Mayberg Foundation Trustee, Manette Mayberg, in addition to Foundation staff and grantee clients had the honor to participate in three sessions at the ZoomOut Summit on July 13-14, 2020, to discuss and envision the future of Jewish education. The conference, facilitated by The Israeli American Council and Tel Aviv University Online Innovative Learning Center, prompted meaningful exploration about how to reimagine the classroom. 

All three sessions—highlighted below—offered insight and wisdom that can have a positive impact on shaping Jewish education.

Zooming in with the Funders: The Future of Jewish Education

In this session, Manette Mayberg, in conversation with Andres Spokoiny, President and CEO of Jewish Funders Network discussed the importance of cutting-edge innovations to help Jewish education evolve, specifically in wake of the uncertain realm of Covid-19. She expanded on what she believes will be the new role of teachers and emphasized the importance of a shared vision and collaboration among local and national funders to shape a stronger future generation of Jewish leadership. 

Spotlight on Principals

In this session, Jewish Education Innovation Challenge (JEIC) Managing Director Sharon Freundel moderated a panel of Jewish day school principals talking about ways to help students learn more as engaged as protagonists in their own learning—in both general studies and Judaic studies, we well as Hebrew language. Tikvah Wiener of The IDEA School and IDEA Institute, a grantee client of the Mayberg Foundation and partner with JEIC, shared how the Inquiry Beit Midrash model being implemented at her school adapts well to virtual settings using best practices of project-based learning.

Breakout Session: Blended and Online Learning in Jewish Day Schools - Coronavirus and Beyond

In this breakout session for Jewish day school stakeholders hosted by Prizmah at the end of the summit, Rachel Mohl Abrahams, Mayberg Foundation Senior Advisor for Education Grants and Programs, and colleagues shared thoughts about the instructional scenarios that are possible this coming year with a goal of ensuring an excellent educational experience. Among her points, Abrahams noted what stands out is the work day schools are doing to continue to create community among their students and families-in ways they actually weren’t doing beforehand. She also indicated that while online instruction seems to take more time, effort and planning than regular face-to-face instruction, the field is seeing success with the virtual classroom that will continue as teachers become more familiar with the platforms.