jlearn2.0

Esther Kustanowitz of JTA blogging, MyUrbanKvetch, PresenTense, and Jewish Week fame, recently posted on the need for Jewish education to embrace new media for learning:

What CAJE’s next conference needs — and really what the whole Jewish non-profit world could benefit from — is a systemwide technology overhaul from an equipment and a human resources/skills perspective. What CAJE did was a tremendous stride forward, expressing the hope and trust that if they built it, the educators would come to use it and populate it with fresh content. But educators, both formal and informal, require the tools and the skills to reach students who live their lives online even more than I do. If those students are listening to MP3 players, let them listen to Jewish educational podcasts and music in addition to the soundtrack from “High School Musical.” If they are reading blogs, let them be Jewish blogs. If they are using e-mail, expand their use to a joint wiki with another school to cross-pollinate ideas and experiences and build a stronger Jewish people.

As usual, Esther writes thoughtfully and passionately about the topic. Take a look at the full article on JTA and be sure to read the article that Esther co-authored with Ariel Beery in the recent issue of CAJE’s JEN, Jewish Education News, “Information Nation: Expanding Education’s Frontier to Find ‘Generation Tech.‘”

Virtual CAJE 32 continues to be an interesting experiment. The three primary arenas are the CAJE 32 blog on WordPress, the CAJE 32 wiki on wikispaces, and cajenet, the CAJE 32 social network on Ning, an online social networking platform.

The blog and the wiki are open to the public. The blog includes postings from the CAJE executive director, CAJE president, and co-conference chair. In addition, two participants from the Schusterman College Program were invited to share their conference experiences on the blog.

The wiki was created as a central clearinghouse for conference materials. It includes the program book, program highlights and updates, press releases, CAJE’s Jewish Education News, a printable map of the conference campus, and session handouts. It is anticipated that additional presentation materials will be added to the site after the conference concludes. A parallel wiki, CAJEd In, was created to encourage participants to experiment with the medium and to provide an additional area for the public sharing of ideas and resources.

The social network, cajenet, is available to members only. Registrants are provided with space to post on their own internal blogs, add photographs and videos, and create discussion forums and groups. cajenet is an integrated, interactive environment that took on a life if its own. It is particularly interesting to see that membership in the network appears to represent a variety of ages and technology experience. It is also intriguing to see how individuals personalize their spaces given limitations in Ning’s design.

The tools are just that – tools. They were chosen based on CAJE’s perceived needs for the conference and to play with sample templates for future design. It’s people who create content and foster interactions to make the experience meaningful.

Although I am not at this year’s CAJE conference physically, I have been following it online. This year’s conference theme is “Engaging 21st Century Jewish Learners.” As previously noted, there is quite a selection of sessions that address issues of technology. Some of these are specifically listed as part of the conference track, “Technology as a means of engaging the learner.” Several are listed under different tracks, which, to my mind, is a good thing. In general, the sessions include a mix of curriculum integration, “how-tos,” case studies, and showcases for resources and products. Technology is just one of the areas explored regarding the engagement of the learner. Other tracks include “Adult Learners,” “Hebrew,” “G-d, Spirituality and Prayer,” “Israel and Klal Yisrael,” “Tikkun Olam/Social Action,” “Young Adults,” and much, much more.

We learn and teach in a variety of different settings. In his opening remarks, Peter Eckstein, co-chair of the CAJE 32 conference, challenged participants to redefine their frames of reference to include virtual classrooms, communities, friends and communities.

Iris Petroff, CAJE”s president, asks attendees to consider: “What was your best CAJE moment?“

Here’s a spin on that question: How has your experience at CAJE / in the classroom / in academia / at home / in your learning setting / as a learner / as an educator contributed to your thinking about how to engage Jewish learners? What tools can we use? What infrastructures do we need? What are new ways to think about transforming Jewish learning - and what does that mean, anyway :)? What are core values at the heart of Jewish learning? What could Jewish learning look like – and what will it take to get us there? What are other, better questions we should be asking?

CAJE’s Summer 2007 issue of its publication, Jewish Education News, is now available online at the CAJE 32 wiki. In accordance with the conference theme, this edition focuses on the “Landscape of 21st Century Learning.”

Posting the articles on the wiki provides opportunities for readers to respond out loud and share their ideas. The articles are accessible in text and pdf formats.

Leah Strigler is the Chair of the Editorial Advisory Board for Jewish Education News. We asked Leah her thoughts about the JEN online project. Leah wrote:

It is exciting that CAJE is experimenting with online opportunities to support and expand its core services and programs. This is exactly the kind of innovative thinking that Jewish education needs and that the next two issues of JEN, as well as the upcoming CAJE conference, will explore.

These articles are thought-provoking and contribute to the ongoing conversation about Jewish living and learning. The majority of them address aspects of new technologies and culture. Definitely a good read!

