Reuven Werber's Posts - Classroom 2.02024-03-28T12:18:00ZReuven Werberhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/reuvenwehttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1949873575?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://www.classroom20.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=reuvenwe&xn_auth=noProfessional Development Resources for Jewish Studies Educators IntegratingTechnology from MOFET JTECtag:www.classroom20.com,2010-09-08:649749:BlogPost:5063772010-09-08T06:25:00.000ZReuven Werberhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/reuvenwe
<p><font size="3">MOFET JTEC provides some great resources for Jewish Studies Teachers:</font></p>
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<li><font size="3">A</font> <a href="http://jtec.macam.ac.il/portal/SectionPage.aspx?id=7"><font size="3">Jewish Education Content Portal</font></a> <font size="3">with a rich indexed collection of Jewish Education Resources<br></br></font></li>
<li><font size="3">A recorded webinar on …</font></li>
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<p><font size="3">MOFET JTEC provides some great resources for Jewish Studies Teachers:</font></p>
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<li><font size="3">A</font> <a href="http://jtec.macam.ac.il/portal/SectionPage.aspx?id=7"><font size="3">Jewish Education Content Portal</font></a> <font size="3">with a rich indexed collection of Jewish Education Resources<br/></font></li>
<li><font size="3">A recorded webinar on <b><a href="http://elive.macam.ac.il/mofet/play_recording.html?recordingId=1282222306309_1283333428576" target="_blank"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'"><font color="#3090F9">Apples, Honey and the Internet: Teaching Rosh HaShana Using the Internet</font></span></a></b></font></li>
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<li><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The <a href="http://mofetjtec.macam.ac.il/onlineacademy/pages/default.aspx">Online Academy for Jewish Studies</a>, offering the community of teachers, educators, and teacher educators throughout the Jewish world a broader range of programs and courses on the didactics of teaching the Jewish subjects (Hebrew language, Holocaust Studies, Bible & Oral Law, Jewish Life Cycle and much more).<br/></span></li>
<li><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">In addition, the academy is inaugurating <a href="http://mofetitec.macam.ac.il/onlineacademy/ActivePrograms/Pages/default.aspx">two new programs</a> on technological applications in education and teaching as well as in the didactics of teaching English as a Foreign Language.</span></span></li>
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<p><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">We hope that you willl utilize these valuable resources while enjoying a wonderful, healthy and enriching New Year!</span></span></p>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><img alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974058540?profile=original"/></span></p>
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<p></p>The Third International Online Conference, "Opening Gates in Teacher Education, 2011: Teacher Education in the Age of Globalizationtag:www.classroom20.com,2010-03-25:649749:BlogPost:4536702010-03-25T07:00:00.000ZReuven Werberhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/reuvenwe
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt; unicode-bidi: embed; DIRECTION: ltr"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">The Third International Online Conference, "<b>Opening Gates in Teacher Education, 2011: Teacher Education in the Age of Globalization,</b>" will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, January 25-26,…</font></span></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt; unicode-bidi: embed; DIRECTION: ltr" dir="ltr" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">The Third International Online Conference, "<b>Opening Gates in Teacher Education, 2011: Teacher Education in the Age of Globalization,</b>" will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, January 25-26, 2011. <br/><a href="http://pre-oc2011.macam.ac.il/Pages/default.aspx">http://pre-oc2011.macam.ac.il/Pages/default.aspx</a></font></span></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt; unicode-bidi: embed; DIRECTION: ltr" dir="ltr" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3"><br/>This Conference continues the Mofet Institute's tradition of international online conferences devoted to teacher education and education in general. Similar to the</font> <a href="http://pre-oc2011.macam.ac.il/eng/Pages/previous.aspx"><span style="COLOR: #003399; TEXT-DECORATION: none; text-underline: none"><font size="3">two previous conferences</font></span></a><font size="3">, this third conference offers educators and teacher educators in particular, two days during which they can hear well-known personalities in the field of teacher education and hold discussions around issues related to their profession. These issues are described in the Conference</font> <a href="http://pre-oc2011.macam.ac.il/eng/Pages/rationale.aspx"><span style="COLOR: #003399; TEXT-DECORATION: none; text-underline: none"><font size="3">rationale</font></span></a><font size="3">, and in its</font> <a href="http://pre-oc2011.macam.ac.il/eng/Pages/themes.aspx"><span style="COLOR: #003399; TEXT-DECORATION: none; text-underline: none"><font size="3">themes</font></span></a><font size="3">.</font></span></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; unicode-bidi: embed; DIRECTION: ltr" dir="ltr" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Who should participate?</font></span></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; unicode-bidi: embed; DIRECTION: ltr" dir="ltr" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><br/><font size="3">The Conference reaches out to educators, researchers, lecturers and experts in fields related to education and teacher education – in Israel and throughout the world.</font></span></p>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; unicode-bidi: embed; DIRECTION: ltr" dir="ltr" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Submitting a proposal</font></span></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; unicode-bidi: embed; DIRECTION: ltr" dir="ltr" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><br/><font size="3">You're invited to submit a proposal to present at the Conference:</font></span></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt 8.65pt; unicode-bidi: embed; DIRECTION: ltr; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt" dir="ltr" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt"><span style="mso-list: Ignore">·</span></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Review</font> <a href="http://pre-oc2011.macam.ac.il/eng/Pages/themes.aspx"><span style="COLOR: #003399; TEXT-DECORATION: none; text-underline: none"><font size="3">the themes of the conference</font></span></a> <font size="3">and choose the theme.</font></span></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt 8.65pt; unicode-bidi: embed; DIRECTION: ltr; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt" dir="ltr" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt"><span style="mso-list: Ignore">·</span></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Choose the</font> <a href="http://pre-oc2011.macam.ac.il/eng/Pages/types.aspx"><span style="COLOR: #003399; TEXT-DECORATION: none; text-underline: none"><font size="3">type of presentation</font></span></a> <font size="3">that best suits your topic.</font></span></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt 8.65pt; unicode-bidi: embed; DIRECTION: ltr; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt" dir="ltr" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt"><span style="mso-list: Ignore">·</span></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Review the</font> <a href="http://pre-oc2011.macam.ac.il/eng/Pages/dates.aspx"><span style="COLOR: #003399; TEXT-DECORATION: none; text-underline: none"><font size="3">important dates</font></span></a> <font size="3">to make sure your proposal is sent in on time.</font></span></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt 8.65pt; unicode-bidi: embed; DIRECTION: ltr; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt" dir="ltr" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt"><span style="mso-list: Ignore">·</span></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><font size="3">Use the</font> <a href="http://pre-oc2011.macam.ac.il/eng/Pages/proposalForm.aspx"><span style="COLOR: #003399; TEXT-DECORATION: none; text-underline: none"><font size="3">online form</font></span></a> <font size="3">after March 15, 2010 to submit your proposal.</font></span></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; unicode-bidi: embed; DIRECTION: ltr" dir="ltr" class="MsoNormal"></p>A MOFET JTEC Webinar - Teaching Mishnah - Problems and Creative Solutionstag:www.classroom20.com,2010-02-10:649749:BlogPost:4346932010-02-10T09:00:00.000ZReuven Werberhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/reuvenwe
<div class="pageTitle"><font face="Verdana">MOFET JTEC Jewish Teacher Education Community of The MOFET Institute is presenting an online webinar in English without charge to the Jewish education community around the world with <span style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana">Rabbi Dr. Avraham Walfish on</span> <strong>Teaching Mishnah - Problems and Creative</strong> <strong>Solutions</strong> on Wednesday February 17, 2010 - 7:00-8:30P.M. - Israel time (GT + 2:00…</font></div>
<div class="pageTitle"><font face="Verdana">MOFET JTEC Jewish Teacher Education Community of The MOFET Institute is presenting an online webinar in English without charge to the Jewish education community around the world with <span style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana">Rabbi Dr. Avraham Walfish on</span> <strong>Teaching Mishnah - Problems and Creative</strong> <strong>Solutions</strong> on Wednesday February 17, 2010 - 7:00-8:30P.M. - Israel time (GT + 2:00<font face="Verdana">).</font></font></div>
