"The People of the Digital Book" to Look at the Impact of Technology on Jewish Education

The University of Hartford’s Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies will sponsor the 5th annual Regina Miller Jewish Education Workshop with a two-part program devoted to the timely topic of technology and Jewish education, led by Karen Reiss Medwed, professor of Jewish education at Hebrew College in Boston and director of the new doctoral degree program in Jewish Education Leadership, a collaboration between Hebrew College and Northeastern University. Reiss Medwed will give a talk on "The People of the Digital Book: Technology and Distance Learning" in Mali I auditorium in Dana Hall, at the University, on Sunday, Jan. 22, at 4 p.m. The program will be moderated by Frederick King, associate professor of educational technology at the University of Hartford. The talk is free and open to the public, but reservations are requested.

Prior to her talk, Reiss Medwed will lead a special workshop for educators and parents from 1 to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 22, at Hebrew High School of New England, 300 Bloomfield Ave., West Hartford.  The subject of the workshop will be “Jewish Education and Technology.” (Attendance at this workshop is by reservation only; those interested in registering can call 860.768.4964.)

The Regina Miller Jewish Education Workshop is sponsored in part by the Arlene and Daniel Neiditz Endowment Fund at the Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies.  Co-sponsors for this year’s workshop include the Mandell JCC of Greater Hartford, the Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Hartford, the Commission on Jewish Education and Leadership of the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford, and the Hebrew High School of New England.

Reiss Medwed is assistant professor of Jewish education in the Shoolman Graduate School of Education at Hebrew College in Newton Center, Mass. The first graduate of the doctoral program in Education and Jewish Studies in the Steinhardt School of Education at New York University, she most recently served as director of religious education at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. Reiss Medwed's teaching and research focuses on 21st Century Jewish Education and on Jewish Educational Leadership. She also works on research of teaching and learning of Jewish text across Jewish educational venues.

Reiss Medwed's areas of interest include the teaching of religious text and Jewish day school teacher education. Her recent research project, titled "The Virtual Lecture: How Faculty Create Online Seminars," was a comparative, ethnographic study of the online teaching and learning pedagogies for higher education. She has presented her work at conferences of the Network for Research in Jewish Education and The Jewish Day School Network.

In addition to her teaching role on the Hebrew College faculty and as director of the doctoral program in Jewish Educational Leadership, a collaboration between Hebrew College and Northeastern University's College of Professional Studies, Reiss Medwed also coordinates the MJEd in day school teacher education for the Pardes Educator's Program, a collaboration of Hebrew College in Boston, and Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies in Jerusalem.

Reiss Medwed earned her BA's in the Joint Program between Columbia University and List College of The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where she continued on to pursue her MA as well as Rabbinic Ordination.

Chartered in 1957 with the mission to be a “private university with a public purpose,” the University of Hartford offers undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs in the arts, humanities, business, engineering and technology, education, and the health professions. The University’s student body of nearly 7,200 represents 48 states and more than 60 countries. For more information, visit www.hartford.edu.