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Holocaust Education -
Online
by Haim Gertner and Naama Shik
“As I complete this
course, I want to thank you for the extra attention you gave me.
Yad Vashem has built an excellent website. It was a pleasure to
learn in such a user-friendly manner.”
Do online courses make people feel
disconnected? Unable to communicate? Distant? Apparently not.
The above quote is the reaction of one of the participants in the
on-line Hebrew-language course Accord of Pain and Hope
offered by the International School for Holocaust Studies. The
course, soon to be presented in English, focuses on the fate of
the Stanislavov community in Eastern Galicia (now part of the
Ukraine) during the Shoah. Participants were so moved by
what they had learned, they
completed the course by organizing a visit to Stanislavov
together.
Over the past five years, the School
has intensified its online educational activities. In addition to
the Internet course,
Yad Vashem’s
website has a link to the School’s “Holocaust Resource
Center.” This site features thousands of articles from Yad
Vashem’s archives, including letters and diaries, testimonies,
excerpts from memoirs, photographs, objects, artistic works,
research and lexicon entries. Suggestions for memorial
ceremonies, a teachers’ resource center, and more also attract
tens of thousands of Internet-users on a monthly basis. Members
of staff are currently designing an educational program to
accompany the online Shoah Victims’ Names site (see page
3), as well as establishing a virtual School for Holocaust
Studies.
Using the Internet as an educational
tool has many advantages:
Accessibility
The Internet enables the School to
display a wide range of fascinating and reliable original
materials to an extensive audience not always able to visit Yad
Vashem. In addition, the sites currently offered are used by
people from all sectors of the population, including educators in
formal and informal education, students, researchers, and members
of Jewish communities abroad. From the many responses already
received, it is clear that users—especially young
people—appreciate this kind of access to so much of Yad Vashem’s
unique knowledge-base.
Reliability
In today’s hi-tech world, as people
are inundated with more and more information, it is not always
simple to evaluate its quality or reliability. The School
guarantees all its material is historically reliable and accurate,
carefully selected by a team of researchers and educational
experts.
Educational
dialogue
Through the Internet in general,
“virtual communities” of people sharing a common interest are
constantly formed; likewise for those using the School’s online
sites. Students and teachers discuss use of the materials in
frontal teaching; educational discussions are conducted regarding
online lesson plans and workshops; and ceremonies based on the
materials found on the site are conducted at hundreds of schools
around Israel. In addition, many students contact staff with
historical or didactic questions, arising from the study of online
material. As such, independent use of the Internet becomes a
dynamic learning experience.
Individual pace
Learning via the Internet enables
individuals to study and teach according to the level best suited
to their needs, and at their own pace—from a short study of basic
lexicographical entries to preparing lesson plans, as well as
educational, historical and philosophical discussions on the
Holocaust and how to teach it.
Members of staff at the International
School for Holocaust Studies see themselves as educators and “tour
guides” in a vast world of knowledge and information, and would
welcome assistance in their plans to expand their online courses.
“I liked this comprehensive online course despite the tough
subject matter,” wrote one participant from Rishon Lezion. “As a
high school history teacher I have no doubt that it contributed a
great deal to my knowledge and level of teaching. I am certain
that my students will also benefit from it significantly.”
Chaim Gertner is Director of
Teacher Training, and Naama Shik is Head of the Internet Unit, the
International School for Holocaust Studies
Copyright ©2004 Yad Vashem The Holocaust
Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority |
