Technology & Multi-culturalism:
Can technology bridge the gap between
Jews and Arabs in Teacher Education?
Asmaa Ganayem
Dr. Miri Shonfeld
Dr. Elaine Hoter
Miri Shonfeld
Asmaa Ganayem
Elaine Hoter
Head of ICT
Head of ICT
Head of ICT
Kibutzim college
Al-Qasemi college
Talpiot college
2008 Statistics
• The Jewish population living in Israel is
5,400,000
• The Arab population is 1,400,000 which
amounts to 20% of the total population in
Israel
Arab Society in Israel
 Identity crisis: Israeli-Arab conflict.
Language: Arabic & Hebrew
Social Arab-Jews relation: live mostly in
separate areas
Discrimination: wide gaps in different socioeconomic aspects
Religious Israeli Jewish
separate education system
different political affiliation
Social secular-religious relations: live often in
separate areas and communities
Lack of understanding between groups
What is peace for Jews
living in Israel?
Negative peace: the absence of violence
Positive peace: cooperation, harmony, commerce, &
mutuality
Structural peace: equality, independence, and
sovereignty
What is peace for Arabs
living in Israel?
Negative peace: the absence of violence
Positive peace: cooperation, harmony, commerce, &
mutuality
Structural peace: equality, independence, and
sovereignty
What is peace?
Negative peace: the absence of violence
Positive peace: cooperation, harmony, commerce, & mutuality
Structural peace: equality, independence, and sovereignty
90
80
70
60
Palestinian
Jewish-Israeli
50
40
30
20
10
0
Negative
Positive
Structural
Percentage of responses (N = 819; Biton, 2002).
Is it the role of a teaching college to reduce
these biases among students studying in
pre-service education?
?
Can ICT help to improve understanding
among students?
We are not trying to solve the conflict or
hold discussions on issues of the conflict,
but we are facilitating a meeting between
students on an equal basis according to
the model developed with the belief that
this will lead to change !
Theories
Pettigrew and Tropp’s summary of the
contact hypothesis (2000) confirmed that
in the right conditions, contact could
reduce bias between groups.
Necessary conditions:
the long term contact between groups
rather than individuals, between people of
equal status, supported at an institutional
level and based on cooperation rather
than competition.
Online Intergroup
Contact Hypothesis
•
•
•
•
•
Equality of status and collaboration
Supported by institutions
Over a period of time (one year)
Based on collaboration
Gradual development between groups
• Writing
• Voice
– Collaboration
• F2F
(Shonfeld, Ganayem and Hoter, 2006)
Aims
• Students will experience online collaborative
learning with different populations they would
never normally meet.
• Students will be proficient internet users
• Students will be able to integrate the internet
in their teaching
• Students will be able to develop and adapt
online material
• Students will participate and be exposed to
Inter and multicultural education
How did it work?
Kibbutzim
College of
Education
Small multi-cultural group
Al Qasemi
Talpiot
Kibbutzim College
of Education
How does it work with 9 colleges?
Jewish religious college
Arab college
Jewish secular college
Jewish secular college
Arab college
Jewish religious college
The students were divided into
topic groups
All students
Food &
health
Miri
Events in
History
Environmental
issues
Road
safety
Elaine
Asmaa
Miri
2 Students from religious sector
2 students from the Arab sector
2 students from secular sector
Special
Education
Multiculturalism
Food &
health
Road
safety
Manifestations
of nature
Topics
Chosen
Current
affairs
Physical
Exercise
The
Consumer
The
Environment
Religions
Events in
History
The
Arts
New Technology Taught
Using “interwise” or highlearn
All students try out the technology
in their content area
and do the assignment based on the
new technology
Students post their assignments and
the group members discuss and critique
the work online
Results
Making
wiki sites
Interactive forms
Seminar/paper
Webquests
Interactive PowerPoint
Making movies
Making treasure hunts
Analyzing internet sites
Making and using Blogs and forums
Meetings
F2F meetings in each college
Explanations of how to
use the technologies
Synchronous meetings
More than 50% of the
meetings were
synchronous
The students connected
from different places
A-synchronous meetings
F2F
In the middle and end of the
course
Cooperative Teaching
Collaboration, trust and harmony
Division of Labour
team work:
• planning units
• giving online
lectures
• Evaluating
assignments
The OICH Model: online inter-group contact hypothesis
Reduction in bias between
groups
High trust
level
Face to Face end of course meeting and presentation of projects
Collaborative
synch. group work
Wiki (Web 2)
+visual
Synergistic
collaboration
High level
thinking
assignments
Face to Face meeting of small groups- (discussions & collaborative work) & lecturers 4 all participants
Synch. individual
.a-synch & work
work group
Video
conferencing
& multimedia
+oral/
aural
+audio
Individual
A-synchronous
work
Forums & Blogs
& synchronous
platforms
Educational
Technological
type
Media
Type
Textual
Communication
type
Parallel & sequential
collaboration
Low trust
level
Peer review
Dialogue
Environment
Low level
thinking
assignments
Levels of
Thinking
Required conditions for the OICH Model
Small group cooperation & collaboration
Institutional support
Interaction over a year
Team teaching
Content a-political
Equality of Status
Teachers belong to the different cultural groups
Building of
Trust
The graduates of the courses lead children in
schools in online multicultural projects
Online collaborative courses
between students of the
different colleges
collaboration for
research,
conferences &
initiatives
Connections
between
colleges
Problems encountered
•
•
•
•
•
Segregation issues
Language issues
Collaborative issues
Timetable issues- (festivals and holidays)
Political issues
Question
To what extent can the Internet
play a role in bridging between
cultures and reducing bias
among groups?
Implications and Future Plans
• Involving more colleges
• Working with in-service teachers
• Going into schools
http://tak.macam.ac.il