Educational change is only a click away!

What adults can learn from kids

Adora Lily Svitak (born october 15, 1997)is an american child prodigy and internationally published author, known for her essays, stories, poems and full-length books. She became famous when at the age of 6 she was recognised on local news in Seattle, U.S.A. for her writing skills. At the age of 7 she began writing blogs. She has been promoting literacy and interest in reading and writing as well as lectured before large audiences of both students and adults.
In February 2010, Adora spoke at the TED Conference, saying the world needs "childish" thinking: bold ideas, wild creativity and especially optimism. Kids' big dreams deserve high expectations, she says, starting with grownups' willingness to learn from children as much as to teach.

The third part of your brain

 Google's founder Sergey Brin said that they want to be your third "brain half". Yesterday, Eric Schmidt said Google knows where you are, what you like, and will suggest what you should do next. And that wasn't all.

These are my favorites quotes from the Google CEO who said at Berlin's IFA 09/09/10 :

"We can suggest what you should do next, what you care about. Imagine: We know where you are, we know what you like."

"Not only are you never lonely, you're never bored! We'll suggest what you should be watching, because we know what you care about."

"A near-term future in which you don't forget anything, because the computer remembers. You're never lost."

Greece In Crisis!!!

Greece is in recession and almost went bankrupt but the people of Greece are mainly in a state of national depression. The reason is not the cut wages for the public sector and the decrease of greek economic growth but the fact that greece has lost hope; hope in terms of innovation, job creation for young well educated greeks who consider going abroad in search of a better future. Greek people say that Greece eats its own children meaning that when you are a highly skilled, well educated person with great potential you have to leave the country to move ahead. If you choose to stay in your country the system will "eat you". Generations to come will see these schizophrenic years as a transitional period in the history of a nation that tries to overcome sins from the past...

Will the ipad change the way we learn?

The ipad, the tablet pc by Apple, has sold more than 500.000 items since its introduction the first 3 days after it was released! Never before in history, a computing device was easier to use . It is not the things you can do with an ipad, like browsing the net, read ebooks and magazines, watch videos, play games and much more, but the way you do it. You don't need a mouse and a keyboard, instead you use your fingers and gestures in a way that is friendly for the user, which makes it easier for children and seniors to take advantage of what technology and the internet has to offer nowadays. Children seem to love it and it is easy to understand that technology has become more accesible them. All in all, future generations will talk about the ipad as the begining of a new era the way our generation see the invention of printing!

E-books, tablets and ipads Vs books and laptops.

E-books, also known as digital books, are the evolution of conventional printed books, used for centuries to educate, inform and communicate ideas and knowledge. The electronic version of printed book became popular when amazon, the No 1 selling online book store in the U.S.A. introduced the Amazon Kindle, the ebook reader device. The kidle can hold up to 1500 books!
A few days ago apple computers entered the market, giving a boost to the ebook industry, by introducing the ipad, a multimedia device and ebook reader, that allows you to surf the net, read and buy newspapers and book online. The educational process can benefit a lot from the rich multimedia material and the open interactive environment used by such devices. A personal computer and the internet was not part of our lives 20 years ago but now are considered assential to our work and leisure time. Do you see ebooks as something that will replace printed books or as another gadget trend?

14year old student expelled because of Facebook!

A fourteen year old school girl from Chania, Crete,  was expelled from her school in the city of Chania because she had created a group in Facebook. The name of the group " I hate the head teacher of my school" became quite popular. About 100 students from the same school who joined the group expressed their thoughts about their teachers on Facebook! When the mother of a student found out about the group she soon informed the head teacher. As a result, the girl who created the group faced the teachers' council to explain her self. Despite her apologise, the teachers' council decided that she had to be expelled from her school, setting this way an example for her behaviour.  Do you agree with the decision?