AVI CHAI continues to seek new and innovative ways to apply technology to enhancing teaching Judaic studies in day schools. To that end, the foundation has provided seed funding for a diverse range of projects with the ultimate goal of learning about, and identifying promising educational technology initiatives for Jewish education.
As a first initiative in this area, the foundation has allocated funding to support technological solutions to pedagogic challenges. Competitive grants of $2,000 to $10,000 were made available for those educators who have identified and developed innovative approaches to the use of technology in their teaching. In 2007, 17 educational experiments taking place in schools around the country were selected for funding. And, in 2009, we launched a second cohort of 17 additional experimenters. Grantees share their ideas and experiences on a blog created to extend learning from these initiatives. The blog can be accessed at http://edtechexp.blogspot.com. An outgrowth of the first round of experiments was a wikibook rich with information on integrating Smartboard technology into Jewish studies instruction jewishsmartboards.wikispaces.com.
For more information please check the project blog: http://edtechexp.blogspot.com/