jlearn2.0

So, how might Jewish learning happen in a virtual, immersive environment? Below are a few examples of what Jewish learning might look like.

Imagine:

• Students who are home schooled in Jewish studies meeting with peers from all over the world and studying together
• Jewish educators convening at a specially designed lounge, playground, and resource center
• Twinned communities in Israel and the Diaspora working on collaborative projects together and learning about each other on a more individual basis in preparation toward face to face exchanges
• Jewish learners of all ages participating in inworld courses or study sessions on Jewish text, history, and culture, some of which are sponsored by libraries and archives
• Hebrew language learners navigating through virtual Israel
• Educators taking part in a variety of professional development opportunities, formal and informal
• Engaging in social action projects and philanthropic activities that impact real life
• Holding inworld reunions and activities for campers and for Israel trip participants that extend their experiences and support ongoing relationships
• Organizing readings by Jewish authors along with small group discussions and ongoing book clubs with opportunities to explore associated content
• Attending virtual conferences that are held inworld, and hybrid sessions in conjunction with real world conferences
• Attending concerts and other Jewish cultural events that are broadcast to participants around the world
• Producing interactive exhibits sponsored by Jewish museums and other cultural institutions
• Convening inworld meetings of educational organizations and lay advocates
• Sponsoring online social activities to connect Hillel members and other college students
• Cross-registration and collaborations among universities that make courses accessible to students all over the world
• Creating a virtual sachnut – Israeli Embassy to share resources about Israel
• Exploring historic recreations and reenactments of significant Jewish events and personalities
• Creating new forms of assessment for student learning through the creation of and interaction with content
• Developing scenario-based curriculum and simulations for learners and for pre- and inservice educators
• Recruiting docents to help learners, educators, and lay leaders navigate Jewish learning experiences and possibilities inworld
• … and more…[fill in the blanks!]

These environments can be used to extend and amplify the work of established Jewish educational institutions. They also support grassroots, do-it-yourself venues for Jewish learning. And they can be used to create Jewish education and learning in completely new ways that have not yet been imagined.

There are challenges, to be sure. On Second Life, for instance, adults and teens are for the most part segregated by age for security reasons, although there ways around these restrictions for educational purposes. There is a steep learning curve. Creating rich learning environments can be time consuming. Communications can be clumsy and the technology erratic. There are aspects of these environments that would not be considered appropriate for many people.

In some ways, open participant-driven virtual environments like Second Life are still wild frontiers. It is anticipated, however, that as these landscapes mature, they will become more normative and accessible environments for robust learning.

The strength of these communities lies in the vision and good will of its participants. Imagine the talent, creativity, and collaboration that can be fostered online and inworld for Jewish learning.

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.

There is an emerging Jewish presence in virtual environments. Second Life, for example, is home to a virtual Kotel and Torah learning center, Temple Beit Israel synagogue, a Jewish Historical Museum, a Holocaust Memorial Museum, an artistic representation of a mikveh, a Judaic gift shop, a cafe and Jewish art space, and Ir Shalom – a Jewish city. People regularly gather to learn and discuss Torah and gather inworld to acknowledge Jewish ritual in the real world. A recent genealogy exhibit featured resources from JewishGen, the online Jewish genealogy project. 2Lifemagazine: The Jewish Magazine in Second Life highlights activities and issues of identity related to being Jewish as expressed in the virtual world.

These projects are the work of individuals who have taken it upon themselves to create Jewish culture in Second Life. This in itself is noteworthy. Individuals design and create Jewish artifacts and activities with which they actively engage and invite others to join as well. They are creating a deeply personalized environment on their own, without impetus from traditional institutions, to explore their Jewish identities with others from around the world who happen to interact online. It is also noteworthy that these forms of expression reflect traditional metaphors of Jewish community.

The immersive Jewish community is growing, both in terms of Jews who are joining and in terms of Jewish activities. The medium is still young, and not without its challenges, but opportunities for Jewish learning and the exploration of one’s Jewish identity/ies abound.

Virtual environments, specifically multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs), have been around for awhile. MUVEs and their predecessors are commonly thought to be the domain of online gaming communities or esoteric science fiction-like academic projects. Recently, however, there has been a shift in how these immersive worlds are perceived.

There is increasing buzz about these environments in the blogosphere and in more traditional media, especially among the business and education sectors. Cultural artifacts of virtual environments are bleeding into the vocabulary of so-called “real life.” Stuffed animals are marketed in concert with an online community (Webkinz). Television commercials urge tweens and teens to personalize and accessorize their presence in online activities through the creation of avatars. They are also invited to interact through their avatar by joining a virtual world (Zwinky). The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and other mainstream publications publish articles that describe commerce and entertainment in the metaverse, Second Life. Reuters has a bureau chief posted there.

