It is essential to choose the right web hosting provider right from the start since the process of changing providers can be both stressful and harsh on your wallet depending on what kind of business or personal website you are running.

It is also crucial to know what exactly you will be using your website for since there are many different kinds of hosting packages. Here are a few examples of the most common hosting solutions, Shared hosting, Managed hosting and finally VPS hosting.

Shared Hosting: A good alternative if you have a personal website or blog, but you do not have the best budget.

Managed Hosting: Managed hosting is in itself a shared hosting package but with a managed service. Your hosting provider can help you install and configure plugins for your WordPress site and other such configurations.

VPS Hosting: This is a good option if you want to have absolute control over your server. Unlike Shared hosting, you can install whatever software you require, whether it is Python, NodeJS, or simply Nginx web server.

So let’s get to the point: How to choose the right web hosting provider for just your business.

When I have reviewed HostUp I have taken into consideration the following:

Price & Performance: I believe that the pricing should be reasonable and the performance should be the #1 priority.

User-friendliness: I consider that everyone should be able to get the state of the art without being a total nerd. An easy to use user interface is a high priority.

Support: When you face issues with your website, you should be able to get assistance as fast as possible to resolve it. Providers should offer competent personnel in live chat and email/ticketing systems.

Uptime: Your website should be able to stay online no matter what! Whether it is facing a DDoS attack or there is an outage at the data-center your website should still be online.

Best web hosting company 2019 — Affordable, Fast, and Quality 24/7 service

HostUp

HostUp is a package of everything, and its affordability makes it one of the top choices when choosing a web hosting service provider. They offer shared web hosting packages as well as VPS hosting packages.

When it comes to pricing, HostUp is a clear winner. Their packages are affordable for everyone to use. Their shared web hosting plans start from $1.95 a month and their VPS packages from $2.5 a month.

As for performance, it is blazing fast. They utilize the latest technology, such as Nginx web-server over Apache. This combined with their high-performing Raid 10 Solid-state Drives (SSDs) makes a huge difference on your website loading speeds.

In my opinion, they also provide a user-friendly shared hosting control panel. It is easy to navigate and find what you are looking through with its minimalist look.

Their support know-how is very good although their response time is debatable. From personal experience, the maximum response time is around 30 minutes depending on the time of day, but once a representative takes care of you they solve the problem straight away which is a huge plus.

When it comes to uptime, it is truly magnificent. Their servers are located in Amsterdam, which is known for its quality in uptime. They also state on their website that All of their packages include DDoS protection, powered by Voxility up to 1 Tbps+.

Shared hosting Plan features

Starter($ 1.95 /mo): 1 Website 10 GB SSD Disk Space

Business($ 2.95 /mo): 5 Websites 20 GB SSD Disk Space

Unlimited($ 3.95 /mo): Unlimited Websites 30 GB SSD Disk Space

About Web Hosting and why you Should Choose HostUp was originally published in ZeduHow on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Yesterday I was chilling out in a park.

There were kids roller skating, playing, people walking dogs. Just the usual!

My attention was captured by two teens. One of them was dancing, (and she was good, great movements, flowing choreography) the other one was filming her. The “camera girl” did also very well.

The girl with the camera was moving around, changing angels, while the dancer was moving graciously…they were broadcasting to the world and needed nothing that we a few years ago had to do to get the world’s attention.

Once we believed that dancers need to go to dancing schools and must earn the right to be on the stage and present their art. They were limited to see only the best artist who came to their town or they could watch celebrities on TV.

Today they can take masterclasses online, anytime, anywhere!

Not many years ago, you need to get a studio, filming crew to do all that what these girls did yesterday.

They just needed a phone and resources that are free on the internet.

Who teaches them how to do it?

They use RESOURCES!

They learn to do and then shared their knowledge with the world by pressing one button.

They just created a new resource! Another teen will watch, do and will be inspired to make their own dance, music, video or anything and will do the same by sharing with the world.

By watching them, confirmed again what we all knew: teachers are teaching the next generation that is now an outdated thing that we keep doing the same improvements that make no actual difference to the kids, instead of admitting: we are done!

So I continued observing them.

They recorded, then watch together, did it over again and again until they got the results they were looking for and left happy and smiling the park.

They looked accomplished, happy ready for the next thing to do!

Who taught them to do all these?

How to dance, film, upload, share and most of all how to make the choices?

They used the available resources that we all have in the palm of our hands.

They did use free and open source projects, to help create something that made them feel accomplished and happy.

I can hear you asking:

“Hey, are you saying we do not need teachers, schools anymore? We just have to buy a phone and unlimited internet access to our kids and let them learn by themselves?”

