Technology in a 21st Century Classroom

How important is it to include technology in today's classroom?

This question was recently examined by the New York Times which recently printed acritique of ipad education by Carlo Rotella, director of American studies at Boston College. Rotella, who himself doesn't even allow laptops into his university classrooms, set out to examine the effects, both positive and negative, of using tablets for students' class work, homework and educational games.

Rotella travelled to Guilford County, North Carolina, where the school district has embarked on an ambitious program that will provide all of this year's middle school students with a tablet device.  He spoke to district teachers and elearning facilitators and then moved on to speak to other individuals who are involved in online education in America' s schools. These included conversations with Joel Klein, former Chancellor of the New York Public School System and presently the head of the company that makes Amplify tablets, representatives of the United States Department of Education, educational research psychologists, experts on education and technology and even a neuroscientist specializing in the study of adolescent brain development.

Rotella admits that he is a skeptic of elearning, especially as it relates to elementary and young teen learners. But he noted the benefits of tablet learning which include:

·         Elearning makes personalization possible in the classroom. It provides the possibility for immediate feedback to both student and the teacher who can then make timely decisions about how to proceed with the lesson, when to work with individuals and when to work with groups, etc.

·         Entire units of curriculum can be loaded on the tablet in advance of a lesson or can be sent out as an instant update. This accommodates students as they work at their individual paces.

·         There is a wide variety of educational tools available for research, discussion, practice and demonstration of mastery to allow students to approach their studies from various angles. The teacher can then move into the role of a mentor who provides each student with individual assistance as needed

·          School districts spend less money on textbooks

·         eGames support personalized learning. Personalized learning matches game logic respond to what a player does. A game is arranged in series of increasingly difficult challenges to fit the sequencing of curriculum. (i.e. When you conquer the fractions level, you move up to the algebra level.)

One of Rotella's concerns related to the "discussion" aspect of tablet learning as opposed to real-time face-to-face conversations that would occur in a non-elearning class. As many teachers have discovered however, blended learning addresses this concern by incorporating elements of online learning with traditional frontal teaching, group activities and classroom interactions.   

Rotella examined tablet learning in a general format but for the Jewish classroom,elearning has many similar applications. Students can engage in core curriculum subjects such as gemorrah, chumash and Jewish history or may expand to explore subjects such as tikkun olam, Contemporary Jewish Issues, the Holocaust, the Arab-Israeli Conflict, varying Jewish communities and even questions about Basic Judaism through interactive online lessons. 

Are You Team Zakkai or Team Saccari?

Who should rule over the Land of Israel? What should the Jewish government's relationship be with foreign powers? Does being a Jewish patriot mean that one should agree with everything that the leaders say? What is the "right" Jewish leadership anyway?

Interestingly enough, these questions have been debated by Jews throughout the millennium and students can now take part in this discussion via today's distance learning framework.

Kadima, a St. Louis Jewish Day School, has brought these and other issues into their Jewish history class as the students examine relationship between the Sacarii -- a Jewish group of rebels who terrorized the local population into revolting against the Romans -- and the followers of Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai who led a more moderate faction in 1^st century C.E. Jerusalem.

After learning about the origins and philosophies of the two groups the students were encouraged to put their own spin into the discussion.

Why did the Sicarii believe as they did? Were they right to take their struggle to the extreme "in the name of G-d." How might the Sicarii be called today?

Using a wide range of online tools the Kadima students have begun to delve into the history, and the dilemmas, of the era. Students participate in an online poll to decide how to describe the Sicarii -- political assassins? Terrorists? Fascists? Zealots?  -- and to think about what they would do in such a circumstances. They share their thoughts and ideas on the Haiku board which the class uses as a Learning Management System for the class.

The students studied Yirmiyahu's letter to the exiles and then were encouraged to compose their own letter with advice and warnings. The class compared Yirmiyahu's letter to an early 20^th century writing by Rebbe Meir Simcha of Dvinsk and then reviewed the Roman expulsion of the Jewish from Jerusalem to subsequent expulsions and persecutions.

The Kadima class is unique in that the school's boys and girls learn separately. Using online tools however, the classes can participate as one unit. The class meets with the boys in one room and the girls in another as they all have access to the teacher simultaneously and can study, explore, provide feedback and comment on the same online forum.  

The course evaluation involves a choice of writing a skit about the historical period, creating a history game for the class, creating a wikiproject or creating a multi-media project. Students may also suggest their own final project based on the approval of the instructor.

  

Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan and Jewish Distance Learning

I doubt that the old Meg Ryan-Tom Hanks movie "You've Got Mail" ever considered the possibilities that could arrive in one's inbox every morning. After all, the move was made in 1998 when email was basically communication between two individuals.

