Keep Up With Your Students -- No Teacher Left Behind Winter 2014

In a 2012 summary of Jewish education in North America, the Avichai Foundation noted that elearning is becoming an increasingly important component of Jewish education in North America.

The Avichai Foundation survey reviewed a number of different elearning models. These included educational institutions where online learning comprises a significant portion of the school experience as well as schools in which elearning is scattered throughout the school day. The Avichai review centered on the use of asynchronous, synchronous and blended learning strategies. Particular attention was paid to the role that elearning may play in helping to lower day school tuition costs.

A year-and-a-half later, the role of online learning in Jewish day schools and supplementary Hebrew schools continues to grow. One of the biggest challenges that Jewish educational institutions face when introducing elearning, however, involves preparing the staff and providing them with the knowledge, tools and comfort-level that they need to facilitate elearning in their classrooms.

Some of the elearning Learning Management Systems and collaborative tools offer helpful tutorials, but most educators who are just beginning to enter the world of online education find these screencasts to be technologically advanced and overwhelming.

For over 2 years, JETS Israel has been presenting a comprehensive course for beginning Jewish online educators. The No Teacher Left Behind course is an 8-week module that gives step-by-step instructions and real-time practice in facilitating online blackboards, Learning Management Systems, audio and video recording tools,  apps and mobile apps, and more.

Recent NTLB sessions have seen the involvement of increasing numbers of teachers from new regions including from Europe and Eastern Europe. The Winter, 2014 Course, which begin on February 19^th 2014, includes educators from the United States, Holland and Israel.

Participants in the Fall, 2013 NTLB class summarized their experience by reviewing the information that they now have at their fingertips:

"I realized that you don't have to be in the classroom to teach students. There is a wide variety of tools which make on-line classes effective and interesting."  B.R., No Teacher Left Behind participant, Fall, 2013

"Learning Management Systems - great organizational tool. Voki/Vocaroo - fantastic to engage students. Social Posters - fast, easy effective way to promote ideas/programs"  C.Y., No Teacher Left Behind participant, Fall, 2013

"One thing that I really enjoyed was learning new technology. I liked learning how the sites worked and getting a hands-on experience. The best part though was seeing everyone's fruits of labor at the end and learning from each other." W. G., No Teacher Left Behind participant, Fall, 2013

The JETS Spring 2014 No Teacher Left Behind Course will begin in May 2014.

 

Meet the Chayal

Beth Israel Vancouver Hebrew School students had an opportunity to discuss issues that interested them thanks to this week's online class with JETS director Smadar Goldstein.

The kids were invited to ask any and all of their questions to Sgt. Zevi Wruble who served with the IDF for 2 years.

D: have you ever killed anyone?

Zeevi: No - and I wouldn't want to. 

D: Have you ever been hurt?

Zeevi: I sprained my ankle one week when I was in training. 

E: Do you know anyone who has been hurt?

Zeevi: yes, a lot of my friends; in training, carrying heavy bags, you're going to get a lot of injuries. Another friend had a firebomb thrown at him and he caught on fire. That was bad. But he's ok now. 

E: How old were you when you joined?

Zeevi: 20 - I did hesder; studied for 2 years in yeshiva, then army for 2 years, then yeshiva for another year. Now I'm studying to be a lawyer. 

E: Were you scared before you went in to the army?

Zeevi: I wasn't scared before, but sometimes, when I was doing terrorist raids, I was scared. When the Arabs threw donkeys and refrigerators off the roof on us, we're not even allowed to shoot back, because they are not shooting at us. It happens all the time. 

D: If you're not in combat, what do you do? Like if you have diabetes, like me. 

Zeevi: Only 10% of soldiers are in combat, there's lots of other stuff to do. Cyberwarfare, stuff like that. 

D: I would want to do that. 

D: Were you ever proud of being in the army?

Zeevi: Since the days of King David, there hasn't been a Jewish army. My grandparents are both Holocaust survivors; When I was sworn in, I got a Tanach and a rifle. I thought about how my grandparents in Nazi Europe weren't able to protect themselves, and now, the Jewish country can and always will protect ourselves.  I was proud then. 

D and others: That's really cool. 

E: Was training hard?

Zeevi: YES! They train you not to sleep. We had to walk 40 km hikes with bricks in our bags. 

D: That seems kind of pointless. 

Zeevi: yes, in today's day and age, it does seem pointless. But it's to test you and test your ability that you can do anything, nothing can stand in your way. You help friends, you carry the ones who are having a hard time, on your back. It breeds solidarity and friendship. We also do combat exercises; shooting practice, evening, morning, afternoon drills, war drills, etc. 

D: Do you watch sports in the army? Which ones?

Z: You're assuming we had a TV that worked, that had reception, which never happens. Actually, once I saw Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer game. The whole unit sat and watched the game. After the game, we caught a terrorist. 