No, all I am saying is that we need to step back and observe the world. Observe our kids what they are capable to do, and to understand why they get bored and cannot engage with what we are teaching them.

So will teaching and teachers disappear?

Yes! They already are.

There is a high demand for teachers worldwide. It seems that no one wants to take this job anymore.

Why?

I am a member of many teachers group on the internet and most of these groups are not anymore about exchanging ideas and finding solutions on how to teach, but about asking for desperate help how to discipline, protect your self and mostly a place to rant about what just happened to you while you were trying to teach. Trust me, reading the posts you will be surprised and you will also ask yourself the question: is it worth it to be a teacher these days?

Well, there are teachers who say it is and there are the ones who quit.

There are teachers who show up every morning and start doing the same things that they always do, even though they know that results will not follow. They are following and respecting the system, they are heroes and end up going home most of the days frustrated, tired and in tears. They feel un-respected, rejected, underpaid.

There are teachers who are trying out new ways, introducing new structures. using technology, fighting the boredom until they get tired and if they do not find support in the educational system and from students and parents…sooner or later they give up and just go into survival mode, hoping that one day soon they can find a better job, a miracle will happen…they will be able to retire…

There are teachers who create new materials, there are teachers who blog and share their methods and other teachers seek their resources and they all together hope that they just discovered the magical tools that will engage the students and they will want to learn.

There are thousands of teachers working for companies that are developing the best next resource for teaching maths, computer science, reading, music and so on. And teachers buy into it, spending hundreds if not thousands of their currency. hoping that by implementing these new programs, magic will happen and students will engage and learning will happen.

Schools and schools districts buy into many of programs that are saying that they have the magic formula to increase student engagement and deliver measurable results in the students academic results.

There are times when all the talk is about “the must” of introducing technology in schools, and there are times when all the talk is about limiting the use of technology and going back to teaching techniques that in the past has been proven to be useful and will bring results.

Altogether, today the education process seems to be a struggle between frustrated and scared teachers, agonizing angry and bored students and companies that offer the next magical solution to fix all these above and disoriented parents!

Many of the teachers go and use online programs and games, trying to trick their students into learning and trying to engage them.

Parents are moving their kids from school to school, as they hope to find the best place to educate their kids. They pay for private tutoring on and offline, hoping to add some extra help that will give more knowledge to their kids.

In the middle of all this madness, kids feel ignored and they will do whatever it takes to get attention. Some of them will find their own resources, some of them will get lost in the process and become a problem for society.

Teachers and teaching already disappeared.

Teachers are not anymore the respected educators and teaching becomes a struggle on how to teach anything to students.

Nothing is like use to be, any more and no matter what, it will never be the same!

And that is good!

So what is next?

How can we change the way we teach, how can we train and support the millions of teachers to teach and get results and students to be engaged and reinstall the trust of parents that their kids get the best academic education and will be successful in their life?

The only way is to start observing how students want to learn and support the process.

Letting educators walk from the front of the classroom to the back of the classroom.

Letting educators stop telling and demonstrating and better asking and facilitating the process of learning.

Letting educators not making choices on how to teach what methods to use but allowing the responsibility of choosing to the students.

Asking educators to understand they are not anymore the only source to learn from, but they are the guides that have to secure the path for students into the future.

Letting educators become facilitators of the resources.

Asking educators that instead of pointing out what students need to learn and how to do it, become observers of what students want to learn and how they do it.

Why?

Because students of today are born into a world of information and knowledge. Most of them have access to all the resources no matter what they want to know about!

Most of the toddlers are educating themselves on YouTube every day!

They search, watch what they are interested in, and if they are done they just flip over to the next one.

They have their own resources. They only have to make decisions and choices.

The future education is about resources and how to find the best and most effective resources to achieve their individual results.

Educators have to become RESOURCE FACILITATORS, guiding the learning supporting the student's choices, focusing on the results and not on the process.

Engage and support students to use resources and most of all to create resources.

Successful companies today are successful because they are open source.

See Baidu’s Projects and what they achieved by being an open source company in the last years!

So what is open source?

It is the software programs available with its source code under an open-source license to study, change, and improve its design. Examples of some popular open-source software products are Mozilla Firefox, Google Chromium, Android, LibreOffice, and the VLC media player. Open-source software development has been a large part of the creation of the World Wide Web.

Open source development is the only way for education, where students can develop further a world of knowledge and solution, based on available resources and not learning things that make no sense for them developed by people born in the agricultural or industrial era when resources were limited to teachers and books in the library, and what your parents shared with you.

Will this work for education?

Well, what we are doing today is obviously not. So what do we have to lose?

