About Us

 

How do children see the world?

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This is a question that preoccupied the founder of ICT Sandbox for decades.

ICT Sandbox was founded in Israel in 2009 by Dr. Rina Michalowitz, who was a developmental psychologist, with over 50 years’ experience in early child education. She served for ten years, as head of the Preschool Education Division in the Israeli Ministry of Education (MOED). Whilst there, one of her greatest achievements was to enhance the awareness of the need for digital skills in kindergartens. Many years later, still maintaining the passion for early age education, she drove forward the vision of ICT Sandbox, so that every child’s love and curiosity for the world could be achieved in a safe and secure way.

 

Today ICT Sandbox is used in 90% of Israeli kindergartens that have internet connection and is proud to be trusted by over 1,700 teachers.

ICT Sandbox has been piloted in Australia, Singapore and the UK.

Our Founder

Rina Michalowitz, Dr

1932-2015

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Dr. Michalowitz was a developmental psychologist, with over 50 years experience in early child education, as a teacher, supervisor and lecturer. Having served as a lecturer at the Psychology department at Haifa University and Faculty of Education, prior to her retirement, Dr. Michalowitz also served for ten years, as head of the Preschool Education Division in the Israeli Ministry of Education (MOED) and was responsible for changing the paradigm amongst educational practitioners, which sought to encourage children’s development of computer skills as early as possible. Rina’s past experience underpinned the pedagogical and educational research that fuelled the development of ICT Sandbox’s service offering. The in-depth knowledge she possessed, including her understanding of teachers’ skill-set, enabled her to ensure the service ICT Sandbox offers is easy to use and well- received by teachers, pupils and schools alike.

Meet Our Team

Up-to-date photo of Iris Yam

Iris Yam

Founder, Chief Pedagogic & Innovations Officer

With a BA in Communication and Management, Iris has a strong management background. Having served as director of communication and advertising for leading advertising agencies, she later went on to be the VP of operations, standards and quality in Sea-Gate shipping company for over ten years. In 2009, Iris setup ICT Sandbox and oversaw the development of our products from inception to their successful implementation.

Up-to-date photo of Nir Michalowitz

Nir Michalowitz

Founder, Director, & CTO

Nir has more than 35 years experience in software development and project management and was the Co-founder of “Intercast” an innovator in the Video Delivery market. Prior to this, he was among the first developers in the Israeli R&D centre of Microsoft where he was developer, team leader and Product Unit Manager over a period of 13 years. Future developments will be under Nir’s guidance and direction and will ensure that ICT Sandbox will always be a market leader.  

Up-to-date photo of Michal Rosenvald

Michal Rosenvald

COO

Michal holds an MSc. in Organizational Development and Consultancy from Tel Aviv University, and a BA in behavioral sciences. Michal joined Googale right after it was founded in 2010 and established the training, implementation and customer relations infrastructures and operations. Michal has vast experience in advising and coaching senior executives and executing strategies through cross-organizational processes.

Up-to-date photo of Amy Lurie

Amy Lurie

Managing Director

With a Bachelor of Applied Science (Occupational Therapy), Amy’s passion for working with children resulted in her specializing in pediatrics and working in both the private and public health sectors in Australia, the United Kingdom and Israel. Joining ICT Sandbox as Managing Director Australia, Amy successfully led several pilot projects in Primary schools combining her hands-on skills and experience with the digital world, in order to ensure that children’s digital skills will be properly developed.