Tec Center: Linking Technology, Education and Cultural Diversity

Vol. 9 No. 1

Year: 2012

 Issue: April-June

Title	: Tec Center: Linking Technology, Education and Cultural Diversity
Author Name	: Elaine Hoter, Miri Shonfeld , Asmaa, N. Ganayem
Synopsis	:
To many people, "Israel" is perceived as a "high-tech" nation, but in the same breath, as a "nation in conflict". So why not apply Israel's technological advantage to battle the multicultural conflict within? In this article, we will review the multicultural segregation in Israel, the traditional attempts to bring conflicting groups together, and finally, we will conclude with the TOCE (Trust Building in Online Collaborative Environments) model developed by the TEC center founders, and its' implementation in various academic programs and projects. Research on the programs carried out by the TEC center indicate that structured Information & Communication Technology (ICT) intervention can reduce bias, stigmas, and ethnic prejudice among project participants, and turn them into major technology proficient agents of social change.