jlearn2.0

The Jewish Educators Network met at NECC 2008 in San Antonio This is the eighth year that this group has been meeting and we are grateful to our friends at NECC for including the network as part of its Birds of a Feather sessions. This year the group was facilitated by Phil Liff-Grieff, Associate Executive Director, Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Los Angeles.

Sixteen participants convened together including representatives from: American Hebrew Academy, Greensboro, NC; Associated Hebrew Schools of Toronto; Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, Chicago; B’nai Menahem, Austin; Bureau of Jewish Education, Los Angeles; Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, Rockville, MD; Donna Klein Jewish Academy, Boca Raton; Eleanor Kolitz Academy, San Antonio; JPPS-Bialik, Montreal; Magen David Yeshivah, Brooklyn; Ner Consulting Group; Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County, NJ; The Heschel School, NY; and, Touro College, NY.

The discussion centered around professional challenges, sharing resources, and strategies for working together.

Challenges included the following:

• dual curriculum- teachers complain that there is too much to teach during the day; one can’t put time into technology projects
• integration of tech into the curriculum
• vailability of Judaic software for Mac schools
• time and the cultural divide/adoption issues (older, Israeli faculty not eager to accept technology)
• it is hard to find Hebrew language resources
• money!! (and teachers adopting technology)
• training
• paucity of good Judaic software
• need to share curricular resources (smart board lessons, etc.)
• teacher attitudes (Judaic teachers)- tech is just not important
• we are still having the same discussion that we had 20 years ago
• the rigid nature of some of the Hebrew curricula - they don’t allow for the addition of creative tech-based enhancements

Participants shared some of their most useful resources:

• TES software (www.jewishsoftware.com) including Rashi and Mishkan programs, Bar Ilan Responsa
• Before You Know It language acquisition software (www.byki.com), Hebrew version
• Chinuch.org
• Mechon-Mamre (for text)
• Jewish Tech discussion list
  

Strategies for working together include:

• Share what we are using, what we like and why
• Google groups
• Resource wiki- focused page
  • Judaic resources (software, web apps, etc. divided by subject)
  • where/how to access funds
  • interschool collaboration (and actual pairing)
    • tools for collaboration
    • pairing of schools across N. America
    • resources/best practices for tech use in Israel Partnerships
  • best practices- lesson plan sharing (like CAJE used to do- you submit one lesson in order to get access to the lesson bank)
    • teacher-developed materials and lessons
    • Judaic adaptations of existing open source resources
      best practices- tools for enhanced teacher adoption of ed tech
  • links to distance learning opportunities

Next Steps:

1. Distribute session notes and post them (done)
2. Put the google group, jewish educators network and wiki, chaitech, in place (done)
3. Participate (ongoing contributions and facilitation)

A few additional points were raised:

• It’s important to include religious (congregational/complementary) schools
• Touro is interested in working with educators in the area of ed tech
• Who trains the trainers?
• How do we find funds? Involve parents in funding discrete tech projects or program components

Many thanks to Phil and to all of you who attended for your continuing contributions.

Next year in DC!

Are you lucky enough to be at NECC in San Antonio? Come on over and join the Jewish Educators Network on Monday, June 30, 2008, 4:45pm–5:45pm at the Grand Hyatt Lone Star Ballroom C. Phil Liff-Grieff, Associate Director of the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Los Angeles will facilitate our annual gathering. Maybe I can get skyped in…

In response to previous gatherings of this network, a discussion group was recently created for educators in Jewish settings who integrate educational technology into their work. The group meets face to face at the annual NECC conferences. The discussion group was set up to facilitate communications and to share information about our annual gathering at NECC, follow up, and general sharing of ideas, resources, etc. about our work.

You are welcome to join us! And I look forward to seeing everyone next year at NECC 2009, Washington DC!

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Can’t make it to this year’s NECC in person? There are many different opportunities to participate:

NECC 2008 Community Network
Podcasts
Webcasts, video on demand
Second Life events

And of course, read your favorite educational blogs, tweets, podcasts, etc. to catch up on personal takes of a very exciting conference.

It’s fascinating to see how face to face conferences extend beyond their physical space.

