These last several weeks, we have had the privilege of providing a sustainable, engaging learning environment for thousands of Jewish children who are restricted to their homes because of the virus. They have continued with their Judaic studies as if school is still open and their teachers are sitting with them in the same room. There has been a rapid increase in the number of learners using iTaLAM, and we have made extraordinary efforts to extend support and training to teachers and principals, and assist them in providing distance learning in the most effective manner. We have made it possible for our teachers to extend protection – to encourage children to sing, read, meet, and tell about their Jewish heritage, in Hebrew, even in these difficult days.

First, I want to express my hope that you and your loved ones are all well. May you continue to stay safe and well.

This is an extremely work-intensive period for iTaLAM, as our team – in a matter of days – has rapidly created new activities for online learning; digitized numerous student workbooks and other blended learning materials; and designed and deployed an exceptionally relevant and highly popular series of webinars for our teachers, to provide them with direct guidance as they adjust to remote teaching.

Our team has been providing untold hours to develop new activities and materials that enhance iTaLAM learning in this new era. I’d like to share with you some key achievements that have resulted from the very hectic pace of work by our educators and developers over the past 20 days:

• The average daily number of students using iTaLAM has doubled from 4,500 to 8,600. This is based on a comparison of analytics from November, which was a full month of school, and the first three weeks of March. This has been due in part to a huge response to our offer of free and discounted access to current and new schools for additional materials and units: 66 of our schools so far have opted to add grades and/or content areas; and a first wave of five new schools are now using iTaLAM materials at a discounted rate of $18/license. We expect these numbers to grow, as word of iTaLAM’s offers facilitating increased access to digital materials continues to grow. These accommodations will be in effect until July 1, 2020.
• A full suite of PDF files of printed workbooks and other blended learning materials have been uploaded by our educators for virtual classroom use and for individual learning at home.
• Four teacher training webinars are running each week, to ensure that every iTaLAM teacher is well-prepared to teach students the iTaLAM materials at home. The training is familiarizing teachers with the Pesach content materials and activities, as well as Hebrew, Tora, Shabbat and other curricular materials.
• A rich iTaLAM Youtube channel enabling students to watch instructional videos, books, and songs.
• As part of our partnership with Better Lesson, we are offering new, three-session virtual workshop series (two hours per session) to support and coach our teachers as they make this rapid shift to distance learning. The series will include hands-on guidance in managing synchronous and asynchronous distance learning; building community at a distance; and monitoring and improving each teacher’s distance learning plan.

As our educators shift to this new mode of working, we have received numerous emails from across the globe, thanking us for providing this exceptional level of support, and enabling them to move quickly into a new virtual classroom space where students continue to be fully engaged with the iTaLAM curriculum. We would like to share some short excerpts from their feedback, below.

Thank you all for the important role you play in supporting iTaLAM and encouraging the support of others, particularly at this time of crisis for our schools and communities. We could not fulfill this historic role at this time without you.

With appreciation and warm regards,

Shoshi