Learning & Teaching
- Learning with the audio coursebooks
- Learning with tele-webinars and tele-webseries
- The Study Guide
- Live events by telephone
- Live events by webcast
- Replays
- Teaching with the audio coursebooks
1. Learning with the audio coursebooks
Audio coursebooks are multimedia books. They are a combination of three components: the audio sessions, the study text and the mindmaps. Each component supports your learning and enjoyment differently, appealing to different senses and approaches. Let's briefly explore each in turn:
1a. The audio sessions
Each CD in the audio coursebook contains two audio sessions. Each session is about 30 minutes, enabling you to cover an entire session over the course of a single commute, an exercise routine, or a comfortable attention span.
On the CD, each session is divided into several tracks. Each track covers a single sub-topic of that session. Using the fast-forward or rewind buttons on your CD player, you can go to a specific track, and review that sub-topic alone.
The audio sessions have been designed to be self-contained, meaning that you can listen to the audio without the need for the printed materials. Professor Kimelman went out of his way to read every single text he is analyzing, so you don't have to have the text in front of you.
Within each session, Professor Kimelman asks you at least one (sometimes two or even three) question, and suggests that you pause listening, and try to answer this question on your own. If you're enjoying this course with a learning partner (such as a friend or a family member), or even in a learning group, this is the time to discuss this question with your them. Once you've settled on one (or several) answers, then continue listening to Professor Kimelman's own discussion of the same very topic—and compare it against your own conclusion(s).
1 b. The study text
One of the unique features of The Moral Meaning of the Bible audio coursebook is its use of "dramatized study texts." Here is a sample page (click on it to view an enlarged image):
This study text is composed of several sources, each noted using the standard "Book Chapter:Verses" format (for example: GENESIS 2:15-17).
Within each source, the text is broken down into segments, each segment being attributed to a specific character. The character is noted on the left column, with the corresponding text in the right one, pretty much like dialogues in plays are laid out on a page. A notable character is the "Narrator," representing the voice of the story teller in the Biblical text, as opposed to any of the other characters that speak in the story.
Occasionally, there will be a small stage direction right underneath the character name, These stage directions appear in the original translated text intermixed with the rest; we separated them out, to make the text more readable.
The actual translated text is an adaptation of the New Jewish Publication Society source (modified NJPS translation), which we used with permission. Professor Kimelman left the translation pretty much unchanged from the NJPS source, except for occasional small changes that he felt would substantially improve the understanding of the text, and support his analysis.
We used superscripts to indicate the beginning of each verse. When a new chapter started in the middle of a single source, we indicated that in the left column as "[CHAPTER N"].
1 c. The mindmaps
Another unique feature of The Moral Meaning of the Bible audio coursebook is its use of mindmaps as a way to visually represent the outline of each entire session on a single sheet. Here is a sample mindmap (click on it to view an enlarged image):
Mindmaps are radial representations of information, structured on the principle that the more important a piece of information is, the closer it must be to the center of the page. Thus, in our mindmaps, the session topic is shown at the center of each mindmap page.
Around the center, you will find the sequence of topics Professor Kimelman covers in the audio presentation, ordered clockwise, and shown in the large blue-colored boxes. Each topic corresponds to an audio track on the CD, which is indicated inside each topic box.
Moving outwards from each topic are the main ideas Professor Kimelman teaches within each topic, organized at several levels of detail. Most topics will have at least a level 1, most level 1 ideas also have a level 2, and some even level 3.
Thus, when you read a mindmap, you can first focus on the main topics within that section by just keeping your eye closer to the center of the page (mindmaps are printed on larger, fold-out pages). Then, once you decide to explore a specific topic in more detail, you can start traveling outwards, as deeply as you move further towards the edges of the sheet. Mindmaps are a great way of seeing both "the forest" and "the trees" at the same time, all in one picture.
To make it easier for the eye to focus on a specific topic, each is colored differently. Further, the places where Professor Kimelman asks you to pause the audio, and explore a question (see explanation above) are represented by white boxes.
In the learning process, you can use the mindmaps either by exploring them visually while listening to the corresponding audio session or by reviewing them after having listened to the audio, as a visual reinforcement. Which way works best for you largely depends on whether you are a aurally-dominant learner or a visually-dominant learner. There are even people who are both visually and aurally dominant.
2. Learning with tele-webinars & tele-webseries
Coming soon!
3. Teaching with the audio coursebooks
As an educator, you can use the audio coursebook in multiple ways, largely depending on your teaching style, the scope of the course you're putting together, etc. Here are a few suggestions on how to use the various components of the audio coursebook in the process of both preparing a seminar or a course and teaching this material.
3 a. The audio
The audio sessions are your primary source for learning the material in order to teach it. Depending on your teaching style, you may recommend that your students also listen to Professor Kimelman's teaching or you deliver this material yourself, including your own additions and commentary.
3 b. The study text
You may have your students use any translation of the Biblical text (the closest to the one we used is, of course, the NJPS translation), or you can have them use the dramatized version we provide in the audio coursebook. We believe that the dramatized study text is the easiest to follow, and even more importantly, it is particularly suitable for use in a classroom setting for role-playing either in small groups (such as two-person study partners) or as a whole group.
In the latter case, you can assign roles to individual students, and have them role-play it, thus enacting the drama of each story.
In the former case, we found it useful to have students role-play the text once, switch roles, and role-play it again. That way, each "actor" gets to view the story from several characters' perspectives.
3 c. The mindmaps
Mindmaps are not only structured outlines of the content in each session; they are really class plans you can use to prepare your own rendition of the materials and actually teach from. You may find it useful to annotate our mindmaps with your own thoughts and additional comments, thus expanding the branches outward, and then keep the annotated mindmap in front of you during your own class as a prompter.
3 d. Copying materials
All materials included in the audio coursebook are copyrighted, and licensed to you for personal use under Terms of Use spelled out on the back of the title page in the audio coursebook.
Specifically, you cannot copy and distribute these materials to your students, neither the audio nor the visual components (study text and mindmaps). However, we do provide help in getting these materials to your students in a cost effective manner. To find out more about what your options are, please contact us by email at Sales@OurLearningCompany.com or by telephone at +1-617-731-3132.
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