Avi Chai

A Frontier too Vast to Journey Alone -Susan Kardos It’s really a simple—and I believe an indisputable—proposition:  the Jewish education enterprise is complex and intense, and true and lasting successes in the enterprise require the combined efforts of those engaged in it. The truth is our field is filled with skilled and committed professionals housed at organizations that are simply too small and under-resourced to offer comprehensive solutions, even in their focal areas.  I maintain … Read More »

“The Four Children” as Developmental Stages of Technology Leadership: Reflections from the AVI CHAI Technology Academy By Lisa Colton, President, Darim Online And… They’re off!  As you may have heard, The AVI CHAI Foundation has gathered a diverse cohort of New York and New Jersey Day Schools to learn about social media tools and strategies, and to support them in developing their own “experiments” to develop their networks, engage with parents and alumni, and ramp … Read More »

A few nights ago we read: “The Torah speaks of four children: One is wise, one is wicked, one is simple and one does not know how to ask. The wise one, what does he say? ”What are the testimonies, the statutes and the laws which the L-rd, our G-d, has commanded you?” You, in turn, shall instruct him in the laws of Passover, [up to] ‘one is not to eat any dessert after the Passover-lamb.’ … Read More »

A recent New York Times article about the quality of online learning highlighted the debate about the possibilities of online learning vs. the importance of face time with a teacher.  Proponents of online learning say that online courses allow schools to offer courses, including makeup, elective and advanced placement classes, when schools are not able to offer such classes.  Opponents say that online learning is motivated by the desire to spend less on teachers and … Read More »

A Great Investment Opportunity – Don’t let it pass you by I had the pleasure of attending a great event in NYC this past week – NATAN’s The Future of Giving Begins with You. Aside from a full house of young philanthropists, a fun vibe, delicious food, and great music, there was a lot to learn about what it means to give. Successful fund manager and philanthropist Stanley Druckenmiller was the evening’s guest speaker, and … Read More »

Supporting Day Schools and Their Families The issues of day school affordability and student recruitment and retention have been in the news a lot of late. Most press coverage and Shabbat table discussions have dealt with the fall-out of high tuition. But, there are a growing number of examples of communities intent on supporting their day schools and their families who are experimenting with some creative and innovative models to address this very real and … Read More »

A Shift in Educational Technology Rachel Mohl Abrahams In the last few years, many Jewish foundations have helped introduce educational technology into the classroom. The Gruss Foundation, through its support of The Center for Initiatives in Jewish Education has encouraged the use of computer-based learning and assessment. They, along with the Legacy Heritage Fund have installed smartboards in day school classrooms across the US. AVI CHAI ran a grants program for the last two years … Read More »

“Blended Learning”:  The best of both worlds? By: Leah Nadich Meir Can “Blended Learning”, which combines face-to-face and online learning, give students “the best of all possible worlds”? This approach is now widely-used by schools that are dipping their toes into the waters of online learning. I recently participated in a webinar sponsored by the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) in which Michael Horn (one of the authors of “Disrupting Class”) and Tom … Read More »

The Power of One Posted by Joel Einleger I have very sad news about a remarkable man, coupled with an amazing story about his desire to inspire the Jewish community to action in ways that are humbling and a lesson to those of us who work to create social change. Matt Fenster is the father of four young children and the husband of Jennifer – a wonderful and beloved family who are very active in … Read More »

How Technology Can Humanize the Classroom Posted by Sarah Kass When we think of educational technology, we imagine machines replacing what we regard as the human elements of schools.  We picture Google searches replacing librarians.  We imagine remote lecturers replacing live instructors.  Perhaps we envision individual kids each at his and her own terminal, perhaps with headphones on, no longer benefiting from peer discussions.   Recently, our colleague Eli Kannai, introduced us to the revolutionary work … Read More »