It’s official! Once again, the Jewish Educators Network will meet as part of the “Birds of a Feather” program at ISTE’s annual NECC Conference, held this year in San Antonio, Texas, June 29 - July 2, 2008. Please join us on Monday, June 30, 4:45pm-5:45pm. Check the NECC program (and jlearn2.0) for the exact location.

Last year, 24 educators in Jewish settings from the United States and Canada met up at NECC to network, share project ideas, challenges, and successes. This coming conference will be the eighth consecutive meeting of this group! Let us know if you will be there this year - NECC is an incredible conference - learn more about it from the ISTE website:

For almost three decades, NECC has been the premier forum in which to learn, exchange, and survey the field of educational technology. This annual conference—presented by ISTE and keyed to the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS)—features hands-on workshops, lecture-format and interactive concurrent sessions, discussions with key industry leaders, and the largest educational technology exhibit in the nation.

Early bird registration for NECC ends Monday, March 31st.

This year’s theme is: Convene. Connect. Transform.

Give a shout if you will be there - we also welcome suggestions about how to maximize our time together as Jewish educators.

Many thanks to Sue Loubser, Director of Technology at Greenfield Hebrew Academy, Atlanta, for sharing this article written shortly after the event about the impact of bringing 24 school members to the NECC 2007 conference:

This past year, NECC (the National Educational Computing Conference) was held in Atlanta and thousands of teachers from all around the world attended. So, why am I sharing? Well, we did something pretty usual and quite remarkable. We sent 24 teachers /directors to the conference. What an investment! The energy that was created is phenomenal. The teachers were all inspired, and are full of ideas for next year. I have also had a slew of requests for all kinds of things.

In the best sense of the word we created some technology “monsters.” Everyone who attended has seen one (more often than that five or six) new things which they wish to implement. I have already had 4 emails [after the conference] from teachers thanking me (the school, in truth) for sending them to the conference, exposing them to what is out there, and encouraging them to keep pushing the envelope.

I am expecting an explosion of technology this school year. In addition to the 9 new Smartboards, we will probably start blogs, wikis and podcasts. Do not be afraid! These are not new diseases! They are tools we will use to let our students take charge of their learning. I think we are about to make another leap forward. I am so proud of the teachers who spent 3 days of their vacation in class. I am proud we have teachers who are learners, and who understand that to allow our students to “own” the learning, they have to change how things are done.

So, thanks [to the board] for allowing us to send the teachers. It will pay dividends. I asked the teachers to meet for a debriefing session. During pre-planning days, I asked each teacher who attended the conference to share 2 or 3 things they gained from the conference with the rest of the school. Next time we get an opportunity like this, we have to do it again. It was phenomenal.

As an addendum, if you go to www.ghaonline.org you can see some of the blogs and wikis we have started, as well as some Judaic webquests. See also the Greenfield Hebrew Academy’s website for more information about the school.

The Jewish Educators Network met at NECC 2007 for the seventh year in a row. Twenty-four participants from the United States and Canada attended the session, which was co-facilitated by Caren Levine, jlearn2.0, etheoreal, and Sara Seligson, Board of Jewish Education of Greater New York. The following schools were represented: Associated Hebrew Schools of Toronto; Bialik High School, Montreal; Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, Rockville, MD; Epstein School, Atlanta; Greenfield Hebrew Academy, Atlanta; Jewish People’s Schools and Peretz Schools, Montreal; Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County, NJ; Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston; and the Solomon Schechter Day School of Raritan Valley, East Brunswick, NJ.

Sara distributed the White Paper: Jewish Learning in the Digital Age, authored by Caren and published by the BJE of Greater New York in collaboration with JECC, Cleveland, and in conjunction with ATT of Chicago and the BJE of Greater Boston. The paper was supported through a grant from the Covenant Foundation. Participants at last year’s NECC Jewish Educators Network had an opportunity to comment on the pre-publication draft. The paper is also available online at www.bjeny.org.

