Nowadays, social networks incessantly influence the lives of young people. Apart from entertainment and informational purposes, social networks have penetrated many fields of educational practices and processes. This review tries to highlight the use of social networks in higher education, as well as points out some factors involved. Moreover, through a literature review of related articles, we aim at providing insights into social network influences with regard to (a) the learning processes (support, educational processes, communication and collaboration enhancement, academic performance) from the side of students and educators; (b) the users’ personality profile and learning style; (c) the social networks as online learning platforms (LMS—learning management system); and (d) their use in higher education. The conclusions reveal positive impacts in all of the above dimensions, thus indicating that the wider future use of online social networks (OSNs) in higher education is quite promising. However, teachers and higher education institutions have not yet been highly activated towards faster online social networks’ (OSN) exploitation in their activities.

The present article is based on a small-scale research that took place with third-year students in the department of social work at Technological Educational Institute of Patras. During class the students, who undertake the laboratory course 'Social Work with Families', were asked to discuss family roles and depict them on drawings. Analysing their drawings in a qualitative approach the findings suggest that students adopt traditional views on family issues and the family roles. Various gender stereotypes and prejudices were reflected in students' drawings and this is alarming for both social work education and practice.

The issue of Computer Science entering schools first appeared during the ’60s. The first academic Computer Science Department was founded during this decade at Purdue University and was followed by a second one at Stanford University. As far as the other levels of educational systems are concerned the wide introduction of computers into schools started during the ’80s. This paper refers to a comparative small scale qualitative research that took place between two countries: Greece and Indonesia. It compares Greek and Indonesian Computer Science teachers’ views on whether the Computer Science (or ICT or Computing or Informatics) course improves students’ lives and could in general assist in teaching. Both Greece and Indonesia have included the course of Information and Communication(s) Technologies (ICT) in the curricula of their primary and secondary education levels. Data were collected through interviews (semi-structured and e-mail ones). We interviewed eleven (11) Greek and twenty (20) Indonesian Computer Science (or ICT or Computing or Informatics) teachers. For each country we carefully studied participants’ answers, we categorized and analyzed them in order to obtain reliable results. Then we compared the two countries’ results so as to find similarities and differences between them. After this comparison we drew the conclusion that the points of view of teachers coming from the two aforementioned countries are almost the same. Participants declared that they see teaching as a positive procedure and that they also consider ICT (or Computer Science or Computing or Informatics) course as important for their pupils’/students’ lives. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0770/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

El presente artículo presenta una discusión crítica acera de la educación como un proceso en el aula pero también como una institución contextualizada en ámbitos más amplios. Las limitaciones y los desafíos afrontados por los educadores hen reducido la educación a un proceso orientado a lograr metas y resultados que a menudo reproducen las normas y el conocimiento de la sociedad. Sin embargo la pedagogía antiopresiva de Freire puede ser utilizada como una herramienta inspitadora y útil tanto para deconstruir como para reconstruir realidades otrora opresivas y tanto desde dentro como desde fuera de las aulas. Siguiendo una descripcion en profundidad de la conceptualizacion freireana de educación, el artículo concluye con una serie de implicaciones para educadores comprometidos con la justicia y con lo anti opresivo.This paper provides a critical discussion of education as a process in classroom but also as an institution within wider contextual structures. The limitations and challenges faced by educators have reduced education in a target/outcome focused process that reproduce societal norms and ‘knowledge’. However, the anti-oppressive pedagogy of Freire, it is argued, can be used as an inspirational and helpful tool to deconstruct and reconstruct oppressive reality within and outside class. Following an in depth description of Freire’s conceptualization of education, the paper concludes with a number of implications for educators who are committed to anti-oppression and social justice.

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Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary field, placed at the interface of Biology, Mathematics and Computer Science. In this work, we tried for the first time to investigate the current situation of Bioinformatics education in Greece. We searched the online resources of all relevant University Departments for Bioinformatics or relevant courses. We found that all the Departments of Biological Sciences include in their curricula courses dedicated to Bioinformatics, but this is not the case for Departments of Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or Medical Schools. Despite the fact that large Universities played a crucial role in establishing Bioinformatics research and education in Greece, we observe that Universities of the periphery invest in the field, by including more relevant courses in the curricula and appointing faculty members trained in the field. In order for us to "triangulate" we didn't confine ourselves to online resources and descriptive statistics but we also included interviews so as to have a more spherical view of the subject under discussion. The interviews provided useful insights regarding the teaching methods used by bioinformatics tutors, their attitudes and the difficulties they encounter. The tutors mentioned also the material that they choose, the audience's attraction techniques and the feedback they receive.

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