Ethical Creativity Institute

List of 8 frequently asked questions.

• What is ethical creativity?

  Ethical creativity is the intersection of Jewish traditions and ethical frameworks, human-centered design, hands-on learning, and constructionist pedagogy. Ethical creativity insists on interrogating the ethics of our pedagogy and practice as much as the outcomes and intentions of what we teach. Like all of us as educators and human beings, ethical creativity is also in a state of becoming. Click here for the working definitions used by our ECI 17 cohort.

• Who participates in the Ethical Creativity Institute?

  ECI is open to any practitioner in the field of early childhood education through 12th grade Jewish education: classroom teachers, school leaders, Hebrew and Judaic studies teachers, subject specialists, makerspace facilitators, and school librarians.

• Who teaches ECI?

  Teaching at ECI, much like as in 21st century classrooms, takes many forms. Our faculty features the ECI design team, program leads, facilitators, and alumni. In addition to administrators and faculty from The Brandeis School of San Francisco, past institutes have featured facilitators from the K12 Lab at the Stanford d.School, the Tinkering Studio at the Exploratorium, the Contemporary Jewish Museum, IDEO, the Teachers Guild, the Wonderful Idea Company, the Jewish Studio Project, Congregation Emanu-El, Congregation Beth Israel Judea, Or Shalom Jewish Community, the Little School, and BimBam.

• What does a typical day at ECI look like?

  The ECI day runs from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with morning, lunch, and afternoon breaks. Days are a mix of hands-on sessions, discussions, study, independent and collaborative work time, food, and fun. Wednesday will run longer, as the group will reconvene in the evening for an event and dinner from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.

   

  Click here to see last year’s schedule.

   

• This sounds pretty awesome, but how much does ECI cost?

  Thanks to support from Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund and The Brandeis School of San Francisco, there is no tuition for the 2019 Ethical Creativity Institute. For the ECI 2019 cohort, there are $1000 stipends available to defray the costs of travel and lodging.

• How do I apply?

  Our online application is available here. We will admit participants on a rolling basis and the application will remain open until our cohort is full.

• What kind of Jewish experience or background do I need in order to take part? 

  At ECI we welcome and encourage educators from all backgrounds and experiences to take part in our learning.

• These FAQs are great, but I have another question. How can I get in touch?

  You can feel free to email our program leads at eci@sfbrandeis.org with any other questions.