Section archive - Technology & Computers

The widespread belief is that youth, "digital natives", who live their entire lives in media-rich digital environments and are ubiquitously connected through social networks, naturally develop digital competencies. This study investigated digital literacies among 280 junior-high-school students with the aim of comparing participants' perceived digital literacy competencies and their actual performance in relevant digital tasks. The findings showed that only a few of participants' perceived skills were related to their actual performance. Generally, participants displayed high confidence in their digital literacies and significantly over-estimated their actual competencies.

Just over a year ago with the release of the William Davidson Foundation & Jim Joseph Foundation SmartMoney technology report, there was renewed interest within the Jewish community about how technology could enhance student learning. Further ideas were voiced through eJewish Philanthropy's Continuing Conversations on Leveraging Educational Technology. This article aims to enhance the conversation by suggesting a shared language and theoretical framework for moving Jewish ed tech from important yet disparate conversations to a more cohesive systematic goal focused dialogue.

Being a classroom teacher can be an isolating experience. You may not know where to turn for new ideas and wish there was a way you could benefit from the experimentation and expertise of others in classrooms like yours across the country. Fortunately, in the past few years, Jewish day school educators have been able to find networks designed to incubate and spread ideas and practices. As a network-weaver working at the AVI CHAI Foundation, I have an interest in understanding and documenting these networks, which could range from organized programs, such as the JDS Collaborative, for which I serve as program officer at AVI CHAI, to a much less formal Twitter chat. Let’s look at what these networks are, which ones are more likely to scale through successfully spreading ideas, and why.

Google is celebrating its 20th anniversary – and the internet has become an inseparable part of the lives of adults, teens, and children. In awareness of the problems and challenges posed by the new world, various software programs have been developed, among them NetSpark (henceforth: the program), which make it possible to block and/or filter information received from the web (Wells and Lewis, 2006). In several Israeli schools, the management has decided to install a filter in their students' cellular devices in order to maintain safe surfing even after school hours. The option of blocking or filtering websites on school computers existed previously, but the innovation offered by the current program is the possibility of screening inappropriate content on students' smartphones. The study examined the association between installing the program on smartphones and utilization of leisure time among 120 female high school students, half of whom used the program. The association between use of the program and the students' sociodemographic background, smartphone use patterns, and utilization of leisure time was examined.