Have you dreamed of studying at an Israeli university but never had the chance? Or maybe you feel that it’s time to join a regular Jewish studies class but can’t make the commitment to show up on the same night every week. Well, there is an alternative. Now you can be part of a virtual classroom that’s as far away as your keyboard.
First, an overview of how these courses operate: Some are self-directed where you follow prescribed courses at your own pace. Others use live, classroom-based videoconferencing that allows students and instructors to communicate directly with each other, face-to-face. Still others are conducted via e-mail and a Web site. The instructor posts a lecture or assignment on the Web. Participants have a few days to do the required work. This is followed by a “virtual” class discussion, usually conducted via an e-mail list.
Classes are often free. However, courses that are offered by degree- granting universities normally charge a fee. Access to online materials in those courses is usually restricted to enrolled students who have a password. Most universities view their distance learning courses equal in workload and as demanding as their classroom-based courses and offer comparable credits.
Bar-Ilan University offers a wide assortment of courses guaranteed to challenge and stimulate at www.bar-ilan.edu/courses.html. This year you can delve into the Judean Desert Scrolls with Hanan Eshel. David Elgavish looks at War and Peace in the Bible, starting with Abraham and following the exploits of Joshua and King David. And for something a bit more peaceful, join Professor Edwin Seroussi as he introduces you to Music in Traditional Jewish Culture and Society. He compares and contrasts “Jewish music in its diverse forms across the cultural bounds of Ashkenazic, Moroccan, Yemenite, Turkish., and many other communities.”
These credit courses cost $360 or you can sit in and audit them for $180 each. The next semester starts Sept. 17.
The Conservative movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary runs what seems to be a very sophisticated and well-designed site at http://courses.jtsa.edu. Credit courses at the Distance Learning Project include Introduction to Talmud, Methods of Teaching Prayer, Reintroduction to the Bible and Women in Rabbinic Literature. Jewish educators can participate in these courses at a reduced fee without receiving the course credits. Shorter two-month non-credit courses include Talking about God, Finding Spirituality in Prayer and Teshuvah as Worship. Also check out the free courses and children’s educational courses at learn@jts, at http://learn.jtsa.edu.
How did Christianity cease to be a form of Judaism? What were the forces that made Christianity so antagonistic toward Judaism through the millennia? How should Jews relate to this religion? Those are some of the provocative questions that you could discuss and debate if you join the cyber-class at Baltimore’s jewishstudiesonline.com. The site is at http://jewishstudiesonline.com.
Another institution, Hebrew College in Brookline, Mass., is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and is authorized to offer bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Jewish studies and Jewish education. The Web site is at http://hebrewcollege.edu. Recent courses include Individual and Communal Responsibility to the Vulnerable, The Israel Dimension in Jewish Education, Using the Internet for Jewish Education and Finding Your Voice: A Cross-Cultural/Interfaith Writing Workshop.
Chicago’s Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies offers distance learning for its master’s and doctoral programs in Jewish studies and Jewish education.Check it out at www.spertus.edu/College/MJS/Dist_Lrn.html. Course packages include audio-video tapes, reading materials, a course curriculum and assignments. Distance learners are encouraged to be in regular contact with their program adviser by phone, fax or e-mail. And for a real personal feeling, distance learners are expected to spend at least five to six days a year at Spertus’ home campus in Chicago.
Next time, we’ll check out some free distance learning courses and look at how distance learning technology is helping hospitalized children in Israel continue their studies.