[etni] Fw: re: cds mp3s and moe
- From: "Ask_Etni" <ask@xxxxxxxx>
- To: "ETNI" <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 8 Oct 2009 22:34:20 +0200
----- Original Message -----
From: Marj Bitran - marj1959@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: cds mp3s and moe
Hi. I just wanted to add my THANK YOU. I sighed in relief after reading
Sharon's letter. It gave me back that tiny droplet of hope that maybe,
sometimes, someone IS thinking in the MOE. Definitely keeping tapes a bit
longer is the right thing to do. I will also call Dudu on Monday and
reinforce that idea since most of us are tekkie enough to track CDs or MP3s.
Thanks again to Sharon and all of the other voices that take the time and
make the effort that gives us the honorable (albiet underpaid) title of
English Teacher!
Sharon wrote:
>As you may know, I wrote a long letter to Mr. Dudu HaLevi from the Testing
Department on the topic of CDs and MP3s.
>Though I didn't get an immediate response to my first letter, after sending
a second letter, Mr. Dudu HaLevi himself responded, called me at home, and
spoke with me for over half an hour about the hakraat sheilon issue. I
reiterated the problems with CDs - particularly the high cost of diskman,
the waste for using disks, and the problem of producing disks for practice
during the school year.
>I was really happy to talk to a responsive person who proved to be aware of
the problems involved and I was glad to see how seriously and intelligently
the whole issue is being handled - something I couldn't have known from the
letter issued to schools - which didn't even mention that other options are
being discussed.
>Mr. HaLevi said that the tape option is no longer available for technical
reasons (apparently the previous suppliers are no longer making tapes), but
that the ministry is aware of the problems of using CDs and is looking into
moving to MP3 (or some other) technology. We discussed some of the issues.
Mr. HaLevi is interested in using technologies that would eliminate the need
for file transfer on the day of the bagrut.(My original suggestion was to
send a disk-on-key with the files in the sealed envelopes on the day of the
exam. He pointed out that transferring files on the day of the exam is
problematic in schools with very large populations.) He said they are
looking into using a technology which would eliminate the need for file
transferring on the day of the exam - like SIM cards. I'm not really
familiar with that particular technology, but I know that my own MP3 player
(produced by ScanDisk) is equipped to read a tiny memory card that can be
slipped into my MP3 player - I think it's the same idea. That would
certainly be a great idea.
> I did send a follow up fax saying that in light of the fact that the
ministry may be moving to a newer technology very shortly, it would make
sense to continue to supply tapes until that time - and I suggested that the
ministry check again to see if there is any supplier who could continue to
produce tapes for another year or two.
> I also promised Mr. HaLevi that I'd send a letter to the Etni list
> reporting
on our conversation. If anyone has any ideas to contribute, please write me
and I'll try to pass them on.
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