|
Feb. 17, 2012
New virtual classroom
JFC-UIA online education program is free.
JAN LEE
This year, some of Canada’s smallest Jewish communities will have access to a new online educational program that is specifically designed for Jews living outside of major metropolitan areas.
According to Daniel Stern, who serves as the director of regional communities for Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA (JFC-UIA), more than 20,000 Jews in Canada live in communities that aren’t affiliated with JFC-UIA and have little or no access to Jewish educational services. To address this issue, JFC-UIA has launched Virtual Cheder, a free, multi-faceted Internet program that allows students and instructors to interact through an open blog, discussions and weekly online presentations. As the name suggests, the free program is designed to fulfil all of the functions of a classroom.
“The reality is that a lot of these small communities and people living in these communities don’t have the access to this type of quality of education,” Stern said, noting that students can participate in the Virtual Cheder program anywhere there is an Internet connection available. The three courses offered each term are tailored according to age group: adults, teens and kids ages eight to 12.
“We really see the value of this [program] in connecting someone, say, here in rural British Columbia, with someone who is living ... in rural Nova Scotia, and for these people [to be able] to start a relationship in communication about specific topics, and bounce off ideas about the courses they are taking.”
Stern said the program evolved from a conference that JFC-UIA had organized with Ontario and Atlantic Canada participants a couple of years ago. The participants “loved the idea of using technology to get quality Jewish educational programs to their communities,” he said, adding that the planners realized that the program would be “undiscovered territory” when they launched the pilot courses last year.
“[It] was kind of like riding with training wheels: we had three four-week courses, one for each age group,” he explained, noting that the Virtual Cheder approach was similar to that of a university distance-education program.
Talia Oziel, who teaches this term’s adult-level course called Finding G-d, said the goal of this semester is to create an online community in which all the participants can benefit from the varied experience of the other students.
The students are in a “unique situation of their own, trying to grasp on to their Jewish heritage and Jewish identity,” said Oziel. She pointed out that many of them live in remote areas and may be trying to reconnect with their heritage and Jewish traditions through a perhaps unorthodox method: the Internet. So far, she said, the course seems to be providing that support.
“I am thrilled about how much people have been active on the blog,” said Oziel, who lives in Toronto and is a full-time Jewish educator.
Most weekly classes begin with a video on a designated topic. The students can access the video or assignment according to their own schedules, and are encouraged to post their comments on an open blog. The forum serves as a virtual blackboard for brainstorming and enriching each other’s perspectives. The video helps with inspiration, but it is the students’ contributions and discussions that fulfil the course’s interactive exchange.
The teen program is entitled Famous (And not so Famous) Jews Doing Mostly Amazing Things, and features stories and discussions about contemporary Jewish heroes such as Steven Spielberg and other Hollywood greats.
“If you were ever looking for a reason to be proud of your heritage,” notes the course summary, “here it is.”
The course for kids aged eight to 12 introduces the Jewish calendar through “celebrating the Jewish year.” It offers a platform for kids to discuss what it means to celebrate being a Jew through Judaism’s many yearly milestones.
Both the teen and younger children’s programs are taught by Devorah Katz, an experienced educator from Canada based in Israel.
“I make sure there is a lot creativity and a lot of different ways to engage the students,” said Katz, who added that she was excited to “jump on board” with this cutting-edge program.
“Virtual Cheder is creating a new model of education,” she noted. “It is, in its essence, making Jewish education accessible to anyone anywhere.”
Registration for the Winter 2012 term continues to grow. According to Stern, word of mouth and JFC-UIA’s continued effort to find and connect with rural Jewish families has helped nurture an interest in the program. Communities in Ontario, British Columbia and the Atlantic provinces have so far shown the greatest interest, he said, and registration in the Prairies continues to increase, in large part due to advertising by Edmonton’s Jewish Federation.
According to Stern, the funding for the program is driven by JFC-UIA’s annual fundraising campaign. He noted that the program would not be able to exist without these donations.
“[It] is only through that sense of collective responsibility from across the country that we are able to find the resources to offer this type of program,” he said.
Virtual Cheder will be offering two terms in 2012, each with three age-designated courses. The winter courses run for approximately seven weeks, and they started on Feb. 5 (students still can register and participate). The spring-term courses will go online just after Passover.
Information and links are available at jewishcanada.org by clicking on the Canadian postage stamp on the left and then following the links for Virtual Cheder (in the lower left-hand side of the next page). Stern can be reached by phone at 1-416-636-7655, ext. 5501, and by e-mail at [email protected].
Jan Lee is the topic editor and a feature writer for Suite101.com’s Judaism section (jan-lee.suite101.com). Her articles on Northwest history, travel and culture have been published in Canada, the United States, Britain and Australia.
^TOP
|
