On February 7, Dr. Alex Spatariu, associate professor of Education, and Dr. John T. Spoede, Jr., director of the Center for Research and Doctoral Studies and assistant professor of Education, presented at the Southwest Education Research Association (SERA) conference. The conference was held in the Menger Hotel in San Antonio from February 6-8, 2019.
The session they presented was entitled, “Christian Educators’ Personal Epistemology” and showcased original research. During the session, information was presented on the purpose of a study, which was to construct a profile of Christian educators (N = 48 graduate students). Participants completed the Epistemic Belief Inventory (EBI), the World View (WV) quadrant measure, and a brief questionnaire. Certain knowledge score was slightly low; therefore, the group tended to consider certain knowledge to be more constantly evolving rather than absolute. This finding requires a deeper analysis of graduate students’ epistemology and ontology in general – regardless of their religious backgrounds. Quick learning score was low; therefore, the group viewed learning as a gradual process rather than a quick, or not-at-all, process.