From The New York Times:

SINGAPORE — The newest catchphrase in online education is social learning.

Several start-up companies have begun offering cloud-based platforms that combine education and social media. Companies like Teamie, based in Singapore, provide software that lets teachers create, share and manage academic content, and also let students collaborate on assignments on platforms that are similar to the "walls" used on Facebook.

Read the full article in The New York Times...

From eJewishPhilanthropy:

Kick-starting the holiday of Shavuot, Sh'ma, a journal of Jewish ideas, is hosting its second "virtual tisch" – a unique online, interactive learning table that will foster Jewish connection and global conversation. Once again, Rabbi David Ingber of Romemu, a New York City-based spiritual community, will lead the learning session. will lead the learning session.

"The May issue of Sh'ma, 'Claiming Torah,' coincides with Shavuot, when, tradition tells us, the Torah was revealed," said Editor-in-Chief Susan Berrin. "Jews throughout the world have long marked the eve of the festival with a tikkun leilShavuot, an all night text study session that includes conversation, reenactments, and explorations of how Torah and learning shape our lives. Our tisch, we hope, will spur connection and introspection in the days leading to the holiday."

Read the full article in eJewishPhilanthropy...

From eJewishPhilanthropy:

If you do anything professionally related to online technology, you understand the immense amount of data you need to sort through daily. There are the daily content roundups, blogs to read, Facebook posts and to check, tweets to scroll through, and news sites. That doesn't include whatever else arrives in your inbox. I literally cannot keep up with all that I want to know about social media technology and its use for engagement, fundraising and advocacy. It's really ... too much to know. That's when I began trusting the curators.

Trusting the curators was a strategy I employed to begin to figure out what to read, what I needed to read, and what others that I trusted thought was important to read. We cannot read it all. We cannot begin to imagine trying to read it all. We must trust to the curators.

Read the full article in eJewishPhilanthropy...

From The Rochester MN Post-Bulletin:

It wasn't long ago when students would be kicked out of classrooms for using cellphones and social media in school.

But now, as more teachers begin to recognize the added teaching and learning capabilities that the social Web can provide, they're starting to embrace these former "distractions" by incorporating them into their classrooms.

Read the full article in The Rochester MN Post-Bulletin...

From eJewishPhilanthropy:

Hillel has served Jewish college students for almost 90 years. Our success is the result of constantly innovating the way we engage students, and we continue that trend with the development of Hillel Connect, a mobile application aimed at the student campus community that provides an interactive and lively means for Jewish students to stay connected to Jewish life. Because Hillel serves the most technologically advanced audience on the planet – college students – Hillel Connect strives to take advantage of existing social media channels and offer students something familiar, useful and attractive as they seek to engage with Jewish life on campus.

Read the full article at eJewishPhilanthropy...

From KQED Mind/Shift:

Just a few years ago, the idea of using a mobile phone as a legitimate learning tool in school seemed far-fetched, if not downright blasphemous. Kids were either prohibited from bringing their phones to school, or at the very least told to shut it off during school hours.

But these days, it's not unusual to hear a teacher say, "Class, turn on your cell. It's time to work."

Read the full article at Mind/Shift...

From eJewishPhilanthropy:

Jewish day school development lives or dies on the strength of an institution's philanthropic kehillah. If you create robust, honest relationships with donors and prospective donors, you have a viable development program. If not, not.

Social media functions precisely the same way: great relationships create success. Interact well in the online world, and you'll project a vital digital presence. And if you don't, you won't.

Read the full article in eJewishPhilanthropy...

From eJewishPhilanthropy:

So much attention is focused today on technology and especially social media as a platform to inform, educate and organize. Not a day goes by without some mention of the dynamics of Facebook and Twitter, and even eJewish Philanthropy almost always includes citations about the power of technology for nonprofits. This has prompted us to conduct an unofficial survey of a number of Jewish nonprofits, investigating how they are utilizing social media and how it enables them to meet the demands that they and their leaders are facing. The picture is not entirely positive.

The bottom line, as summarized by Jim Gelles, of Membership Management Services, developer of MM2000, a synagogue software system used by more than 200 congregations: "most of the Jewish world seems frozen in the 20th century when it comes to being technologically advanced."

Read the full article in eJewishPhilanthropy...

From eJewishPhilanthropy:

After in-depth conversations with around 30 network-weavers in the Jewish world as part of my Network-Weaver Series, I have seen that there are a lot of really passionate people building networks that are quite impressive – and the term "network-weaving" resonates with many of them quite deeply. It puts a descriptive word to what they do in connecting others toward a greater cause; and more importantly, it acknowledges that they are not alone in doing it.

On a parallel level, more and more organizations are becoming aware of the possibilities of working with networks that can drive forward causes and campaign, build and unite communities, and provide support and resources that bolster Jewish identity. Yet there is confusion and imprecision in terminology – most notably, the term "network" itself. Once a network is properly understood to be a system of interconnected individuals or groups who share some factor(s) in common, it is not always clear how to integrate work with networks into one's day-to-day activities.

Read the full article in eJewishPhilanthropy...

In Plain English

Have you tried to use different forms of technology but the instructions feel like they are written in a foreign language?  Do you want to know what a wiki is and how it is used?  Do you yearn to know how Twitter can be useful?  Here's a great place to start!  The following links lead to videos that will help explain different forms of social media, in a language anyone can understand.  These videos were created by Common Craft.

Click here to learn wikis in plain English

Food for Thought:

Will these tools help enhance your lessons?  If so, how?