Idit R. Harel (; born Idit Ron; September 18, 1958) is an Israeli-American entrepreneur and CEO of Globaloria. She is researcher of learning sciences and of

constructionist learning The British Constructivists, also called the Constructionist Group, or Constructionists, were an informally constituted group of British artists, working in a ''constructivist'' mode, with no formal membership or manifesto. The groups most active ...

-based

EdTech Educational technology (commonly abbreviated as edutech, or edtech) is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and educational theory and practice to facilitate learning and teaching. When referred to with its abbreviation, "EdTech", ...

interventions.

Overview

Harel researches and writes on the impact of computational new media technology on the social and academic development of children and their

epistemology Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...

. Her

MIT Media Lab The MIT Media Lab is a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, growing out of MIT's Architecture Machine Group in the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, School of Architecture. Its research does not restrict to fi ...

research with

Seymour Papert Seymour Aubrey Papert (; 29 February 1928 – 31 July 2016) was a South African-born American mathematician, computer scientist, and educator, who spent most of his career teaching and researching at MIT. He was one of the pioneers of artif ...

has contributed to the development of

theory. She blogs monthly on Huffington Post Impact and Technology verticals on computer skills education, particularly for young women, girls, and underprivileged children, and the value of

massive open online courses A massive open online course (MOOC ) or an open online course is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the Web. In addition to traditional course materials, such as filmed lectures, readings, and problem sets, ma ...

(MOOCs) in education reform. Harel was the founder and CEO of MaMaMedia Inc., the executive director of the MaMaMedia Consulting Group (MCG), and the founder, President, and Chair of th
World Wide Workshop

educational technology Educational technology (commonly abbreviated as edutech, or edtech) is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and educational theory and practice to facilitate learning and teaching. When referred to with its abbreviation, "EdTech" ...

development companies. She is presently the CEO and a founding Chair of Globaloria, which designs computer learning programs for K-12 schools in the United States.

Personal life

Idit Ron was born in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Her parents and their families are

Holocaust survivors Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universall ...

from Poland and Czechoslovakia. She married her first husband, David Harel, in 1979 (divorced 1995); they have three children. She married her second husband, former

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

governor

Gaston Caperton William Gaston Caperton III (born February 21, 1940) is an American politician who served as the 31st governor of West Virginia from 1989 to 1997. He was president of the College Board, which administers the nationally recognized SAT and Advanced ...

, in 2003; they divorced in 2012.

Career

Education

Harel moved to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1982 for graduate study at the

Harvard Graduate School of Education The Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) is the education school of Harvard University, a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1920, it was the first school to grant the EdD degree and the first ...

after having previously received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

and

Philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

from

Tel-Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

. She earned two graduate degrees from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

: an EdM in Technology in Education (1984) and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies (CAS) in Human Development (1985) from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. In 1988, she earned a Ph.D in Epistemology and Learning Research from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

after helping to formulate a new constructivist model with Seymour Papert, the "Instructional Software Design Learning Paradigm."

Children Designers

Harel's research at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the MIT Media Lab in the 1980s led to the 1991 publication of ''Children Designers'', which won the 1991 ''Outstanding Book Award'' from the American Education Research Association, with an introduction by Harel's research collaborator, constructivist researcher Seymour Papert. ''Children Designers'' presents the results of Harel's research in which she introduced disadvantaged fourth-grade children from the Boston area to the

Logo programming language Logo is an educational programming language, designed in 1967 by Wally Feurzeig, Seymour Papert, and Cynthia Solomon. The name was coined by Feurzeig while he was at Bolt, Beranek and Newman, and derives from the Greek ''logos'', meaning 'word' ...

, and facilitated their creation of mathematical software applications that would help third-grade peers learn fractions. ''Children Designers'' suggested implementations within schools that emphasize this project-based and student-centered approach.

MaMaMedia

In 1995, Harel moved to New York City, where she founded MaMaMedia, an Internet dot-com that offered web services focused on inculcating digital literacy and creative learning skills among children and their parents who used the web games and activities offered. Harel developed MaMaMedia based largely on her research in the MIT Media Lab in the educational principles of constructionism. The site provided web users with a range of "playful learning" activities and projects, publishing the first print

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

for children about the Internet, ''MaMaMedia: A Kid's Guide to the Net''.

