Educause, a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology, recently released their 2011 report on undergraduate students and technology. The associated infographic provides a visual overview of the findings divided into the following categories: institutions, instructors, software and hardware. Since yesterday was Black Friday and Cyber Monday is coming soon, I was drawn to the section on Read More …
Trends
The Megachurch Bubble (#0558)
Bob Smietana's recent article "Some fear megachurch bubble may soon burst" considers the possibility that the best days for megachurches may soon end. Since the 1970s the number of churches with 2,000 or more in weekly worship attendance in the United States has grown from fewer than a dozen to thousands. Several factors suggest the bubble may burst: Aging pastors/clergy and likelihood of significant decline during ministerial transition Unsustainable economics, including large Read More …
Teens & Social Networking (#0551)
The Pew Internet and American Life Project released "Teens, kindness and cruelty on social network sites" last week. Educators, parents, and those who work with teens in any capacity should consider the report a must read (click here to access the full 86 page report). It reviews the multi-stage research that began in December 2010 with a meeting of experts to help refine the project, continued with focus groups of middle and high school students in January and February of 2011, Read More …
2011 American Values Survey (#0550)
The Public Religion Research Institute recently released the findings of their annual survey of American values. The 2011 survey of 1,505 adults was conducted from September 22 through October 5. The data includes: Two-thirds of voters say that it is very important (39%) or somewhat important (28%) for a presidential candidate to have strong religious beliefs. A strong majority (60%) of Americans agree that the country would be better off if the distribution of wealth was more Read More …
A Misguided Assumption About College Students (#0546)
The Myth Ron Tanner, writing professor at Loyola University Maryland, recently wrote an article, "The Myth of the Tech-Savvy Student" for the Chronicle of Higher Education's special report on online learning. In this piece he suggests that the media mistakenly portrays today's young people as tech savvy based on the amount of time they spend using technology rather than their competence using it to do real-world professional tasks. Background Perhaps no single text has influenced the Read More …
Economic Well Being: A Generational Concern (#0545)
The Pew Research Center recently published an article exploring the increasing gap in economic well-being between the young (those households headed by someone under age 35) and the old (those households headed by someone over age 65) during the last twenty-five years. The data shows the following shifts: Median net worth grew by 42% for the older cohort while falling by 68% for the younger cohort Median adjusted household income grew by 109% for the older cohort while rising by only Read More …
A Political Explanation for Increased Religious Non-Affiliation (#0544)
Sociologist Bradley Wright teaches at the University of Connecticut. His work has been mentioned on my blog on several occasions, including reviews of his two most recent books: Upside: Surprising Good News About the State of Our World (2011 - my review here) and Christians are Hate-Filled Hypocrites . . . and Other Lies You’ve Been Told: A Sociologist Shatters Myths From the Secular and Christian Media (2010 - my review here). Wright recently wrote about the Read More …
Smartphone Growth (#0543)
According to Nielsen research, a significant percentage of mobile phone subscribers have moved to smartphones during the last year. In fact, the percentage penetration has increased in every age group. So What? 25-34 year olds have the highest smart phone adoption rate of any age group. Over the period analyzed (3rd quarter 2010 through 3rd quarter 2011) their adoption rate rose by 50% from 41% to 62%. 18-24 year olds and 35-44 year olds were close behind those aged Read More …
Communication Tools &The Future of the Church (#0542)
Bobby Gruenewald serves as innovation leader for LifeChurch.tv, which is a congregation of nearly 30,000 who meet at 14 campuses throughout the United States. In this role he "oversees the Digerati, Media Design, and Communications teams as well as the LifeChurch.tv Open, Network and United operations." His innovative leadership, especially with the YouVersion Bible (more on that here), earned him a spot on the FastCompany's list of the top 100 creative people in Read More …
The World’s Most Powerful People (#0541)
Forbes recently released its latest list of the world's most powerful people. Americans and politicians both fared well this year, and an American politician received the highest overall ranking. Rank Name/Title Organization Age 1 Barack Obama President United States of America 50 2 Vladimir Putin Prime Minister Russia 59 3 Hu Jintao President People’s Republic of China 68 4 Angela Read More …