Richard D. Solomon's Blog on Mentoring Jewish Students and Teachers

Our hope is that this blog will become a forum in which people can exchange ideas on how to recruit, develop and retain exceptional Jewish educators through mentoring and e-mentoring students, teaching candidates, and teachers in our day and supplemental schools. The present focus of this blog is to empower Jewish teachers, administrators, teacher trainers, consultants, and staff developers to integrate web technology (i.e. web tools and apps) into their teaching and teacher training.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

What is the rationale for using a PDF editing web tool like PDF Escape?

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 (i.e. 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 the rationale for using a PDF (Portable Document Format) file web editing tool like PDF Escape.

For additional information on PDF files click here.

Assumption: The teacher or mentor teacher has an 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 or iPads. Given parental and school approval, and the development of specific guidelines, smartphones can be used to enhance instruction as well.

Note: Although PDF Escape 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. For example, here is a CoP you might want to join.

Note: PDF escape can be used in a face to face and virtual classroom.

What is PDF Escape?

PDF escape is a web tool that enables the user to edit PDF files.

Where is PDF Escape located on the internet?

https://www.pdfescape.com

What is the rationale for using a PDF file editing web tool like PDF Escape?

To remove certain text in the PDF file
To update the PDF file
To invite students to write on the file
To create a PDF file collaboratively
To copy a portion of a PDF file
To highlight certain portions of a PDF file
To sign a PDF file
To combine PDF files

 In addition, PDF Escape is free.

In the next blog post we will discuss how the PDF web editing tool, PDF Escape, can be used to promote Judaic instruction and to mentor/train Jewish educators.