Dorit Tubin

Typology of ICT Implementation and Technology Applications

Abstract This paper presents a typology of information and communication technology (ICT) integration into schools, demonstrates the typology by three case studies, and provides a discussion related to each. Based on the organizational learning approach, the typology will show that ICT use depends more on organizational arrangement than on ICT itself. The typology dimensions include two types of implementation processes, which differ with regard to the teachers role, teaching methods, and time and space configuration, and two types of technology, which differ in ICT practices. The typology presents four types of ICT integration: traditional, “jet carriage” emergence, and exploitation. Three Israeli schools, which successfully implemented innovative pedagogy using ICT, serve as a case study for the three latter types. Implications of ICT inclusion in schooling are discussed and suggestions for further research presented.

Student satisfaction with learning management systems: a lens of critical success factors

Institutions of higher education have invested heavily in learning management systems (LMS) for creating course websites. Yet, how to assess LMS effectiveness is not fully agreed upon. Based on institutional theory, this article considers student satisfaction as indicative of LMS success and proposes a lens of critical success factors (CSF) as a different new approach for exploring LMS effectiveness. Results obtained in a survey of 8425 students and in semi-structured interviews with 40 students point to five critical success factors for increasing student satisfaction with LMS: Content Completeness, Content Currency, Easy to Navigate, Easy to Access and Course Staff Responsiveness. The main contribution of the CSF lens is in guiding institutions of higher education toward informed decision making regarding LMS technology.

When ICT meets schools: differentiation, complexity and adaptability

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore the interaction between information communication technology (ICT) and the schools organizational structure, and propose an analytical model based both on Luhmanns system theory and empirical findings.Design/methodology/approach – The approach of building a theory from a case study research along with an instrumental multi‐case study method were applied to analyzing nine Israeli schools that successfully implemented ICT‐based pedagogical innovation.Findings – The findings suggest that ICT generates three kinds of differentiation within the schools structure: segmentation, stratification and functional differentiation. The type of differentiation correlates with the schools communication and set of contingencies which includes ICT usage types, leadership style, time and space arrangement, source of expertise, and the champions – those who bear the burden. All the differentiation types were found to increase internal complexity and enhance school adaptab...

Establishment of a new school and an innovative school: lessons from two Israeli case studies

Purpose – The paper aims to explore the stages involved in the school establishment phase and detect differences between new and innovative schools startup.Design/methodology/approach – The exploratory study was conducted on the creation phase of two Israeli elementary schools: one new and one innovative. The data were collected through interviews with central figures in each school, school visits, and documentations analysis.Findings – Four stages were found in the establishment phase: building construction and resource achievement, goal prioritization, staff development, and vision formulation, but these stages were found to be in reverse order in the new and innovative schools.Research limitations/implications – Although the study is limited by the specific context from which data were drawn, it offers a useful conceptual framework for the establishment process of new and innovative schools.Practical implications – Implications for practice and policy include useful suggestions for the stages and order...

Collaborativeness as the core of professional learning communities beyond culture and context: evidence from Canada, Finland, and Israel

ABSTRACT Professional learning communities (PLC) have been widely accepted as effective with respect to good atmosphere, adequate leadership practices, and functional working practices. However, the outcomes for school improvement depend on case-specific issues. To identify less culturally and contextually bound issues in 3 PLC settings in Canada, Finland, and Israel, we examined our cases through the notion of “collaborativeness”. It refers to a systematic and shared process consisting of efforts, ideas, and activities that aim at achieving synergy. By combining the 3 data sets and applying a special model, we were able to distinguish, through qualitative content analysis, ingredients of collaborativeness beyond culture and context that we consider particularly essential. The crucial factor proved to be a dynamic relationship between mutual and deep learning, realized through 5 different ways. We further believe that our results could serve other organizations striving for school improvement in other kinds of cultural and contextual settings.

Educational achievements of graduates of an experimental elementary school

This is a study of the educational achievements of graduates of an experimental school in comparison to those of a regular school. The experimental school aims to enhance school effectiveness in coping with individual differences and to mediate between private and public knowledge. A quasi-experimental method was used. The results show an advantage for all graduates of the experimental school (i.e. the excellent, average and slow) in most of the variables measured: test results, skills, self-efficacy and motivation. We suggest that the overall systemic framework of the experimental school contributed to its increased effectiveness.

School Success as a Process of Structuration

Purpose: The purpose of the present study is to explore the process, routines, and structuration at successful schools leading their students to high achievements. Method: The approach of building a theory from case study research together with process perspective and an organizational routines model were applied to analyzing seven successful Israeli high schools that bring their students to high academic outcomes. Findings: Five processes were found to operate cyclically during the school year: building a vision-oriented senior leadership team, enhancing students’ choice, developing a student-oriented class schedule, organizing an exam system, and mapping each student. Each process comprises several routines that present structuration by the alignment of their ostensive, performative, and artifact aspects. Research Limitations/Implications: The fact that the selected schools demonstrated extreme cases of high achievement limit the generalizability of the findings, but nonetheless it offers a significant contribution to the development of a substantive theory of school success as structuration. Practical Implications: The theoretical model can serve as diagnostic tool for a school wishing to improve academically, as an intervention tool indicating the area needing reinforcement, as an evaluation tool for assessing new resources and their adaptation to the school’s goals, and to infuse a principal training program. Originality/Value: This study bears a substantive theory regarding high achievement as a structuration process supported by processes and routines, and fosters new insights and propositions for further research.

Teachers’ perspectives on 40 years of reform: the case of the Israeli junior high school

The purpose of this study is to trace junior high school teachers’ perspectives regarding the strengths and weaknesses of their type of school, and to glean more information concerning their preferable type of grade configuration. To this end, 25 teachers filled out an open questionnaire and six of them were further interviewed to provide more insight into the teachers’ responses. Surprisingly, most of the teachers tended to strongly support the 1–8 type elementary schools rather than the current situation of 1–6, 7–9, 10–12 in which they have ever worked. Theoretical and practical implications are suggested.

Every teacher carries a leadership wand

Turnaround schools require empowered teachers to discover their leadership wand. Based on a case study conducted on BART Charter School, this article highlights five steps for leaders who wish to empower their teachers and allow them to lead their schools to success: 1) Let your people know; 2) Nominate the fittest, 3) Connect teachers to a prestige model, 4) constantly ask for valid data and 5) share success and responsibility. Conceptual explanations and practical examples describe each step in a chain of turnaround events in a successful turnaround school.

Leadership identity construction practices: The case of successful Israeli school principals

Principals’ ability to lead their school towards its goals depends to a large extent on their leadership identity that influences the clarity of their mission, the way they see themselves as educational leaders and acceptance of their authority by their followers. Based on the concepts of leadership identity and role embeddedness, the present study seeks to better understand leadership identity through leadership-claiming practices employed by school principals and the forces of fit, links and sacrifice they operate to enhance their role embeddedness. The study is based on secondary analysis of data from four successful Israeli school principals. The techniques of interviews, observations and document analysis were employed in the collection of the data. The findings reveal that all the principals studied used a variety of leadership-claiming practices which, alongside their role embeddedness, help explain how their leadership identity is constructed in their everyday practice. Further theoretical and practical implications are discussed.