I have taught several courses on organizational development and process consultation, and courses relating to team leadership and development, as well as theories of leadership and organizational behavior. I have also conducted various research seminars and workshops.

 

In the Division of Educational Leadership, Administration and Policy, I teach a wide range of courses, workshops, and online courses both at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

 

At the undergraduate level, the courses I have taught touch upon a variety of subjects, including leadership and policy design, practical training in school leadership, simulation and case studies, globalization and organizational development, organizational culture, decision making, teamwork, policy and influence tactics, process consultation, and organizational diagnosis. Most of my courses have at least 50 to 70 students. One of my courses, the Israeli Educational System, deals with the unique organizational aspects of the Israeli educational system and has close to 70 students. The course reviews the most important Israeli reforms and the challenges faced by Israel’s educational system. The course takes a comparative approach, focusing on the differences between Israel and the OECD countries with respect to education expenses, teachers’ status and salary, international test achievement, and parental involvement.

 

At the graduate level, I teach courses on school leadership in a multicultural society level 1 and level 2 (which have close to 50 students). Students in these courses are required to perform a comparison between Israel and another country using the OECD indicators. This exposes the students to knowledge and data from PISA international tests and their worldwide impact on educational policies. In the second semester, students apply the knowledge they have acquired from the first semester to perform a comparison in Israel focusing on the cultural aspects of the school environment.

 

Regarding my teaching philosophy, I favor classroom dynamics that permit dialogue and foster a degree of student input. I encourage the students to think about the class as a community. This means that in my classes, I have students spend a fair amount of time in smaller groups in which they not only discuss and consider the subject matter together, but also write together in collaboration. Also, in some courses, such as practical training, involving 40 students, I have been taking students to visit schools and speak with school principals and faculty members.

 

In another course, I combine simulations and case study, using the School of Education Simulation Center HALEV. The purpose of the course is to emphasize the importance of teamwork in the school setting, focusing mainly on the processes that influence educational team functioning and effectiveness through a focus on theory and research from the social sciences and the field of organizational behavior. Students are required to play several roles (e.g., teacher, school principal, parent, counselor and student) and act according to a script that they can improvise. We analyze the video immediately afterwards.

 

Through this combination of classroom studies and field investigation, students have been exposed to both theory and practice. In keeping with this emphasis on process, I have been pleased by enthusiastic student reactions (I received high mean student ratings consistently in recent years, from 4 out of 5, and above).