Section archive - Technology & Computers

Josh Lipowsky writes about how the day US school tuition crisis has spurred a search for new options and given rise to a new breed of day schools where technology and blended learning - mixing traditional classroom learning with online education -- are reducing costs. There are at least eight blended learning schools that either opened this year or plan to open next year, from California and Texas to Maryland and Massachusetts.

Tzach Rolnik tells of his 7th & 8th grade Bible Studies year - end project at the Kfar Hayarok School. He asked each of his students to review all the material they had studied over the year and choose a topic that was meaningful to him. The students were then asked to create or choose some expressive creation, i.e. a drawing, piece of music or poetry, comics, etc. and analyze it in the light of the Biblical narrative and their own thoughts and feelings. The impressive results were uploaded as posts to a class blog for sharing with other students, teachers and parents in the school as well as with the general public.

This week, Artscroll announced the 'ArtScroll Digital Library.' The RustyBrick software and web developers are responsible for designing and developing the application software for mobile devices including the Apple iPad & iPhone. First to be developed will be the ArtScroll Schottenstein Talmud App for iPad and iPhone, which will be completed by July 2012. Later apps for Android and Microsoft are planned. The price of the app has not yet been announced.

Rabbi Joel Seltzer of Temple Emanu-El in Providence, Rhode Island, reflects on how the Facebook phenomenon could help us create a twenty-first century life of prayer by making our prayers more like our Facebook profile.