One of the most prominent characteristics of the 21st century is the rapid development of information and communications technologies. These technologies affect our daily life in a variety of ways. Our children live in a world saturated with technology and use it for many of their needs. Laying the groundwork for e-learning will enable the school to narrow the gaps between school and the outside world and maintain its relevance for students. The changes brought about by information technologies are characterized by the speed at which they are occurring, creating the sense that we live in an age of uncertainty. This presents us with a challenge, to examine and think about the role of schools in the future – who will the school graduates of tomorrow be? We have to define clear objectives aimed not only at what we recognize and accept at the moment but, above all, at the smart and free use of future technologies.
We have set ourselves a goal of nurturing students to be skilled and self-directed for learning in a high-tech environment. Nurturing a student with skills for the 21st century, capable of creative, innovative and critical thinking, and able to ask, investigate, and gather data intelligently, to solve problems in a dynamic world and to make decisions. A student knowing how to use communication technology tools to disseminate new knowledge. A student who knows how function using cooperative and effective teamwork. This requires a shift in our approaches to information: information storage and management, forms of transferring information, its availability, ways of acquiring it and ways of presenting it in digital texts. We must aspire to lead our graduates to achievements that combine an understanding of technology and the ability to reason and learn with efficient use of the tools available to them, both today and in the future.
Pioneering education will shape society, education and technology in Israel and abroad.
We face the challenge of preparing our students to live in the information age, and to find security and success in the global economy.
Our goal is to bring the school closer to the world of our students and to build a relevant and varied learning environment that is advanced and rich in resources, for both students and teachers, using sophisticated and user-friendly means:
- To manage computerized teaching, learning and evaluating processes.
- To create a continuum between the school and the home.
- To prepare students for the world of the 21st century.
- To improve achievement levels while answering different needs.
Goals / objectives
School is a meaningful part of a child's environment. Obviously there is a direct link between what happens at school and the surrounding world. Technology presents the school with a number of challenges:
- Using the inherent benefits of renewable technology to further teaching and learning and enhance academic achievement.
- Creating a link between the adult world and the professional field, and what happens in the school.
- Improving teaching-learning-evaluation processes.
- Integrating the computer in the learning environment and the processes occurring in it.
- Broadening the professional knowledge of teachers and setting new challenges: defining the role of content in an age of ease of accessibility.
- Information, knowledge management, control of learning and computer skills, social networks and their environmental influence.
- Responding to differences: students with different learning styles, special needs and particular interests, with the aid of the computer communications environment.
- Ideological and social discourse on issues of professional ethics and how to educate for values in the current communications environment.
Main elements:
- About 700 state elementary school students in fifth and sixth grades and junior high school students [with laptops] in grades 7-9.
- School principals.
- Pedagogic coordinators in the schools.
- Communications technology technicians.
- Teaching staff in educational institutions.
Target audience for the MESHI starter program:
First through fourth grade students in the state schools.
Third through sixth grade students at Ariel Religious State School.