The Rabbinical College of Australia & New Zealand is internationally renowned among mainstream Lubavitch Yeshivos for streaming Shiurim according to learning ability, and not according to age. This model has proven to be incredibly successful, with four levels currently provided separately for Nigleh and Chassidus.
Learning Gemoro requires fluency in a number of different areas, such as reading each Aramaic word with the correct Nekudos, translating the Gemoro’s words precisely and understanding the nuanced meanings of its cryptic phrases, punctuating the Gemoro correctly, grasping the intent and the flow of the Sugya, and exploring its deeper layers of interpretation. Focussing on all of these tasks at once is a challenge.
Recently, the Rabbinical College embarked on a new initiative to encourage and assist its Bochurim to further develop each of these skills, through the integration of iPads into the existing learning routine observed in Tomchei-Temimim Yeshivos. The iPads were configured within an internal network in a manner that obviates security and content-access concerns, while incorporating Google Apps for Education and other solutions.
The iPads, which belong to the Yeshivah, are kept by the Hanholo and made available to the students of Shiur Beis, for note-taking. The notes are automatically copied in real-time to a central server location, where they are accessed by the Maggid Shiur for assessment and correction. The notes are also automatically shared with any parent who opts in.
The students are also given the iPads for one hour during the afternoon revision of Shiur. During that time, the Bochurim make a daily audio recording of the Gemoro they learned, for assessment by the Maggid Shiur. These audio files are also automatically copied to the server, where they are accessible to the parents.
Technology integration into the learning environment is a relatively novel idea within the Lubavitch Yeshivah-Gedolah system. The opportunity to employ it has produced tangibly good results, and enhanced parent involvement. The iPads augment quality individual interaction between Maggid Shiur and the Bochurim, at a level which was previously inconceivable. The Bochurim are very enthusiastic about the merger of millennia-old Gemoro study with the power of modern mobile technology.