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<div class="pageTitle"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana">Although Mishnah study is a vital and increasingly popular mainstay of Jewish education, this text presents serious problems and challenges to teachers. In order to make the study of Mishnah accessible, relevant, interesting, and challenging, educators have proposed a broad variety of innovative teaching methods, some of which involve supplementing Mishnah study with other materials and some of which involve careful attention to textual subtleties and issues related to how the Mishnah was put together. In this class we will survey the problems and proposed solutions, focusing on how particular mishnaic texts may be taught in creative and stimulating ways.</span></div>
<div class="pageTitle"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"><span style="COLOR: #ff6600">What exactly is an online encounter?</span><br/>The online encounter environment (WEBINAR) enables presentations, sites, programs and video movies to be presented in parallel to an interactive discussion with the audience by means of vocal and written communication and the use of signs for expressing emotion. Each participant has his own communication channel and can request and receive permission to speak and voice his opinions. The big advantage of online encounters lies in the fact that there is no need to go to the place where the event is being held since it is possible to participate in the activities at home. Most of the online encounters take place at times that are convenient for the participants.</span></div>
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<div class="pageTitle"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana">For further information and registration go to the MOFET JTEC site:</span></div>
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<div class="pageTitle"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"><a title="http://mofetjtec.macam.ac.il/online/Pages/Webinar-Walfish.aspx CTRL + Click to follow link">http://mofetjtec.macam.ac.il/online/Pages/Webinar-Walfish.aspx</a></span></div>A Content Portal is Born – MOFET JTECtag:www.classroom20.com,2008-05-11:649749:BlogPost:1406142008-05-11T11:00:00.000ZReuven Werberhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/reuvenwe
Last week a project that I have been working on for the last few months went live - The <a href="http://jtec.macam.ac.il/portal">MOFET JTEC Portal</a> - a professional content portal for all those involved in Jewish education in Israel and the Diaspora.<br />
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The MOFET JTEC Portal is a user-friendly database which contains abstracts and links to academic articles, online learning resources, conferences, professional development activities, news articles…
Last week a project that I have been working on for the last few months went live - The <a href="http://jtec.macam.ac.il/portal">MOFET JTEC Portal</a> - a professional content portal for all those involved in Jewish education in Israel and the Diaspora.<br />
<p style="text-align: left;"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974046935?profile=original" alt="" width="985" height="110"/></p>
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The MOFET JTEC Portal is a user-friendly database which contains abstracts and links to academic articles, online learning resources, conferences, professional development activities, news articles and more categorized by topic, keywords, authors with an advanced search and browse interface.<br />
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The objective of the international JTEC content portal in Jewish education is to improve the flow of pedagogical knowledge and research in Jewish education by helping teacher educators, teachers, researchers, and other stakeholders keep abreast of the wealth of publications in the field.<br />
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MOFET JTEC is an initiative of MOFET Institute - which operates alongside Israeli colleges of education and has as its objective to serve as an intercollegiate professional meeting-place for teacher educators.<br />
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The MOFET JTEC Portal joins <a href="http://itec.macam.ac.il/portal">The MOFET ITEC Portal</a> – (International Portal of Teacher Education) which aims to improve the flow of pedagogical knowledge and research on teacher education.<br />
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The abstracts of the latest and newest papers and research studies published in the world's leading journals in the field of teacher education (such as Journal of Teacher Education and Teaching and Teacher Education) and major education conferences (such as EARLI and AERA) are collected in one database in the International Content Portal.<br />
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A survey of the material is conducted systematically and the selected items undergo processing and adaptation to a uniform online platform in accordance with defined categories and key words.<br />
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The Classroom 2.0 community is invited to the visit the new portals and avail themselves of their offerings.BRIDGING EDUCATION INTO SOCIETY – The 22nd ESP Conferencetag:www.classroom20.com,2008-03-11:649749:BlogPost:1179312008-03-11T12:00:00.000ZReuven Werberhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/reuvenwe
On Wednesday, March 5, 120 educators from all over Europe, the US, Iran and Israel came together in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Coru%C3%B1a">La Coruna, Spain</a> for five days of discussion, collaborative learning and planning at the <a href="http://www.ejournal.fi/esp22/index.php?action%5b%5d=IArticleShow::showArticle(25745)">22nd Conference</a> of the European Schools Project Association. The theme of the Conference, Bridging Education into Society set the tone of the activities…
On Wednesday, March 5, 120 educators from all over Europe, the US, Iran and Israel came together in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Coru%C3%B1a">La Coruna, Spain</a> for five days of discussion, collaborative learning and planning at the <a href="http://www.ejournal.fi/esp22/index.php?action%5b%5d=IArticleShow::showArticle(25745)">22nd Conference</a> of the European Schools Project Association. The theme of the Conference, Bridging Education into Society set the tone of the activities as the participants explored how ICT could be better used to educate young people towards full active citizenship. They worked together to develop new collaborative projects which would bring the students to interact with peers abroad fostering openness, generosity towards others and working together to build a better world. The conference was hosted by the <a href="http://www.faortega.org/engflash30/index.html">Amancio Ortega Foundation</a>, a philanthropic fund committed to promoting educational innovation in the area of La Coruna.<br />
The formal conference opened on Thursday morning with greetings to the participants from the Foundation and Professor Henk Sligte, of the University of Amsterdam.<br />
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The Conference was then privileged to hear Mr. Frederico Mayor Zaragoza, former president of UNESCO speak about "Education for All, Commitment of the Entire Society". He emphasized that not only must we seek to bridge education into society; we must bridge society into education – providing a quality education as a basic right of all.<br />
Collette Cotton described various projects between English elementary schools around the world with the help of <a href="http://www.superclubsplus.com/">SuperclubsPlus</a>, an award winning e-learning site for children aged 6 to 11 which offers safe chat along with a range of other online tools like home pages, school pages and email.<br />
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The Thursday afternoon and evening sessions were devoted to having the participants get to know each other, hear about various ICT collaborative projects and resources and begin to look for prospective partners for forming their own projects. Kirsten M. Antilla and Vilienka Savli introduced the <a href="http://www.europeanschoolsproject.org/image/">"Image of the Other" Portal</a> a seven European language resource site for Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) projects. Dr. Sheila Gersh of the US introduced the <a href="http://www.culturequest.us/">Culture Quest Project</a>, where students and teachers engage in inquiry-based classroom projects that explore other peoples and cultures. Other projects centering on teaching English, art, German and sciences were also introduced, while many of the participants began discussions with prospective CSCL project partners.<br />
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On Friday morning the conference participants split up to visit three schools in the Ponte dos Brozos educational ICT project supported by the Amancio Ortega Foundation in the town of Arteixo. Visits were made to an elementary, secondary and vocational school where ICT had been introduced across the curriculum and laptops were used by all the teachers and students.<br />
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In addition to visiting the schools for a first hand impression, the conference members heard a presentation by Professor Miquel Angel Prats of Universitat Ramon Llul on the ICT empowered educational innovation of Ponte Dos Brontos Project based on a two year qualitative – quantitative multidimensional study.<br />
An in-depth visit to the <a href="http://www.inditex.com/en/">Inditex</a> factories and logistics services in Arteixo (Zara Fashions) gave a true demonstration of how ICT is deployed in the operation of a global concern as production, marketing and shipping are controlled by close online communication between the logistics center and its world-wide outlets. A reception by the Mayor of Arteixo followed before returning to the conference headquarters in La Coruna.<br />
On Friday afternoon, more project presentations were made including projects with moodles and email, e-twinning and a head teachers' workshop. An interesting collaborative project by Danish elementary schools and an Iranian school was presented by participating teachers.<br />
