Why does the Mandel Center need a blog? And why would the world need another blog about Jewish education?

The staff and faculty of the Mandel Center share our work in many ways. We publish articles in scholarly journals, present at academic conferences, and teach in various settings. We consult with Jewish schools and other organizations, we develop model programs and “design experiments,” and we convene conferences and workshops. Our website makes resources available to scholars and practitioners, and our Twitter feed calls attention to important events and ideas in the Jewish educational world. Yet we still feel that we can be doing more to extend our reach and participate more broadly in conversations taking place about teaching and learning in Jewish and general education.

We’re starting this blog to be a new address for the many voices and ideas emanating from the Mandel Center. It will be a site where Center researchers and Jewish educators can reflect on issues arising from their work, on issues that are not immediately connected to their work, and on other work in the field. They’ll be able to do so in a more spontaneous and immediate way than is possible in more traditional venues.

We’ll seek to connect with scholars and practitioners working in some of the same areas at other institutions, in the hope that we can start new conversations, make new connections and deepen existing ones.

Over time we’ll share what we’re learning about educational practice, professional education for teachers and the intersections between scholarship and pedagogy. Leave a comment, let us know what you think, and help us get the conversation started.