Source: The PEJE Blog
Charles Cohen of PEJE's Affordability Knowledge Center reviews the vigorous digital debate touched off in response to the release of the Center's blended-learning white paper. Much of this discussion took place on both the PEJE Blog and JEDLAB, the new destination for Jewish educational debate and sharing knowledge.
He writes:
"It started with a great blog post by Educational Technology Director Russel Neiss—written in response to this blended-learning white paper. From there, the conversation exploded across multiple platforms, and covered a plethora of issues relating to blended learning and affordability. Jon Mitzmacher, Head of the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School in Jacksonville, Florida, effectively laid out the issue: “I’m all for making day school more affordable. And I’m all for replacing teachers who are ineffective. And I’m all for utilizing the latest technology. I’m just not sure they all go together in as neat a package as we may wish.”
The most impassioned comments were in support of teachers, and the primacy of education in this discussion. Dr. Eliezer Jones at Yeshiva University’s Open Day School said that “schools exploring ways to be affordable should be supported as long as teaching and learning is the main driver and affordability is the passenger.”
Cohen concludes:
"While blended learning has been an important topic for the past couple of years, these recent discussions have been a great example of how the Affordability Knowledge Center can use its research and network to engage new participants, and to give lay leaders, educators, students and advocates a means to learn from and engage with each other. Hopefully subsequent research will lead to similarly enthusiastic debate."
Read his entire enlightening post on the PEJE Blog.