The Faculty of Educational Sciences at the University “Goce Delcev” – Stip, in cooperation with the Union of Educators of the Republic of North Macedonia, the Association of Educators of the City of Skopje, the Association of Class Teachers “Uchitel”, the Association of Educators of the Municipality of Kumanovo, the NUUB “Goce Delcev” – Shtip and the Municipality of Stip, with the support of the Foundation “Gjorgi Marjanovic” and “Prosvetno delo” – editorial office “Detska radost”, is organizing a consultation on the topic “Reading in the era of screens – a battle between algorithms and books”.
The event was organized on the occasion of May 24 – the Day of the All-Slavic Educators St. Cyril and Methodius, and within the framework of the celebration of eight decades since the publication of the first children’s magazine and the first primer in the standard Macedonian language.
– I am honored that the Faculty of Educational Sciences, together with “Prosvetno delo” and the “Đorđe Marjanović” Foundation, is organizing this consultation on the occasion of May 24 – the Day of All-Slavic Educators. It is a day worthy of celebration and is celebrated in a worthy way, by promoting books, reading, in the era of digitalization and screens. Unfortunately, children are less and less interested in reading. Today, I am also a participant in one of the panels and I will talk about how important reading is, I will demonstrate some scientific studies that show the difference between reading from a book and reading from a screen, let alone watching videos and reading. It is precisely at this time that it is truly a challenge and a serious need to educate children to read books – said the Dean of FON, Prof. Dr. Trajce Stojanov.
The organization also includes “Prosvetno delo”, and this is already the third consultation, said Ksenija Makazlieva.
– This is already the third event in a row. On my initiative and on the initiative of the “Gjorge Marjanovic” Foundation, we decided to hold a series of consultations, in order to bring books back into fashion. The story began when the “Marjanovic” Foundation started a book storytelling competition, and when you tell stories, you also have to read, so the whole story started from there, to join forces with all associations of educators, of classroom teachers, to take a step forward together, to bring books back into fashion. This is the third consultation that we are holding with the Faculty of Educational Sciences in Shtip. The response, as you can see, is huge. Not only teachers from Shtip, but also from surrounding cities participated, so this consultation is taking on a regional character.
– Our intention is to continue the idea of Gjorge Marjanovic, to make Macedonia a decent place to live. We have created an Academy for Future Leaders, which aims to shape young people in the footsteps of Gjorge. Four things are important in that academy, which will help us achieve this, and it all starts with books and reading. That’s how I became aware, quite by chance, of the magnitude of the problem that our society is facing, and that is the unattractiveness of reading. It is clear that reading is not so attractive today, because we have a serious competitor, which is fighting for the attention of children, and that is mobile phones. That is why we decided to expand our activities, in order to encourage children and young people’s love for books and reading, because left to their mobile phones, children are in very serious danger, because mobile phones affect children’s brains in the same way as drugs – said Aleksandar Marjanović from the “Đorđe Marjanović” Foundation
– The topic of my presentation at today’s consultation is “Who educates today’s generation – the algorithm or the book”. The topic has never been more relevant, because we live in a digital age, because young generations grow up in environments that require new skills and, of course, have to adapt to the new times. So now what is better, the book or perhaps the algorithm, which educates today’s children, or should we create a hybrid, a combination of these two positive activities, in order to direct and positively influence their development, both psychologically and emotionally – said Prof. Dr. Daniela Koceva.
From the Faculty of Educational Sciences, Prof. Dr. Emilija Petrova Gjorgeva, Prof. Dr. Irena Kitanova, Prof. Dr. Snezana Miraschieva, Prof. Dr. Verica Josimovska, Prof. Dr. Sonja Petrovska, Prof. Dr. Despina Sivevska, Prof. Dr. Snezana Stavreva Veselinovska and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sanja Gatsov participated. The lecturers emphasized the importance of the responsible use of artificial intelligence in education and scientific development through current and inspiring topics.
