is called the Forum for Young Catechetical Leaders. A minor in religious studies and catechesis is also available.
Over 60 Catholic Dioceses in the United States have been VLCFF partners. The Antilles Episcopal Conference of Caribbean Bishops has emerged as a partner. The Vicariates of Southern Arabia and Northern Arabia joined in 2011. Currently Trinidad, Barbados, St. Vincent and Buyana are active partners. The Archdiocese of Westminster, England and Adelaide, Australia recently became partners weaving the VLCFF in the Year of Faith program in their dioceses.
The foundation of the VLCFF operation has consisted of approximately 100 curriculum designers since 1998. Numerous course facilitators interact directly with students. Online class groups are kept small. There is an annual diocesan-partners conference at the university where needs are targeted, courses are evaluated, and talented course designers are sought. In this way the virtual learning community itself is guiding the development of course material to meet practical needs in the field. Regularly requests are made for serving diverse groups in churches. VLCFF has planning for new tracks in Continuing Education for the Permanent Diaconate, Forming Catechists for Special Needs Religious Education, Liturgy, and Catholic Culture and Identity for Catholic Schools. The University of Dayton has also created a web conferencing program called the Virtual Conference Center to facilitate e-conferences, e-seminars and e-workshops during the year.
The Zukowski model (permeating many of her projects) includes a dialogic approach that builds upon feedback loops. The VLCFF has, from the beginning, been structured upon distance learning research and sound pedagogical principles. As distance learning programs proliferate (from MIT-level courses to learning modules like Kahn Academy), millions of individuals around the globe will be able to access instruction on their smart phones and tablets. The challenge will be to integrate patterns and thinking styles of literate culture – texts, lessons, activities, exercises, essays, question-and-answer formats – with the mediated digital learning methods that new technologies energize and individuals, especially youth, crave and utilize daily.
As an early pioneer of distance learning in the Christian education field, Angela Ann Zukowski has already designed a unique program model serving church needs on a global scale. She will, I am sure, continue to adapt and improve this model as communication technologies and grassroots need require.