What is Online Learning

Online learning uses the power of the internet to bring inspiring teachers and deep content into the classroom. Known also as e-learning and distance learning, online learning also enables students to interact with one another synchronously (when students are connected and communicating at the same time) and asynchronously (when they are connected and communicate at different times).

Envision classrooms filled with world renowned teachers, where students can thumb through vast libraries. Imagine students from different classes, schools and nations sharing ideas about this week's assignments and working collaboratively on projects. This is the future of Jewish education!

Online learning in K-12 schools is growing explosively throughout educational systems in the United States. The International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) estimates a total of 1,500,000 enrollments worldwide in online learning in 2009. Publicly supported and chartered virtual academies are now a feature of the educational landscape in many states, and the number of courses and providers available is increasing each year.

For Jewish day schools and yeshivot, online learning represents an opportunity on several fronts. For some schools, the ability to provide a portion of their academic program via online courses may contribute to their efforts to contain or reduce costs without sacrificing academic quality, and thereby also allow for reducing or holding the line of tuition. Online courses will also enable schools to offer classes in subjects not currently available (such as various AP or other specialized subjects) and for individual or small groups of students for whom it would not otherwise be economically viable to offer these courses. In an era when personalization of learning is increasingly being called for and sought by parents and students, online learning represents a cost-effective way to enable students to learn at their own pace, in their own ways, and in areas of personal interest to them. We also recognize that online learning in day schools and yeshivot will prepare students for the online learning environment of higher education.