Our second session of the day opened with a presentation from Sarit Kitzony from the Ministry of Education who described the ministry's vision for 21st Century "learning". Sarit told us about the portal the ministry has built in order to present teachers with materials that can help them prepare the lessons they teach, and reported on the infrastructure that it views as necessary for effective teaching and learning.
The next presentation took a step away from the school and the tools that can be used in it. Instead, Sarah Schrire described a research/learning project of hers in which a group of "readers" formed a wiki-based learning community to read poems by William Blake. Sarah's presentation reminded us that we seek to use digital tools not simply "because they're there", but because they can enhance our cultural horizons.
We returned to the schools with the presentation of Ruthy Salomon, but this "return" was with an emphasis on how the adoption of Moodle, and the tools for collaborative learning that it contains, can promote a different sort of learning that what we see in the schools today. Ruthy showed us a number of examples that convinced us that it really is possible to make a change in education.
After a short break we moved to a computer room one floor above for a face-to-face presentation from Miri Schonfeld, along with participation from afar via Elluminate from Asmaa Ganayem and Elaine Hoter. For many of us this was our first exposure to Elluminate and we enjoyed the opportunity to use a tool for synchronous digital communication.
But much more than the tool, we were deeply impressed by the project that Miri, Asmaa and Elaine described. If digital tools can truly be used effectively to bring together divergent social and ethnic groups, there's worth in them well beyond the ability to help students achieve better grades.
The next presentation took a step away from the school and the tools that can be used in it. Instead, Sarah Schrire described a research/learning project of hers in which a group of "readers" formed a wiki-based learning community to read poems by William Blake. Sarah's presentation reminded us that we seek to use digital tools not simply "because they're there", but because they can enhance our cultural horizons.
We returned to the schools with the presentation of Ruthy Salomon, but this "return" was with an emphasis on how the adoption of Moodle, and the tools for collaborative learning that it contains, can promote a different sort of learning that what we see in the schools today. Ruthy showed us a number of examples that convinced us that it really is possible to make a change in education.
After a short break we moved to a computer room one floor above for a face-to-face presentation from Miri Schonfeld, along with participation from afar via Elluminate from Asmaa Ganayem and Elaine Hoter. For many of us this was our first exposure to Elluminate and we enjoyed the opportunity to use a tool for synchronous digital communication.
But much more than the tool, we were deeply impressed by the project that Miri, Asmaa and Elaine described. If digital tools can truly be used effectively to bring together divergent social and ethnic groups, there's worth in them well beyond the ability to help students achieve better grades.
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