Topelberg Noam

Academic Coordinator of Teaching Clinical training and Head of Art teaching certificate program

Dr. Noam Topelberg is the Head of the Art Teaching certificate program, and academic coordinator of clinical training at the Teacher Education Program, Faculty of Education, Bar-Ilan University. He is also a Graduate of the Mandel leadership institute Program for Academic Leadership and serves as a national instructor for the design arts department of the Israeli Ministry of Education. His PhD., from the Department of Jewish Art at Bar-Ilan University, dealt with the visual language and iconography of Israeli female artists Relating to the victims of wars. He also specializes in the fields of visual culture and visual literacy. In recent years he has written a 520 hour long curriculum, and five textbooks, dealing with the impact of technology on visual culture and visual Codes, from the nineteenth century to the present day. This curriculum is now taught in more than 250 high schools all over Israel.

Research areas:

• Visual culture
• Visual codes
• Visual literacy
• Philosophy of art
• History of Art
• Art and Education

Research Initiatives:

"DECODING VISUAL CULTURE"

(ongoing) A proposed model for bolstering visual literacy equips individuals to both comprehend and critique intricate visual narratives. Through meticulous analysis rooted in keen observation, this research delves into the multifaceted role of visual codes across diverse campaigns. This includes art history, through visual communication to designed products. As part of an ongoing series of evaluation and implementation processes aimed at better understanding the impact of the model on teacher training, a qualitative questionnaire was administered to a target group of active teachers who participated in a special training program provided by the researchers between 2021 and 2022.

“NURTURING FUTURE EDUCATORS: EXPLORING NEW FRONTIERS OF COLLABORATIVE TEACHER TRAINING MODEL”

(2024) Two groups of teaching certificate students, who graduated between 2020 and 2023, were examined in this study. The students were divided into two groups: an experimental group participated in a clinical training program, while the control group participated in different programs. A mixed methods approach was used to incorporate both qualitative and quantitative analyses. In-depth interviews were conducted to gather qualitative information regarding graduates' experiences, satisfaction, and commitment to their professions, while the quantitative component assessed participants' self-efficacy.