White Paper: Jewish Learning in the Digital Age
The Board of Jewish Education of Greater New York announced the publication of the White Paper: Jewish Learning in the Digital Age. The publication is available online at the BJE’s website. (Full disclosure - the paper was authored by yours truly).
The White Paper was a collaborative effort of a consortium of Jewish educators. It was developed in response to a shared interest in furthering discussion in the field by the Board of Jewish Education of Greater New York, the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland, the Associated Talmud Torahs of Chicago, and the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Boston, with support from the Covenant Foundation. Dr. Ellen Meier, Co-Director of Teachers College’s Center for Technology and School Change, and Stan Silverman, Director of the New York Institute of Technology’ Technology Based Learning Center served as executive consultants to the project. Additional acknowledgments are due to Sara Seligson (NY), Rabbi Marty Schloss (NY), Maury Greenberg (Cleveland), Rabbi Lenny Matanky (Chicago), Jeff Liberman (Boston), and to the many educators who provided us with ongoing feedback.
A draft of the paper was presented last year to the Jewish Educators Network at NECC 2006 for comments and feedback, and copies of the final paper will be distributed at NECC 2007.
The paper provides a brief overview of the educational landscape and focuses on issues related to building capacities for change.
- Vision and leadership are crucial. Educational stakeholders must continue to serve as advocates for quality Jewish education and recognize the role that technology can play in support. They need to understand that successful implementation of educational technology is accessible, achievable, and incorporates elements of good practice. These leaders should convene on a regular basis and use technology to support their work.
- Administrators and teachers need to understand issues around educational technology so that they can make informed and educationally sound decisions based on their learner’s needs.
- Cadres of technology-using educators – in addition to technology coordinators – need to be nurtured through a range of professional development and networking, and be given opportunities and the support to experiment. Early adapters and peer leaders can be enlisted to assist their colleagues.
- Teachers must be provided with incentives and opportunities to move from adopting applications to truly appropriating them as new ways to achieve their curricular objectives. Ultimately, they should be able to transform their practice by integrating technology in a seamless way as another resource to foster deep learning.
- Students and educators alike must become critical connoisseurs of multimedia resources and opportunities and develop habits of lifelong learning.
- Schools of higher learning, in particular teacher preparation programs, need to implement and model the integration of technology into content and teaching technique on a regular basis.
- Research and evaluations must be conducted and disseminated to help identify promising practices, to better evaluate digital learning in Jewish settings, and to avoid reinventing wheels.
- Financially viable venues need to be developed for the creation and dissemination of quality educational resources and initiatives that take advantage of the opportunities new technologies can offer.
- Creative ways to address funding issues should be developed and promoted.
- Support should be given to both cutting edge projects and more modest endeavors that integrate technology in relevant and appropriate ways. Attention should be paid to innovation, but also to what is more easily doable and accessible to most people. Opportunities should be provided to build on successes.
We encourage you to read the full text of the paper. It is not intended as a definitive piece, rather, it was meant to serve as a means of engaging educators and educational stakeholders in deeper conversations about Jewish learning and the role new media play.
June 28th, 2007 at 9:05 am
Nice work, Caren. Now the next challenge: Creating a vehicle for responses and for ongoing dialogue to the piece by practitioners in the field, funders, and other stakeholders.