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The pedagogical use of informational communication technology (ICT) in contemporary schools is an important issue in today's era of online learning environments. The internet is constantly evolving and it is transformed from a space of searching for information into a space of content creation and collaboration among users. Web 2.0 applications are being implemented in all levels of education with the intention of enhancing learning and, for countries such as Greece which are new to the use of ICT in the classroom, the learning outcomes are yet to be fully evaluated. This article aims to assess the research about the implementation of Web 2.0 applications in the Greek educational system, in the context of the international bibliography about the use and learning outcomes of Web 2.0.

The introduction of the Internet at schools has raised new pedagogical challenges facing educators trying to ensure children's awareness of the possible dangers when surfing the Web. This article aims to investigate how teachers evaluate the possible dangers that students might face when surfing the Net for various educational or interpersonal purposes, and the teachers' technological skills in terms of their ability to promote Internet safety awareness when supervising elementary students surfing the Web within the school premises. Using questionnaire surveys from 179 teachers in Greece, the present data showed that teachers who tended to incorporate technology in their every-day personal or professional habits were found to be more effective in promoting Internet safety issues in class such as discussions with students or teaching children moral behaviours when navigating the Net than their less technology enthusiastic colleagues. The current work strongly recommends the importance of a more systematic promotion of Internet safety awareness in primary schools as most Greek teachers seem to luck the basic pedagogical skills for exploring Cyberspace alongside their students, and giving worldly guidance and wisdom screen-by-screen. (Contains 5 tables and 3 figures.)

The aim of this paper is to present the design, implementation and evaluation of the methodology which focuses on the pedagogical utilization of Interactive Videoconferencing (IVC) in the contemporary elementary school. As part of the project "ODYSSEAS", during the school year 2007-2008, 46 students and 4 teachers from two elementary schools in Athens and Crete collaborated at a distance via IVC and, with the aid of the animation technique, designed and implemented constructive activities on the topic: "Environment-Climatic Changes". According to the findings of this paper, IVC under pedagogical conditions plays a significant role in supporting collaborative synchronous learning activities at a distance by strengthening the social relations among students and teachers of the local and the remote class at both schools. This survey brought to light that the combination of IVC and face-to-face learning activities consolidates the role of the modern school as a socialization agent. At the same time, it broadens students' opportunities for communication, collaboration and expression by strengthening their willingness to make new contacts all over the world. (Contains 12 tables and 7 figures.)

As schools are increasingly encouraging students to use the Internet and web-based technology at home and in the classroom, concerns among some parents have increased. Today's parents have learned about computers as adults and did not receive guided participation as children either from their parents or from their teachers. The essence of this paper is twofold: (a) to investigate how parents view their children's opportunity to acquire new educational and interpersonal experiences from the introduction of collaborative learning activities by distance via videoconferencing in school settings and (b) to examine the differences in parents' attitudes to the use of the Internet and web based technologies by elementary students in the family home as an acknowledgment of their importance in their children's day-to-day social and educational activities, in two developing but still traditional European countries. Using data from two groups of parents (N = 98)--one from an urban province of Crete (Rethymno) and the other from a rural province of Cyprus (Avgorou), the present paper showed that parents respond to the "newness" of digital collaborative learning and interpersonal activities of their children according to their level of use and perceived compatibility of the information and communication technologies.