ERIC Number: ED591391
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 165
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: 978-0-4385-0082-2
ISSN: EISSN-
EISSN: N/A
Enriching the Catholic School Experience through Blended Learning: Can Technology Increase Vitality and Sustainability?
Servidio, Peter
ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, St. Thomas University
In the early 1900's the Catholic population in America sat around 10 million believers who were led by 14 Archbishops, 77 bishops, and approximately 12,000 priests (God in America, 2018). Currently, "Catholics in the U.S. number more than 74 million, about 24% of the U.S. population" (Pew Research Center, 2011, 46). For example, if a state is home to 172,545 of these Catholics, the Catholic population would make up 8% of the state's total population. Catholic education has been a staple in American society since colonial times offering a school in which the mind, body, and spirit could grow with the understanding that God was the center of everything. Since its creation, the Catholic education system has faced a number of challenges but has continued to stay ahead of their competitors. That was until technology started to take a foothold in education. As the quality of public and charter schools increased, the gap that once separated Catholic culture from the rest began to shrink and so did enrollments. Compile this with the large geographic area of some of the territories in the Northeastern United States, and the sustainability of Catholic education can start to falter. Despite some notable growth of Catholic schools in different areas of the country, such as Arizona, Georgia, and Texas, there has also been a consistent, more troubling decline since the late 1960's in the overall number of Catholic schools, especially those in rural areas of the Northeast. To address the issues of rising tuition and shrinking enrollment, the idea of adopting a blended learning model in Catholic education became an avenue in which the constraints of location or student body population would no longer cause schools to close. After a month-long study throughout the Catholic schools which have incorporated blended learning throughout the northeastern region of the United States, the research shows that blended learning can not only lead to sustainability but can also add a renewed vitality and enrichment to Catholic schools as a whole. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
Descriptors: Catholic Schools, Educational History, Educational Change, Blended Learning, Educational Technology, Technology Uses in Education, Sustainability
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Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A