Nov 17, 2016

Five Miami Jewish Day Schools Integrate Blended Learning

Five Federation-funded Jewish day schools are adopting a cutting-edge approach to Jewish education known as “blended learning,” which combines traditional instruction with digital tools to provide highly personalized student experiences and introduce new models for lifelong learning. Called JBlendMiami, this technique enables students to learn at their own pace, aligned to their personal learning style.

The Gordon School of Beth David Congregation, Hebrew Academy (RASG), Jacobson Sinai Academy, Lehrman Community Day School and Scheck Hillel Community School are participating in the program.

JBlendMiami is a partnership between The Avi Chai Foundation, the Center for the Advancement of Jewish Education (CAJE) and The Jewish Education Project of New York’s Digital JLearning Network. Along with grants from The Avi Chai Foundation, JBlendMiami is funded by Federation and several generous local donors. The Jewish Education Project, an agency of forward-thinking educators and volunteer leaders, was created to spark new ideas and approaches to Jewish education and to provide tools, resources and technology to spread those new ideas in educating Jewish children.

To kick off the program, administrators, teachers and educational technologists from the five schools assembled in September 2015 for preliminary instruction on how to integrate blended learning into the Jewish day school classroom. A series of workshops will continue through December 2017, enabling each school to address specific learning goals for its own curriculum and environment.

“Blended learning represents a real paradigm shift in education,” explained Valerie Mitrani, CAJE’s Director of Day School Strategy and Initiatives. “We are exploring modules and modalities of learning that are more collaborative and engaging.”

So far, JBlendMiami has received accolades from participating teachers and administrators. As schools continue to work collaboratively with coaches and peers, and analyzing collected data, they will identify and address challenges to ensure that blended learning is meeting the needs of Jewish day school learners.

This Fall, CAJE awarded grants of $40,000 each to four of the participating schools to support implementation of JBlendMiami.

To learn more about JBlendMiami, please contact Valerie Mitrani, Director of Day School Strategy and Initiatives, at CAJE-Miami via [email protected].