Today we get a little bit of everything in our daily emails that we can mull over with our morning cup of coffee. This includes, I recently discovered, daily tips and crowdsourcing advice for online educational strategies and techniques.

Using the Haiku Learning Management System (LMS) the JETS year-long PD course is now underway as educators check in to learn what new tips are available for their online classes and how their colleagues manage various Internet tools to increase class effectiveness.

Every time a participant posts in the Haiku room the rest of us receive a "You've got Haiku Mail" notification so that we're notified that there's new data which we can investigate and  explore as well as comment on our colleagues' posts.

I took the basic No Teacher Left Behind course last year for an overview of online educational methods. During this course I learned how to manage online blackboards and other learning tools that would motivate the students to look at old material in new ways.

Now I've signed up for the year-long course which is where my morning mail comes from.

A learning management system, such as Haiku, organizes and administers information for an online class as the class progresses through the semester, or through the year. Rather than try to commit all of the past posts, comments, information, documents, homework assignments and other data to memory the Learning Management System tracks and reports this information for us. In the same way that we learned how to manage an online blackboard by actually experimenting with the process during our first PD course, we are now moving on to develop the ability to manage a LMS by activating it during our year-long course.

The course started in early September. It is a combination of a review of information that we had previously learned as well as new ideas and concepts.  We began with a review of the Linoboards, a great interactive online learning tool for students of all ages. The course instructor, Smadar Goldstein, provided links to show some of her own Linoboards that she's used in her own courses as well as some of the linoboards that other students have created.

We have also reviewed how to make an Animoto video and looked at one that Smadar made for a class on Tikkun Olam.  I can hardly believe that it could be so user-friendly, especially for non-techie types (like me) but the instructions seem straight-forward so it's  worth giving it a try.

I particularly appreciated the other teachers who shared their lists of resources and web tools-- I have always promised myself to make such a list but never did so these lists and "how to" tutorials will be very useful.

Next on the agenda is to crowdsource some good lesson plans for my next unit. 

Web-Based Education in the Jewish Classroom

 So "what's the big deal about online education?"

It's true, that sentiment is heard less and less as increasing numbers of educators, parents and students become aware of benefits that come from including online education as part of an educational program. However there are still people who wonder, if schools managed nicely for so many years without computers, why the introduction of distance learning is of value.

This is particularly true in the world of Jewish education, both for day schools and for afternoon enrichment classes. Jewish schools tend toward tradition and that seems to account for many schools' reluctance to rely on the Internet for their educational programming. As administrators, teachers and parents see the benefits of online and blended learning programs their presence seems assured to grow within the Jewish educational system.

A 2009 U.S. Department of Education study analyzed blended education and reported that "in recent experimental and quasi-experimental studies contrasting blends of online and face-to-face instruction with conventional face-to-face classes, blended instruction has been more effective." The potential for blended and other forms of online education in the Jewish classroom increases the program's effectiveness, taking into account the unique needs and opportunities of the Jewish educational system.

Recent advancements which involve including blended learning in Jewish schools include:

The Affordable Jewish Education Project (AJE) presently includes three Jewish schools, Yeshivat He’Atid of Bergen County which launched in September 2012 and Tiferet Academy and Westchester Torah Academy which are just opening their doors this September. These schools rely heavily on blended learning to provide their student population with a high quality Jewish and secular education as they keep the tuition costs well below that of mainstream Jewish Day Schools. Long-term studies of this project will not be available for several years but in the short-term the school's supporters believe that the framework enables them to provide their students with a high quality learning environment which enhances student learning as it provides educators with tools to provide the students with a personalized learning experiences and evaluations.  

A three year study is underway at both Frisch and Yeshivat Noam to evaluate the effects of technology on Jewish education. The schools are committed to blended learning and find that it offers a high quality learning model for the majority of their students. At Frisch, via the RealSchool curriculum, students in every grade participate in a Wiki platform that integrates the various disciplines into broad themes and enables them to use this platform to create learning content while the students interact with their peers. The project includes the use of ipads and ibooks for both limudei kodesh and secular education.

The JconnecT Learning program is aimed at Jewish adolescents and pre-teens who would like to have a Hebrew School enrichment experience but either don't live in close proximity to a congregational school or have not integrated into such a framework. JconnecT students, including homeschooling Jewish students, meet every Sunday morning for a Sunday Morning Live class in which they are exposed to Hip Hop Hebraics conversational Hebrew and thoughtful introduction to and analysis of Conventional Jewish Issues. The JconnecT program partners with the Margolin Hebrew Academy of Memphis and students are invited to spend two Shabbatons at the Academy to meet and enjoy a Shabbat experience with their peers.  

