Technology in the Classroom: How is it Going?

Source: Tech Rav Blog

Tzvi Pittinsky (@TechRav) reposts a reply to a Lookjed query about how technology can be successfully integrated into Jewish education. He describes how the Frisch School uses wikis, Google Docs, Prezi, Youtube, Skype, Voicethread and other web 2.0 tools to enrich and enhance Jewish learning.

Some examples:

• We now have school-wide and grade-wide wikis for teachers and students to collaboratively integrate ideas from various subject areas focused around a common theme. In addition to their use for student-led asynchronous online discussion forums very similar to this Listserv, they have become the platform for many other creative activities. For example, we now run Integrated Educational Days where all of the lessons in a particular grade are focused around a common theme.
• We have created partnerships with a number of different schools in Israel for our online projects. Through the help of our local Jewish Federation, we have a 9th grade and 11th grade partnership with schools in Nahariya. This past year, we even planned and ran our 11th Grade Holocaust Integration together with one of these schools. We "met" with the teachers using Skype, our teachers both in Israel and New Jersey posted curricular materials on the wiki, and we had a follow-up Skype "face-to-face" conversation between one of our classes in Frisch and one in Nahariya reflecting on what was learned during this educational day. These partnerships go beyond the "pen pals" of yesteryear to full-fledged learning projects which are only possible through platforms like wikis and video conferencing.
• We have also been experimenting with the flipped classroom model where teachers post short lectures online that students can access at home prior to getting into a deeper discussion in class. I have utilized this in my Nach classes to post basic word by word translation of the verses online so that in class we can almost immediately jump to the next level of higher analysis. You can view my Youtube Flipped Classroom channel here.