Israeli ed-tech helps teachers launch an unusual school year

Courtesy of www.israel21c.org

By Abigail Klein Leichman  August 24, 2020

 

 

This is a back-to-school season like no other. With the world still in the grips of the coronavirus pandemic, millions of students will attend class online for at least part of every week.

The challenges are great, from connectivity issues to not enough devices for each child, to a lack of social contact. Still, remote classes will be part of the education landscape for a long time if not forever.

This presents many opportunities for Israel’s approximately 400 educational technology companies.

What specific problems are associated with remote learning in Covid times, and how can Israeli ed-tech help solve these problems?

ISRAEL21c posed these questions to MindCET, the ed-tech innovation center of Israel’s nonprofit Center for Educational Technology.

Surprisingly, the answer was more about logistics, socialization and structure than about software, hardware and content.

“School was the daily routine for kids and suddenly it’s not there anymore,” says Cecilia Waismann, vice president for R&D at MindCET.

“At first, everyone thought the main problem was content, and so kids and parents were being overloaded with content,” she says.

“Structure is really the main problem. There’s also the social/emotional aspect. For example, recess is very important for kids.”

Read the rest here https://www.israel21c.org/israeli-ed-tech-solutions-help-launch-a-very-unusual-school-year/

 

About Israel21c.org

ISRAEL21c is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization and the publisher of an English-language online news magazine recognized as the single most diverse and reliable source of news and information about 21st century Israel.

Our website offers a vast resource of more than 10,000 originally researched and produced articles, videos, images and blogs by some of Israel’s leading journalists, uncovering the country’s rich and diverse culture, innovative spirit, wide-ranging contributions to humanity, and democratic civil society.

Every week we reach millions of people through our website, social media channels, and e-newsletter.

ISRAEL21c was founded in 2001, in the wake of the Second Intifada, to broaden public understanding of Israel beyond typical portrayals in the mainstream media.

The organization’s founders – Israeli-American technology executives – understood the great power of the Internet and developed a first-of-its kind online product with global appeal and reach.

Since that time, ISRAEL21c has become synonymous with reliable, thoughtfully-written, and meticulously researched content for individuals, organizations, associations, news services, bloggers, and businesses in more than 230 countries.

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