For a long time, educational technology was focused, to a large extent, on the use of computers (and later the internet) within the classroom. Educators spoke about “breaking the classroom walls” by using YouTube clips to start a classroom discussion or by letting students look up information on the internet. Teachers began to realize that they were no longer the “owners” of information, once handheld internet devices were introduced (aka smartphones) smart kids would challenge the teachers' authority by fact checking the information discussed in class. Educators then spoke of the transition from “the sage on the stage to the guide on the side” that meant moving away from the lecturing model – but what instead? How can a teacher be a “guide on the side” with so little time to teach (or “guide”)?

This study focuses on the phenomenon of Israeli backpacking as a function of traditional, observant, and secular population segments. We explored whether and to what degree backpacking features are related to the affinity of backpackers with the Jewish tradition and faith. Our study was based on a sample of 120 Israeli backpackers who had returned to Israel in the past five years. An analysis of the survey indicates a clear association between the length of the backpacking trip and the affinity of backpackers with the Jewish tradition and faith.

There are many ways to view yeshiva day schools. The Orthodox community generally views them with pride, as a substantial communal achievement — and rightfully so. In less than a century, a community of largely impoverished refugees, decimated by the Holocaust, came to a foreign country and established schools that rival that country’s most elite and established schools. Almost every yeshiva day school produces graduates who attend the finest colleges and graduate schools, and their students regularly win national literary, advocacy, math and science competitions. And the sweeping success of these schools has also been religious — there are more Jewish religious studies students in America today than at any time in its history. And yet, this achievement has come at a cost, and that cost continues to be extraordinary and multifaceted. The most obvious cost is financial: it costs an extraordinary amount of money to send a child to yeshiva day school and for our community to sustain such independent schools. But there are also other, associated costs which may be less obvious than the monetary costs, but which are no less profound.

The present study examines the contributions of several different cognitive and literacy skills to reading fluency in Hebrew among Grade 1 students. The main objective of the study was to examine what predicts word reading fluency at two crucial points during Grade 1: mid-year, before a multi-tiered intervention, and again 12 weeks later at the end of the year, after the intervention. A total of 47 first graders in Israel were assessed on cognitive and literacy tasks before and after an implementation of intervention.

Compassion in the school setting traditionally defines students as the recipients. Teachers, on the other hand, have yet to be studied as such. This study examines the effects of compassion expressed by teaching colleagues and school principals on teacher school engagement and subjective well-being at work. A sample of 226 teachers from 5 different high schools in Israel filled out a questionnaire in which they rated the amount of compassion received from their school colleagues and principals, as well as their job satisfaction, organizational commitment, emotional vigor, and burnout.

The first word most people give when describing the International Society for Technology in Education or ISTE conference which took place this past week in Denver, Colorado is overwhelming. With its 15,000+ participants, presenters, and vendors running dozens of events simultaneously throughout the four days of the conference, it can be a daunting experience especially for first time attendees. However, if at the conference, there was a way to create a mini-conference, a small group within this vast stream of people that would be very advantageous.