Status Report of the Virtual Campus: Blogs

During the second part of the meeting, the teachers who used blogs as a working tool in the classrooms talked about the experience, how students welcomed blogs and how these activities contributed to the learning process. We will now present some of their observations:

“Working with blogs brought new issues to the classroom (such as intertextuality), which are not included in the curriculum of the subject”. Débora Wainschenker talked about the beginning of the Language 1º E blog: (the first blog they had, after sharing the 2º G blog). She stood out an activity they did on The Wizard of Oz: they worked with the images of the play, which led to a discussion of more complex issues. Débora presented her work with blogs at a congress on the Promotion of Reading and Writing, which was carried out in La Habana, Cuba, and was very welcomed.

“With the blog we were able to show what the United Nations Model is about”. Daniel Plotinsky presented the UN Model blog and mentioned that - once it was adopted by teachers and students- the access to the materials and their consultation improved significantly through the comment area. The first live broadcast was presented by this blog from Almagro campus, “so we were able to show parents and other people what the Model is about”, he said.

“Blogs enabled us to generate another kind of approach with contents”. Jimena Castellión went through her work with blogs, from We are reading Matilda to Our personal profiles, and Frankenstien is visiting us. Jimena contrasted the first blog, where she posted a series of resources about the play, and the last ones, where students posted their own texts and commented on other classmates’ posts.

“We are looking for new ways to organize information, to prevent the blog from becoming a modern parchment”. Analía Fukelman presented the blog Navegate with Sciences, of the Natural Sciences Department, which she described as a reservoir of different resources of interest to students: guides, sites and complementary materials (many of the audio-visual). Analía also said that the News of the World… blog emerged from the previous blog, and stood out the way in which information is organized at the blog.

“The students themselves write the chronicle of each class, and it remains in the blog”. Javier Jamui referred to the use of the blog as a students’ production context, by considering his experience at the blog de Naturales de 2º I, where an abstract of the contents seen in class is posted. “In this way, I know that at least two students are paying attention”, added Javier as a joke to stand out the enthusiasm that this activity generates in students.

At the presentation, there were also other important experiences, such as the blogs of the proyectos Finales de Electrónica CANSat, where students documented their research work; el blog de ExpoConstrucciones, where the activities carried out at the exhibition were registered; and the blog de la radio, where the podcasts produced by the students along the year were published.

We invite you to visit these blogs and others at the Virtual Campus Weblogs Net: http://redblogs.ort.edu.ar/

Status Report of the Virtual Campus

Last Monday and Wednesday, the status report of ORT Virtual Campus was presented at Almagro campus. Following Diana Grimbe’s welcome words (Principal of this campus), Guillermo Lutzky, Director of the project, presented the different areas that constitute the Virtual Campus: the Intranet, the e-learning platform, and the weblogs net, and talked about the objectives accomplished at each of them.

Mario Cwi had a conversation with the teachers of the English, Social Sciences, Mathematics, and Jewish Education department about their work experience with the e-learning platform, and about the teaching materials they produced with other colleagues of the area, and with the collaboration of Cintia Plotkin and Nora Quaglia.

Jimena Castellión, Andrea Levin and Geraldine Kahan, from the English Department, showed a material called “Traveling abroad”, where –as far as they said- “knowing English is the excuse to carry out a series of activities that one would normally do when traveling abroad, and to develop other competences”.

Then, Fabián Beremblum and Jorge Wozniak, of the Social Sciences area, presented material on the French Revolution, which combines a variety of sources and audio-visual formats.

Ariel Blatman and Mauro Rey, of the Mathematics area, showed material which suggests approaching the theme of the infinite through different philosophy and literature works, comic strips and other graphic resources.

Finally, Aliza Berman and Ruthy Szewach, of the Jewish Education area, told their work experience with the platform, and stood out the motivation and enthusiasm that students felt by working with images, maps and other audio-visual formats.

In the second part of the meeting, the teachers that used blogs as a tool to work in their classrooms talked about the experience, how students welcomed blogs, and how these contributed to the learning process.

Presentation: Status Report of ORT Virtual Campus Project

On Tuesday 11th and Thursday 13th of December, the first status report on ORT Virtual Campus Project was presented at Belgrano campus. Following Viviana Jasid’s welcome words (Principal of this campus), Guillermo Lutzky presented the different areas that constitute the Virtual Campus: the Intranet, the e-learning platform, and the weblogs net; and talked about the objectives accomplished at each of them.

Later on, the teachers of the Biology, Physics, and Jewish Education areas had a talk with Marcelo Dal Molin and Sandra Borenstein about their work experiences with the e-learning plataform, and showed some of the works done.

After that, the teachers who used blogs as a tool to work in their classrooms talked about the work they carried out, how students welcomed blogs, and how they contributed to the learning process.

These are some pictures from Thursday 13th…

Alejandro Schneider, presented a new blog: Puntos de Encuentro (Meeting Points). This is a joint institutional blog of the different activities carried out on ‘solidarity’ at ORT.

Status Report of the Virtual Campus

Yesterday -Tuesday 11th of December 2007- a status report on the Virtual Campus project was presented. Viviana Jasid, the School Principal of Belgrano campus, opened the meeting and addressed the audience.

Status Report of the Virtual Campus

After Viviana Jasid’s words, Guillermo Lutzky, Director of the Virtual Campus, presented the different areas that constitute the Virtual Campus: the Intranet, the e-learning platform, and the weblogs net; and talked about the objectives accomplished at each of them.

Some of the blogs presented were ORT Argentina Weblogs Net, ORT Media, Medical Department , Hebrew High Level, Virtual Campus, Football, Passion and Identity, Puntos de Encuentro, Cuarto de la Mancha.

Status Report of the Virtual Campus

Later on, Marcelo Dal Molin and Sandra Borenstein talked about the work of the CREA.

The teachers who presented their projects were:

From the Biology area: Javier Jamuí and Patricia Antokolec.

From the Jewish Education area: Silvia Shapiro and Batia Lipovetzky.

From the Physics area: Claudia Fresnedo and Yamile Bohorquez.

Status Report of the Virtual Campus

The last to speak was Guillermo Lutzky, Director of the Virtual Campus. Some teachers also presented their blogs.

• First, it was the turn of Paula Luna, teacher of the Language area. She worked with different groups individually on each blog (some of them were: Segundo Hache 2007, Cuarto de la Mancha, Segundo E Lengua 2007, Primero B Lengua 2007, Cuaderno de Lengua, Primero D Lengua 2007). She talked about her experience with her students and with the community at large.
• Then, it was the turn of Martín Leguizamon and Juan Pablo Todaro, teachers of the Social Sciences area, who started the project Fútbol, Pasión e Identidad (Football, Passion and Identity), where students tell their stories, homages to different personalities of the field are paid, etc.
• Later on came Silvia Shapiro, teacher of the Jewish Education area, who created the blog Hebreo 3F Nivel Alto, where she worked with her Jewish-language students through music. This has helped her to encourage her students more and also their learning process.
• At the end, Javier Jamuí, teacher of the Natural Sciences area, shared his experience with the blogs Ciencias Naturales 1 B, Ciencias Naturales 1 C, and Videos with his students.

ORT Virtual Campus Status Report

Draft of the Project’s status report for the teachers’ meetings, which will be carried out from December 10th to 13th, 2007.