D: Are the terrorists violent when you catch them?

Zeevi: Oh, no, they say 'thanks, I didn't want to do that. " they're really nice. 

LAUGHTER. 

Zeevi: But, many of them are quite poor and get paid a lot of money by the PA; the worse the crime, the more money they get. Most of them are not very nice. Some of them do want to be caught. Some shoot at you when you catch them. Sometimes their mothers shoot at you, too. 

D: Have you made any really good friends in the army?

Zeevi: Absolutely. You're sleeping in dirt together 24/7, you're freezing out all night long, nothing around you; you just hug each other for warmth. You're literally glued to them for a year and a half. So, yeah, I had some really good friends in the army. I'm a red head - and American - and named Zeev - there three others like that in the army. We were a trio. 

D: Did you always speak English?

Zeevi: My parents are American, and wanted to live in the Jewish State, so they moved to Israel. But I've always spoken English at home. 

Smadar: Thank you, Zeevi! 

Kids: That was really cool. He's a bowlin' dude! 

Avichai Survey, Lowering Day School Tuition and No Teacher Left Behind

In a 2012 summary of Jewish education in North America, the Avichai Foundation noted that elearning is becoming an increasingly important component of Jewish education in North America.

The Avichai Foundation survey reviewed a number of different elearning models. These included educational institutions where online learning comprises a significant portion of the school experience as well as schools in which elearning is scattered throughout the school day. The Avichai review centered on the use of asynchronous, synchronous and blended learning strategies. Particular attention was paid to the role that elearning may play in helping to lower day school tuition costs.

A year-and-a-half later, the role of online learning in Jewish day schools and supplementary Hebrew schools continues to grow. One of the biggest challenges that Jewish educational institutions face when introducing elearning, however, involves preparing the staff and providing them with the knowledge, tools and comfort-level that they need to facilitate elearning in their classrooms.

Some of the elearning Learning Management Systems and collaborative tools offer helpful tutorials, but most educators who are just beginning to enter the world of online education find these screencasts to be technologically advanced and overwhelming.

For over 2 years, JETS Israel has been presenting a comprehensive course for beginning Jewish online educators. The No Teacher Left Behind course is an 8-week module that gives step-by-step instructions and real-time practice in facilitating online blackboards, Learning Management Systems, audio and video recording tools,  apps and mobile apps, and more.

Recent NTLB sessions have seen the involvement of increasing numbers of teachers from new regions including from Europe and Eastern Europe. The Winter, 2014 Course, which begin on February 19^th 2014, includes educators from the United States, Holland and Israel.

Participants in the Fall, 2013 NTLB class summarized their experience by reviewing the information that they now have at their fingertips:

"I realized that you don't have to be in the classroom to teach students. There is a wide variety of tools which make on-line classes effective and interesting."  B.R., No Teacher Left Behind participant, Fall, 2013

"Learning Management Systems - great organizational tool. Voki/Vocaroo - fantastic to engage students. Social Posters - fast, easy effective way to promote ideas/programs"  C.Y., No Teacher Left Behind participant, Fall, 2013

"One thing that I really enjoyed was learning new technology. I liked learning how the sites worked and getting a hands-on experience. The best part though was seeing everyone's fruits of labor at the end and learning from each other." W. G., No Teacher Left Behind participant, Fall, 2013

The JETS Spring 2014 No Teacher Left Behind Course will begin in May 2014.

 

Drawing Parents Into their Children's Synagogue/Temple Educational Programming

When I was growing up in the '60s, our afternoon Hebrew School, in an effort to mimic the public schools, invited parents to parent-teacher conferences. We kids didn't take these afternoon events very seriously -- most of us felt that Hebrew school wasn't "real" school. Judging by the turnout at these conferences, most of the parents felt the same way (although my parents, to my chagrin, were always the first to arrive). 

Over the years, complementary afternoon schools have experimented with a variety of techniques which are aimed at encouraging parents to become more involved with their children's Jewish learning. Parents are invited in to join school lessons and other experiential educational activities including Shabbat and holiday services, school performances and evening get-togethers. Synagogue and Temple educators place a great deal of emphasis on the importance of involving the families of their students in the curriculum and atmosphere of the school.

Based on the comments of many Jewish educators, these efforts are producing mixed results. Parents are often overwhelmed by their other home and work responsibilities, and find it difficult to participate in their children's complementary school activities. As a result, the parents aren't able to follow-up on their children's Hebrew school curriculum which creates an unfortunate disconnect that Jewish educators would like to address.

Temple Emanuel in Pascack Valley, NJ is working with JETS Israel on a unique project of online education. Among the goals of the program, JETS and Temple Emanuel educational staff want to encourage a higher degree of parental involvement in their children's Hebrew school experience and an increased understanding of what their children are learning.