Jerusalem EdTech Solutions (JETS) partners with Jewish Day Schools, afternoon schools and other public and parochial schools to present a wide range of Jewish and Israel-themed synchronous and asynchronous classes. The classes include subjects such as an analysis of the Arab-Israeli conflict, Tikkun Olam, Hip Hop Hebraics, the Ethiopian community in Israel, Jewish environmentalism, Jewish and Israel history and overviews of Jewish cultures and traditions. The program also pairs Israeli classrooms with North American classrooms in a "Shutafut" program which allows Israeli and North American students to "meet" each other virtually as they complete assignments and share ideas, concepts and impressions. 

Sunday Morning Live from Israel!

When E. T. asked her parents if she could attend Hebrew School, they were wary. Neither R. nor R., his parents,  had enjoyed a particularly successful Hebrew school experience and they had ignored the religious school question until their 11-year-old daughter raised the issue.

Growing up on a southern army base N. Z., who has spent his life in Africa, Jacksonville and now in Corpus Christi, TX, wasn't aware that there was such an institution as Hebrew school but  his parents, Captain Z. and wife J., were hoping that they would be able to find some kind of Jewish enrichment alternative for their son.

A. L. left his Hebrew school in Vancouver, Canada, because the hours conflicted with hockey practice. Although his parents felt that a Jewish education was a priority, they didn't want their son to see Judaism in a negative light so they reluctantly pulled him out of his congregational school program.

Five years ago the B. family moved to rural Vermont to enjoy a slower-paced, more relaxed lifestyle. While that part of their lives has panned out, they hadn't thought ahead to the time when their children K. and E. would need some kind of Jewish educational framework.

A.  S. from West Orange, NJ,was about to turn 13 and wanted to celebrate his Bar Mitzvah but his parents hadn't found a local congregation in which they felt comfortable. They questioned how A. could learn about Judaism and about Bar Mitzvah concepts that were important to their value system without becoming "members" of a Temple or synagogue. 

M. K., son of Dr. J. and S. K. graduated from Jewish Day School in Birimngham, AL. He and his parents were looking for ways to supplement his Jewish education, as the local day school went only until 8th grade.

All of these youngsters have one thing in common -- they've reached the age in which they need an environment of Jewish enrichment that meets their needs in an open and dynamic setting of vibrant Jewish engagement.

JconnecT Learning, the Sunday Morning Live Hebrew School, was created to answer that need. JconnecT brings online Jewish learning directly to the students' personal PC or mobile device, enabling the kids to engage and interact with Judaism as they learn about Jewish culture and traditions in a relaxed atmosphere along with teachers in Jerusalem and peers around the country.

JconnecT held two Open Houses this summer and students from throughout North America joined together to explore new topics, exchange ideas and thoughts and meet in an environment of open learning as they prepare for the 2013-2014 JconnecT online Jewish school "Sunday Morning Live."

The August 18^th Open House class dealt with the coming holiday of Rosh  HaShana and connections between Gan Eden (Paradise) and the promises of new beginnings. Students were invited to chat in their answers to the open-ended questions which were aimed at increasing their critical thinking processes and helping to explore what they already know about Judaism and how they can build on their existing knowledge to move to new levels.

JconnecT joins other innovative alternatives as a realistic Jewish learning opportunity to engage and inspire young Jewish learners. JconnecT is a pluralistic, non-denominational online learning program which is open to all young Jewish learners. 

to Join the JconnecT/JETS Israel newsletter please contact Smadar. 

Teaching Tzedaka Long Distance

Shulamith Cohn

As a veteran educator, having spent thirty plus years both in formal and informal education, I was excited to try something new and different. I was offered a position by JETS, teaching an 8th grade Judaic Studies class on Jewish Values online to Adelson Community School in Las Vegas, NV, three times a week.

I was excited, but nervous. Several questions came to mind:  Could I effectively connect with the class so far away? Would my lessons be interactive and exciting, a "Beit Midrash" style where ideas and opinions were easily shared? Would the students be able to work in groups and "discover" concepts as I successfully encouraged when I taught in a f2f (face to face) classroom?

The following are my thoughts as I reflect on the current topic.

Connecting modern students to their ancient heritage is an exciting and dynamic process. Kind hearts and the giving nature of people come across through skype or directly in a class room. These are the topics I aimed to get across, and, I discovered, the goals are the same whether they are f2f or online.

"How much should we give? Which organization best meets the needs of the poor? How do I prioritize my giving? Can one give something else besides money?"

