jlearn2.0

The Jewish Communal Service Association of North America is holding its annual conference on Thursday, June 5 at 4pm EDT in New York. And online.

The conference, “LINKED: Maximizing technology for the future of the Jewish community,” features keynote Allison Fine, author of Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age, winner of the 2007 Terry McAdam Book Award for nonprofit management. Information about Allison and her work can be found here. The panel, moderated by Lisa Colton, includes Graham Hoffman, Michael Hoffman, and Gail Magaliff.

In accordance with the conference theme, the event will also be streamed using ustream.tv. Participants are also being encouraged to use twitter to interact with each other. This is a huge experiment for the conference and very exciting!

Questions and ideas that will be addressed regarding new media faced by Jewish communal organizations will include:

• What is currently happening, and what is next, in the world of technology and social networking?
• What are some of the innovative uses of technology already being implemented?
• What opportunities should the Jewish community be maximizing?

Join in on the festivities:
Access the JCSA Annual Program’s Live Broadcast channel on ustream.tv. When prompted for a password, type: jcsana. You can maximize the broadcasting screen by clicking on the screen icon on the bottom right corner of the viewing window.

You can also follow along on twitter. The twitter feed is: JCSA

Here’s to experimentation!

Attention middle school/ high school educators in Jewish congregational or complementary learning settings:

• Are you looking for opportunities to integrate educational technologies and new media like blogs, wikis, and social networking into your work?
• Are you a creative, curious, risk-taking educator in a Jewish congregational or other complementary Jewish educational setting?
• Do you work with middle school and/or high school students?
• Do you have a really great idea for using educational technology that you’ve wanted to test out?
• Are you interested in joining a community of like-minded educators for a year of intensive professional development and collaborative learning?

Darim Online is launching a new membership program, the Learning Network for Educators, made possible by a grant from the Covenant Foundation. In its first year, this program will engage approximately 20 Jewish educators working with middle and high school aged populations in congregational or other complementary educational settings as they integrate new media into their learning settings.

The Learning Network is based on the model of a community of practice, in which members learn from each other through sharing resources and expertise, problem-solving, and developing collective wisdom on an ongoing basis in order to grow professionally and improve their practice.

Benefits of membership in this pilot program include:

• Access to experts and resources through monthly educational events such as webinars, conference calls, and one on one consulting with Darim staff and affiliates
• Opportunities to vision and implement technology-enriched projects into your educational practice in a supportive environment
• Opportunities to develop and share curricular resources and emerging practices that take advantage of new technologies.
• Participation in a supportive community of practice with colleagues who are engaged in similar work and learning
• Professional learning about new media and the potential to transform Jewish learning

Membership activities will include online discussions, sharing ideas and practice, one on one coaching from Darim staff and affiliates, and elearning events with experts in the field.

The Educators Network builds on the success of Darim Online’s original Learning Network for Synagogues. That network, which continues into its third year, is a professional development and knowledge-sharing membership network for staff and lay leaders of synagogues who are integrating new technologies into their work. Funding for the Network for Synagogues is provided by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation with additional support from the Jewish Life Network and membership fees.

Full disclosure about the Darim Oline Learning Networks: it’s a project I am working on.

Details, including the membership application, are available on the Darim Online site.

Take a look over at On One Foot, Joshua Hammerman’s blog. His recent posting, “No More ‘Three Day’ Jews” reflects on the emerging cultural impact of the web 2.0 world on Jewish learning and identity. The article was also published in The Jewish Week.

And be sure to check out Joshua’s explorations of ethical issues related to digital life through a Jewish lens in his “Masechet Cyberspace,” another important resource for this continuing conversation.

It’s been a good season for sharing ideas about educational technology and Jewish learning in print. Two Jewish educational publications recently highlighted the use of technology in Jewish learning. RAVSAK devoted their Pesach 2007 edition of HaYidion to “Technology and Jewish Education.” The entire issue will be available online at www.ravsak.org under “Publications.” For further information, contact info@ravsak.org.

CAJE’s Spring 2007 Jewish Education News focuses on “Educational Resources for Schools.” A substantial amount of the magazine’s content centered on aspects of digital learning. Select articles, including those published only online can be found at: www.caje.org/learn/Winter07/jen-winter07.asp. Copies of the print edition are available from CAJE for $7.00.

And speaking of CAJE, the organization has put out a call for articles for the next two editions of JEN which will focus on the 21st century landscape of Jewish learning, and 21st century learners and educators respectively. Digital culture is certainly a key influence – consider submitting an article; consider attending the conference:

The 32nd annual CAJE conference will be held August 5-9, 2007 at Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri. In conjunction with this year’s conference theme, “Engaging 21st Century Jewish Learners,” CAJE is devoting the next two issues of its publication, Jewish Education News, to exploring the 21st century landscape of Jewish learning (Summer) and 21st century Jewish learners and educators (Fall). The request for articles, excerpted below, includes works that address the following areas:

• Who is the 21st century learner?
• What does it mean to be a learner in this new landscape?
• What resources do educators need to work in this new landscape and what do they need access to?
• How do we meet today’s learners “where they are?”
• What roles can technologies play in creating new environments for Jewish education?
• How can social networking platforms support increased Jewish identification and professional networking?
• How are new technologies shaping Jewish education and learning?

