For Educators

This by-invitation-only event will take place at the DevTech Workshop at Boston College from May 28 to 30, 2025. It will gather educators, researchers, and innovators at the intersection of technology and education who have been working with the DevTech research group for the last three years, implementing, localizing, and/or evaluating the Coding as Another Language curriculum. Learn more here.

We’re throwing a birthday party! Join the DevTech Research Group at from 12-3 PM EST on Sunday, March 16th, 2025 to celebrate 10 years of ScratchJr! For this free, in-person event at the DevTech lab on Boston College’s campus, children (of all ages!), families, educators, and more are invited to learn about and play with ScratchJr. The event will include tutorials, arts and crafts, games, storytelling, educator and family resources, all designed for ScratchJr. Attendees will leave with a ScratchJr project they love, some ScratchJr swag, and a smile on their face. Light refreshments will be provided.

Complete this google form to officially register for the event.

All registrants will be sent an email about parking and finding the DevTech space one week prior to the event. Additionally, stay tuned to our socials for sneak peaks at some brand new ScratchJr activities!

VR Makom is a spiritual experiment and experience designed to increase middle school students’ sense of awe and wonder. Integrating Virtual Reality into Jewish prayer can create positive student experiences that have a lasting and transformative impact on their attitudes to prayer and spirituality. Oren will share data and anecdotes from his work and answer questions.

Oren Kaunfer is Madrich Ruchani (Spiritual Educator) at JCDS Boston’s Jewish Community Day School. Drawing on a diverse background ranging from Camp Ramah to the Institute for Jewish Spirituality to producing animation at MTV, Oren’s creativity, energy, and spirit elevate and energize the community, and infuse JCDS with genuine ruach (spirit). In 2018, Oren received The Covenant Foundation’s prestigious Pomegranate Prize for emerging Jewish educators and received a grant for his groundbreaking work bridging virtual reality and prayer. Oren is particularly interested in creating innovative and engaging t’fillah (prayer), and fostering meaningful connections to Judaism.

A socio-historical analysis of the development of yeshivas and their conversational practices, focusing on systematic evaluations of dialogues within traditional study pairs (Chavruta) and groups (Chabura). We explore these practices’ contributions to modern educational objectives, such as knowledge creation, dialogical and collaborative learning, and fostering critical thinking. Additionally, we discuss the degree of autonomy in yeshiva textual studies. This examination also considers whether Western educational traditions might benefit or find solutions to their challenges through these ancient learning methodologies.  

Dr. Zvi Bekerman teaches anthropology of education at the School of Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and is a research fellow at The Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace in the same university. His main interests are in the study of cultural, ethnic and national identity, including identity processes and negotiation during intercultural encounters and in formal/informal learning contexts. He is particularly interested in how concepts such as culture and identity intersect with issues of social justice, intercultural and peace education, and citizenship education. In addition to publishing multiple papers in a variety of academic journals, Bekerman is the founding editor of the refereed journal Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education: An International Journal.

Among his most recent books: Bekerman, Z., & Zembylas, M. (2017). Psychologized language in education: Denaturalizing a regime of truth, Palgrave Macmillan – Springer; Bekerman, Zvi (2016), The Promise of Integrated and Multicultural Bilingual Education: Inclusive Palestinian-Arab and Jewish Schools in Israel, Oxford University Press, 2016; Bekerman, Zvi & Michalinos Zembylas (2012), Teaching Contested Narratives Identity, Memory and Reconciliation in Peace Education and Beyond. London, Cambridge University Press; and Bekerman, Zvi; Geisen, Thomas (Eds.) (2012) International Handbook of Migration, Minorities and Education Understanding Cultural and Social Differences in Processes of Learning. New York: Springer. Claire McGlynn, Michalinos Zembylas, & Zvi Bekerman (Eds.) (2013) Integrated Education in Conflicted Societies. Palgrave, Mcmillan.