13 Facts About Idit Harel

Idit R Harel was born on Idit Ron; September 18,1958 and is an Israeli-American entrepreneur and CEO of Globaloria.

Idit Harel is researcher of learning sciences and of constructionist learning-based EdTech interventions.

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

Idit Harel married her first husband, David Harel, in 1979 ; they have three children.

Idit Harel married her second husband, former West Virginia governor Gaston Caperton, in 2003; they divorced in 2012.

Idit Harel moved to the United States in 1982 for graduate study at the Harvard Graduate School of Education after having previously received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Philosophy from Tel-Aviv University.

Idit Harel earned two graduate degrees from Harvard: an EdM in Technology in Education and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Human Development from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

In 1995, Idit 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.

Idit Harel developed MaMaMedia based largely on her research in the MIT Media Lab in the educational principles of constructionism.

Idit Harel founded World Wide Workshop in 2004, a 501 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.

Much of Idit 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.

Idit Harel 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.

Idit Harel 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.