Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Country Case Study
Country Case Study
Sarah Kershner
EDTC 645
10/10/17
Dr. Derby
Introduction
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As the world continues to grow digitally each day, it is important to examine what is
working and what may not be working in regards to technology in all areas of the world. This
way we can learn from each other and create similar opportunities for our learners. One country
that is similar to the United States when it comes to integrating technology into the classrooms is
Israel. In 2010, “The National Israeli Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
Program called for the adaption of the educational system to the 21st century” and it has since
been implemented (Magen-Nagar & Maskit, 2016). Giving teachers access to technology to use
with their students and expecting them to incorporate it into their daily lesson plans may seem
simple because of the large amount of mobile devices as well as educational applications
available, but without proper professional development teachers will have a hard time
In order to see how this issue has an affect on students and teachers living in Israel, this
report examines two different articles discussing technology in the classroom. The first article
examined in this report is Use of mobile technologies as support tools for geography field trips
(2015). The second article discussed is Integrating ICT in Teacher Colleges- A Change Process
(2016). The first article directly discusses integrating smartphones and tablets into the classroom
setting while the second article discusses the process of instructing teachers on how to integrate
technology into the classroom. Both studies mention the importance of professional development
Article 1
In the Use of mobile technologies as support tools for geography field trips (2015), the
researchers discuss a four stage course that was designed by the Department of Geography at
Oranim College “to train geography teachers to use the technological and pedagogical
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capabilities of mobile technologies to promote learning, with the goal of introducing mobile
devices into the educational toolbox for geography field trips. The primary objective of the
course was to enable geography education students to plan and carry out field trips that integrate
mobile technologies and to teach them how to use these technologies in the educational activities
they plan for the trips” (Medzini, Meishar-Tal & Sneh, 2015). The course was spread over four
The article discusses the rapid pace of technology and how educational systems have a
hard time keeping up. Instead of banning smartphones and tablets in the classroom because
teachers fear their distractibility, they are now being used as a learning tool to keep students
engaged. Studies have shown that using these tools can have huge advantages like “[expanding]
learning boundaries beyond the walls of the classroom and in outdoor contexts” which is what
they aimed to do with the geography course (Medzini, Meishar-Tal & Sneh, 2015).
By the end of the four day course, the “students created 16 mobile-based activities for the
field trip”. They found that the mobile devices were most frequently used when they were doing
activities that involved using the camera and access to the classroom forum for fieldwork
Article 2
In Integrating ICT in Teacher Colleges- A Change Process (2016), one of the research
study’s main aim was to “identify the operating factors in the course of educators’ professional
& Maskit, 2016). The case study that was done looked at a college that does teacher training for
1,500 students. 120 out of 200 educators from the college participated in the research study.
They used a questionnaire that was grouped into five different sets. The first set of questions
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were based on the use of ICT tools and the level of use. The second set of questions were based
on student training in regards to ICT assignments. The third set of questions related to the
availability of technological-pedagogic support. The fourth set used metaphorical sensations that
were used to determine participant “identification with the metaphors associated with the
integration process of innovative technologies”. The last set discussed the ICT culture at the
college. The second part of their study used open-ended questions in order to get qualitative data
for their study. Lastly they used demographic data about their participants such as “gender,
education, and years of experience seniority as educators at the college” (Magen-Nagar &
Maskit, 2016).
Based on their findings, they concluded that “student educators’ control of ICT tools in
their work is a powerful means for facilitating the technological-pedagogic change in the college,
more than personal feelings, ICT culture, and the availability and technological-pedagogic
Analysis
It is clear that using technology in the classroom is beneficial to students all around the
world. Both research articles mentioned benefits to using different types of technology in the
classroom one being that “the cost of purchasing such devices is declining, as is the cost of
Internet connectivity, making them an increasingly viable option” (Medzini, Meishar-Tal &
Sneh, 2015). Another advantage that both articles mentioned was the level of engagement that
teaching with technology can provide. Students have been shown to show much more interest
One factor that is very important when looking at the results from these two research
articles, it is clear that professional development is very important when it comes to technology
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integration. Although the first article mentioned the benefits of using smartphones and tablets in
geography lessons and field trips, there were a few problems that arose. “One major problem that
has delayed the penetration of smartphones as a teaching aid [in the first research study] [was]
the lack of appropriate training for teachers in how to use these new devices and applications in
The second article which focuses specifically on teacher education stresses the
their findings, the educators that completed their questionnaire specified three major necessities
in order to successfully implement technology into the classroom. The three necessities they
From both articles, it is clear that without any sort of teacher training, it is hard to
Conclusion
Both articles chosen shed light on how Israel integrates technology into their classroom
environments and how they go about doing it. With the constant increase of technology use in
the classroom, Israel is very similar to the United States where professional development is
necessary to keep teachers up to date with integrating it into the classroom. Although these two
articles do give information about how Israel deals with their technology integration, getting
more information would be very beneficial. Looking specifically at geography field trips using
smartphones and tablets gives an idea about one subject area. It would be beneficial to learn
The ICT called for schools to be creating 21st century learners. In the United States,
students are expected to be 21st century learners but not all schools and counties are
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implementing it. Taking examples from different countries, like Israel, is a great way to learn
References
Medzini, A., Meishar-Tal, H., & Sneh, Y. (2015). Use of mobile technologies as support tools
for
Noga Magen-, N., & Ditza, M. (2016). Integrating ICT in Teacher Colleges - A Change Process.
211.