Contact Judi Resnick, CAJE Communications Coordinator, at jresnick@caje.org for the complete Call for Articles and submissions guidelines. The deadline for the Summer publication is May 15, 2007; June 4, 2007 for the Fall publication. Submissions should not exceed eight double-spaced typed pages and no more than 2,500 words. See the CAJE website for details about the annual conference: www.caje.org.

EDC’s Center for Children and Technology created a website for teachers and students to help promote digital literacy. The interactive website, Digital Literacy: Skills for the 21st Century – Digital Literacy Toolkit, includes online tutorials and activities that emphasize the different uses of media and their powers of persuasion. The site focuses on the grammar of sounds, images, and animation for learners who are both consumers and producers. The site is particularly useful for the critical analysis of videos, propaganda, and digital communications. It is also a good primer for aspiring producers of digital media.

The site represents just one of the many projects and reports that the organization produces based on educational research and development. CCT investigates the roles that technology can play in improving teaching and learning within children’s classrooms, schools and communities. They also design and develop technology applications that support engaged, active learning and student-centered teaching practices.

What exactly is digital literacy? The term is used quite often, and yet there seems to be a fuzziness about it. It’s easy for this concept to become a catch phrase and a catchall for all things technology. The CEO Forum on Technology and Education’s report, Key Building Blocks for Student Achievement in the 21st Century (2001) offers this definition of digital literacy:

The literacy skills for the digital age include language proficiency, namely, reading, writing, listening and speaking; scientific literacy, defined as the knowledge of science, scientific thinking, mathematics and the relationships between science, mathematics and technology; and, technological literacy, including competence in the use of computers, networks and digital content.

Other definitions include the following:

“Connecting the Digital Dots: Literacy of the 21st Century” by Barbara R. Jones-Kavalier and Suzanne L. Flannigan, Educause Quarterly, Volume 29 Number 2 2006:

Digital literacy represents a person’s ability to perform tasks effectively in a digital environment, with “digital” meaning information represented in numeric form and primarily for use by a computer. Literacy includes the ability to read and interpret media (text, sound, images), to reproduce data and images through digital manipulation, and to evaluate and apply new knowledge gained from digital environments.

“New Strategies for Assessing Digital Literacy: Connecting Research and Policy - NECC 2003 Spotlight Session” by Margaret Honey, Cornelia Brunner, Diny Golder-Dardis, Cheryl Lemke, Joyce Malyn-Smith, June 2003:

A range of business, government, and research organizations are calling for students to master “digital literacy,” a critical approach to technology use that moves beyond the mastery of technical skills and includes knowing how to:

* Analyze new media messages critically,
* Create media products that present information accurately and persuasively, and
* Take full advantage of technology’s capacity to support effective communication.

It is increasingly necessary for students to attain these skills if they are to become successful members of society and thoughtful citizens.

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills contextualizes these types of skills (as information and communications literacy), among others, as part of a unified vision for 21st century learning:

1. Core Subjects.
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, identifies the core subjects as English, reading or language arts; mathematics; science; foreign languages; civics; government; economics; arts; history; and geography.

2. 21st Century Content.
Several significant, emerging content areas are critical to success in communities and workplaces. These content areas typically are not emphasized in schools today:

* Global awareness
* Financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy
* Civic literacy
* Health and wellness awareness

3. Learning and Thinking Skills.
As much as students need to learn academic content, they also need to know how to keep learning - and make effective and innovative use of what they know - throughout their lives. Learning and Thinking Skills are comprised of:

* Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills
* Communication Skills
* Creativity and Innovation Skills
* Collaboration Skills
* Information and Media Literacy Skills
* Contextual Learning Skills

[note: information and media skills are defined by the Partnership as: “analyzing, accessing, managing, integrating, evaluating and creating information in a variety of forms and media. Understanding the role of media in society.”]

4. ICT Literacy.
Information and communications technology (ICT) literacy is the ability to use technology to develop 21st century content knowledge and skills, in support of 21st century teaching and learning.

5. Life Skills.
Good teachers have always incorporated life skills into their pedagogy. The challenge today is to incorporate these essential skills into schools deliberately, strategically and broadly. Life skills include:

* Leadership
* Ethics
* Accountability
* Adaptability
* Personal Productivity
* Personal Responsibility
* People Skills
* Self Direction
* Social Responsibility

6. 21st Century Assessments.
Authentic 21st century assessments are the essential foundation of a 21st century education. Assessments must measure all five results that matter - core subjects; 21st century content; learning skills; ICT literacy; and life skills. To be effective, sustainable and affordable, assessments must use modern technologies to increase efficiency and timeliness. Standardized tests alone can measure only a few of the important skills and knowledge students should learn. A balance of assessments, including high-quality standardized testing along with effective classroom assessments, offers students a powerful way to master the content and skills central to success.

Source: P21 Framework for 21st Century Learning

This holistic approach seems somewhat more realistic and satisfactory. It provides a clearer context for our work and lays out a road map for achievement. Folding information and media skills under Learning and Thinking Skills makes it more organic to how people learn; it is another skill and resource for lifelong learning. In parallel, ICT is singled out as a means for developing and supporting learning and teaching, and not as an end in and of itself. Most of us understand this, but in the midst of work and its pressures, it is all too often easy to lose sight of this goal.

No doubt as we better understand how we learn and the skills we need to thrive as citizens in an ever-changing world these ideas will continue to be refined and shaped. Are there other definitions of digital literacy that speak to you? How does our work as Jewish educators and learners mesh with these 21st century skills? What other skills would we include for the 58th/21st century Jewish learner and educator?