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I presented how Information Literacy and ICT skills are integrated across the curriculum at <a href="http://www.nevechana.org.il/">Neveh Channah Girls High School</a> in Israel. The presentation and related links can be viewed <a href="http://reuw.wikispaces.com/ESP+Conference">here</a>. My presentation also emphasized the activities of the <a href="http://kplab.wiki.co.il/index.php/%D7%A2%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%93_%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%A9%D7%99">Hebrew University branch</a> of the international KP-Lab consortium in collecting and sharing ICT materials of schools all around Israel.<br />
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Friday evening and Saturday morning were devoted to project design and planning sessions, where new projects were designed and ongoing projects were updated. The projects were uploaded to the <a href="http://www.ejournal.fi/esp22/index.php?action%5b%5d=IArticleShow::showArticle(30267)">conference website</a> as they were completed.<br />
The remainder of Saturday was devoted to social-cultural activities, a visit to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_de_Compostela">Santiago De Compostella</a>, the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia and the destination of the important medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James. A social evening with an ethnic Galician musical presentation was held on Saturday evening.<br />
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Sunday was devoted to the General assembly of the ESP members and goodbyes all around.<br />
Participating in the conference provided me with a chance to widen my professional contacts considerably by getting to know educators in Europe who implement ICT in their curricula in a constructivist - authentic learning mode. Meeting face to face with people who are trying to bring their students to learn how to work with peers across the globe in order to improve the world they live in was a truly refreshing experience. The conference provided an opportunity for us to realize in our own social, professional lives the values we are trying to bring to our students by creating and sustaining a real-life global learning community. I hope to develop the ties I made there and cultivate them into an ongoing collaboration.The Contact Seminar in La Coruna, Spaintag:www.classroom20.com,2008-03-05:649749:BlogPost:1160282008-03-05T23:30:00.000ZReuven Werberhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/reuvenwe
What a small world! Sitting here in my hotel room in La Coruna, Spain, listening to a daily news round –up in Hebrew from Israel Radio, waiting for a Skype chat wife my wife after she gets home from work. Had a very full enjoyable day at the Contact Seminar event which preceded the 22nd ESP (European Schools Project Conference) – “Bridging Education into Society”. Nearly 30 educators, principals and edtech experts from Denmark, Spain, Germany, England, Italy, Holland, Georgia, Portugal, Norway,…
What a small world! Sitting here in my hotel room in La Coruna, Spain, listening to a daily news round –up in Hebrew from Israel Radio, waiting for a Skype chat wife my wife after she gets home from work. Had a very full enjoyable day at the Contact Seminar event which preceded the 22nd ESP (European Schools Project Conference) – “Bridging Education into Society”. Nearly 30 educators, principals and edtech experts from Denmark, Spain, Germany, England, Italy, Holland, Georgia, Portugal, Norway, Iran and Israel came together for a one day workshop on planning, developing, implementing and evaluating collaborative international e-learning projects. The workshop leaders, Kirsten M. Antilla and Morgen Eriksen of Denmark, past national coordinators of ESP, coordinators and partners in collaborative projects, and established teacher educators did a very professional job of preparing the participants to partake in and run International Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) projects.<br />
Among the topics dealt with were:<br />
• Getting to know you<br />
• How international is my school?<br />
• The life of a collaborative e-project<br />
• The Star of Quality – a checklist for planning projects<br />
• Doing teacher distance introductions<br />
• Defining the school situation and determining the project objectives<br />
• Non – verbal presentation and field work (or “The Digicam in Service of Education”)<br />
• Using the mind map in planning the project<br />
• Viewing workshop outcomes<br />
• Evaluation & summary<br />
Kirsten and Morgens accomplished the incredible task of bringing together educators from very different backgrounds, professional status, previous experience and getting them to work together harmoniously on structured tasks using excellent teaching materials in order to learn how to effectively participate in CSCL projects. Thank you! Some of their materials are available <a href="http://www.ecole.dk/uk/">here</a>:<br />
I am truly amazed at the wonderful atmosphere here at the ESP conference. Feelings of warmth and openness, sharing and cooperation prevail. During the workshop sessions, while carrying out the group tasks and during informal sessions, breaks and meal times, information and empathy flow freely. One hears about the successes and issues faced by others, shares his and sets the stage for possible collaborations in the future.<br />
For example, today at dinner I learned about a country that has one computer for every thirty six students and another that has one for every four. Well, I guess that puts Israel somewhere in between.<br />
I hope the Conference which convenes tomorrow with over a hundred participants will be as rewarding.<br />
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I won’t write here about my foot tour of La Coruna with Adi, a local young citizen whom I met when I encountered his blog in preparation for this trip .It was a very memorable walk indeed for more reasons than one.<br />
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I’ll just add some fresh images of the day here for the benefit of the readers (if there are any).<br />
<br />
At Work:<br />
<p style="text-align: left;"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974047731?profile=RESIZE_320x320" alt="" width="300" height="224"/></p>
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Our TV Mindmap!<br />
<p style="text-align: left;"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974047871?profile=RESIZE_320x320" alt="" width="300" height="80"/></p>To Corunatag:www.classroom20.com,2008-03-04:649749:BlogPost:1155342008-03-04T18:12:07.000ZReuven Werberhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/reuvenwe
It’s been quite a while since I have travelled internationally, so I really didn’t know what to expect on this trip to La Coruna via Madrid for the ESP conference. Being aware of the tightening of security checks and precautions since 9/11 as well as the cutbacks on airline operation expenses, I sort of expected a much less pleasant experience than I had recalled while flying in the past. Well I must say I was pleasantly surprised. The experience at the new international Ben Gurion Terminal at…
It’s been quite a while since I have travelled internationally, so I really didn’t know what to expect on this trip to La Coruna via Madrid for the ESP conference. Being aware of the tightening of security checks and precautions since 9/11 as well as the cutbacks on airline operation expenses, I sort of expected a much less pleasant experience than I had recalled while flying in the past. Well I must say I was pleasantly surprised. The experience at the new international Ben Gurion Terminal at Tel Aviv was quite pleasant. The departure hall was spacious with ample security facilities. Ticketing went good too and that left me some time to take advantage of the good wifi connection to blog my first entry.<br />
After morning prayers it was boarding time – nice breakfast, some time to prepare for the conference and catch up on some reading.<br />
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Five and a half hours later had to hustle a bit to get to my connecting flight to La Coruna. Get by train to Terminal 4 from Terminal 4S – catch a bus to terminal to and trek to the outer edges of Terminal 2 to catch the flight. But the setup at the airport was really user friendly. Clearly marked color coded signs with Spanish & English text, and information stewards who speak many languages strategically placed all over the airport really help me navigate efficiently. The Madrid terminals were not completely wified like Ben Gurion, but there were hotspots here and there at coffee shops. I didn’t have time to try them out because of the rush to catch the flight to La Coruna.<br />
The hour flight to gave me a chance to catch some snow covered mountains and some nice views of the Atlantic coast. Cabbed to the hotel, checked in, settled down, skyped with the wife from the hotel’s wifi.<br />
Hope to meet some of the Conference early comers for dinner.<br />
Tomorrow is the Contact Seminar for those new to the European school collaboration systems. Although we have collaborated with Canada and the USA, we don’t have much experience with Europe. Hope to make some good contacts and learn about the European way of doing things.<br />
<br />
<p style="text-align: left;"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974048289?profile=RESIZE_320x320" alt="" width="300" height="225"/></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974048415?profile=RESIZE_320x320" alt="" width="300" height="225"/></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974049625?profile=RESIZE_320x320" alt="" width="300" height="400"/></p>On the Way to Spaintag:www.classroom20.com,2008-03-04:649749:BlogPost:1152582008-03-04T03:00:00.000ZReuven Werberhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/reuvenwe
