Section archive - Technology & Computers

JconnecT is an online supplemental Hebrew school for grades 6-12 that harnesses the power of technology to provide new opportunities for both Jewish education and Jewish socialization. JconnecT offers two dynamic, live, weekly study sessions with an experienced teacher in Jerusalem via a web based online platform that provides full audio and video conferencing for up to 10 students per group.

Dr. Ilan Abaksis reports on his use of Facebook in the teaching of Tanach with his education students at Levinsky College in Tel Aviv. The education students created profiles of Biblical characters on Facebook using Biblical, Midrashic and other commentaries as sources of information. They then utilized these profiles as the interface to deliver online learning activities to their middle school students.

Julie Wiener, in the first article of a series on technology in Jewish education, writes in the Jewish Week of the first US Jewish school to offer all of its secular studies via a fully accredited (and state-funded) virtual charter school — enabling it to keep tuition at $7,500, less than half the cost of most American Jewish high schools. Judaic studies at Ohev Shalom in LA are carried out traditionally in face to face classes and hevruta learning. But each afternoon the students log on to their online high school, Kaplan Academy of California, to communicate with their online teachers and learning resources.

As part of a series prepared by presenters at Judaism 2030 on eJewish Philanthropy, Rabbi Owen Gottlieb posted an article calling for developing the use of games in Jewish education. He writes: 'It is a crucial time for Jewish philanthropy to turn to Games for Learning. 97% of today’s youth are digital gamers, and with the proliferation of the iPhone, Android, iPad, and other tablets, games are becoming ubiquitous among adults as well – on subways of NYC and on table tops as gamers enjoy more complex board and card games at home and at parties. To date, no Game for Jewish Learning (based on Learning Science principles) is available for the iPhone or iPad. There are those of us who have the skills to make these games a reality and want to make them happen – to bring knowledge of the learning sciences to bear on the next generation of Jewish education, but to tailor such games to Jewish subjects and audiences, we need support from the Jewish philanthropic community.'