jlearn2.0

Wordle.net is a nifty tool for making designs out of words and adding some fun to graphics. Check it out! And here’s another nifty tool that I picked up at the CAJE Bloggers Café: Gate2Home, a virtual keyboard for languages including…Hebrew. Need quick access to a Hebrew font on any computer with an Internet connection? This is a place to go. But wait, there’s more… type up text in Gate2Home, then copy it and paste it into Wordle. Tweak, copy, insert, have fun! Warning: it’s a bit addictive!

Give a shout with suggestions for other fun tools to share!

Things I am learning here at CAJE:

Vermont is very green. Literally and figuratively. One of the tracks this year at CAJE focuses on Eco-Judaism. There is also a concerted effort to reduce paper waste and once again, CAJE will be making presentation hand outs available online.

Nature is fickle. Many CAJEniks were stranded in NY area airports because of cancellations due to weather. Rumor has it that amid understandable frustration, people have managed to find each other, commiserate, and connect. Did I mention frustration? Several of our workshop presenters have been unable to get here as originally planned and are sorely missed. A few arrived late this evening. Hopefully they will be able jump into the conference fray (now if only their luggage shows up…)!

The educational technology workshops have been well attended. It is exciting to hear what people are doing and how they are using these resources with their learners and for their own professional growth. And how people are hungry for more! Novices and more experienced users are sitting side by side, sharing their ideas, concerns, successes and challenges. And it is fascinating to hear how people use similar tools in different ways. Lots of cross-pollenization of ideas and thinking about how to adapt these models to one’s own learning environment.

Will you be at CAJE? Are you blogging about CAJE? We are:

Deb Harris on MuseForJews
Esther Kustanowitz on My Urban Kvetch
Caren Levine on jlearn2.0 (that’s us!)
Reuven Werber on TorahTech
Darim Online staff on JewPoint0

And of course, the incredible CAJE leadership team over at CAJE33 including Jeff Lasday, Iris Petroff, Joel Hoffman, Mel Bray, and guest bloggers!

Want some company while you blog? Need help getting started?

Join us at the CAJE Bloggers Café, a central space for bloggers and aspiring bloggers to congregate, write, and cross-pollinate ideas. We’ll be meeting on Monday and Wednesday at 4:15pm - 05:30pm in Votey 206 (computer lab). Can’t make it? That’s ok – we can find each other online; just tag your posts: caje, caje33

The Lippman Kanfer Institute, in cooperation with CAJE, is sponsoring a new project investigating the impact and potential of new media on Jewish education. Jewish Education 3.0, aka JEd3.0, will result in a working paper that focuses on technology and Jewish education. JEd3.0 invites collaboration from the field – contributions are welcome to the project wiki.

The project is examining the impact media and technology has on Jewish education today, and how educators, learners, and other Jewish education stakeholders can utilize these tools to improve and empower their own learning and teaching. Current wiki topics include the changing role of educators, Jewish values and ethics, issues of identity, and more.

If you are at CAJE, join us at the JEd3.0 reception on Tuesday, August 12 at 4:45pm - 6:15pm in the Mildred Livak Room (419), Davis Center. In either case, let your voice be heard on the wiki!

The Lippman Kanfer Institute (LKI) is an action-oriented think tank for innovation in Jewish learning and engagement. The Institute identifies and disseminates new ideas, new thinking, new practices and new organizational designs to keep Jewish education relevant and effective in a changing world. More information can be found at JESNA.

The annual CAJE Conference is nigh upon us. CAJE 33 runs Sunday, August 10, 2008 4:00 pm - Thursday, August 14, 2008 1:00 pm. We are looking forward to the educational technology track, co-chaired by Debbie Harris, of MuseForJews fame (among other things!) and yours truly.

The track includes presenters from the US, Canada, and Israel: Kim Beame, Stephanie Bernstein, Gila Freedman Cohen, Lisa Colton, Adrian A. Durlester, Joshua Hammerman, Debbie Harris, Irwin (Tiny) Katz, Terry Kaye, Esther Kustanowitz, Caren Levine, Joyce Levine, Wendy Lewis, Michael Craig Luetjen, Sharon Peters, Jeremy Poisson, Ruth Rohn, JT Waldman, Reuven Werber, Nina Woldin, and Jonathan Woocher.

Topics include: social media, social action, wikis, blogs, virtual worlds, Hebrew language, Jewish text, ethics, congregational schools, professional development, tools for teaching and learning, understanding learners and education in the digital age and more!

In addition to the regular sessions, there will be a Bloggers Café and an open computer lab. Come join us – learn, experiment, share!

For more information, see the CAJE website and tune in regularly to the CAJE 33 blog. And check out the program here.