The project, entitled The Holocaust: Remembering and Rebuilding, provides an overview of the Holocaust and the Rebirth of the State of Israel for the Temple's Bar and Bat Mitzva class. Students meet online over the course of three months to gain a deeper understanding of the Shoah and the establishment of the State of Israel, and how they impacted -- and continues to impact -- the Jewish World.

All of the lessons are conducted online to enable students to sign in from their home and participate virtually. The dynamic lessons move from audio and video clips to selected readings to textual study -- with multiple interactive assignments and activities interspersed among the various presentations. Students create shared documents, online bulletin boards, social posters and collaborative presentations that summarize each week's lesson.

The elearning aspect of the lesson also addresses parental involvement. Parents are invited to participate with their children or, if they prefer, watch a video cast of the session after the lesson to access the material and monitor their own child's participation and progress.

A recent mid-semester questionnaire was presented to both parents and students. The reflections indicated that, not only were the students engaged in the class, but the parents were also knowledgeable about their children's Hebrew school activities and involved in the curriculum.  While the parents suggested that a more community atmosphere is created when the class takes place at the Temple itself, they were enthusiastic about the program and indicated that they would like to see it continue -- perhaps partially at home and partially at the Hebrew School. These comments can now be taken into account when planning future elearning projects.

The following are some of the feedback from students and parents:

A. Kids Speak

Parents Speak:

Benefits of Online Learning for Student Growth and Achievement

The findings of a research project sponsored by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement of the U.S. Department of Education support the claim that the use of technology in the classroom enhances student learning in a number of ways.

*Summary of Findings

The following is a summary of benefits reported by teachers[1]:

Increased Motivation and Self Esteem

The most common--and in fact, nearly universal--teacher-reported effect on students was an increase in motivation. Teachers talked about motivation from a number of different perspectives. Some mentioned motivation with respect to working in a specific subject area, for example, a greater willingness to write or to work on computational skills. Others spoke in terms of more general motivational effects--student satisfaction with the immediate feedback provided by the computer and the sense of accomplishment and power gained in working with technology. Teachers also frequently cite technology's motivational advantages in providing a venue in which a wider range of students can excel. Compared to conventional classrooms with their stress on verbal knowledge and multiple-choice test performance, technology provides a very different set of challenges and different ways in which students can demonstrate what they understand. In addition, technology provides a more neutral playing field that is less intimidating to timid students. As one teacher put it, "The kids that don't necessarily star can become the stars." Another teacher expressed it as follows: "They have a voice and it's not in any way secondary to anybody else's voice. It's an equal voice."

Technical Skills

Students, even at the elementary school level, are able to acquire an impressive level of skill with a broad range of computer tools. Although the specific tools in use will likely change before these students enter the world of work, the students acquire a basic understanding of how various classes of computer tools behave and a confidence about being able to learn to use new tools that will support their learning of new software applications.

Accomplishment of More Complex Tasks

Teachers for the observed classes and activities at the case study sites were nearly unanimous also in reporting that students were able to handle more complex assignments and do more with higher-order skills because of the supports and capabilities provided by technology.

More Collaboration with Peers

Another effect of technology cited by a great majority of teachers is an increased inclination on the part of students to work cooperatively and to provide peer tutoring. While many of the classrooms we observed assigned technology-based projects to small groups of students, even when each student has a computer and works "independently", teachers note an increased frequency of students helping each other. The public display and greater legibility of student work creates an invitation to comment. Students often comment on each others' work, offer assistance, and discussing what they are doing. One teacher made the point that the technology invites peer coaching. In addition, students' ability to collaborate on substantive content can be further enhanced through the use of computer applications specifically designed for this purpose.

Breaking Down Classroom Walls - Increased Use of Outside Resources

Many teachers cited increased use of outside resources as a benefit of using technology. Not only are more resources available online through internet searches, but social media now enables students to access to peers or experts who can provide information or expertise on the particular subject under discussion.

Improved Design Skills/Attention to Audience

Experiences in developing the kinds of rich, multimedia products that can be produced with technology, particularly when the design is done collaboratively so that students experience their peers' reactions to their presentations, appear to support a greater awareness of audience needs and perspectives. Multiple media give students choices about how best to convey a given idea (e.g., through text, video, animation). In part because they have the capability to produce more professional-looking products and the tools to manipulate the way information is presented, students in many technology-using classes are reportedly spending more time on design and audience presentation issues.

*Similar findings were highlighted in more recent research done by Gulek and Demirtas in their evaluation of Microsoft’s Anywhere Learning Project.[2] Their research demonstrated positive results on student learning and curriculum delivery, as summarized below:

Student Outcomes:

·         Laptops lead to more student writing and to writing of higher quality

·         Laptops increase access to information and improve research analysis skills

Laptop Students:

·         Spend more time engaging in collaborative work than non-laptop students.

