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Online programs are becoming more ubiquitous in higher education; however, there has been a lack of research on the merit of this style of educating. Using the concept of constructivism as a framework, the idea that individuals construct their own understanding of world experiences, the authors generated a case study to explore the efficacy of teaching "'havruta' study," text analysis in student pairs with instructor facilitation, in an online format. Findings suggest that, through careful consideration of communication styles and student needs, highly interactive in-house courses can be adapted to online settings.

In this article we analyze moviemaking as a unique pedagogy that is used in a preservice semester in Israel program for the preparation of Israel educators: Students create their own short films about an aspect of Israeli society and/or their relationship with it. We analyze the students' movies, together with students' reflective papers about the process of making them, and show how this pedagogy exhibits the major characteristics of progressive constructivist education. We also show how the pedagogy enables students to grapple with difficult aspects of Israel in a personally compelling fashion.

In this article we explore how we as teacher educators translate a new vision of Israel education into curricular practice in the preparation of emerging Jewish educators. Using a practitioner inquiry mode of research, we reflect on our existential vision of Israel education and its translation into practice as creators and directors of a semester in Israel program. Analyzing a variety of data sources--including internal and external documents, course syllabi, the program's experiential components, and strategic institutional partnerships, as well as students' course papers, emails, exit interviews, and oral conversations--we find that an immersive cultural curriculum yields important outcomes for students who engage with our vision of Israel education.

This article explores how arts-based learning can facilitate understandings of Jewish religious texts. Through practical examples drawn from our own research, from the worlds of dance, drama, and the visual arts in education, we demonstrate the ways in which arts can allow for the transmission of information and knowledge, as well as offer a "transformative" learning experience; a student can bring the text to life while bringing the text "into" his or her life. We stress the primary importance and centrality of sacred text within Jewish tradition and assert that the written text should serve in Jewish education as the starting point. The ultimate goal, however, is to enable learners' personal connection with texts. We argue that learning through the arts opens up opportunities for multiple shared interpretations of text, as well as accentuation of the "affective" dimensions of Jewish textual learning. By becoming more aware of the varied possible paths for generating learning activities, educators might choose learning strategies that enable an integration of both the cognitive and affective domains. The examples of Arts Reflective learning demonstrate possibilities for the structuring of "teaching towards transformation." (Contains 1 figure.)

Traditionally, the arts have been absent from Jewish day schools' curricula, and have been relegated to occasional visual art classes, choral music courses, or extra-curricular classes after school hours. Lately, along with a surge of new Jewish day schools, the arts are making their way back into the Judaic study curriculum. In this paper, the author explores how integrating the arts into the curriculum shapes the teaching and curriculum at the Blossom School, an arts-based Jewish day school. (Contains 8 footnotes.)

This article examines the practice of teaching content-based disciplines through visual art. Qualitative and ethnographic methods are used in researching the teaching practice of a Bible teacher in a Jewish day school. The teaching method under study provides for active learning of the biblical text and demonstrates sensitivity to students' diverse theological backgrounds, various levels of text knowledge, and different modalities of learning. Acknowledgment of the diversity of students' strengths helps students to cross the bridge between biblical time and the present and creates opportunities for creating connections between subjects that are not possible with more traditional teaching methods.

Online programs are becoming more ubiquitous in higher education; however, there has been a lack of research on the merit of this style of educating. Using the concept of constructivism as a framework, the idea that individuals construct their own understanding of world experiences, the authors generated a case study to explore the efficacy of teaching “havrutastudy,” text analysis in student pairs with instructor facilitation, in an online format. Findings suggest that, through careful consideration of communication styles and student needs, highly interactive in-house courses can be adapted to online settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we analyze moviemaking as a unique pedagogy that is used in a preservice semester in Israel program for the preparation of Israel educators: Students create their own short films about an aspect of Israeli society and/or their relationship with it. We analyze the students’ movies, together with students’ reflective papers about the process of making them, and show how this pedagogy exhibits the major characteristics of progressive constructivist education. We also show how the pedagogy enables students to grapple with difficult aspects of Israel in a personally compelling fashion. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this article we explore how we as teacher educators translate a new vision of Israel education into curricular practice in the preparation of emerging Jewish educators. Using a practitioner inquiry mode of research, we reflect on our existential vision of Israel education and its translation into practice as creators and directors of a semester in Israel program. Analyzing a variety of data sources—including internal and external documents, course syllabi, the program’s experiential components, and strategic institutional partnerships, as well as students’ course papers, emails, exit interviews, and oral conversations—we find that an immersive cultural curriculum yields important outcomes for students who engage with our vision of Israel education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how arts-based learning can facilitate understandings of Jewish religious texts. Through practical examples drawn from our own research, from the worlds of dance, drama, and the visual arts in education, we demonstrate the ways in which arts can allow for the transmission of information and knowledge, as well as offer a “transformative” learning experience; a student can bring the text to life while bringing the text into his or her life. We stress the primary importance and centrality of sacred text within Jewish tradition and assert that the written text should serve in Jewish education as the starting point. The ultimate goal, however, is to enable learners' personal connection with texts. We argue that learning through the arts opens up opportunities for multiple shared interpretations of text, as well as accentuation of the “affective” dimensions of Jewish textual learning. By becoming more aware of the varied possible paths for generating learning activities, educators might choose learning strategies that enable an integration of both the cognitive and affective domains. The examples of Arts Reflective learning demonstrate possibilities for the structuring of “teaching towards transformation.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how integrating the arts into the curriculum has shaped the educational program at Blossom School, an arts-based Jewish day school. Traditionally, the arts have been absent from Jewish day school curricula, and have been reduced to occasional classes in visual art , choral music, or extra-curricular activities after school hours. Lately, along with a surge of new Jewish day schools, the arts are making their way back into the Judaic study curriculum. Jewish day schools are overburdened by the extensive curriculum requirements. As a result, the arts and many forms of experiential and creative learning are ignored in Jewish day schools, as these schools tend to focus on the rote learning of texts. Jewish education is fundamentally text-based and most educators believe that making knowledgeably Jewish students requires practice and mimetic education . However, reading is only the beginning of Jewish education. The ultimate goal of teaching Jewish texts requires understanding and interpretation by the mind and transformation of the spirit.

This article examines the practice of teaching content-based disciplines through visual art. Qualitative and ethnographic methods are used in researching the teaching practice of a Bible teacher in a Jewish day school. The teaching method under study provides for active learning of the biblical text and demonstrates sensitivity to students' diverse theological backgrounds, various levels of text knowledge, and different modalities of learning. Acknowledgment of the diversity of students' strengths helps students to cross the bridge between biblical time and the present and creates opportunities for creating connections between subjects that are not possible with more traditional teaching methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]