The two-year program will be facilitated by Bar Ilan and Lookstein Center faculty and executive coaches and offers ongoing professional development in leadership, group dynamics and educational techniques. The program will identify, guide and empower leading educators to develop and lead online collaborative communities in their professional fields.

It includes two brief retreats in the U.S. and a ten-day seminar in Israel during the first year, followed by a retreat in the U.S. and seminar in Israel during the second year. The Israel component incorporates experiential learning and will be based at the Bar-Ilan University School of Education's new state of the art facility, the Jim Joseph Building for Jewish Education and Values.

The Jim Joseph Fellows will be guided towards creating and leading online learning coalitions. Supported by an innovative web-platform designed for the exclusive use of Jewish educators and their organizations, they will learn how to work collaboratively and produce educational resources online.

The highlight of this program will be the launch, development and cultivation of virtual communities of educators, facilitating discussions and long-term online collaborative group projects, valuable educational materials, discussions and resources that will impact on and enrich their own professional experiences as well as the lives of students and youth with whom they work. This project will help transition the field of Jewish education from one of geographically dispersed, isolated learners and learning centers to one of integrated educational opportunities, available to all, irrespective of where they reside

Fellows will continue in their present positions and will receive an annual stipend of $10,000 for each of the two years of the program, in addition to travel, room and board at the seminars and retreats. Nominations must be submitted no later than May 15, 2009.