Kershner Country Case Study 1

Country Case Study: Israel

Synthesis Report on the Instructional Usage of Mobile Technologies in Israel

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

successfully using these technologies in the classroom.

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

for teachers for successful integration of technology.

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

days with each stage lasting eight hours.

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

documentation (Medzini, Meishar-Tal & Sneh, 2015).

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

development that impact on the integration of advanced technologies in teaching” (Magen-Nagar

& 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

support at the college” (Magen-Nagar & Maskit, 2016).

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

and involvement in their learning when technology is involved.

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

education (Medzini, Meishar-Tal & Sneh, 2015).

The second article which focuses specifically on teacher education stresses the

importance of professional development in order to properly implement ICT concepts. From

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

determined were resources, staff development, and organizational climate.

From both articles, it is clear that without any sort of teacher training, it is hard to

successfully implement technology into the classrooms.

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

about ways to integrate smartphones and tablets in other subjects as well.

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

from each other.

References

Medzini, A., Meishar-Tal, H., & Sneh, Y. (2015). Use of mobile technologies as support tools

for

geography field trips. International Research In Geographical & Environmental

Education, 24(1), 13-23. doi:10.1080/10382046.2014.967514

Noga Magen-, N., & Ditza, M. (2016). Integrating ICT in Teacher Colleges - A Change Process.

Journal Of Information Technology Education: Research, Vol 15, Pp 211-232 (2016),

211.