Capstone+Project+Madeleine+Vessel

Essay
Madeleine Vessel Diocese of Las Cruces Las Cruces, NM 88011 Cell: 575-644-7290

Digital Discipleship Boot Camp (DDBC) introduced me to wonderful and like-minded Catholic educators and ministers in a course that provided me with leads to Church documents and websites that support Social Media for catechesis and evangelization, links to national educational technology standards, hands-on experience correctly using a variety of Social Media tools, and a Capstone project that forced me to implement what I learned.

As a result of my study and work on my Capstone project, which is a WordPress website for permanent deacons in the Diocese of Las Cruces, I have begun to foster digital immigration in the Diocese. I am even thinking that this may be my new vocation. Wow!!

At DDBC, I came to understand the importance of using digital media ethically and legally through the study of important Church documents on Social Media and exploring XT3, a social network website that models good practices.

Reading the “Decree on the Media of Social Communications: Inter Mirifica,” profoundly affected my decision to employ social media. In particular, I was struck by paragraphs 13 and 17.

Paragraph 13 specifically urges Catholics, religious and laity, to make haste in making “effective use of the media of social communication in various apostolic endeavors as circumstances and conditions demand.”

Paragraph 17 chastises those who might delay incorporation of social media, “It is quite unbecoming for the Church’s children idly to permit the message of salvation to be thwarted or impeded by the technical delays or expenses, however vast, which are encountered by the vary nature of these media.”

In “The Church and Internet,” the Pontifical Council describes a two-fold aim for social media: “One aspect is to encourage their right development and right use.” The second aspect is to encourage the Church’s practices to be “exemplary, reflecting the highest standards of truthfulness, accountability, sensitivity to human rights, and other principles and norms.”

The National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) also influenced my thinking. These standards “integrate educational technology standards across all educational curricula. Of particular interest to me is the following standard, which promotes “model digital citizenship and responsibility:

Advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources. I have referred to this standard often during my capstone project. For example, I have taken great pains to guarantee all resources and links added to the website are properly referenced and with permission.

Finally, the course introduced me to a host of Social Media tools that encourage socializing, collaborating, sharing, creating, and authenticity and that are easy and inexpensive to use. I now regularly use Facebook, WordPress, Delicious, Skype, Google Docs, and YouTube. I also am now a member of Linkedin, a professional networking site.

In conclusion, my DDBC experience has been enjoyable and very valuable. It has given me new teaching tools, which I am already using in both my professional life (I am a college instructor of technical and professional communication) and in my ministry, which is primarily adult education. Right now, I am fostering digital immigration of permanent deacons through the development of their new deacon community website.