Software Review
Jbop 

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Well, I am certainly impressed.  This program is of an extremely high quality, matching and surpassing equivalents in the secular market.  Unfortunately, I have only seen a small part of the program - a Shabbat unit - but what I have seen so far is enough by itself to lift the expectations of the Jewish Educational software buying public.

Concept, design and content are equally, and startlingly, sophisticated  Activities are stimulating, challenging and fun.  Exactly how this software would be employed as part of a structured programme of study is a larger discussion, as is its relative usefulness at home and at school.

As a very positive minimum, children will be nagging their teachers and parents to let them use jbop whenever possible.  Teachers and parents would be well advised to provide some guided tasks in order to maximise the structured use and educational benefits of the program.  Adults should work their way through the program prior to introducing their pupils / children to it.  They must be fully aware of what the program can and can not do in order to be able to guide and support its effective use.

There will need to be some discussion as to how this package could serve school and cheder programmes of study.  There should be more than a fun reward activity here, but the availability of appropriate technology will be a significant factor in determining the extent to which jbop's potential can be harnessed.

These issues aside, teachers have much to gain from independently working their way through the various sections of the program.  In fact, there are many very creative ideas here which could potentially be adapted and employed in the classroom in other ways.

Some sections of the program would lend themselves to whole class activities (with the aid of a projector), others are better suited to independent / pairs work, and some could work well in both contexts.

Ultimately, since this is essentially a 'closed' form of software; once pupils are familiar with the various sections and have worked their way through them several times, the interest and challenge could wane.  Nevertheless, the stimulating, child-friendly and engagingly interactive nature of the production is likely to draw in and captivate its audience time and time again.

Teachers will no doubt be pleased to discover such a professionally produced and multi-faceted piece of Limmudei Kodesh software.  This is not just bells and whistles, although there are certainly plenty of them.  Anyone familiar with the excellent Kidpix program will appreciate being able to apply their skills to building scenes to illustrate the days of Creation and Shabbat.  This particular activity enables users to build their own multimedia presentations alongside embellished descriptions, including both text and the spoken voice, of each day of Creation.  Criticism could justifiably be levelled at the way the original text is somewhat stylised, although this is not intended to be a direct textual study.

Colour, graphics, music and voice all come together to make activities which are at once enjoyable and educational.  Exactly what type of learning and how much of it can be achieved through this package remains to be seen.  In the mean time, jbop is a refreshingly stimulating newcomer to the Jewish Education software market and teachers would do well to give it a fair trial.

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