13th Pupils΄ Digital Creation Festival begins
CORFU. More than 300 pupils will participate in the event, while works from many regions of Greece will be showcased.
The 13th Pupils' Digital Creation Festival has begun at Corfu 4th High School. The Festival is taking place face-to-face for the first time since 2018. The first day, Thursday 18th, included presentations of pupils' creations from all educational levels as well as talks.
It will continue on Friday 19th, when students will not only have the opportunity to present their works but also to watch via livestreaming the work of pupils from other areas of Greece.
Enimerosi spoke to the Regional Director of Education, P. Aggelopoulos, and the President of the Corfu Branch of the Panhellenic Association of Informatics Teachers, E. Siotis, about the festival.
Children at the forefront
The works presented by the children are projects they do as part of their coursework. Mr. Siotis said that these are projects they do in their computer science class or in some European programme where they will need to use software or programmes related to computer science. All of these are eligible for presentation.
Mr. Aggelopoulos told us that the Festival is "..an educational opportunity for pupils through the event to create and present these digital projects they develop." He added that "The Festival is for the children. It could have been a conference, but it is most important to give the floor to the children."
He also talked about the need for outwardness in education as "..it is not enough just to have knowledge or skills, we should have them in relation to society or the modern era we live in. And the works presented serve this purpose."
Hybrid organisation
The Festival is co-organised by the Ionian Islands Regional Education Department and the Panhellenic Association of Informatics Teachers - Ionian Islands Branch and for the first time in years, it will be held face-to-face.
However, since there is participation from all over Greece, it will be held in a hybrid format from participation hubs in Volos, Heraklion, Ioannina, Corfu, Larissa, Mytilini, Patras, Pyrgos Ilia, Syros, Chania, and Chios.
The Festival is supported and approved by the Ministry of Education, Religion, and Sports, it is under the auspices of the Ministry of Digital Governance, and is supported by Informatics Associations and Unions, as well as Local Authorities.
Record participation
Mr. Siotis told us that this year has surpassed all previous ones in participation numbers and original works. More than 38 works and over 26 schools while the number of pupils who either attended, presented, or participated will exceed 300.
On his part, Mr. Aggelopoulos characterised the pupils' works (from kindergarten to high school) as excellent both in terms of quality and in terms of thematic diversity (including topics related to the environment, history, digital approaches to subjects, etc.).
Talks and viewing of other paricipants
In addition to the children's works, on Thursday, participants had the opportunity to attend a workshop by M. Magioladitis on Artificial Intelligence, while on Friday, 19th, they will be able to watch children's works from the other participating hubs via livestream.
Both Aggelopoulos and Siotis expressed the desire and hope for this initiative to continue in the following years, as the pupils themselves have requested the continuation of the Festival.
VASSILIS PANTAZOPOULOS
Photos: Enimerosi
