Part 2
The very idea of school has already begun to change and there is no going back. It is taking place in the public schools, in private schools, and is trickling down to the Jewish day-schools. (Technology for congregational schools merits a separate column.) The educational revolution has begun. However, there is danger in people falling for the hype. Total change in education will not come as quickly as many predict. Although the technology to change the classroom exists already, the challenge is using it effectively. As schools rely more on laptops and mobile devices, it is crucial to determine when students benefit from the presence of the computers and when teachers should put them away.
The great sage Hillel, responding to the potential convert’s request for the quick educational fix, ‘taught’ him a fundamental principle, and told him zil gmor, go learn. Teachers, with proper support, should (in theory) be happy to learn new things to improve the quality of education in their classrooms. That’s what the art of teaching is all about: constant pedagogical development and improvement of curriculum delivery. This leads to increased engagement of students with their learning. It’s the secret of advances in education all over the world. It should work for us, too.
Teachers and administrators need time, support and encouragement to change what happens in the classroom. At least two of those three things require money that is always in short supply. When schools ask for change and supply too few avenues to make it happen, teachers become cynical and tend to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Education does not get better because there is technology in the room, or because teachers went to a training session or because insufficiently trained teachers think that it magically should. It gets better because of the hard work in changing pedagogical practice to implement 21st century methods and tools. Too few educators have learned the lesson that bringing technology into the classroom changes most everything that goes on in that classroom. Students with computers and network access need no longer sit idly as vessels to be filled. There are vast resources available to our students, more than any classroom or school library ever had; texts of rabbinic learning, secondary texts, images, videos, etc. But with the use of these tools, as integral “engines” of the learning process, comes the need to leave other methods behind as well as the constant need to learn new things. That learning journey of the teacher’s is one of the most powerful modeling tools for student learning.
What is it that modern classroom technology does for student learning? We should be way beyond the days of expensive substitutes for paper and chalkboard. PowerPoint presentations and aimless web surfing do little for improving education. With our powerful data networks and the WWW, Web2.0 tools (many free) and relatively inexpensive hardware, handheld devices and smartphones, the learning in the classroom can be deep, engaging and differentiated using computers.
What prevents this from happening? Too much contemporary pedagogy, classroom management, curriculum and student work ignores the way well executed modern tools and techniques can engage students in their work. When you do the same old stuff, even with computers, you get the same old stuff. As the saying goes: “Junk in, junk out. “When you use these tools properly and creatively you can put the power of the 21st century in the hands of its owners and you empower them to inquire and engage.
Enabling students to discover, communicate and create with 21st century tools is hugely important to their lives and our Jewish future. We don’t want generations of students who live lives supported by digital computers in all but one area, Jewish learning. Surely Google Earth can be of help in understanding a Biblical description of a battle; desktop publishing the weekend edition of the newspaper from the week of Dvorah’s great battle requires deep engagement with the text; using digital storytelling/video/audio to review/report/recreate the Joseph narrative; blogging can be a form of Talmud Torah or midrash. And there are museum visits, collaboration via video conferencing, webinars with students all over the world, access to hundreds of lecture on Jewish topics…and on and on and on.
When someone sets about to develop or integrate digital educational resources, they are in effect engaged in curriculum development. Schools have limited resources with a list of priorities. Curriculum development (technology related or not) may not be on that list of priorities. In general studies students have professionally developed textbooks (many of which are about to go digital). Our Jewish studies students are still walking around with photocopied sheets flying out of their backpacks and monochromatic texts. In terms of curriculum development, Jewish educators are essentially told “you are on your own.” If a product is out there, a school might purchase it, otherwise the burden falls onto the individual teacher to create whatever curricular content they want to use. Many of these teachers might not be trained in curriculum development and many of them might spend many hours out of class preparing these “sheets.” Hours of sleep are lost which might translate into a compromised educational experience for students, but schools don’t look at it that way. Why spend money when I don’t have to? I can put the curriculum development responsibility on the individual teacher and put my money elsewhere.
Jewish day schools have a Hebrew literacy problem. We have no standardized method of testing students each year to see how much they know relative to their age group. Very few schools even specify to their Judaic Studies teachers which skills they want their students to master in each grade level and have it mapped out as part of an overall plan for ensuring Jewish literacy. Do we really want to continue this “successful” trend of pushing curriculum development to the wayside? Do we really want to ignore an area where technology can be extremely helpful?
Our children deserve a high-quality, stimulating and engaging Jewish education. If we want high-quality curriculum development, and especially if we want digital curriculum development, we will need to pay for it. The principles of group purchasing can be applied to group training and group curriculum development. Teachers must be incentivized as were the first very successful cohorts of Hebrew in America. That initiative unfortunately ran out of money after five years. We as a community cannot afford to be bystanders this time around.
Part of the problem until now is that currently schools don’t have a unified set of standards leaving would-be publishers or content creators on their own. The market is small and fragmented. Yet, all day schools teach basically the same content. If those schools that share similar goals can get together to create a plan and back it up with content development, their students would really benefit.
Teachers are creating Wikis and using Googledocs in the classroom. Students are taking notes on their “Notes” app. Technology has made it possible to level the learning field for many students. Those with disgraphia and those who are visual learners are better serviced. The forgetful student can log on to his virtual classroom to find the homework assignment he did not record while at school. With iPads on every desk, students can practice revision religiously in their writing.
There are many issues affecting Jewish schools. Why don’t Jewish students feel comfortable reading Rashi script? Are they giving up the study of Tosafot? Why are they afraid to read aloud (in both English and Jewish Studies classes)? When a teacher or fellow student shares a thought, why can’t these students rephrase what has been said? Will they be able to speak out in the college classroom? Will they advocate for themselves in the corporate environment? Too many have been Artscrolled and are tourists in their own literature.
Technology has made it easier to differentiate instruction and make it fun for students to do collaborative learning. How can we accomplish this?
Within five years, every area of Jewish school life, from administration to instruction and classroom management, will involve technology. This is a world of change, innovation and transformation. Educators must put aside their fear of the unknown, explore this new media and, in the very least, understand the world of GenNext. We must invest heavily in pre-professional training and professional development so that our Jewish educators can know at least as much as the average fifth grader about what is technologically possible.
By Dr. Wallace Greene
