Jewish Portal of Teacher Education

Source: The Online Academy for Jewish Studies

The MOFET Institute's Online Academy is running its first semester and has opened registration for the winter semester of online courses whose main objective is to prepare teachers, educators and leaders in Jewish communities in the Diaspora for their mission. The courses, in areas that are suitable for educators and leaders in the Jewish world as well as students in universities and colleges in the fields of the didactics and pedagogy of teaching Jewish subjects in the Diaspora, are taught via the internet, a-synchronously with synchronous components. The course developers and lecturers are all experts in their fields and senior staff members of Israel's top institutes of higher education.

This year the Academy is offering courses in 4 programs:

• The Didactics of Teaching Hebrew as a Foreign Language
• The Didactics of Teaching the Holocaust
• The Didactics of Teaching Talmudic Literature and Oral Law
• The Didactics of Teaching The Cycle of the Jewish Year

Among the courses currently offered are:

• Theory and Practice in Teaching Hebrew in the Diaspora (Hebrew program) - The course, taught by Dr. Luba Harlap, is mainly a theoretical introduction to teaching the language by outlining approaches to the practice of teaching Hebrew as a Foreign Language. 
   
• Sentence Syntax and Text Syntax (Hebrew program) - The course, taught by Dr. Orly Albeck, focuses on areas of modern syntax, such as: the structure of the sentence and the text, and semantic and pragmatic attributes of the sentence and the text. 
   
• Reading Comprehension and Listening Comprehension (Hebrew program) - The course, taught by Dr. Rakefet Dilmon, aims to impart principles of reading comprehension and listening comprehension, the ability to teach lessons in reading and listening comprehension, and experience and practice in both types, using texts that correspond to teaching at different levels. 
   
• The Internet and Multimedia as Tools for Developing Oral and Written Expression (Hebrew program) - In this course, taught by Mr. Ram Steiner, the participants will acquire novel Internet and multimedia teaching tools for developing Hebrew expression. 
   
• Context-Dependent Grammar: Selected Grammatical Topics and Methodological Suggestions for Teaching (Hebrew program) - Taught by Dr. Orly Albeck 
   
• Picture, Sound, Language – Israeli Cinema as a Tool for Expression in Hebrew  (Hebrew program) – Taught by Mr. Ram Steiner   
   
• Teaching the Holocaust through Narrative (Holocaust program) - This course, taught by Dr. Keren Goldbard, seeks to familiarize the student with the challenges involved in teaching the Holocaust through Narrative, and to present educational strategies and teaching methods designed to confront these challenges. 
   
• And thou Shalt Tell Thy Son: Holocaust Commemoration Day Ceremony (Holocaust program) - The course, taught by Dr. Israel Rabinowitz, stresses the importance of the commemoration ceremony in both the personal and public discourse that deals with the familiar and charged story called the Holocaust.
   
•  Teaching Mishnah - Goals and Skills (Talmud program) - This course, taught by Dr. Avraham Walfish, examines methods of teaching Mishnah, the foundational document of Talmudic Literature and Oral Law.
• Teaching Aggadah - Midrash, Talmudic Stories, Parables, and Sayings  (Talmud program) – This course, taught by Dr. Rivka Raviv, examines, the most fundamental components of Aggadah in the literature of the sages, as well as the manner in which Aggadah can be included in the teaching process.
• Gateway to Talmud - Using Mishnah and Tannaitic Texts in Talmud Teaching - (Talmud program) - Taught by Dr. Zvi Kanarick
   
• Ways and Means of Teaching The Tishrei Festivals (Jewish Cycle program) - The course, taught by Dr. Izak Rossler, aims to provide the learner with tools and skills for building intelligent, rational, and experiential learning plans based on didactic and pedagogic considerations with regard to the teaching of Jewish holidays.

The cost for each course is $250 with reductions for multiple course enrollment. Tuition reductions are available for Jewish educational institutions for registration of a number of teachers. In addition, a grant for this study framework, allows offering a scholarship for one student when 5 or more teachers from the same institution register for a specific course.

Registration for the Winter Semester (which begins in February, 2010) is now open! 

For information about one or more courses, please complete and submit this form.