How to Run Online Adult Education

Online Adult Education "on one foot":

Since Covid, many people have embraced teaching adult education online, as well as with "hybrid" / "multi-access" options. This sheet shows how David Schwartz has run an online adult education class nearly every week since March 2020. Note that every sheet starts with an "on one foot" introduction so that everybody is up to speed on the basics (for instance "The Amidah is a prayer...", "Ruth is the main character in the Biblical Book of Ruth....", "Pirkei Avot is a set of Rabbinic sayings that is part of the Mishnah..").

The Flow of a Typical Class

- Schmoozing time - builds community

- Responding to a prompt in the chat (wait to press enter until everybody has written) - builds community

- Dedicating learning - builds community

- "La'asok b'divrei Torah" blessing while starting the screen share of the source sheet

- Read through the sources in English with their contexts and questions: Usually I call on people to read based on those who have told me that they are willing to read, occasionally it's a session where I just talk through a subject because I couldn't come up with discussion questions

- At the end of the hour, thank people for coming and give them the next week's topic

An Example of a Discussion-Based Class

From: Personally Connecting to Kabbalat Shabbat:

https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/460028.10?lang=bi

Context: This is Psalm 93. When the Levites sang psalms in the Temple, this was the psalm for Friday. There is a cantorial tradition to switch from the “Adoshem Malach” mode into minor at the end of this psalm in anticipation of the nusach switch for Ma’ariv / Arvit.

Have you experienced waves before? How can they help you to understand G-d?

An Example of a "Frontal Teaching with Questions" class

From: What is Sigd?

https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/358062?lang=bi

How is Sigd celebrated in Israel?

- State holiday since 2008, under Uri Ariel’s bill - going to work is optional, and it is taught in schools now

- In Israel celebrate on Mt. Zion and also on Armon Hanatziv Promenade in Jerusalem, with procession to Western Wall either way

- Fast, recite psalms, and Kessamim read from the Orit, then break fast, dance, and celebrate

- Israeli president also holds a celebration at their residence attended by dignitaries and Ethiopian Jews

Things I Do After a Class

Every week after a class I do the following:

- 1. I transfer my attendance (which I usually write down on a notepad) to a spreadsheet. This way, if somebody is missing for 3 weeks in a row, I can check on them and see if they are OK.

- 2. I write down who talked that week. For example:

Ted (asked 3/22, 4/26, 6/7, 9/13, 10/24)

Myra (asked 3/22, 5/24, 10/24)

This way, I know whom I haven't called on recently so I can avoid asking the same people to read. I don't just ask for volunteers anymore, because that took too long. At the end of the month, I make a list of whom I haven't called on in a while so I can call on them next month.

- 3. I send an e-mail to everybody who came (or who told me they couldn't come, thereby indicating their interest in the topic). This e-mail contains a link to the source sheet, answers to any questions which came up in the class that I needed to research, and any comments that I would have made during class but which I held back on so that people could have a more free-flowing discussion. It also indicates the topic for the next class.

How to Start from Scratch

1. Get any relevant professional stakeholders on board (clergy, education team, the office, etc.). The office will be happier if you don't make it their problem, meaning that you send all the e-mails, but include them on the e-mail list so they can respond to questions and include your classes in the weekly e-mail.

2. Talk to your likely suspects for participants. These are the people who come to most of the adult education offerings. Ask if they would be interested in doing an online series of adult education classes. (Start small, with only a few classes, and see how it goes.)

3. Get access to a paid Zoom account so that you can go for a full hour. Make a Zoom meeting. Note the link and passcode -- you'll be sending it out every week.

4. Figure out what you're going to teach, either as a one-off or as a series, and plan out your schedule of classes (be prepared to tweak your schedule if a one-off needs to stretch into a series because people are caught up in the topic). At first, this should be things you are interested in. After a few classes, you can ask what your participants are interested in learning about. I do this once a year. At this point, after 4 years I also plan out a year in advance and then fit requested topics into my plan.

5. Develop an e-mail list of people who are interested in your class. Any time somebody shows up to your class, send them a chat and ask for their e-mail (if you don't have it already) so you can continue to send them the topics and links. Email this group with your "teaser blurb" 5 days in advance and again the morning of the class (these can be schedule-sent in advance on Gmail).

6. Teach your first class, making sure to have community-building aspects so that people come back. These can be schmoozing time at the beginning, a question to respond to in the chat ("What's a joy or oy in your life that you want to share?" is a great starter question), and / or dedicating learning.

7. E-mail everybody who came the next day with a link to the source sheet, any follow-up answers that your promised to look into, and the next topic. Your first time, ask for any feedback about how to make the experience better.

Ways to Prepare a Source Sheet

I use different approaches to preparing my source sheets, depending on what type of class I'm preparing. If I am doing a Biblical / Rabbinic story, I break my story into "acts", put in the text of the first question, give some context beneath it, and then pose at least one discussion question. My context and discussion questions are in italics so it's visually easier to identify. I put the entire story in one piece at the end of the sheet as an appendix. If I can find a song or artwork, I'll add those at the end, though sometimes I'll start with a piece of art and ask what people see, think, and wonder.

If I'm preparing a sheet on a topic that I'm interested in but don't know much about (like "Why is Sukkot called 'Time of our Joy' "?), I'll start by pulling in what everybody else has said about it on Sefaria, compiling a list of everybody from whom I've borrowed so I can give them appreciation at the end of my sheet. Then I'll sort through everything and come up with some sort of narrative, usually incorporating the texts that most other people have included.

If it's a topic for which I'm pulling mostly not from Sefaria (like "The Origin of Chanukah Customs"), I'll make a list at the end of all the places I got information in order to give them appreciation.

In all cases, if I find things that I don't want to put in the main body of my text but don't want to ignore, I'll turn them into an appendix.