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While educational methods have changed over the pastew centuries, the basic structure o the classroom hasremained untouched. One teacher versus ten, twentyor two hundred students the basis has always beenteacher [standing ] acing said number o students[sitting]. Time to Know is an Israeli start-up comprisedo high-tech insiders as well as pedagogic experts thathas set out to, in no immodest terms, revolutionize theclassroom. It is no wonder then that their approach toeducation is heavily tinged with a start-up approach.Te new digital teaching platorm, in essence, a setup

or linking students with their teacher and each otherin an interactive network, is already in place in selectschools in el-Aviv and exas and is causing a buzz bothin Israel as well as the States.CEO Yossi Ben-Dov is certainly ambitious. When asked

where he imagines his company to be heading as hisproduct leaves the beta stage, he states emphatically I

want to see every student in Israel using [this] product.Te release o the Time to Knowsotware in the UnitedStates is intended, not only to urther the advancemento education, but to pay or a massive rollout o theplatorm in Israel. Ben-Dov is excited to inorm methat there has been interest by both Gideon Saar, the

Minister o Education, and Nir Barkat, Jerusalems tech-savvy mayor.But how is Time to Knowdierent rom other educationalsotware already used in schools? Can this startup justiythe conceit that their product represents a revolutionin teaching methodology? Te concept behind Time toKnowis simple yet impressive. Every student in a classis provided with a low-powered Netbook computer andis networked with his peers and teacher, who is able tomonitor every students progress. Tere is an option oeither using a pre-organized syllabus, complete with

exercises, lessons and animations, or a tailor-made lessoncreated by the teacher and suited or the individual classor course.Lessons are viewed simultaneously on the studentsscreens, and materials are shown on a whiteboard by theuse o an overhead projector. Students are then pairedup by the teacher to engage in testing and practicesessions to utilize their newly learned skills.Te system, according to Ben-Dov, is revolutionary inthe sense that it rees teachers rom a dependence onrequent testing in determining the progress o students,through real-time monitoring.Ben-Dov hopes to remove computers rom the lab or

The Death of the TestTime to Know Uses a Start-up Approach to Revolutionizing Education

By S. Sokol

Photography by Avi Levine

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rom the back o the classroom and integrate them intothe core curriculum.

As one school superintendent says, Time To Know

isnot separate rom the teaching and learning process itscompletely integrated.

While computers have been used in primary educationsince the early days o the Apple II, Time to Knowmightreally be bringing about a paradigm shit. Tat is, i theycan succeed in convincing the administrators o ailingschool districts to invest in the necessary hardwareinrastructure necessary to run their product. However,

with atom processor powered Netbook computersbecoming more and more popular and aordable, itseems that within a ew short years, even the hardware

will not prove a barrier to adoption. As Ben-Dov says, with a smirk on his ace, Treehundred dollars or a computer is much less than anaverage middle class parent spends on his childs mobilephone plan in America.Earlier this year, when one school in el-Aviv trial-testing the platorm, claimed budgetary restraints oraxing the new program, teachers, parents and studentsalike raised such a uss that the school was orced tobacktrack and reinstitute the use o Ben-Dovs system.You can teach any kid i theyre engaged, because theyare ready to learn, and thats the dierence between aregular classroom and a Time To Knowclassroom, ravesPhylia Stewart, a teacher at the Lancaster elementaryschool in exas.Te project was initially envisioned as a philanthropicenterprise and as such has been dependent on grants. As

o yet, it has not become protable. Billionaire ShmuelMeital provided much o the seed unding in the ormo a charitable grant.Ben-Dov has not divulged how much money has beenspent so ar in developing the interactive teaching suite,but he was willing to say that it has run into the tens omillions o dollars.Te composition o Ben-Dovs sta refects thisdedication to education. As he is quick to point out, notmany companies employ a CPO, or chie pedagogicalocer. Moreover, out o three hundred and ty peopleon sta at Time to Know, one hundred and twenty havea background in education.

The setup

Dov Weiss, Chie Pedagogic Ocer [CPO] termed theTime to Knowsyllabus blended learning, meaning thatwhile the use o computers is key to the method, it isonly part o a larger holistic teaching method that playsto the strength o computers in education but does notintegrate technology or technologys sake.

At most, only ty percent o classroom time will be spenton the computer. Tis is in part because the computeris only part o the core curriculum ormulated by Weissand in part to prevent vision problems stemming romprolonged staring at a screen.

With such a setup, there is always the risk that students will prowl the web or non-educational purposes.Anticipating this, Ben-Dov and Weiss ormulated thesotware in such a way that students are not able toaccess a task manager or leave the sotware environment

without permission rom their teacher acting as thesystem administrator.

Academic support

With an advisory board that includes winners othe prestigious Israel Prize and academics rom bothHarvard and Berkeley, oces in Caliornia, exas andIsrael and pilot programs being run on two continents,the management oTime to Knowhave every reason tosound condent when speaking o their product.

Funding may soon become a problem, and there are stillissues with the upront costs o setting up this system,even or Israeli schools that receive the sotware andbackend support or ree, but i these hurdles can beovercome, then Time to Know has a great chance tochange the antiquated structure o both the Americanand Israeli classroom.

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The program is certainly proving

successful. Schools in Texas, Tel-Avivand Modiin are currently testing the

program and more school districts in

Israel are slated to sign on