World ORT has embarked upon a program to initiate a major advance in the Israeli education system through the introduction of interactive teaching classrooms (Smart Classrooms) at schools throughout Israel. The Smart Classroom Initiative is creating almost 1,000 Smart Classrooms in northern and southern Israel, complete with equipment, teacher training programs, development of learning materials, upgrades and maintenance.

It is crucial for a country as small as Israel that it uses its resources to their maximum potential. Israel’s most valuable resource is its people and it sees as a priority the need to nurture Israeli schoolchildren, in order to harness their natural enthusiasm and high work ethic and to develop knowledge and expertise in their chosen fields.

In order to achieve this, it is necessary to have the best possible facilities available in the schools. The introduction of the Smart Classrooms in Israel represents a major step forward for an education system that has fallen behind after several years of lack of investment caused by economic difficulties. All of the schools selected for this project have been identified by World ORT, working closely with the Israeli Ministry of Education and the Ministry for the Development of the Galilee and the Negev, as schools that have suffered by being in areas of economic distress.

One such school is the Kadoorie High School in the Lower Galilee.

The school is renowned for its policy of being open to young students from all countries, cultures and religions. As well as native born-and-bred Israeli Jews, the school is also home to Russian immigrants, Ethiopian immigrants, Christian and Muslim Arabs, Druze, Bedouins and Chirkassians, to name a few.

Home to young students from different countries, serving as a school for the local moshavim and kibbutzim and providing education in subjects as varied as agriculture and science and technology, Kadoorie is a melting pot of cultures in a setting which finds the perfect balance between old and new, reflecting closely the principles followed by the State of Israel itself.

The school’s ethos – that learning about each other and sharing knowledge reduces fear and mistrust and encourages cooperation and communication, has worked successfully for years.

Indeed, the wide spectrum of backgrounds and cultures of the students is the main selling point of the school and what makes it unique amongst the schools of the Lower Galilee, if not the whole country.

However, the school is in need of educational support, including equipment and learning materials which are relevant to today’s fast-changing technological world, in order to ensure that the academic training provided to its students matches the social education that they receive.


Smart Classrooms

The introduction of new teaching technology into Israel’s schools, based upon interactive whiteboards linked to a computer network and custom computer applications, will deliver new opportunities for student advancement and all-round improvements in education.

The Smart Classrooms will be used by teachers from all disciplines to teach all subjects. Teacher training, including on-going instruction and guidance, will be provided on how to use the equipment, how to utilize the facilities to prepare lessons and teach and how to develop relevant study materials for all subjects.



Emphasis will be placed upon developing innovative study materials for permanent use in the Smart Classroom so that more students can enjoy the benefits of the new technology offered to them and fulfill their academic potential.

For the first time in these schools, teachers will have both the means and the training to integrate animation, sound, video, live web content and text into the teaching process and to do so interactively. The system goes beyond the interactive whiteboard alone, and allows students to interact and participate by using the laptop computers.

The contribution of this methodology to the learning process has been researched in many countries and when used properly it results in significant improvements in learning. Each Smart Classroom is equipped with an interactive whiteboard connected to the teacher’s computer. The schools receive laptop computers, while the wireless network provides connectivity, linking together students’ computers, the teacher’s workstation and the whiteboard and providing access to the school intranet and the internet. It will also be possible to link the Smart Classrooms to World ORT’s videoconferencing network which will connect Israeli schools with institutions in Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Italy, Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay, the UK and others.

The teachers will be able to blend a variety of media sources that can be taken from material previously prepared, material generated from specialist software, from the internet and live from individual students’ computers. Voting kits, interactive slates and connectivity with their laptops allow the students to take a more active role in the lessons, as well as giving the teachers the opportunity to gauge, in real time, how well the students are understanding the lesson. The overall aim is to improve education and to motivate students and teachers across every subject area.

The World ORT program involves the active participation of at least 60 to 70 percent of the school’s teachers in special training courses for interactive teaching, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education. The courses deliver 120 hours of training for every teacher over a two-year period. Part of the training will prepare teachers in advance and take place ahead of the installation of the Smart Classroom.

The program will undergo continuing external evaluation by the world renowned Henrietta Szold Institute – The National Institute for Research in the Behavioural Sciences, based in Jerusalem.

The program to install Smart Classrooms at schools in Israel is implemented in full cooperation with the Ministry for the Development of the Negev and the Galilee, the Ministry of Education and local municipalities.

The following equipment and facilities are provided with each Smart Classroom:

• Voting kit;
• Remote software;
• Desktop computer (19” screen);
• Projector;
• Laptop computers (15.6” screen);
• Interactive whiteboard (IWB);
• Hand-held interactive slate;
• Safe for laptops;
• Speakers system;
• Cables (for computer and projector); Wireless router; VGA splitter;
• Installation of IWB and projector, plus wiring;
• Development of learning materials;
• Teacher training and creation of quality teaching standards;
• Upgrade and maintenance costs;
• External evaluation costs; and
• Project design, management and reporting costs.

For information or to make a donation, please call 514-481-2787.