Haven't posted in along time. now that I"m on my way to A Coruna, Spain for the <a href="http://www.ejournal.fi/esp22/">22nd ESP Conference</a> maybe I will take the opportunity to post here. I will be presenting on Friday on the 21st Century School curriculum as done in Neveh Channah HS for Girls in the Etzion Blog, Israel. Boarding in a few minutes so will be satisfied with this mini post for now. Anyone want me to find out anything about edtech in Europe for them? Better yet, any of you…
Haven't posted in along time. now that I"m on my way to A Coruna, Spain for the <a href="http://www.ejournal.fi/esp22/">22nd ESP Conference</a> maybe I will take the opportunity to post here. I will be presenting on Friday on the 21st Century School curriculum as done in Neveh Channah HS for Girls in the Etzion Blog, Israel. Boarding in a few minutes so will be satisfied with this mini post for now. Anyone want me to find out anything about edtech in Europe for them? Better yet, any of you attending the conference? Be glad to hear from you!<br />
<br />
<p style="text-align: left;"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974047888?profile=RESIZE_320x320" alt="" width="300" height="225"/></p>
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<p style="text-align: left;"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974049293?profile=RESIZE_320x320" alt="" width="300" height="225"/></p>On Terror and Twittertag:www.classroom20.com,2008-01-30:649749:BlogPost:1020852008-01-30T18:45:28.000ZReuven Werberhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/reuvenwe
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<p align="justify" dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><font face="Times New Roman, serif" size="2">Last Thursday evening I was at home with my wife in our small kibbutz apartment when my cell phone gave a loud ring. The incoming number was from the Tel Aviv area – not an expected call. The…</font></p>
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<p dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="justify"><font face="Times New Roman, serif" size="2">Last Thursday evening I was at home with my wife in our small kibbutz apartment when my cell phone gave a loud ring. The incoming number was from the Tel Aviv area – not an expected call. The recorded voice on the other end set me scurrying! "A terrorist incident is taking place on the kibbutz. There is shooting and wounded! All residents are to lock their doors, close lights and stay close to the walls or floor! Further instructions will be provided later". A few minutes later, my wife's cellular rang with the same message. We quickly complied with the instructions. We have been living on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kfar_Etzion">Kibbutz Kfar Etzion</a>, 20 kms. south of Jerusalem for nearly forty years and never had we experienced a terrorist attack on the kibbutz. Of course, we have carried out civil defense drills where we had to enact what we would have to do in case of a terrorist raid, but we had never experienced the real thing.</font></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="justify"><font face="Times New Roman, serif" size="2">Our daughter called from her apartment on the other side of the kibbutz, home alone with six of her kids. She wanted to know if we had heard any details about what was going on. We hadn't. There we were sitting in the dark, waiting to find out what was happening, worried that perhaps armed terrorists were roaming free in the kibbutz looking for prospective victims to execute or hold for ransom. Two of our other sons were probably out on the paths of the kibbutz with the intervention squad trying to locate and intercept the invaders. I went into the spare bedroom, unlocked my M-16 assault rifle (which are issued to kibbutz members who have served in the armed forces for guard duty and use in case of security emergencies) and removed it from the closet, just in case.</font></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="justify"><font face="Times New Roman, serif" size="2">The light from my PC LCD drew my attention. I glanced at my open Firefox browser, there was my Twitbin collecting <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter">twits</a> from all over the Twit-universe; Business as usual, new applications, blogposts, chit-chat and what have you. And here we were in locked in our apartment being stalked by terrorists whose hatred is driving them to attempt to take our lives. I felt an urge to call out to those tweets who I follow (and some who follow me) to tell them about the mortal danger confronting us. So, I sent out a Tweet Shout – "REAL TERRORIST ATTACK ON KFAR ETZION NOW!! Shooting and wounded!!" In a few minutes I got replies from Susant and Paulhami expressing their empathy and concern. Another twit by me: "We are at home with doors locked – patrol engaging terrorists with live fire!" and another batch of twit replies sharing prayers and hopes for our well being. It made things better for me knowing that there are people out there with whom I collaborate and communicate who really care about our welfare. Our prayers to the Lord were joined by others around the world.</font></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="justify"><font face="Times New Roman, serif" size="2">Susant's and Paulhami's later reflections were also quite interesting. Who are our neighbors in this global world? Whose welfare is meaningful to us?</font></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="justify"><font face="Times New Roman, serif" size="2">As time went by we were informed about the nature of the terrorist attack. Two terrorists had cut the perimeter fence and entered the kibbutz. They made their way to the compound of the Makor Chaim Yeshiva High School on the kibbutz and entered the library. Armed with long knives and a pistol, they came upon seven HS counselors who were meeting in the library. They confronted and threatened the counselors, ordering them to stand against the wall. It took the counselors a few minutes to realize that these two figures dressed in army fatigues were terrorists and not guards, but once the realization came, they pounced on them, disarming them. During the scuffle, two of the counselors were wounded by the knives and both of the terrorists were shot and disarmed.</font></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="justify"><font face="Times New Roman, serif" size="2">The outcome of this attack could have been very different had the terrorists entered the Bet Medrash (study hall) which was occupied at the time by HS students instead of falling on the counselors meeting. The counselors are mostly fellows in their twenties, who had served a few years in the armed forces, and who had been trained to react to terrorist attacks.</font></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="justify"><font face="Times New Roman, serif"><font size="2">The Israeli <u><a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1201070788290&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull"><font color="#0000FF">press</font></a></u> wrote about <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/948272.html">this attack</a> along with another terrorist</font> <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/948047.html"><font size="2">attack</font></a> <font size="2">that took place at the same time north of Jerusalem, with fatal results.</font></font></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="justify"><font face="Times New Roman, serif" size="2">On the next evening all of the kibbutz members joined the Yeshiva students for Friday night prayer services which were wonderfully festive. The kibbutz Rabbi and the head of the Yeshiva spoke of the great deliverance we had been granted by the Lord at the hands of the brave and resourceful counselors.</font></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="justify"><font face="Times New Roman, serif" size="2">The event left me with much to think about individually, locally and globally.</font></p>
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<p dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="justify"><font face="Times New Roman, serif" size="2">Here are a few images of the twitter exchange which took place during the event.</font></p>
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<p style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1201070788290&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull"></a></p>
<img style="width: 534px;" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974048447?profile=RESIZE_320x320" height="553" width="300"/><p/><p style="text-align: left;"></p>
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<p style="text-align: left;"><img style="width: 537px;" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974049746?profile=RESIZE_320x320" height="590" width="300"/></p>Neveh Channah HS Computer Club (in Hebrew)tag:www.classroom20.com,2008-01-12:649749:BlogPost:965072008-01-12T21:54:51.000ZReuven Werberhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/reuvenwe
After returning to school from a two month teacher's strike, I decided<br />
that one of the ways to bring about adoption of web2.0 skills in the<br />
school would be to have a weekly computer club. Most clubs at our<br />
school take place on Monday evenings between 20:00-21:30 (the girls<br />
dorm on Monday nights). Not easy to find a committed group of kids to<br />
come every week, especially when running against choir, drama, dance,<br />
etc.<br></br>
I decided to try anyway. Decided to run a fast moving track to have<br />
kids…
After returning to school from a two month teacher's strike, I decided<br />
that one of the ways to bring about adoption of web2.0 skills in the<br />
school would be to have a weekly computer club. Most clubs at our<br />
school take place on Monday evenings between 20:00-21:30 (the girls<br />
dorm on Monday nights). Not easy to find a committed group of kids to<br />
come every week, especially when running against choir, drama, dance,<br />
etc.<br/>
I decided to try anyway. Decided to run a fast moving track to have<br />
kids learn and adopt web2.0 tools to give them skills which would allow<br />
them to express themselves using online collaborative digital tools.<br/>
I started out building a wikispaces <a href="http://nc-tech.wikispaces.com/">wiki</a><br />
which contained a sampling of exciting web2.0 applications. At the<br />
