Source: Ami Salant's Blog
Ami Salant, Chief Information Officer of the MOFET Institute writes a comprehensive account of the development of Online Days in Israeli Schools. Since 2001, Israeli schools have been developing and implementing Online Days where students actively participate in group learning activities from their homes instead of participating in regular school classes. The online activities are accessed and submitted via the school website with teachers online, supervising and mentoring the students. The Online Days are often devoted to a specific theme and involve varied types of learning activities, often based on inquiry learning. The Online Days provide an opportunity for students to utilize active ICT learning techniques in a concentrated focused time period, while allowing for independent student control of their learning. Students and teachers report greater student motivation and active participation in learning during the Online Days.
The article describes the rationale and history of Online Days in the Israeli education system since 2001 and emphasizes the adoption of these activities particularly in schools in the south of the country in the beginning of 2009, when students where often forced to remain at home because of missile attacks.
The article also contains many links to materials discussing the preparations and planning necessary for the successful implementation of Online Days.
Descriptions of Online Days devoted to Bible Studies, mathematics, sciences and specialized topics such as children's literature carried out by individual schools and clusters of schools together with links are included.