Webcast Opportunity: “360° Education Models in a Non-360° World”

The University of Michigan (U-M) Jewish Communal Leadership Program (JCLP) is hosting a webcast on immersive Jewish education models this Sunday, February 23rd, from 5:00 to 7:15 pm. Registration is welcome at http://tinyurl.com/jclp2014event.

by Karla Goldman

Readers of eJewishPhilanthropy are no doubt familiar with the claim that key immersive experiences – namely Jewish summer camps, day schools, and trips to Israel – are the surest avenue to engaging Jewish youth and securing a Jewish future.

When the Jewish Communal Leadership Program faculty and students began to examine the intensifying communal emphasis on this immersive triumvirate, we looked for further thought about the classic summer camp paradox. What does it mean to offer a 360°, 24/7 model of the ideal Jewish experience, when the majority of American Jewish students will spend most of their time outside of such frameworks? Our February 23rd forum will focus on this dilemma, asking some of the sector’s foremost practitioners to share what the best of these programs can achieve and to think about what it takes to translate rich immersive experiences into meaningful Jewish lives.

U-M School of Education Dean Deborah Ball will convene a dynamic group of Jewish educators to highlight their signature efforts (in frameworks including day schools, Hebrew charter schools, summer camps, Birthright, synagogue communities, Hillels, and after-school daycares), while exploring the possibilities and problematics of “360° Education Models in a Non-360° World.”

If you can’t be in Ann Arbor this Sunday, you can still join the following educators for a lively on-line encounter:

• Rabbi Shira Koch Epstein, 14th St. Y in New York City
• Marc Kramer, RAVSAK: The Jewish Community Day School Network
• Amy Skopp Cooper, Assoc. Dir., National Ramah Commission and Dir., Ramah Day Camp in Nyack
• Rabbi David Gedzelman, Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life
• Tilly Shames, University of Michigan Hillel
• Rabbi Paul Yedwab, Temple Israel, West Bloomfield, Michigan

This program is offered with generous support from The Covenant Foundation, The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life, the Alliance for Jewish Education of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, the U-M Frankel Center for Judaic Studies, and U-M Hillel, and the University of Michigan School of Social Work.

Please register for on-line (or in-person) access and interaction at http://tinyurl.com/jclp2014event.

Karla Goldman is the Sol Drachler Professor of Social Work and Director of the Jewish Communal Leadership Program at the University of Michigan. Applications to the JCLP entering class of September 2014 are still being accepted at http://ssw.umich.edu/offices/jewish-communal-leadership-program.