first meeting we learned about web2.0 and saw a demonstration of cool<br />
tools - Flickr,animoto, voicethread, wikispaces, del.icio.us bookmarks,<br />
RSS feeds etc.<br/>
This brought four girls to join up.<br/>
On week 2 we did digital photography, uploading to computer, online editing with <a href="http://www.picnik.com/">Picnik</a> and uploading the before and after pics to each girls wiki page.<br/>
On week 3 we set out to find online pics for making <a href="http://animoto.com/">animoto</a> clips. We had a discussion about copyright and fair use and decided to use Creative Commons pics from <a href="http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/">Flickr</a>.<br />
Each student did a search for pics around a theme and then saved them,<br />
uploaded them to an Animoto account which she opened, ordered them,<br />
chose a musical background from Animoto's music collection and<br />
submitted the clip for automatic editing. After viewing the clip, the<br />
girls learned how to embed their clips on their personal wiki pages.<br />
They then each wrote a few sentences explainng the meaning of their<br />
clips. I asked them to comment on each others clips on the discussion<br />
area of their wiki pages.<br/>
You can see the results here:<br/>
<a href="http://nc-tech.wikispaces.com/%D7%94%D7%93%D7%A3+%D7%A9%D7%9C+%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%91">Merav</a><br/>
<a href="http://nc-tech.wikispaces.com/%D7%94%D7%93%D7%A3+%D7%A9%D7%9C+%D7%93%D7%A0%D7%94">Dana</a><br/>
<a href="http://nc-tech.wikispaces.com/%D7%94%D7%93%D7%A3+%D7%A9%D7%9C+%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%91%D7%A2">Elisheva</a><br/>
<a href="http://nc-tech.wikispaces.com/%D7%94%D7%93%D7%A3+%D7%A9%D7%9C+%D7%90%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%9C%D7%99">Orly</a><br/>
<br/>
So far we have been having a great time, learning much, practicing<br />
between meetings, teaching family about the newly acquired skills.<br/>
I hope that we will keep up the enthusiasm and deepen the learning experience.<br/>
You are invited to leave remarks for the girls on the discussion areas<br />
of their pages (in English or Hebrew) after signing in to wikispaces.<br />
They will enjoy sharing their work with you.Cinema - Literature High School Collaborationtag:www.classroom20.com,2007-09-12:649749:BlogPost:486372007-09-12T06:35:05.000ZReuven Werberhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/reuvenwe
<div><font size="7">WANTED!!</font></div>
<div><font size="3">High School class interested in collaborating with a Jerusalem school on a project based on Cinema and literature. Anyone Interested?</font></div>
<div><font size="3">Happy New Year!</font></div>
<div><font size="3">Reuven</font></div>
<div><font size="7">WANTED!!</font></div>
<div><font size="3">High School class interested in collaborating with a Jerusalem school on a project based on Cinema and literature. Anyone Interested?</font></div>
<div><font size="3">Happy New Year!</font></div>
<div><font size="3">Reuven</font></div>Eight Random Things Meme Tagtag:www.classroom20.com,2007-08-09:649749:BlogPost:406502007-08-09T19:36:49.000ZReuven Werberhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/reuvenwe
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font face="Times New Roman">Well, even though I am not a real blogger, ( I just scribble a few lines here occasionally), I got tagged by my good friend,</font> <a href="http://www.mtl-peters.net/blog/?p=154"><font color="#800080" face="Times New Roman">Sharon Peters</font></a><font face="Times New Roman">, (enjoy your new job) so I guess I won't break the link. Here are the rules…</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font face="Times New Roman">Well, even though I am not a real blogger, ( I just scribble a few lines here occasionally), I got tagged by my good friend,</font> <a href="http://www.mtl-peters.net/blog/?p=154"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#800080">Sharon Peters</font></a><font face="Times New Roman">, (enjoy your new job) so I guess I won't break the link. Here are the rules for blog tag:</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"></p>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Times New Roman">Post these rules before you give your facts</font></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Times New Roman">List 8 random facts about yourself</font></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Times New Roman">At the end of your post, choose (tag) 8 people and list their names, linking to them</font></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Times New Roman">Leave a comment on their blog, letting them know they’ve been tagged.</font></li>
</ul>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><b><font face="Times New Roman">Random Facts About Me:</font></b></p>
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<li class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Times New Roman">After coming to</font> <a href="http://www.kfar-etzion.co.il/Default.aspx?tabid=206"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#800080">Kibbutz Kfar Etzion</font></a><font face="Times New Roman">, I worked at some interesting jobs - fence builder, shepherd, metal worker and turkey grower.</font></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Times New Roman">I first began using a computer when a Ministry of Ed supervisor told me that with my handwriting I have no chance to work as a teacher.</font></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Times New Roman">I love archeology, helped uncover some impressive Herodian, Hasmonean and Byzantine structures.</font></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Times New Roman">I don't like eating fish (except for tuna).</font></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Times New Roman">I met my wife (a native Chicagoan) when we both attended a year long work-study program in Israel.</font></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Times New Roman">Our new granddaughter, Yifat, is the first of our 16 grandchildren to be a red head – ("Gingit" in Hebrew).</font></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Times New Roman">I follow the virtual lectures and sermons of</font> <a href="http://www.chiefrabbi.org/"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#800080">Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth</font></a> <font face="Times New Roman">– Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Sacks. He provides a profound insight on ethics, brotherhood and social responsibility in the age of globalization.</font></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Times New Roman">I am a pragmatic optimist who believes in a better future and tries to help realize it.</font></li>
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<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Times New Roman">And now I will tag:</font> <a href="http://jlearn20.blogspot.com/"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#800080">Caren Levine</font></a><font face="Times New Roman">,</font> <a href="http://isandbox.blogspot.com/"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#800080">Susan Tsairi</font></a><font face="Times New Roman">,</font> <a href="http://www.huffenglish.com/"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#800080">Dana Huff</font></a><font face="Times New Roman">,</font> <a href="http://doconnor.edublogs.org/"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#800080">Dennis O'Connor</font></a><font face="Times New Roman">,</font> <a href="http://classroom20.ning.com/profile/skipzilla"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#800080">Skip Zilla</font></a><font face="Times New Roman">,</font> <a href="http://museforjews.com/"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#800080">Debbie Harris</font></a><font face="Times New Roman">,</font> <a href="http://classroom20.ning.com/profile/sholeise"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#800080">Sholom Eisenstat</font></a><font face="Times New Roman">,</font> <a href="http://edtechpower.blogspot.com/"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#800080">Elizabeth Davis</font></a></p>A New Online School Learning Communitytag:www.classroom20.com,2007-08-01:649749:BlogPost:386672007-08-01T17:33:48.000ZReuven Werberhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/reuvenwe
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<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I just heard about a new online learning community – available gratis to secondary and middle schools outside the UK (and for a small fee within).…</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I just heard about a new online learning community – available gratis to secondary and middle schools outside the UK (and for a small fee within).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><a href="http://rafi.ki/"><strong><span style="COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; TEXT-DECORATION: none; text-underline: none">Rafi.ki</span></strong></a> is a not-for-profit online community designed just for schools, currently secondary and middle schools. It uses cutting edge yet simple to use technology funded by the DfES, DfID and the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, to enable schools to work with each other simply and effectively across the world. <a href="http://rafi.ki/"><font color="#800080">Rafi.ki</font></a> contains a built in communications centre which allows for a number of different methods of asynchronous and synchronous communication. Each of which can be switched on and off depending on the needs of the school</span><span lang="EN" style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN" xml:lang="EN">. Features contained within the communications centre include:</span></p>
