Edu-tainment (education + entertainment) is a concept that slipped into the handbooks of desperate teachers and has since become a fact of the classroom. After all, it is perfectly logical: to get kids to learn about important things, just make learning fun.
The Internet is not only fun, but also provides ways of linking people together. These two characteristics are the basis of a program called Oikade (literally, Return to the Homeland) founded by the Bank of Cyprus in 1999. In essence, the program seeks to offer innovative learning possibilities as well as to foster communication between students from around the world, who share a common ancestry.
The program continues to develop in scope and now has a complete Internet portal, oikade.gr, designed to inform, educate and entertain. The language on the site is strictly Greek, that’s because the program wants the group’s common ancestry, Hellenism, to be the kids’ main mode of communication, regardless of where they are situated in the world.
Digital cornucopia
At Oikade, school students may play (games are mostly designed in Macromedia Flash, so that Shockwave is a required plug-in), download gifts, participate in competitions and have the opportunity to meet other Oikade members by joining a virtual chat room. All this happens in the portal’s ‘park’.
The Oikade Park is a modern meeting place, an information portal for youth, a place to chill out, have fun, meet other kids. Kids can play the latest and best strategy and action games. They can click on the latest news about books, music, video games, sports, cinema, health and diet and jokes, and can download and share electronic gifts, e-cards, wallpapers and screensavers. There’s also a monthly newsletter that provides all the latest news ranging from informative material about nature, science experiments and the universe to fun and games.
Learning takes place in the Oikade Classroom. There are ten learning categories to choose from: Geography, Culture, Language, Music, Experiments, Mythology, Theology, History, the Olympic Games and Folklore, with a number of games designed to test kids’ knowledge of each subject. For example, kids can click on Culture to play Minoan, Mycenaean or Byzantine “Snakes and Ladders”. Apart from gaining or losing ground depending on whether one lands on a snake head or a ladder foot, kids will have to answer questions such as “Who was the last emperor of Byzantium?” to be granted more moves forward, if correct, or backwards, if incorrect.
Kids can also click on The Time Machine to learn what objects belong to the Minoan or Mycenaean culture, for instance, as well as complete jigsaw puzzles to reveal actual mosaics uncovered in Cyprus. The Gods of Olympus crossword puzzle demands a good knowledge of the ancient Greek gods, so listening up in class beforehand is a prerequisite for a good score. Meanwhile, the architectural style of the Parthenon is analysed and the Greek wing of The Louvre explored.
In the Language section, kids can test their knowledge of Modern Greek by completing games such as “Hangman” and can learn about Greece’s premier poets George Seferis and Costis Palamas by rearranging the lines of the poems into the correct order. As far as music is concerned, kids can play with folk instruments.
Brotherhood of the ‘mouse’
Another successful part of Oikade is the Brothership of Schools program. A total of 40 schools (local and Greek-language schools abroad) are participating, which means that, for example, kids in Sydney team up (via tele-conferencing) with brother school in Athens to execute at least twelve hour-long classes during the school year. Educators at both schools collaborate on the preparation of the lessons, which are then presented by the students themselves. The process of learning is much more creative and allows for relationship development between participating students.
According to the people running the Oikade, “the computer becomes a gateway for getting to know Greece, with lots of humour but above all, respect and responsibility.”
