The National Prize for Excellence in the Integration of ICT into Teaching

It’s official. I am one of the winners of the Israel Ministry of Education National Prize for Excellence in the Integration of ICT into Teaching.

I have two things to say:

1. To quote Isaac Newton, “If I have seen farther it is only because I have stood on the shoulders of giants”.

My giants were my parents, who taught me the importance of being true to myself and believing in my abilities; my giant was my professor and mentor, Ruth Katz (who, last week, was awarded the National Israel Prize in the field of cultural studies, art and musicology ), who taught me the importance of the powers of the mind and to follow my own intellectual curiosity; and my giant is my principal of the last 9 years, Chava Gilai, with whom I’ve carried on discussions both on pedagogy and life in general.

2. I regard this prize as an obligation – not as a bed of laurels on which to rest. The obligation is to carry on, to help others develop their own curiosity in whatever field interests them, regarding ICT as the ultimate tool with which to do it.

My Credo and ICT

ICT, Learning Technologies, Digital Learning, Web 2.0 Apps, collaboration, communication – these are all the buzz words of 21st century teaching. Teachers are getting dizzy from all the new possibilities that are available to them – and tend to flutter around, butterfly fashion, from one “flower” to the next, without any real agenda of why they are doing what they are doing.
For me, it all stems out from my philosophy about education. From my “Credo”.
I believe that education should instill
• Intellectual curiosity
• Creativity
• An awareness of ambiguity and
• The desire to pursue that ambiguity in order either to solve it or to acknowledge it
o Autonomously or
o Collaboratively

Education is the process rather than the outcome (…that’s not an original thought…)

And so….
ICT, Learning Technologies, Digital Learning, Web 2.0 Apps, collaboration and communication enable me to deal with the PROCESS of learning.
As an EFL teacher – ICT enables me to DO English rather than Teach English
Now – if I were to put this in a Prezi – would it bemore effective for my readers?