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<li class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt"><b><span lang="EN" style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN" xml:lang="EN">Instant messaging</span></b> <span lang="EN" style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN" xml:lang="EN">– this is a tool for synchronous (real-time) communication which users can use to find and communicate with other users online</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt"><b><span lang="EN" style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN" xml:lang="EN">Video conferencing</span></b> <span lang="EN" style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN" xml:lang="EN">– a tool which can be used for video conferencing using a PC and a basic web camera and microphone</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt"><b><span lang="EN" style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN" xml:lang="EN">Audio conferencing</span></b> <span lang="EN" style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN" xml:lang="EN">– a conferencing tool which can be used where video is not available</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt"><b><span lang="EN" style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN" xml:lang="EN">Email</span></b> <span lang="EN" style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN" xml:lang="EN">– internal, secure email system which can be used for asynchronous communication between users</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt"><b><span lang="EN" style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN" xml:lang="EN">Forums</span></b> <span lang="EN" style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN" xml:lang="EN">– online discussion forums which can be created by teachers to discuss work and other issues</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt"><b><span lang="EN" style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN" xml:lang="EN">Blogs</span></b> <span lang="EN" style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN" xml:lang="EN">– a drag and drop design tool which pupils can use to create media-rich and engaging web-logs and other web-pages</span></li>
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<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><span lang="EN" style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN" xml:lang="EN">The community provides online synchronous and asynchronous support, hosted educational projects, aid in global twinning between schools and classes, an intuitive, robust, easy to learn interface. The environment provides various levels of authorization and supervision for students and teachers.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><span lang="EN" style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN" xml:lang="EN">I have been playing around with it for a few days and am thinking of using it for hosting a collaborative project with a school in the USA. It seems like a lot of fun with much potential for supporting learning. I think it pays to have a look see by registering and playing around with it. It might be right for some global projects that you are thinking about.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><span lang="EN" style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN" xml:lang="EN">( I have no affiliation with the site's sponsors or operators other than my expressed interest in giving it a test run to check it's suitability for our school's needs.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"></p>A Cool Summertag:www.classroom20.com,2007-08-01:649749:BlogPost:386352007-08-01T13:49:02.000ZReuven Werberhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/reuvenwe
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Among my summer vacation activities, (submitting my dissertation proposal to Bar-Ilan University, planning integration of tech environment for next school year, doting over my new granddaughter -…</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Among my summer vacation activities, (submitting my dissertation proposal to Bar-Ilan University, planning integration of tech environment for next school year, doting over my new granddaughter - <a href="http://www.pisga.org.il/blog/reuw/blog.asp?u=443C7314&day=11&month=7&year=2007"><font color="#800080">Yifat</font></a>, spending a day at the ancient Crusader and Ottoman remains of the city of Acre), I managed to participate in an online professional development course. The four week course - 21<sup>st</sup> Century Information Fluency – Powersearching in a Web 2.0 World – sponsored by the <a href="http://21cif.imsa.edu/"><font color="#800080">21st Century Information Fluency Project</font></a> and coordinated by <a href="http://doconnor.edublogs.org/"><font color="#800080">Dennis O' Connor</font></a> ( a new Classroom 2.0 member), with about 30 participants gave us a chance to sharpen our information fluency (go check the difference between that and "information literacy") skills. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">During the course we learned about the Digital Information Fluency Model <a href="http://21cif.imsa.edu/"><font color="#800080">(DIF)</font></a>, utilized the very rich learning resources developed around it (games, challenges, Micromodules, annotated link lists, podcasts, embedded videos and screencasts). We dealt with a number of main Information Skills – Transforming Questions into Successful Queries, Understanding and Using Web 2.0 in Education (social bookmarking, Flickr), Evaluating Digital Information and Using Information Ethically (copyright, fair use, plagiarism). During the course, we (the participants and the instructors) communicated and reflected about our course learning experiences as well as about our professional experiences and intuitions.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The final course project helped us tie it all together. We were to create a Personalized Search Engine (PSE) (using</span> <span lang="EN" style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; LETTER-SPACING: 0.25pt; mso-ansi-language: EN" xml:lang="EN"><a href="http://www.eurekster.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#0000FF">Eurekster.com</font></a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/coop/" target="_blank"><font color="#800080">Google-Co-op</font></a>, or <a href="http://rollyo.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#0000FF">Rollyo.com</font></a>) with the quality curricular information sites we had located and shared on <a href="http://del.icio.us/"><font color="#800080">del.icio.us</font></a></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">. The search engine was to be crafted so that it could be integrated into next year's school curriculum. All of us were to post their PSE, describe it and its place in the curriculum and discuss it with the other participants.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I would like to introduce my PSE –</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><strong><span style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; LETTER-SPACING: 0.25pt">The Hebrew - English Vitamin Research Engine</span></strong></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; LETTER-SPACING: 0.25pt">In order to allow our 9th grade students to carry out a research project on Vitamins and the Human Body, I built this Personal Search Engine on Google Coop. I chose Google because it works beautifully with Hebrew indexing and searching. The engine presently contains 16 sites including Medscape, Medline Plus, Mayo Clinic, Kidshealth.org and a number of reliable Hebrew health information sites. I also included a number of Israeli directories of educational sites as well as a general reference site - Answers.com (which also searches Wikipedia as well as other reference sources).I purposely omitted commercial vitamin and food supplement sites because of their bias. If we decide to include exercises on determining the value of web pages, maybe I will add them later.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; LETTER-SPACING: 0.25pt"><a href="http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=004660615657422669417%3Ai36i3i9nmcm"><font color="#800080">http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=004660615657422669417%3Ai36i3i9nmcm</font></a></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; LETTER-SPACING: 0.25pt">Come visit and let me know how your Hebrew and English searches go! </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; LETTER-SPACING: 0.25pt">This activity was very rewarding. I think that it could serve as the focus of many professional development and student education activities. Teachers planning curricular activities could collaborate on building a Community Search Engine to serve their information needs. Students collaborating on projects could build a Community Search Engine based on the quality sites which they locate in order to assist their teammates in easily obtaining reliable information. These activities could help the participants really get to know how to proactively collaborate in dealing with digital information rather than just being satisfied with Googling what comes along!</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; LETTER-SPACING: 0.25pt">Thanks Dennis and</span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><a href="http://21cif.imsa.edu/"><font color="#800080">21st Century Information Fluency Project</font></a> <span style="COLOR: black; LETTER-SPACING: 0.25pt">for a "cool" and rewarding summer experience!</span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"></p>Where is Web2.0 Going?tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-06-25:649749:BlogPost:293542007-06-25T11:01:37.000ZReuven Werberhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/reuvenwe
<p>A visit to the blog of my friend, <a href="http://www.notes.co.il/sharon/33540.asp">Sharon Greenberg</a>, took me to a demo clip of a new hot Microsoft technology - <a href="http://labs.live.com/photosynth/">Photosynth</a>. The Photosynth preview site tells us:</p>
<p><span class="grayText">"The <b>Photosynth Technology Preview</b> is a taste of the newest - and, we hope, most exciting - way to <b>view photos</b> on a computer. Our software takes a large collection of photos of a place or an…</span></p>
<p>A visit to the blog of my friend, <a href="http://www.notes.co.il/sharon/33540.asp">Sharon Greenberg</a>, took me to a demo clip of a new hot Microsoft technology - <a href="http://labs.live.com/photosynth/">Photosynth</a>. The Photosynth preview site tells us:</p>
