Face to Interface: Instructional Strategies of an Online Talmud Class

Abstract

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many Jewish adult education programs transitioned from in-person learning to synchronous webcast classes. This move creates new questions about the practice of teaching Jewish texts in the new medium. The author describes a case of an online Talmud class and the instructional strategies used by the practitioner. In the new medium, she is restricted in her use of interpretive-relational pedagogies, such as havruta that she would employ in person. Findings describe the ways she navigates these new challenges, emphasizing a tangle of strategies and tactics.