Why is AVI CHAI invested in online and blended learning? How might new educational models in these areas emerge as promising answers to some of the challenges facing the day school field?
The AVI CHAI staff working in this area – which includes Rachel Mohl Abrahams, Galli Aizenman, Steve Brown and Eli Kannai – set out to answer these questions in an article recently published in Jewish Educational Leadership’s recent issue, “21st Century Learning.” The following is a selection from the article discussing the impetus and current areas of focus of AVI CHAI’s online/blended learning work. The full article is available here. Jewish Educational Leadership, a professional journal for Jewish educators published by The Lookstein Center, makes the issue content available to its member schools.
AVI CHAI and Blended Learning
As part of our mission to foster high levels of Jewish literacy, deepen religious purposefulness, and promote connection to Jewish peoplehood and Israel, AVI CHAI’s work impacts approximately 300 Jewish day schools throughout North America. The average tuition in these schools is between $15,000 and $18,000 – with most schools seeing tuition increases exceeding salary increases. Because day schools have a mission to provide a Jewish education to all Jewish families who want to send their children, schools provide considerable scholarship support, with nearly half of families in Jewish day schools receiving a tuition reduction which averages 50% (Bloom, 2011).
Recognizing that the implementation of online and blended learning has the potential to help Jewish day schools reduce their costs while maintaining or even improving their high quality, in October 2010 AVI CHAI began work to support such models in Jewish day schools throughout North America. To date, AVI CHAI has committed about $6 million in this area and expects to spend much more as new initiatives are developed. To the extent these initiatives involve direct funding to schools, AVI CHAI and its funding partners will circulate requests for proposals directly to day schools.
In addition to improving education outcomes and reducing costs, the introduction of blended and online learning models might enable Jewish day schools to attract children who are not currently attending these schools because their special needs could not be adequately addressed or because the course catalog offered by the school was not broad enough.
AVI CHAI’s work to promote the adoption of online and blended learning has three distinct components:
- Existing schools: Supporting the adoption of online courses and blended learning programs – primarily general studies courses – at established elementary, middle, or high schools;
- New schools: Supporting entrepreneurs experimenting with the model of a day school in service of both educational and cost-saving goals via the incorporation of online and blended learning and other 21st century learning ideas; and
- Online Judaic studies: Stimulating the development of Judaic studies offerings online at both the middle and high school level. We have also supported the Center for Educational Technology (CET)/NETA and TaL AM to develop digital-age curricula in Hebrew language, which include blended learning elements.