Abstract:

The high-tech sector in Israel has been growing rapidly in recent years, mainly in the export of services. The main bottleneck for the continued growth of the industry is the recruitment of skilled workers (Sheva & Tzadik, 2021) The "Bites of Bits" program was born in the middle of the Covid-19 storm and launched in January 2021, as a collaboration between academia and industry that was promoted by the Israeli government and "Scale-UP Velocity" -an NGO that specializes in building programs and models that increase and improve the supply of talents to Israel’s tech sector. Tel Aviv University, Holon Institute of Technology, Reichman University (IDC Herzliya), and The Council for Higher Education are the academic institutions. CampusIL of Digital Israel - The National Digital Learning Platform and the Labor Arm of the Ministry of Labor, Welfare and Social Services are the government agencies involved.

This pilot was implemented as part of the Israel Government Decision No.260 "Accelerating Digital Services to the Public and Promoting Digital Learning" (Gov Secretariat, 2020), which was intended to promote and accelerate the digitization of skills training of personnel for the high-tech industry. The program is designed to ensure effective learning and perseverance for learners interested in acquiring computer science knowledge and tools through MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses). In a unique and first-of-its-kind project, Sandbox was created - an innovative space that allows to test new learning processes that combine synchronous and asynchronous learning into a comprehensive blended learning framework and find an effective way to strengthen the knowledge transfer, practice, and assimilation process (Alexander, et al., 2019).

Study materials for the pilot program included three different courses in computer science, which were taught in a blended learning format to hundreds of students. The basic premise of the program was that a guided learning experience, accompanied by an accessible and available instructor and in a group setting with a small and quality group of learners as a Blended Learning Model (BLM), will increase the learner's chances of effective learning and perseverance, ie completing the online course within the given time frame (Kanwar, Balasubramanian, & Carr, 2019).

The graduates got:
[1] 12 weekly online lessons with an academic supervisor, including in-depth study of the material taught in the online course, enrichment, and imparting effective learning habits;
[2] 36 weekly reception hours with an academic facilitator, exercises, presentations and feedback on exercises and tests;
[3] Participation in a platform for sharing knowledge and the learning community;
[4] Eligibility for academic credit examination on behalf of the academic institution.

This program was crowned a success: graduates of the "Bites of Bits" program averaged 62% across all three courses, compared to an average of 4%-26% for graduates of unaccompanied online courses. To conclude, this study confirms the initial hypothesis regarding a higher completion rate (Tashfeen, 2020) and calls for more research and assimilation, as well as dissemination of the insights to assist others in designing similar processes and implementing effective follow-up procedures.

Keywords:

Blended Learning, Upskilling, Reskilling, high-tech, Life Long Learning, Employment.