jlearn2.0

VoiceThread is a digital storytelling tool that allows users to create and share multimedia audio-video presentations. Students, teachers, and families are using this nifty tool to tell their stories and share ideas. Here’s an example of how an Israeli class at Maaganim School at Kibbutz Maagan Michael used VoiceThread to practice Hebrew and English language skills (thanks to Reuven Werber for bringing this to my attention!):

Hebrew/English for Kids

Two more formal Hebrew language learning programs are being offered. Hebrewulpan.com is based on the Jewish Agencys’ Ulpan methods. The other course is an Aleph Bet beginners’ Hebrew class taught by Kat Coronet in Second Life, at the Second Life Synagogue’s Hebrew school. If you are interested in running a Jewish educational course or discussion in Second Life, contact Beth Odets inworld (or drop me a note and I will pass it along to her).

To learn more about Jewish life in Second Life, read the latest issue of 2Life Magazine, “Virtual Reality – the Hanukah Issue - and don’t miss Hanukah candle lighting in Second Life, in addition to lighting in “Real Life.”

If you are interested in Jewish education and virtual environments, see my article, “Jewish Learning on the MUVE: The 3D Web, A New Frontier in the 21st Century Landscape,” over at CAJE’s Jewish Education News (an earlier version of the article was posted on jlearn2.0). Check out the entire issue on The 21st Century Jewish Learner and the 21st Century Jewish Educator, including “Jewish Education in the World of Web 2.0” by Brian Amkraut, who presented a keynote at last summer’s CAJE on the topic.

Skype is a software application that provides voice over internet protocol (VoIP) functionality. In other words, it’s a program that allows users to make free or low-cost telephone calls over the Internet. Skype is being used by the educational community in a number of ways, including intercultural projects, distance learning, and professional development. Users can also integrate additional tools, such as whiteboards, to create a more robust means of multimedia communication.

Intercultural Projects and Second Language Development

Educators are experimenting with Skype to enhance learning, particularly for intercultural programs. The CultureQuest Project, for example, encourages the study of different cultures. The project guide offers suggestions about how to interact with students in other countries using tools like Skype to organize international videoconferences with other classes and with experts in the field. CultureQuest is a project of the Center for School Development, School of Education, City College of the City University of New York.

Schools and independent learners are also using Skype to practice their language skills. In addition to more conventional “twinning projects,” there are sites that match up native language speakers with those who want practice their language skills; consider the use of Hebrew and English exchanges, for example.

Professional Development

Skype provides the ability to hold conference calls, or Skypecasts, that can be employed for professional development, resource sharing, and conference planning. These calls can also be saved as audio files and posted online for listeners to download. As a point of ethics and etiquette, participants should be made aware if the calls will be accessible to the public. The 2006 K-12 Online Conference sponsored a 24 hour Skypecast, a podcast of which can be found at Wesley Fryer’s blog, Moving at the Speed of Creativity (to see how this event was organized, see the moderator page of the K-12 Online wiki).

EdTechtalk sponsors a number of live webcasts for communities of educators, many of which are broadcast on a regular weekly basis and are open to participants all over the world.

Distance Learning / Accessible Learning

iLearnTorah is an online bat/ bar mitzvah tutoring service that makes use of video-enabled Skype to conduct sessions. Students work with experienced teachers to learn Torah and Haftorah and to create personal learning projects. The program is run under the advisement of Josh Lauffer, a Jewish educator and musician, and Dr. Yossi Chajes, faculty in the Department of Jewish History at the University of Haifa.

The video below, “Inclusion,” demonstrates a powerful use of Skype videoconferencing that makes learning more accessible to students. Produced by a fourth grade class, it tells the story of how the Agnes Risley School was able to embrace a student who had a serious illness and could not attend classes onsite:

Educators are using blogs as a means to develop reading, writing, and information and communication technology (ICT) literacies. Blogs also provide a forum for collaboration, information gathering, knowledge building, and publishing.

Below are a few examples of how blogs can be integrated into Jewish educational settings:

• Students in a writing class use blogs as their personal notebooks to share with their teacher for feedback on content and writing skills. The teacher and other students in their writing groups provide comments to help the authors refine, clarify, and strengthen their ideas. The blog preserves a running commentary as the work is created. Students also use images, original videos and podcasts to help tell their stories and to develop visual literacy and communications skills.
• A Jewish history class creates a “you are there” blog in which they write from the perspective of famous personalities or from a specific historical period.
• Learners in a North American class collaborate with Israeli counterparts to compare and contrast their everyday lives. Learners interview their grandparents and other older adults about their experiences growing up Jewish at a particular time or place. These interviews are edited and presented as video clips or audiocasts. Students track their families’ immigration patterns on Google Earth and link it to their blog.
• Jewish family educators post weekly guides related to the Torah portion for family discussions around the dinner table. Families build on this material, sharing their insights and related family customs with each other online.
• Congregational school students use a blog to continue their work on class social action projects even though they are not in the school building.
• A Hebrew language class practices their oral and written skills by producing podcasts and accompanying written materials in Hebrew. They exchange messages with native Hebrew speakers, discuss topics of mutual interest, and share photographs related to these topics through Flickr.
• Administrators post weekly updates about school events. Teachers use the blog to remind students and their families about homework assignments and keep them abreast of class projects.
• A beginning teacher in a day school keeps a blog journal that he shares with his mentor. The teacher journals about challenges he is facing in his new position. Each week he chooses a particular area to develop. His mentor reacts to his postings by providing feedback and perspective based on her own experiences. The teacher posts video clips of this work to his blog and reflects on what he had planned and what occurred in practice. Similarly, his mentor can post video clips that demonstrate alternate methodologies.

Feel free to share your own ideas!

Here’s an idea that integrates digital learning skills and Hebrew language.

Students and educators can develop digital slideshows with narration using Photo Story 3 for Windows, a free application from Microsoft that is popular with educators and relatively easy to use.

Students can create a multimedia presentation on specific topics or compose fictional stories and import photos or other graphics to illustrate them. Students can also record the report or story narrative in English or Hebrew (or any other language). Another idea is to have older students create and publish digital story books for younger students to read with audio assistance. Narration can be recorded directly into Photo Story 3 or imported as an audio file. For more textured narration, audio files can be mixed on audio editors such as Audacity or GarageBand to include multiple tracks. The slide show can reside on a computer, the school’s intranet, or on a website like YouTube or Next Vista for Learning, a video sharing site designed specifically for educators and students.

Also take a look at PrimaryAccess, an interesting tool for educators and students to create digital movies that emphasize historical narrative.

The Lookstein Center continues to offer online professional development for Jewish educators. These programs are real-time, interactive courses delivered over the Internet.

Upcoming web conferences include:

• How to Teach Chumash by Devora Steinmetz
  January 22 & 29, 2007
  12:30 -1:30 pm ET
• Introducing Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligence into the Tanach Classroom by Semadar Goldstein
  February 13 & 20, 2007
  12:30 pm - 1:30 pm ET
• Teaching Hebrew Grammar by Professor Vardit Ringvald
  March 8 & 15, 2007
  12:30 pm - 1:30 pm ET

See the Lookstein Center for more information including registration fees and technical requirements.