jlearn2.0

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.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how to make the case for Second Life (SL) and education. I recently returned from the annual NECC conference. There were a few sessions on SL, and a special playground area and lounge set aside for SLers. I was not able to spend a lot of time there, but it seemed like there was a lot of enthusiasm and cheerleading and assistance in signing people up. Docents for ISTE in SL presented demonstrations to individuals and groups in real life. What I found, based on my limited observations, is that many of these demonstrations were “evangelical” in nature and more about the cool, fun features of SL rather than on educational substance. Which is a start – it is always good to get people excited about a new medium – but certainly not sufficient or, ultimately, satisfying. Questions arise: “Where’s the beef?” “Is there a ‘there’ there?”

I came away from NECC with the sense that what the educational community needs is a so-called elevator pitch that describes general concepts of SL succinctly and which focuses on what it could mean for education in concrete terms. This pitch, or explanation, should answer the question, “What can SL do for me, as an educator?” Which translates into “What can SL do for learners?”

I haven’t formulated that pitch quite yet – and I welcome any ideas. But looking at SL and at resources like the Educational Uses of Second Life Wiki and the Second Life Education Wiki, I have been able to identify the following types of SL activities for education:

• Broadcast media such as film, radio, television, and video
• Community socials to meet with others with similar interests
• Creative writing and literature
• Data visualizations and simulations
• Design projects
• Elearning courses and workshops
• Exhibits and galleries on art, history, photography, and specific content areas
• Historic recreations and reenactments
• Inter-cultural collaborations
• Language learning
• Performing arts including dance, music, and theater
• Philanthropy
• Presentations and conferences
• Professional development and skills development
• Role playing
• Scavenger hunts
• Simulation games and training
• Social action
• Tutorials
• Videoconferencing

Immersive worlds are platforms with which to build experiences. They are particularly conducive to supporting constructivist learning. I can see where virtual recreations of a specific time and place might help students better appreciate the culture of that era. Navigating a fairly accurate recreation of the ancient world on SL could better contextualize traditional texts, for example. Role playing historical or fictional characters could also provide another window into the subject matter. Similarly, learners could critique the accuracy of such an environment, or collaborate on building one based on historic research. Or students can practice their written or oral Hebrew language skills using text or Skype (audio will be integrated more fully into SL shortly) while touring a contemporary virtual Jerusalem or Tel Aviv or kibbutz with native speakers. Jewish learners from around the world can come together and share local customs related to holidays and observances, or just exchange favorite music files and hang out together online.

I recognize that different media may be more appropriate or efficient for different types of learning and I don’t make any special claims about virtual worlds, except that the potential for re-envisioning Jewish education inworld is intriguing and it is more than an intellectual exercise. Immersive worlds have an almost tangible socio-emotional character that should not be underestimated.

Take a look at Ryan Bretag’s (Existential Paine in SL) recent article, “MUVE about Everything and Nothing” on the Techlearning blog. Ryan compares SL to the Seinfeld television series – it’s about everything and nothing. Once you get past the buzz and the hype, Second Life is, ultimately, what you make of it.

Similarly, I believe SL is nothing if not social interaction and content (created and/or consumed and/ or interacted with). It is up to us as educators to identify resources and activities appropriate to learning objectives and to frame the content accordingly for successful, meaningful learning experiences.

Note: I refer specifically to SL because there is a growing and active educational community promoting its work there. It is not clear that SL will remain in the forefront as other MUVEs – multi-user virtual environments – emerge and develop. These questions apply equally to them.