<p><span class="grayText">"The <b>Photosynth Technology Preview</b> is a taste of the newest - and, we hope, most exciting - way to <b>view photos</b> on a computer. Our software takes a large collection of photos of a place or an object, analyzes them for similarities, and then displays the photos in a reconstructed <b>three-dimensional space</b>, showing you how each one relates to the next. <br/><br/>In our collections, you can access <b>gigabytes</b> of photos in seconds, view a scene from nearly <b>any angle</b>, find similar photos with a single click, and zoom in to make the <b>smallest detail</b> as big as your monitor."</span></p>
<p><span class="grayText">This technology utilizes tagging and collaboration to create integrated extremely rich three-d models of places around the globe allowing access to any point on the data set from any angle and at any desired resolution. This creates unbelievable horizons for viewing huge image sets of any point on the globe from any point on the globe. Every image uploaded and added to the image set adds to the details on the set. All the tagged and shared images help create one huge image which is far greater than the sum of all of its components.</span></p>
<p><span class="grayText">The Microsoft photosynth development team is only beginning to explore the possibilities enabled by this technology and have provided a public preview on the <a href="http://labs.live.com/photosynth/">Photosynth</a> site to encourage input for development ideas.</span></p>
<p><span class="grayText">Sharon comments that this is a great move ahead towards realizing the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_Web">Semantic Web</a>.</span></p>
<p><span class="grayText">See the Photosynth demo uploaded on mr Classroom2.0 page or at <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-DqZ8jAmv0">Youtube</a></span></p>The Poor Man's NECC 2007tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-06-21:649749:BlogPost:289012007-06-21T21:14:51.000ZReuven Werberhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/reuvenwe
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">Ok guys, it's finally sunk in. I won't be at NECC this year. I really wanted to get there to meet in person some of those great people I have been working with, learning from and just chatting with. I made some efforts to get there but it just didn't pan out. So I guess the 18,000? of you who will be there will…</font></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">Ok guys, it's finally sunk in. I won't be at NECC this year. I really wanted to get there to meet in person some of those great people I have been working with, learning from and just chatting with. I made some efforts to get there but it just didn't pan out. So I guess the 18,000? of you who will be there will just have to manage without me. Maybe I"ll make it some other time.</font></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Well, as a consolation I attended a Research Colloquium of the Information Science Department at Bar-Ilan University here in Ramat Gan, Israel today and heard some pretty cool presentations.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The day started off with a real rocker by Dr. Alon Hasgal of the department, who specializes in knowledge management, e-commerce and virtual communities. He spoke about "From Information to Knowledge in a Web2.0 World ". He painted a vivid picture of how information and knowledge are to be accessed in the web2.0 world as opposed to how this was done only a few short years ago. Rather than me try to summarize his points, why don't you have a look at this hilarious Israeli video clip – Supermarket 2.0 that shows them vividly. <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=e9MgHuitMwU"><font color="#800080">http://youtube.com/watch?v=e9MgHuitMwU</font></a></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">(You can see the clip embedded on my page here.)</span></p>
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<span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">(BTW – some of the guys who made this clip have the coolest web2.0 startup – Wishood – "where you can share wish lists and make wishes come true –" <a href="http://www.wishood.com/"><font color="#0000FF">http://www.wishood.com/</font></a> )</span><p> </p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Among the other presentations – an informative one by Dr. Yoni Mizrachi who was on a government research team that did a survey on Israel's national e-readiness. He gave us a peak into the methodologies used to get an up to date picture of where Israel stands in readiness for functioning in the digital world – hardware, software, accessibility, - e-competence, digital divide etc. He also pointed us to the portal where all the research results and methods were documented. <a href="http://www.maor.gov.il/"><font color="#0000FF">http://www.maor.gov.il</font></a> (Sorry guys, it's in Hebrew)/</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Mrs. Judith Koren, a private information expert, introduced us to an imaginative new venture – A portal meant to tap the knowledge of information experts and make it available to the public. Information problems are posted on the site and recognized information experts sign in and outline the information sources and strategies that they would use to solve these problems. All this knowledge will be stored and easily retrievable on this web2.0 portal. Going alpha next month and attracting information people to participate by running a kickoff information problem solving competition. First Prize - an Apple Ipod Nano 2GB</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">. - <a href="http://www.researchtrail.com/"><font color="#0000FF">http://www.researchtrail.com/</font></a></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Well there was much more, but you guys gotta go pack for NECC, so I"ll just finish up by saying that I rounded out the day by meeting with my counselor for some work on my dissertation and hearing about a very interesting work offer.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I"ll be reading everything you guys will be posting next week about NECC. Bon Voyage!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> </p>It's Coming!tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-06-05:649749:BlogPost:251622007-06-05T12:29:09.000ZReuven Werberhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/reuvenwe
<p><font size="3"><span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Was I excited to see the post on the Israel Ministry of Education English Instruction Website! It announced the <i>The Literature Module Program</i> for teaching and assessing literature in English in high schools. This new Module, which will be implemented during the next school year, is the first fruit of a new Ministry initiative for reform of the high school matriculation program to encourage teaching and assessing…</span></font></p>
<p><font size="3"><span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Was I excited to see the post on the Israel Ministry of Education English Instruction Website! It announced the <i>The Literature Module Program</i> for teaching and assessing literature in English in high schools. This new Module, which will be implemented during the next school year, is the first fruit of a new Ministry initiative for reform of the high school matriculation program to encourage teaching and assessing higher-order thinking skills via school-based assessment that will be part of the students’ Bagrut (matriculation) grade.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font size="3"><span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="3">One of the options of this new literature module is the use of Learning Logs.</font></span></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: none; mso-list-change: '%1:2:4:.' ' ' 20070516T0129; tab-stops: list 90.0pt"><font size="3"><span dir="ltr"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">"Students will be assessed through a school-based assessment program based on a Learning Log. a journal that shows evidence of the students' learning and skills development. In such journals, students are afforded the opportunity to record, structure, plan, develop and reflect upon their learning."</span></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: none; mso-list-change: '%1:2:4:.' ' ' 20070516T0129; tab-stops: list 90.0pt"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: none; mso-list-change: '%1:2:4:.' ' ' 20070516T0129; tab-stops: list 90.0pt"><font size="3"><span dir="ltr"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The Ministry is actually moving ahead to change the character of secondary matriculation assessment from standardized exams aimed at assessing rote learning and simple problem solving to learning and assessment of higher order thinking skills and deep understanding.</span></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: none; mso-list-change: '%1:2:4:.' ' ' 20070516T0129; tab-stops: list 90.0pt"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: none; mso-list-change: '%1:2:4:.' ' ' 20070516T0129; tab-stops: list 90.0pt"><font size="3"><span dir="ltr"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">This move towards educational reform can be supported and augmented by relevant digital tools. For example, the literature learning logs of students could be built on a system of classroom and student blogs where the sudents could record their thinking, planning and reflections and discuss them with teachers and peers. A system like Warlick's Classroom Blogmeister seems to me well suited to support such learning and assessment.</span></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: none; mso-list-change: '%1:2:4:.' ' ' 20070516T0129; tab-stops: list 90.0pt"><font size="3"><span dir="ltr"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I dropped a note to the committee planning this unit suggesting the use of digital learning logs. Hope they''ll be willing to give it a try!</span></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"> </p>Looking for Global Partners!tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-05-15:649749:BlogPost:99632007-05-15T08:30:23.000ZReuven Werberhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/reuvenwe
