College Hosts Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence

Westminster College is hosting Dr. Yehuda Peled from Western Galilee College in Israel as a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence for the 2010-2011 academic year.

Although a number of Westminster faculty have taught abroad as Fulbright Scholars, this is the first time Westminster has hosted an international Fulbright Scholar.

Peled, who is head of the Information Studies Department at Western Galilee, was proposed for the federally-funded exchange program by Dr. Amy Camardese, associate professor and chair of Westminster's Department of Education.

"I met Yehuda in 2006 when he was traveling in the U.S. to work with several middle schools on the International Book Sharing Program," Camardese said. "The program pairs a middle school in Israel with one in the U.S. Students read a common book and e-mail each other about what they've read. Yehuda and I started to collaborate on research for the Book Sharing Program and presented the findings at a conference in San Diego in 2007."

The collaborative research has expanded to the Tri-Wizard program, involving high school students in the U.S., Israeli Jews, and Israeli Arabs.

At Westminster, Peled is teaching Inquiry, a first-semester class designed to engage students in liberal learning; Educational Technology, an introduction to the use of production software used by teachers; and Integrating Technology into the Classroom, a course that expands on a student's existing knowledge of computer technology.

He is co-author with Miriam Sarid of "Multi-Drafting Feedback Process in a Web-Based Environment," published recently in the Interactive Technology and Smart Education journal and "The Effect of Procrastination on Multi-Drafting in a Web-Based Learning Content Management Environment" in the Interdisciplinary Journal of E-Learning and Learning Objects. Last year he co-authored "Common Ground Among Three Cultures" in the Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics and "International Twinning as an Enrichment Project" in the Academic Exchange Quarterly.

Although Peled has been here only a short time, he is impressed by Westminster students' discipline and their age (the average age of a college freshman in Israel is 25), the faculty's pride in their college, and the lush green surroundings.

The Fulbright Program, established in 1946 under legislation introduced by Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, is administered by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State. It is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the U.S. and those of other countries.

"Dr. Peled's presence on Westminster's campus will allow us to see the world from another perspective and increase mutual understanding between the U.S. and Israel," Camardese said. "Yehuda, his wife Sima, and their son Shai have already begun to enrich our lives in measurable ways."

Contact Camardese at (724) 946-7183 or e-mail camardah@westminster.edu for additional information.

Dr. Yehuda Peled