These, and other questions, arose in our discussion of our obligation as Jews to engage in Tikkun Olam whether they relate specifically  to the concept of Tzedaka or building a world of chessed.

My first goal, therefore, was to 'climb the Maimonidies's ladder of Tzedaka!' Students worked in groups to identify different ways of giving and found the picture that best matched the Maimonidies's principles.

"Wow," says one student. "That just happened yesterday! I packed cans at "Three Square". This qualifies level seven of Maimonidies' Ladder of Tzedaka, when both receiver and giver don't know each other.

"Before Shabbat I put some money in the tzedaka box," contributes another student. This qualifies as the sixth step on the Maimonidies's ladder of tzedaka.

Group work followed and pairs of students researched different charity options by viewing videos and articles detailing the work  of different organizations who :

• provide food and shelter for the poor,
• sponsor a school for children at risk,
• provide a loan of medical equipment, 
• offer job training and new skills to enable someone to find a job
• provide services for seniors who are Holocaust survivors

Each team presented its charity and the class as a whole decided how much "virtual money" to allot to each of the above listed charities. Everyone had an opinion, each student proudly shared their own personal favorite tzedaka.  Most importantly, the lesson was internalized as each student resolved before Passover to find an opportunity to give real tzedaka.

Reflecting on the lesson and preparation I feel satisfied that my students were able to internalize the concepts and I with extensive preparation was able to give them  a solid learning experience.

In teaching long distance,  one must furnish students with different activities that will help them concretize the knowledge and acquire the skill set being taught. Online  technology tools can be used that allow the student to interface with classmates and with the teacher. At times, effective technology allows a student to review  in a fun way and removes the  tedious factor from review. In that respect,  using online technology might actually prove superior to the “ regular “ classroom since the student seems to enjoy  the review when using technology for homework purposes.  As the goal of teaching is to make students active participants in the learning process, I think that distance learning and its online platform satisfies the students need for action and allows them to take an active  role in  the learning initiative .

Shutafut blog

When I was growing up in the pre-Internet days our Hebrew school assemblies were full of movies about Israel. We saw plenty of movies about Israel's achievements and military struggles but the movies that made the most impression on me were those that depicted the lives of every day Israelis. Our teachers tried to explain how Israeli kids lived, what their homes looked like, what they did at school and on vacations and, in general, how their lives differed from ours but the descriptions were vague and I never really felt a connection.

Today the Internet has brought us the ability to learn about each other more easily.  Jewish American youngsters are still fascinated by Israelis and Israeli kids are just as curious about the lives of their North American peers.

A unique Shutafut -- Partnership -- program is being run by JETS,Jerusalem EdTech Solutions, in which North American classrooms are twinned with Israeli ones. The program connects Jewish Day Schools and public schools with Israeli peers to allow them to "meet" each other virtually and explore each other's cultures in an atmosphere of mutual collaboration.

Once two classrooms have been twinned,  heterogeneous groups are created between the two schools, , with equal numbers of Israeli students and North American students in each group. The small groups facilitate better communication between the students who can more easily express themselves within "their" group and begin to develop relationships with each other.

Assignments are presented on an LMS – Learning Management System such as wikispaces or Haiku LMS and the students are encouraged to work asynchronously to investigate, research and express ideas on their group's platform. After the students introduce themselves to each other they respond to in depth projects, answering questions, discussing issues and reviewing each other's submissions. Teachers from both schools brainstorm with JETS to choose a meaningful topic. ,

The Israeli studentsare encouraged to post in English to strengthen their English language skills and, as appropriate, the North American studentsare encouraged to post in Hebrew to encourage their Hebrew skills.

Topicscovered include

·         Holiday celebrations

·         Tikkun Olam, Volunteerism

·         Environmentalism

·         Cultural issues

·         Jewish Demographics

·         Jewish life in Israel and in the Diaspora

·         Israel achievements

·         Building unity

To date, JETS has facilitated over 15 school partnership twinning programs, including cities such as Birmingham, Rosh Haayin, Vancouver, Edmonton, Emek Hahula, and Metulla. Due to popular demand, the program has expanded to include new classrooms, both in Israel and in North America. The program is expected to expand to the UK, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand in the near future.

Throughout my high school years, I reveled in pen-pal relationships with Israeli teens. In many ways the Shutafut program also functions as a high tech pen-pal arrangement. Students build relationships, learn about each other and have a chance to strengthen their language skills as they study about each other's day-to-day lives and cultures, all as part of their school experience. 

Please email JETS Israel if you'd like to peruse the Partnership LMS's.