About ConverJent

ConverJent is transforming Jewish learning using digital and analog games for Jewish learning.  We teach the study and modeling of Jewish sacred texts through game design. We excite, engage, and delight Jewish learners and educators through digital gaming, live events, and teaching collaborative design techniques. Through the fun and excitement of games, we spread a love of Jewish learning.

The medium of the 21st Century is the game, and ConverJent leverages cutting edge research in Games for Learning and Learning Sciences to develop game and design experiences. It is this dedication to research and scholarship in games for learning that is distinctive about ConverJent’s approach to games and game design in the Jewish community.

Founded in 2010 by Rabbi Owen Gottlieb, ConverJent is dedicated to spreading “serious” games and game design for Jewish learning. We are passionate about games that place learners in inquiry-based and collaborative learning scenarios, games that explore problem solving that is informed by Jewish values, history, and ethics. We work with both learners and educators.

ConverJent’s new digital mobile Augmented Reality Game and Simulation:  Jewish Time Jump: New York, funded by a Signature Grant from the Covenant Foundation, uses place-based and inquiry-based learning, building on current research on mobile Augmented Reality Games to bring Jewish history to life in the 21st Century.

ConverJent Jewish learning events and teachings in the past have included these venues or institutions:

  • East End Temple, Manhattan:  Game Design for Jewish Learning
  • Jewish Outreach Institute
  • Elat Chaim at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center
  • Jewish Education Center of Cleveland
  • Hebrew Union College Certificate Program in Jewish Education for Emerging Adults and Adolescents
  • Rabbis Without Borders
  • Graudate Education Seminars at Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles and New York
  • Central Conference of American Rabbis
  • URJ Kutz Camp:  Digital Storytelling, and Game Prototyping for Teen Leaders
  • 20 and 30 Something Game Shabbaton
  • National Havurah Institute: Torah and Game Design Playshop