The 32nd annual CAJE Conference is a week away. This year’s theme is “Engaging 21st Century Learners.” In addition to the technology sessions mentioned in a previous post, there are tracks on adult learners, early childhood, family education, Israel and Klal Yisrael, Jewish history, music education, special needs, text, theology and philosophy, and more.

In keeping with the theme, CAJE is experimenting with the use of web 2.0 technologies to enhance and extend the conference experience. In addition, it is hoped that Virtual CAJE 32 will serve as a means to model the use of these technologies and to inspire educators to experiment with them in their own work (full disclosure: I am the CAJE Chair of Online Initiatives and I worked on this project). There are plans to build on these experiences – this is only the beginning, a first step toward a larger, more integrated CAJE initiative.

Virtual CAJE 32 can be accessed through the CAJE website. There are links to the CAJE 32 blog, wiki, flickr, slideshare, YouTube, and social networking, which will be used to share conference information and conference-related activities. Please bear in mind it is a work in progress, and the key word here is “experiment.”

Take a look at Esther Kustanowitz’s thoughts about CAJE and the Virtual CAJE 32 Conference, posted on her blog, My Urban Kvetch.

This is all very new to CAJE, and there are certain to be bumps in the road, but it will be interesting and exciting to see what comes of it and what can be learned!

This year’s annual CAJE conference includes a number of interesting sessions that address the use of educational technology in Jewish education. An entire conference track is devoted to technology as a tool to engage learners. There are at least 28 sessions that address the field, including Wednesday evening’s keynote (see the previous jlearn2.0 posting for a more detailed description of the keynote).

A quick scan of the conference program yields the following sessions:

Free on the Web! Internet Resources for the Classroom and Beyond (Deborah Harris); BabagaNewz Connects: E-lesson Plans, Virtual Tours and Online Jewish Games (Lisa Micley); Plugging in Your Religious School (Deborah Harris); Introducing Technology Into Every Aspect of the School (Philip Gaethe, Jeremy Poisson); Integrating Technology: The jbop Experiment (Danny Paller, Susan Rheins); Learning Communities for Professional Development: Case Studies and Best Practices (Lisa Colton, Naava Frank); Jewish tradition and MySpace, YouTube, and Facebook (Joan Glazer Farber); Creating Presentations With PowerPoint (David Harris, Deborah Harris); Improve Your Use of Technology: Best Practices for Congregational Educators (Lisa Colton); Techno-Torah: Cable Television as Jewish Education (Aley Sheer); Explorer’s Bible 3D Adventure—Creating a Virtual Bible World (Jeremy Poisson); Using the Internet for Marketing, Outreach, and Engagement in Learning (Lisa Colton); So You Think You Want a WIKI? (Deborah Harris); Exploring the Social Networking Websites: MySpace, YouTube, and more! (Daniel Held); Hooking Today’s Techno-Savvy Students (Jeremy Poisson); Technology Included…Enhance and Strengthen Your Hebrew School Curriculum! (Marsha Axler); From Sinai to Cyberspace: Bridging the Gap (Efraim Mintz); “Dad, I Want to Do My Hebrew Homework” — Using Hebrew Software in School and at Home (Kim Beame, Terry Kaye); Being a Web-Mensch: When Jewish Values and Technology Coincide and Collide (Deborah Harris); Blogging 101 (David Harris, Deborah Harris); To Google or not to Google? Navigating Judaic Content Websites (Brian Amkraut); Creating Hebrew Centers in Early Childhood Classrooms (Ora Kurland); Reel Learning: Using Film More Productively in the Classroom (Amelia Klein); Creating an On-Line Living Museum (Paul Radensky); Jewish Genealogy: Reconnecting the Klal and Preserving the Memory of the Shoah (Jonina Duker); Jewish Education 2.0: Identity, Community, and Religion in the Age of Internet 2.0 (Brian Amkraut); and, Podcasting 101 (Deborah Harris).

Also of interest is the session The Personal Touch: An Approach to Religious School Education without Technology (Sherry Blumberg).

Check out the CAJE conference program for detailed descriptions and for additional conference sessions.

This year’s CAJE conference will be held August 5 - 9, 2007, at Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri. The keynote for Wednesday, August 8 is titled “Jewish Education 2.0: Identity, Community, and Religion in the Age of Internet 2.0.” The keynote will be delivered by Brian Amkraut, Provost and Professor of Judaic Studies and Director of Distance at Siegal College.

Brian shared the description of his presentation:

The world of Internet 2.0, in which broadband access and open source software facilitate file sharing, streaming media, and user-generated content, represents the latest challenge for Jewish education - perhaps most significantly in the changing attitude towards authority and empowerment of the individual. The collaborative world of Web 2.0 reflects a social and an intellectual culture in which individual “end users” may directly shape and create the frames of reference for Jewish life in the 21st century.

The keynote is one of many sessions that highlights the use of technology in Jewish education at the conference. More on this shortly!

For further information about CAJE and the CAJE 32 conference, go to www.caje.org