World Wide Workshop and Globaloria

Harel founded World Wide Workshop in 2004, a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...

non-profit organization that develops applications for learning with technology that combine game design and online social media experiences for youth to empower them to be inventors and leaders in the global knowledge economy. The foundation's programs aim to transform education by connecting youth to technology learning opportunities in schools and community centers, facilitating children's localized community engagement, and fostering the potential for economic development through game production experiences. Globaloria is a social learning system and educational program of the World Wide Workshop, in which participating students engage in a range of digital activities. The program was established in 2006 to cultivate both students' and educators' 21st century skills and digital literacy, facilitating mastery of social media technology tools, and students' deeper understanding of curricular areas, such as science, mathematics and health.

Research and theories

Clickerati

Much of Harel's published work in the 1990s and early 2000s focused on the emergence of what she has termed the "Clickerati Generation" - children born since 1991 who will grow up immersed in new media, and unable to imagine a world without Internet technology. She calls for a radical paradigm shift in the education and acculturation of this generation, emphasizing normalization of digital information and communication, and the cultivation of digital literacy skills for their successful development, citizenship, and leadership within such physical-digital blended environments.

Constructionist MOOCs

Through the launch of the World Wide Workshop and research on its flagship program Globaloria, Harel has advanced the use of

within the MOOC model. She has criticized MOOCs for generally replicating the instructor-led learning model, and asserts that Globaloria's educational tools are the only constructionist MOOCs for middle and high school students. She also states that this approach is unique in simultaneously training teachers and instructors on a

blended learning Blended learning or hybrid learning, also known as technology-mediated instruction, web-enhanced instruction, or mixed-mode instruction, is an approach to education that combines online educational materials and opportunities for interaction onli ...

model.

Honors

*2015: Symmetry 50 "Top Women in NYC Startups" *2013: Named to Disruptor Foundation Fellows *2012: Journal of Media Literacy Special Issue guest editor: Globaloria *2011: Named to Digital Learning Council by Digital Learning Now! *2010: Jessie McCanse Award for Individual Contribution to Media Literacy, by the National Telemedia Council. *2002: Network of Educators in Science and Technology (NEST) recognized for "devotion, innovation, and imagination in science and technology on behalf of children and youth around the world.",

Computerworld Smithsonian Award The ''Computerworld'' Smithsonian Award is given out annually to individuals who have used technology to produce beneficial changes for society. Nominees are proposed by a group of 100 CEOs of information technology companies. The award has been gi ...

for Media, Arts and Entertainment: MaMaMedia Peace Project *1999: ComputerworldSmithsonian Award for Education: MaMaMedia Internet-centered products for young children and their families *1992: Outstanding Book Award for Children Designers, by the American Education Research Association (AERA). *1990: Journal of Mathematical Behavior - Outstanding Dissertation Issue: "Interdisciplinary Constructions of Learning and Knowing Mathematics in a Computer-Rich School."

Bibliography

*"Constructionism: Research Reports and Essays, 1985-1990", 1991 (with Seymour Papert) *"Children Designers: Interdisciplinary Constructions for Learning and Knowing Mathematics in a Computer-rich School", 1991. *"Constructionist Learning: A 5th Anniversary Collection of Papers Reflecting Research Reports, Projects in Progress, and Essays by the Epistemology & Learning Group", 1990.

References

External links

Idit Harel Caperton's blog
huffingtonpost.com; accessed August 7, 2015
Personal website

Interview on Future of Education podcast
March 12, 2013
Idit Harel Caperton on Video Games as the New Language Arts
wiredacademic.com, December 14, 2011
Idit Harel Caperton profile
mediasnackers.com, February 2008; accessed August 7, 2015 (interview with Monica Larson of Shephard University), October 21, 2009 * , January 27, 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Harel, Idit 1958 births Living people Businesspeople from Tel Aviv Tel Aviv University alumni American computer businesspeople American computer specialists Israeli emigrants to the United States Israeli Jews Israeli people of Czech-Jewish descent Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni Educational psychologists American women educators Caperton family (Virginia and West Virginia) MIT Media Lab people American women chief executives