Similarly, there appears to be a gain in momentum among certain education circles as educators increasingly engage and experiment with different Internet-based tools and online learning environments. A core group of educators are actively building sites for learning and exploration on Second Life, including college campuses, museums, libraries, and classroom teachers. Organizations like ISTE and the New Media Consortium have established presences on Second Life in the form of virtual meeting space, social gatherings, presentations, and conferences.

It is not clear how the current landscape of virtual environments will develop or how it will transform into something new. Sites like Second Life or There may hit their peak at some point, or may be used as a launching pad for new initiatives. Other venues might be created for specialized arenas like education or business.

What is evident, however, is that the genie is out of the bottle. A critical mass of early adopters appears to be forming and initiating the development of new online experiences on the 3D Internet. The vocabulary and other artifacts of virtual worlds are converging back into “real life.” More people are logging on, or becoming increasingly familiar with aspects of virtual environments without even participating in them. Although individual participants have been central driving forces behind many of these worlds, organizations are taking notice and diving in. The environments are offering new tools that are constantly being refined: graphics, scripting, chat, presentations, video and audio streams. Participants are not only consumers of these worlds, but active producers of resources, objects, and knowledge. And perhaps most powerful of all are the social aspects of these settings. People around the world, across oceans and time zones, are regularly establishing relationships and social networks which would otherwise be impractical.

And so… what might this mean for Jewish learning?

More to come…

Resources for Learning More:

Introduction to Second Life

Second Life (recommendation: upon membership, select NMC as orientation preference)
Second Life Introduction video
Second Seeker – Unofficial Second Life Reviews
2Life – The Jewish Magazine in Second Life

Education in Second Life

Angel Learning Introduction video
Beth’s Second Life: Teaching English and Women’s Studies in Second Life
Chronicle of Higher Education: Wired Campus Blog: Second Life
Educational Uses of Second Life Wiki
Keith Jarrett’s Second Life in Education slideshare presentation
Second Life Education Wiki
Second Life Education Wiki: Working with Teens
The SLED Picayune
The Story of My “Second Life,” a k-20 educator’s… exploration of… Second Life
Suffern Middle School in Second Life

Social Action in Second Life

Global Kids Online Leadership Program
MacArthur Foundation: Building the Field of Digital Learning and Media (see especially “Doing the Impossible in Digital Worlds” and Invitation to Virtual World Event on Philanthropy)

Articles

“A Brave New World for TV? Virtually” by Dave Itzkoff, New York Times, June 24, 2007.
“A Job Interview You Don’t Have to Show Up For: Microsoft, Verizon, Others Use Virtual Worlds to Recruit; Dressing Avatars for Success” by Anjali Athavaley, Wall Street Journal, June 20, 2007.
“Doll Web Sites Drive Girls to Stay Home and Play” by Matt Richtel and Brad Stone, New York Times, June 6, 2007.
“Foundation With Real Money Ventures Into Virtual World” by Stephanie Strom, New York Times, June 22, 2007.
“My Daughter, the Burger-Flipping Penguin” by Michelle Slatalla, New York Times, May 3, 2007.
“Now, Virtual Fashion” by Andrew Lavallee, Wall Street Journal, September 22, 2006 “Pepperdine in a Treehouse” by Christine Lagorio, New York Times, January 7, 2007. Registration required.
“Real-Life Migrants on the Muve: Stories of Virtual Transitions” by Ross A. Perkins and Cathy Arreguin, Learning and Leading with Technology, May 2007. Membership login required.

Take a look at the following publications for some interesting articles on social networking, online learning environments, and what it’s like to be Jewish in a virtual world:

The Wall Street Journal published a series of articles in its June 18, 2007 print edition Report on Technology. Copies of select articles are available online including the following:

“A Job Interview You Don’t Have to Show Up For: Microsoft, Verizon, Others Use Virtual Worlds to Recruit; Dressing Avatars for Success” by Anjali Athavaley, Wall Street Journal, June 20, 2007.
“All Things Digital” by Walter S. Mossberg and Kara Swisher. Wall Street Journal, June 18, 2007.
“Making Sense of Social Software.” Wall Street Journal, June 18, 2007.
“Matters of the Mind” by Lee Gomes. Wall Street Journal, June 18, 2007. Want something more substantive than YouTube? Here’s where to find highbrow videos on the Web.
“Playing Well With Others” by William M. Bulkeley. Wall Street Journal, June 18, 2007. How IBM’s employees have taken social networking to an unusual level.
“Social Studies” by Michael Totty. Wall Street Journal, June 18, 2007. Companies of all kinds are figuring out which tools work and how to use them.
“Wikis at Work” by Vauhini Vara, Wall Street Journal, June 18, 2007. Companies turn the Wikipedia concept into a powerful corporate-information tool for employees

For an education perspective, see ISTE’s May 2007 issue of Leading and Learning with Technology.

2Life - The Jewish Magazine in Second Life presents its June 2007 issaue, “Hiders and Seekers - The Inter(net) Faith Issue, in which they explore aspects of Jewish identity and faith identity in the virtual world.