Introduction to Springnote as a collaborative writing web tool that can be used in the Judaic Studies Blended Learning Classroom

When mentoring our pre-service and in-service teachers we need to describe and model both research-based and clinically tested best practices, and demonstrate how these best practices can be applied in the real (i.e. physical) and virtual (online) classroom for both teaching and teacher training, The combination of face to face instruction in a physical setting and online learning is called blended learning. In this section of the blog we will describe how the internet can serve as a supplemental resource for instruction and the mentoring of pre-service and in-service Jewish educators. In this post we will discuss how Springnote, a  collaborative writing web-based tool can be used in the Judaic Studies blended learning classroom.

Assumption: The teacher or mentor teacher has a interactive white board (i.e. SMART Board, Promethean, etc.), a Tablet PC (also called a Slate or Blade), a computer presenter or computer with internet access attached to an LCD projector in the classroom. It would be ideal if students or mentees had access to their own laptop computers as well.

Note: Although this web-based collaborative writing tool can be applied in the Judaic Studies blended learning classroom, it can be also be used for training pre-service and in-service Jewish educators for professional or staff development. It is our hope that Jewish educators around the globe will form an online community of practice, a CoP, a group of people who share an interest, a craft, and/or a profession, to enhance the delivery of instruction and training of Jewish educators. 

What is Springnote?

Springnote is a web-based collaborative writing  or project creating tool or wiki.


What is a wiki?

According to Wikipedia a wiki is a website that allows for  the easy creation and editing of interlinked webpages via a web browser.  The Springnote collaborative writing and project creation tool therefore is an example of a wiki.

Where is Springnote located on the internet?

Here is the link to get to Springnote?

http://www.springnote.com/en

How can Springnote be used in the Judaic Studies blended learning classroom?

Springnote can be used for student collaborative writing projects in the Judaic Studies blended learning classroom. It can also be used in a face to face physical classroom setting as well.

In the next post we will further explore how to use this web-based collaborative writing tool. In future posts we will demonstrate how to apply Springnote in the Judaic Studies blended learning classroom.