 
TEC Center ResearchStudies About the Academic ProgramsTEC
(Technology, Education, and Cultural Diversity) Center at the MOFET
Institute has developed a model for increasing inter-sector trust
through cooperative online learning and a gradual rise in various
dimensions (Hoter, Shonfeld & Ganyem, 2009). The training of
students and teachers using the TEC model meets the requirements of the
national program for training the educational system in 21st century
skills (Rimon, 2010). The
technological skills involved include cooperative online learning. The
ambition of the course leaders is to create a Community of Inquiry that
gradually takes shape over the year through the online interaction
(Garrison, Archer & Anderson, 2001). The
research unit is an integral part of the TEC Center, in which we study
our achievements and draw appropriate conclusions regarding how to
continue moving forward. In the framework of the various activities,
four main studies are being carried out, in the following topics: Investigation
of the effect that the educational presence of all partners in the
online learning environment has on the success of the joint work in
groups, including both interactions among students participating in the
work groups and interactions among the participating lecturers in the
preparation of study units. Investigation of the
effectiveness in changing student opinions towards the other of learning
based on multicultural content, and online interactive learning among
five population groups from different colleges. Investigation
of the cooperation taking place among five lecturers from five
different colleges in Israel, who teach an online English course to a
multicultural student population. Another study examines
the manner in which students perceive the teaching styles in TEC online
courses, and researches their expectations prior to the beginning of the
course versus the feedback they provide after the course concludes. The
objective of this study is to identify the most preferable and
successful styles of online teaching, to contribute to the improvement
and success of cooperation in a multicultural environment.
TEC4SCHOOLS Research:
One year into the TEC4SCHOOLS project, the children and teachers, as
well as a control group, filled out questionnaires composed by an
external provider to assess the effectiveness of the TEC4SCHOOLS
program. The assessment shows
that the children participating in the project are more tolerant of
children from other cultures than their non-participating peers. Stances
on cultural diversity among teachers in the project compared to those
of teachers in the control group also differed, as manifested in the
statement assessing their desire to form ties with teachers from
backgrounds different from their own. The teachers in the test group
also described themselves as trying to get to know people from other
cultures. All in all, the
findings indicate that the pupils and teachers in the project were very
satisfied with it. From the children’s perspective, as expressed in
their verbal responses, the high point of the project was the
face-to-face encounter with their peers from a different culture, which
left a strong impression on them, and allowed them to get to know one
another in an unmediated, concrete manner, rather than only virtually.
The teachers’ answers showed that they, too, felt that the program’s
concluding meeting was “a moving and ethically important experience”
that more than met their expectations
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