This year, the Jewish Educators Network explored specific challenges in Jewish schools related to the integration of educational technology into the curriculum. Below are issues that were raised:

• There are enormous time constraints on Jewish day schools. Most Jewish day schools follow a dual Judaic – general studies curriculum. In addition to Hebrew, some schools also focus on Yiddish and French.
• Teachers feel pressured to fit in a lot of content in a limited amount of time. Integrating technology is perceived as an additional burden on teachers.
• We have to help teachers understand that educational technology is relevant to their work and not an additional burden.
• Many Judaic studies teachers do not have additional time to commit to professional development outside of school hours. Many of them also teach in local afternoon schools.
• Teachers need training and professional development. There need to be real incentives.
• There are additional challenges for teachers who are not native English speakers; they are not only negotiating the technology, but also learning in a second language.
• Some Orthodox schools have difficulties with aspects of technology.
• Technology curriculum specialists and administrators would like to see Judaic studies teachers use technology more, and differently.
• Educators need a central repository for electronic white board-based lesson plans for Judaic studies. [Note: The jlearn2.0 wiki (jlearn20.wikispaces.com) includes a page for this kind of resource sharing; a more complete resource database approach is under development]
• Israeli schools have wonderful websites that can be used.
• How do we create relevant rubrics to assess content and learning? Students need to know what they are being assessed on.
• Students are already familiar with technologies like GarageBand and Audacity (for creating podcasts). It is important that teachers and administrators trust their students.
• How do we take the integration of educational technology to the next level? How are students using technology to create their own learning?
• Educators are always looking for new resources and lesson plans.
• Educators need to be encouraged to share their work and ideas with their professional community.
• Technology-using educators in Jewish settings are eager to connect with one another to share ideas and projects, and to use each other as resources.

Participants shared some of their successes:

• Students use the same software in Judaic and general studies. The Hebrew teacher conducts joint projects with the secular studies teacher.
• Yiddish and Hebrew teachers find the use of electronic white boards to be an excellent tool.
• Students have had great success in creating podcasts and integrating audio into the curriculum with the use of iPods. The music and elementary school teachers use podcasts to enhance prayer skills, Torah readings, Shabbat service skills, etc. Teachers also record books and songs that are used in their community and send them home for the parents.
• Sixth graders create podcasts in which they summarize readings in Hebrew and English.
• Podcasting projects bring together children in different grades. Kindergarten students and elementary school students work collaboratively on podcasts. They record songs together and share them with other students.
• Podcasts allow for alternative assessments.
• Students create videos using Photoshop and special effects.
• Students developed a play about Israel in preparation for their school trip which they developed into a video. The students performed the play in Hebrew and distributed it on CDs.
• Students created a Photo Story slide show about their twin Israeli city prior to their class trip.
• Jewish Educators Network participants were referred to AVI CHAI’s Educational Technology Experiments blog to follow grant recipients’ progress and to get ideas for projects and potential funding: edtechexp.blogspot.com.
• Jewish Educators Network participants were referred to the second place 2007 SIGTel Online Learning Award winning project shared by the Neveh Channah School and Lower Canada College, “ International Collaborative Literature Project: From Jerusalem to Montreal.” A poster session about the project was on display at NECC. The project was cited as an example of a cross-cultural project and as an exemplar of wiki use in education. The site can be found at: jerusalem.wikispaces.com.

Follow Up

Sara and Caren will discuss the timely implementation of a discussion list and resources for this group and others who are interested in ongoing networking and sharing.

Jewish Education Network participants are encouraged to take part in the growth and development of jlearn2.0 and its associated wiki which can be found at: jlearn20.wikispaces.com. Caren is in the process of developing an expanded version of jlearn2.0 to include a more fully developed online resource center for Jewish educators by Jewish educators. Feedback will be solicited from group participants.

Next year in San Antonio!

Submitted by Caren Levine and Sara Seligson.

Steve Hargadon, an educator and ISTE member, took it upon himself to tag all of the posted sessions scheduled for NECC 2007. This means that blog entires on specific sessions by different participants can be more easily located and consolidated for readership and cross conversations. The Jewish Educators Network session is tag=n07s954. Remember to also use the tag “necc2007” if blogging about any of the sessions.

As a result of Steve’s efforts, there is now an easily readable listing of the NECC sessions in one place (alphabetically by presenter) which serves as an alternative to the online program planner, for a quick scan of conference offerings.

This information can be found at Steve Hargadon’s blog: www.stevehargadon.com/2007/06/necc-2007-session-tags-and-feeds.html