·         Participate in more project-based instruction.

·         Become collaborators (interact with each other about their work).

·         Direct their own learning.

·         Report a greater reliance on active learning strategies.

·         Readily engage in problem solving and critical thinking.

·         Consistently show deeper and more flexible use of technology.

·         Spend more time doing homework on computers.

Teacher Outcomes:

·         Teachers who use laptops use a more constructivist approach to teaching.

·         Teachers who use laptops feel more empowered in the classroom.

·         Teachers who use laptops spend less time lecturing.

*Conclusion

The rapid development of the internet and social networking in the 21st century has changed the way in which students learn, and potentially the way in which teachers teach. In the short number of years since these studies were conducted, the increased sophistication of online tools and social media have even increased the potential of online technology to enhance student learning. It is therefore critical that teachers become familiar with and proficient in the use of the easily accessible resources that can more effectively engage our students in the learning process - to enhance their classroom experience and to enable them to generate their own learning beyond the classroom.

  

[1] Most of the information in this paper is taken from this report, which can be found at http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/EdReformStudies/EdTech/effectsstudents.html.

[2] Geulek, J. C. and Demirtas, H., "Learning with Technology: The Impact of Laptop Use on Student Achievement", Journal of Technology, Learning, and Assessment 3(2), January 2005, pp. 5-6. Can be found online at: http://napoleon.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/jtla/article/viewFile/1655/1501 . 

Shutafut Twinning Partnership -- Israel and American Diaspora Communities

A Lens on Jewish eLearning in Poland

Teachers in Poland have learned that eLearning offers unique opportunities to engage  students who live in outlying areas and have no access to formal Jewish education

""I just wanted to tell you that as a way of involving the kids from the e-school, together with the following institutions:The Lauder-Morasha Schools and the JOINT /JCC Warsaw, I arranged a photography contest called: "Jewish Poland than and now" .  The exhibitionon is on a display at The Museum of The History of Polish Jews and is open to public for one month! The Museum also wants to display the photography exhibit at the Virtual Shtetl project on-line in the future. We had a big finale, this past Sunday at The Museum and the children from the e-school came to Warsaw and where awarded diplomas and prizes.. All the materials for the contest were used, of course, online."

(Hadassah Buchwald-Pawlak, co-founder and project manager of the Lauder eSchool of Poland)

Providing an online Hebrew School environment for Jewish youngsters who don't have an available or accessible local complementary Hebrew School is a concept which is gaining in popularity in Jewish communities throughout the world.

Originally, online Hebrew Schools were established for English-speaking students. The idea was quickly adopted by educational leaders in other countries who immediately grasped the value of the model. Online Hebrew Schools enable students to log into their class from any location and engage in the lesson while meeting, virtually, other Jewish students from different localities.

In Eastern Europe, the Lauder organization has been leading the movement to make Jewish education available to all Jewish youngsters via distance learning frameworks. The Lauder eSchool operates in Germany, Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic with a similar program slated to open next year in Moscow. The Lauder e-School is a key component in the non--profit Lauder organization's mission to promote the revival of the Jewish community throughout Europe. The school offers "secular" subjects as well as a Jewish focus and attracts youngsters from various backgrounds, ranging from families who are involved in their Jewish communities to those who have little or no Jewish background or affiliation.

A key component of Lauder's eSchool involves training the teachers in the various facets of distance learning. Since 2011 Lauder has been turning to the JETS: Jerusalem EdTech Solutions  program to prepare the educators to teach online. The teachers begin to develop the knowledge and skills that they'll need to teach online courses via the JETS No Teacher Left Behind Course. No Teacher Left Behind familiarizes teachers with online tools and methodologies that empower them to teach online.

Hadassah values her experiences with the JETS program when she wrote "I can tell you that, whenever I have the opportunity to talk about e-school I always say that we were all instructed by JETS -- even when I was at a conference in Madrid."

Many of the Lauder No Teacher Left Behind participants have chosen to further their learning and participate in JETS eLearning Community of Jewish Educators. The year-long eCom asynchronous course is facilitated on a Learning Management System which enables all participants to access materials, practice new tools and skills and interact among themselves as they learn how to including LMS learning in their own elearning "classrooms." Lauder educators are involved in the eLearning Community where they can trade ideas and experiences with Jewish educators from throughout the world.

The Lauder photography contest was part of a bigger educational project called "Kamienice Ya'akova" - "Ohalej Ya'akov". The program was developed by the following: 

• The Lauder-Morasha Schools
• Lauder e-Learning Schools
• Funacja Swiat na wyciagniecie reki
• Museum of the History of Polish Jews
• JCC Warsaw.

Photography contest participants were from: The Lauder-Morasha kindergarten, Lauder e-Learning Schools and Joint/JCC Warsaw.