Closing conference only the beginning for ELAICH program

ELAICH (Educational Linkage Approach in Cultural Heritage) will be holding its closing conference on January 30, but its legacy will live on in the form of its online toolkit and through the key principles and teaching structure it has developed over the past two years.
 

At the closing conference, the eLAICH Consortium will present its hands-on eLAICH educational Toolkit, as well as outlining its overall contribution to raising awareness of cultural heritage and preservation among today’s youth.
 

The specially developed ELAICH Toolkit will provide essential tools to educators and other stakeholders in order to introduce the values of cultural heritage and challenges of its preservation to teenagers.
 

The conference will also be a chance for all those who have been involved in the program, so far, to discuss their role in educating the youth and developing the curriculum.
 

In addition, decision makers and experts in the areas of education and cultural heritage conservation, including high school managers, educators in science, arts & history, representatives from authorities and non-government organizations are also encouraged to attend.
 

Senior officials from international and national education and heritage authorities and organizations, among others, the European Union, Israel, Greece, Italy and Malta have already confirmed their participation.
 

Just one day before the closing conference, a first-of-its kind workshop will take place to provide local Israeli educators with the tools needed to teach 9th through 12 graders about the importance of cultural heritage and preservation of historic sites.
 

ELAICH’s Closing Conference will be held at the Butler Auditorium, Samuel Neaman Institute, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa on January 30, from 9 am to 6 pm.

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ELAICH to launch cultural heritage and historic preservation workshop for educators in Israel

ELAICH will hold a workshop this month in Israel to provide local educators with the tools needed to teach 9th through 12 graders about the importance of cultural heritage and preservation of historic sites.

To be held on January 29th at the Hebrew Reali School, Carmel Center Campus in Haifa, the workshop will feature the work already undertaken over the past two years by ELAICH, a project supported by the European Union’s Euromed Heritage 4 program.

To date, ELIACH has been piloted in Israel, Turkey, Greece, Malta and Jordan, where groups of teenagers have learnt about the factors that shape or destroys physical heritage. The students have also grasped an understanding of the techniques that can help save history for future generations to enjoy.

This past summer, Israel’s Education Ministry said that it was already exploring the opportunity to make conservation and renovation of heritage sites part of the national curriculum.

ELAICH, which was initiated by professors at Haifa’s Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, provides a comprehensive program in cultural heritage and preservation, as well as an online tool kit so that educators can continue to update their skills as they teach.

Leading preservation and conservation bodies support ELAICH’s Cultural Heritage Toolkit

More than 60 participants from large international bodies and senior officials from European and Mediterranean countries participated in a special workshop conducted by the ELAICH (Educational Linkage Approach in Cultural Heritage) project in Venice, Italy.
 

Participants included senior officials from Greece, Italy, Belgium, Malta, Algeria, Morocco and Israel, as well as decision makers and experts in the areas of education and cultural heritage conservation, including high school managers, educators in science, arts and history, representatives from authorities and NGOs related to cultural heritage conservation.  Representatives from local, regional and national government institutions from the entire Mediterranean Sea Basin and the EU also attended.
 
“Participants were very excited about the ELAICH methodology,” said Dr. Anna Lobovikov-Katz, ELAICH’s coordinator. “We also discussed the possible implementation of the toolkit and we obtained the support of leading bodies such as UNESCO and ICOMOS (the International Council on Monuments and Sites) which were very positive about it.”
 
Participants discussed the possible adoption of the ELAICH Toolkit and ways of implementing and incorporating the toolkit into the educational systems of participating countries and the conservation and educational activities of the organizations.
 
The toolkit is particularly aimed at providing tools for educators to introduce the values of cultural heritage to the general public and to high school students in particular.
 
The toolkit provides traditional workshop materials integrated with modern e-learning activities through a specially developed e-learning system (eLAICH). The toolkit, which is based upon a scientifically validated and tested educational methodology, will enable teachers to manage the toolkit’s educational modules in order to allow them to better guide their students through the process of learning the value of cultural heritage.

ELAICH launches interactive network of cultural heritage sites

ELAICH (Educational Linkage Approach in Cultural Heritage) has launched a new initiative to pull together and highlight the myriad of cultural heritage sites that can be used by facilitators of its educational program.

The “ELAICH Sites Network" was launched at a special workshop for public officials from European and Mediterranean countries that was held at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy on 7–9 November, 2011.

Removing a poultice from a wall 

The new initiative aims to ensure facilitation of its educational toolkit through a comprehensive list of sites that will facilitate field visits, in obvious coordination with relevant conservation, cultural authorities and organizations in the various regions.

In a letter sent out to the growing number of institutions joining ELAICH or interested in becoming part of this exciting program, organizations state their intention to join and contribute to this network, as well as ELAICH’s overall objectives: “to strengthen and consolidate mutual understanding and dialogue between cultures through the promotion of and public awareness-raising in cultural heritage.“

ELAICH’s Sites Network, will enhance the recently created educational toolkit, with is accessible through the program’s e-learning system and will compete the on-site learning program. This is another step to raising awareness of the importance of cultural heritage in our countries to the general public with an emphasis on youth.