SMART EDUCATION: 5th Online Seminar for Educators
More than three thousand participants from Greece and the Greek Diaspora - a high percentage of whom were educators - ardently participated in the 5th Online SMART EDUCATION seminar entitled “5G: A New Era for Education.” The seminar was organized by Mandoulides Schools and was conducted on Saturday, 13 November 2021. The goal of the seminar was to provide information pertaining to the new era of education as shaped by the rapidly evolving new technologies.
During the first part of the webinar broadcast live via Livemedia, Facebook and the Youtube channel of Mandoulides Schools, the speakers, who are distinguished in their respective fields, elaborated on the necessity of changes in education, 5G technology facilitating the digital transformation of education, the advantages vs disadvantages, the development of technical skills along with life skills through the incorporation of new technologies in education, smart classrooms with new technologies, better interaction between students and teachers, better cooperation among peer students, Microsoft tools and their beneficial application in teaching, social media as well as the psychological and social skills that students need to cultivate.
More specifically:
Elena Zaglaridou, Education Future Skills Development Lead at Microsoft Central Eastern Europe, referred to the skills that students need to cultivate in order to be prepared for their future.
During his speech, Manos Varvarigos, Professor at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens, focused on the “New technologies behind 5G networks and their application.”
Konstantinos Papadias, Executive Director of the Research, Technology, & Innovation Network and Professor of Informatics at the American College of Greece, referred to “5G technologies and the ways they will affect our lives.”
Maria Mpoura, Director, Marketing, Communications, Government & Industry Relations at Ericsson talked about the topic “5G: An open platform for innovation.”
Marina Oikonomou - Lalioti, Professor of Psychiatry at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, introduced us to the sphere of human and social soul and talked not only about electronic networks and digital skills, but also about social networks as well as psychological and social skills, while using the Covid 19 pandemic as an example.
The next speaker was Stavros Dimitriadis, Professor at the School of Informatics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, who talked about the topic “Artificial intelligence in school: Why it is necessary and how it can be taught.”
Chariton Polatoglou, Professor at the School of Physics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, talked about the contribution of simulations to the development of STEM education.
Finally, Vasilis Oikonomou, Director of Informatics and Digital Education at Athens College | Hellenic - American Educational Foundation, talked about “Augmented, virtual and actual reality (Mixed Reality). A modern educational intervention or/and tool of individualized inquiry-based learning?”
During the second part of the seminar, the participants had the opportunity to exchange their views and experiences with other educators who have incorporated Microsoft technologies in their teaching (Office 365 tools: Teams, OneNote, OneDrive, Booking, SharePoint, Sway, Forms, FlipGrid, MinecraftEDU, etc.) and discover how they can develop both their own and their students’ skills.
The seminar is part of the general activities of the Schools as Microsoft Showcase Schools and was held under the auspices of the Regional Directorate of Education of Central Macedonia, the Municipality of Thermi and the Municipality of Pylaia-Chortiatis.
Aspasia Chasioti, Dr. of Philology and General Director of Mandoulides Schools, was in charge of the organization, coordination and conduction of the event.
Aikaterini Mandoulidou, President of Mandoulides Schools, Theodoros Papadopoulos, Mayor of Thermi, Alexandros Koptsis, General Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, and Dina Ghobashy, Senior Manager, Education Leadership at Microsoft, welcomed the participants of the seminar.
“Congratulations on today’s seminar!!! I watched the whole first part but not all of the second, due to Internet connection problems that we face in Munich lately. However, I was sufficiently informed. Keep organizing top-quality events!” Evaggelos T.
“Good morning! From Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo!” Panagiota Κ.
“I would like to congratulate the Schools on the choice of speakers as well as the speakers on their remarkable speeches!” Vicky M.
