Jewish Interactive is committed to producing software that makes Jewish study engaging and dynamic. Our guiding principle is to challenge students to become an intrinsic part of the learning process, by asking them to piece together Torah sources themselves, utilizing critical thinking and active learning.
There is no better way to do this than for the students to get involved from the very beginning – in the educational software design!
We are pleased to announce that Jewish Interactive will be embarking on a joint project with the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School of Jacksonville, Florida, where students will be doing just that – designing from the ground up an educational Chanukah video game. Jewish Interactive will then select the best game design and actually build the software, to be released in advance of next Chanukah for use in their current network to more than 50 elementary schools around the world.
In this jointly planned and executed cross-curricular project, MJGDS students will first learn about the software development cycle and form project teams, each receiving a specific role, e.g.:
- Project manager
- Content expert
- Instructional designer
- Gaming expert
- Animator
- Graphic artist
- Sound effects
- Programmer
Students will research and gather the Jewish content to be included in their game, develop a curriculum and learning objectives, script an instructional game design, and develop characters and graphics. Every step of the process will be supported and guided by the team and educators at MJGDS and the Jewish Interactive team.
The MJGDS team has been a leader of innovation and entrepreneurship in the field, and a strong voice of change and advancement, most noticeably through their EdJEWcon initiative, a conference for Jewish schools and institutions on 21st century teaching and learning, and the cross-curricular use of technology in their own school, sharing Jewish Interactive’s vision.
“MJGDS is interested in giving our students opportunities to create meaningful, authentic work. From a motivational standpoint, gaming provides us with a tangible example of our target audience spending hours upon hours failing to achieve! But rather than becoming despondent, kids find this kind of failure motivating – they will spend hours and days working on new skills and seeking new discoveries in order to accomplish their goal. Deep gaming allows for the possibility of harnessing students’ desire for creativity and motivation for success to the curricular aims of a school,” shares Dr. Jon Mitzmacher, MJGDS Head of School.
Jewish Interactive is thrilled to embark on this joint initiative with MJGDS and to pioneer the involvement of students at the very core of the learning experience.
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