Jewish Education Change Network

Stepping Through the Door Together - Now's the Time

“I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date!” I feel like the white rabbit. You know, rushing hither and yon, trying to figure out how to get where I need to go without being too distracted by all the tweets, network posts, and blogs I follow; not to mention the old technologies like the printed word and emails. There is so much information available to us. If I miss a day of twitter, I feel it’s a catastrophe.

I’m not a technical neophyte. I sort of know what’s going on. Can you imagine being someone who has never tweeted, doesn’t know what a wiki is, thinks a glog is a type of fruit, and is trying to just stay afloat in this ever changing new world, let alone explore the Jewish educational cloud? There are so many resources and new technologies that appear daily. It’s easy to be intimidated. There are probably fantastic teachers in the front lines who are so afraid of trying to figure this stuff out that they retreat into their old tried but true habits, becoming increasingly irrelevant in the classroom. I know that there are folks who left both the JEA and NATE conferences with a sense of despair at not knowing how to proceed. Those who were unable to attend either conference are even more lost. I believe that the time has come for us to help our teachers, especially those working in congregational/supplemental schools, break out of their shells to find a new comfort level in tomorrow.

We can lower the level of stress associated with learning new edtech skills by creating an accessible portal through which our teachers will learn to use the tools they need to move forward. We are all searching for scrapes of knowledge wherever we can find them. There’s too much out there that’s spread all over the place. We no longer have the one conference a year where we all came together to learn. Now's the time to get organized again!

This is what I propose: Let's create a new trans-denominational platform for Jewish educators of all flavors to gather virtually or, if practical and affordable, f2f to explore the possibilities that tomorrow presents. This collaborative cloud-based venue would be a forum that would promote dialogue, teaching and learning. It would be a consortium of all professional development providers that would “push” the opportunities to learn to us all. I’m talking one-stop-shopping - a mall for Jewish education. It would be one venue that would offer educators and knowledge seekers ALL the opportunities and resources to enhance the field of Jewish education: A 21^st century virtual Pumbadita, if you will - an on-line center for Jewish learning that would be comprehensive, all inclusive and easy to access.

This idea will be made real as a result of cooperation and collaboration between all Jewish education service providers, both those affiliated with a movement, like NATE and the JEA, as well as others like JESNA and PELIE. We all need to work together. We need to move forward now.

I’ve started to have conversations about this vision with individuals affiliated with different groups and organizations. People are interested in seeing this come to fruition. I believe it is now the appropriate moment to widen the circle and have an expanded group of those who care about the future of Jewish education come together and brainstorm how to make a new Jewish Professional Learning Network happen. Dr. Jonathan Woocher, the Chief Ideas Officer and Director of the Lippman Kanfer Institute, has indicated that he is happy to host such a web meeting.

This is a concrete call to action. If you are interested in joining in the conversation and taking part in a virtual brainstorming session, email me, Peter Eckstein at terrapin@mindspring.com

If not now, when?

Crossposted from The Fifth Child

Tags: Assembly, Education, Educators, Innovation, Jewish, NATE, Supplementary, congregational, education, future, More…schools

0 members like this

Comment by Marc Stober on March 9, 2011 at 4:26pm: Isn't that what this web site is already about?

Or in F2F events, the NewCAJE conference?

Comment by Robin Wood on March 9, 2011 at 5:11pm: great idea. I've been thinking about this, too. I sent you an e-mail because I think the Mandel Institute at Brandeis is working on something along these lines. I have time to work. Look forward to hearing more

Comment by Sara Losch on March 9, 2011 at 6:00pm: A "glog"??!?!?!?

Comment by Peter Eckstein on March 9, 2011 at 8:30pm: Sara - go here to find out about glogs: http://edu.glogster.com/

Comment by Peter Eckstein on March 9, 2011 at 8:31pm: Marc - I'm not sure that NewCaje isn't an answer, though I'm not sure what they are up to. Also, this network might work too, though what I envision might be more elaborate than this - but the point of what I wrote was to start the conversation and see where it takes us.

Comment by Peter Eckstein on March 9, 2011 at 8:31pm: Robin - what's Mandel Institute up to?

Comment by Andrea RC Kasper on March 10, 2011 at 5:02am: There is no doubt that this is necessary....and NEWcaje is not only up to the task they are making it happen. you can visit them at www.newcaje.org, they need people to help and lots of young educators ready. They had a conference last year and are working to build it further this year. They are producing a set of webinars at the moment to help with funding for NEWcaje and also to provide education throughout the year. Please visit and share what you think!

Comment by Arnold Rotenberg on March 10, 2011 at 9:59am: I think this is wonderful idea; something I know my staff could really use, and would use.

Let's do it.

Comment by Abe Katz on March 10, 2011 at 11:15am: I applaud any effort to bring Jewish Education into the 21st Century and to do so across denominational lines. However, I see one major stumbling block; Hebrew language skills. In my opinion, Jewish education that is not built around solid Hebrew language skills is doomed to failure because those who do not have those skills, can make very little progress in their Jewish study because Judaism is built around 2000 years of Hebrew and Aramaic texts. That is why despite my affiliation with Orthodox Judaism, I am supporter of charter schools. With a charter school education, a child should develop strong Hebrew language skills which will open up for him/her those 2000 years of texts.

Comment by Peter Eckstein on March 10, 2011 at 12:50pm: Andrea - NEWcaje should and can be a part of this endeaver, I have no doubt. I think there are a lot of facets involved - both F2F opportunities like this summer's Moreh L'Morim Summer Institute at Siegal College as well as whatever NEWcaje develops. What I'm thinking about is a something that transcends traditional conferences - that exists in the cloud.

We have much to discuss, and I hope you will be part of that conversation!

Comment