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><br></br><font size="2">One of the things that I do is help coordinate a global collaborative learning project run by the Israeli Ministry of Education. The project which teams Israeli High School classes with classes abroad will be going into its fifth year next year. This year we teamed 24 classes from 17 Israeli school with classes from 12…</font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><br/><font size="2">One of the things that I do is help coordinate a global collaborative learning project run by the Israeli Ministry of Education. The project which teams Israeli High School classes with classes abroad will be going into its fifth year next year. This year we teamed 24 classes from 17 Israeli school with classes from 12 countries around the world. We are beginning to look for high school classes who would like to work with an Israeli class during the next school year.</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font size="2">The project is built around the two classes communicating with each other in English, studying each other's literature (or cinema) and culture and creating a web presence to house and showcase the collaborative process and outcomes. The project is described and illustrated on the project website: <a href="http://www.education.gov.il/ipncl">http://www.education.gov.il/ipncl</a> <br/></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font size="2">Recently, some of the participating schools have begun to use web2.0 applications to facilitate the collaboration (Skype, Moodle, wikis. YouTube & Google Videos,etc.)</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font size="2">One example of such a collaborative project can be seen here:</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font size="2"><a href="http://jerusalem.wikispaces.com/">http://jerusalem.wikispaces.com/</a> and <a href="http://montreal.wikispaces.com/">http://montreal.wikispaces.com/</a></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font size="2">Sharon Peters of Lower Canada College (a Classroom2.0 member) made an Spresent presentation about her participation in this project (as well as many others) here:</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><a href="http://3cs.wikispaces.com/CAIS-BP"><font size="2">http://3cs.wikispaces.com/CAIS-BP</font></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left">Another presentatation between Israeli and Italian schools can be seen here:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><a href="http://www.nelliemuller.com/building_relationship.htm">http://www.nelliemuller.com/building_relationship.htm</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><font size="2">Any high school teachers who might be interested in participating in this project next year please contact me for further information here or by email: <a href="mailto:reuw@macam.ac.il">reuw@macam.ac.il</a></font></p>Meeting our Changing Worldtag:www.classroom20.com,2007-05-12:649749:BlogPost:149042007-05-12T20:08:38.000ZReuven Werberhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/reuvenwe
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><font face="Times New Roman">Around here we keep wondering why it is taking so long for all the teachers out there to begin to utilize technology in their teaching repertoire. Why don't they take advantage of the great teaching and learning opportunities that cutting edge technology makes available to them? Why don't they make the effort to enter the 21<sup>st</sup> Century,…</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><font face="Times New Roman">Around here we keep wondering why it is taking so long for all the teachers out there to begin to utilize technology in their teaching repertoire. Why don't they take advantage of the great teaching and learning opportunities that cutting edge technology makes available to them? Why don't they make the effort to enter the 21<sup>st</sup> Century, learn what's available and use it to help bring about the revolution in education that is so needed?</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><font face="Times New Roman">This week I ran into an excerpt from a book by Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks – Chief Rabbi of Great Britain - <span style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: TimesNewRomanPSMT; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT">that paints a very vivid picture of our changing world and the difficulties we face trying to adapt to it.</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><font face="Times New Roman"><i><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: TimesNewRomanPSMT; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT">Whatever our view of the nature and prehistory of mankind, we are not made for constant change at this ever accelerating pace…. What distinguishes</span></i> <i><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt">homo sapiens</span></i> <i><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: TimesNewRomanPSMT; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT">from other species is the degree to which our behaviour is passed on across the generations not by genes but by culture, allowing for much more rapid and conscious adaptation to environmental and other kinds of change. We are,</span></i> <i><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt">par excellence</span></i><i><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: TimesNewRomanPSMT; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT">, the learning animal. Even so, the spiritual and moral history of mankind (the abolition of slavery, the recognition of human rights, the abandonment of prejudice) has been painfully slow. Adaptive we may be, but we are not made for constant, relentless alterations in our living conditions.</span></i></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><font face="Times New Roman"><i><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: TimesNewRomanPSMT; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT">That is what we now face at ever-increasing speed. It took thirty-eight years for radio to reach fifty million users in the United States. In the case of computers it took sixteen years. The Internet reached fifty million users in four years. Computer power doubles every eighteen months and shows no sign of slackening. The Internet doubles every year. The number of DNA sequences we can analyze doubles every two years. A huge gap has opened up between the transformations happening around us and our ability to respond. Early in the twentieth century William Ogburn coined the concept of ‘cultural lag’ – a state, like now, in which material culture, such as technology, is being transformed faster than</span></i> <i><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt">non</span></i><i><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: TimesNewRomanPSMT; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT">-material culture such as modes of governance and social norms. When the world out there is changing faster than the world in here – in our mental and emotional responses – our environment becomes bewildering and threatening. Societies take time to change. So do people.</span></i></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><i><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: TimesNewRomanPSMT; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT"><font face="Times New Roman">In 1994 I was making a television documentary about the family. During the course of my research I came across a woman who had developed a pioneering approach to the cure of stammering among young children. She was using the family as a therapeutic unit. Her view was that dysfunctional behaviour was often reinforced by family relationships, and that if she was to cure the children she had to work with the parents as well. As part of her programme she asked the parents to think of the most precious object they owned. For some it was a wedding ring, for others a family heirloom, but for all of them it was an item invested with deep emotional attachment. Then she told them to imagine losing it, and asked them to describe their responses. They varied from panic and shock to deep sadness and bereavement. Then she said: ‘Now you know what it will feel like</font></span></i> <i><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: TimesNewRomanPSMT; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT"><font face="Times New Roman">for your child to lose its stammer.’</font></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><i><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: TimesNewRomanPSMT; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT"><font face="Times New Roman">It was a moment of utter bewilderment. Until then the parents had all assumed that their child wanted to be able to speak normally. Their stammer impeded their social life. It made things difficult for them at school or among friends. It was, in short, a dysfunction. What the therapist wanted the parents to understand is that a dysfunction can sometimes be less fearful than change itself. We get used to our disabilities and build them into our relationships. They become familiar, part of our world, integral to our self-image, and the hardest thing can be to let go. Change, even change for the better, can be disorienting, threatening, traumatic. That is why the twenty-first century, with its non-stop transformations, will be deeply unsettling.</font></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><font face="Times New Roman"><b><i><span style="FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt">(From “The Dignity of Difference” - Published by Continuum 2003- Pages 69-70)</span></i></b></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: TimesNewRomanPSMT; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT"><br/><font face="Times New Roman">What do you think? How can we cope with the this fantastic change overtaking our world? Can we find a way to bring our colleagues to join us in this quest?</font></span></p>
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