Just imagine if yesterday I would stand up and walk over the girls and tell them that it is all wrong as there is no teacher around and they should not do this by themselves and try to explain how it use to be in “my days”!

Because when we try teaching them anything today, we actually are just telling them how it was “back in our days”!

Instead of stepping in just step back, and observe, guide and learn.

We are not anymore the only source, but we are the one responsible for the sources that our kids and students use. We are responsible to FACILITATE THE PROCESS and not to CREATE THE PROCESS!

Let me know your thoughts!

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Why teachers and teaching will disappear? was originally published in ZeduHow on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Skill is simply: expertise!

To understand better why I consider typing the connector and basic skill, please take a moment and go back to my article and read about Typing -The Connector Element in Today`s Education.

There are two groups of skills that we have:

What are the above skills that you mastered?

To be honest I do not agree with considering having a degree or certificate. is a skill. It is “A”certification of acknowledgment, but not a skill.

Why should a piece of paper, made at a time in your life define your skills?

I know hundreds of people, that I personally met during my life who have beautifully framed certificates and high-level degrees, but do not perform well, are unhappy and lost interest in any further development the day they got their certificate?

Born and raised in a country with 2 languages, /one your native and one the official/ I will always praise this opportunity of growing up bilingual. Developed my brain in so many ways had “opened” my brain is easily picking up any language.

I joke these days, that I speak 5 languages, none of these perfect but at least I do get around the world pretty easy!

Typing, machine operating and computer programing it makes so much more sense!

I can type pretty fast, actually, I have a certification from 1980 for typing and steno dactylography/ just saying I got this but we never even learned about the steno part/ I am pretty good at machines operating, understand the basic of coding, never wrote a program by my self, but now I will try…

But this article is not about me, it is about what we are teaching to our kids today.

So, languages? Well, most of the kids that aren't born in an English speaking country will learn English by watching English tv channels and singing songs and remembering lines from cartoons!

But what about the kids born in an English language country?

Out of the world’s approximately 7.5 billion inhabitants, 1.5 billion speak English — that’s 20% of the Earth’s population. However, most of those people aren’t native English speakers. About 360 million people speak English as their first language.

So what foreign language are your kids learning?

Typing! Well, after all, this is all about it is!

If you can type, and I mean here to type accurately and fast you have mastered the skill of all.

Why?

Many companies require today a 50 WPM typing speed even to consider to hire for basics position. Well, when all is written communication who needs a person that needs more than 2 minutes to answer a simple email?

So, why is that we DO NOT TEACH our kids typing along with writing?

Handwriting is fading and many people are worried about this and blame many behavioral issues of today generation because of this.

But let`s just remember something: what most parents give in their child's hand first? Is it a pencil or a smartphone?

What do children see each and every day? Do they see us handwriting or do they see us typing all day long on our smartphones and computers?

You know that the first way kids learn is: monkey sees, monkey do?

By today, calligraphy and handwriting become an art, it is definitely not anymore a skill that we need to master!

You see we are at a shifting point in history.

Shifting needs to be supported by mastering the skills that we need to make the shift into the next era.

Driving a horse carriage one day was a skill, today is a sport and in some countries a form of art.

So driving that today is considered a basic skill, was once a skill that people need to master when the cars appeared.

And driving will be soon an art too. As the self-drive cars, will make the driving part, but we will need machine operation skills, typing, and programming skills to drive our cars. Just warning you, this will happen sooner than you think!

Operating computers is a skill that we also need to master. I can see this is in the schools that we teach. Students come in and sit down in the front of a computer start pressing the tabs until something shows up. If by chance they are not getting the immediate page or game that they are looking for, kids became frustrated and their anxiety level raise by the moment!

We need to facilitate our students to understand machine and computer operating.

Did you ever think about taking a class on how to properly operate a computer or your smartphone? It sounds ridiculous but I promise, if you would consider taking one, there would save you many minutes of frustration and you would be discovering miracles that your devices are able to perform for you.

Does just not make sense to you by now, that we actually do not pay attention to developing the skills that we need and keep focusing on skills that are outdated or became art?

Now let`s take a look at soft skills:

Most of the communication today is done in writing through typing. Better you type, better you communicate.

Flexibility today is when you can respond and participate in online communication almost all times all places, at a fast pace. That goes by typing again…

Leadership, teamwork are today all based on your skills around how efficient can you communicate, and how fast you can do it…just saying it is again typing

Last but not least: time management, is all about achieving goals efficiently so you know by now and you need to agree: direct messaging, emails and fast and accurate typing is the name of the game, here too.

Conclusion: TYPING IS THE MOST IMPORTANT SKILL, as it: supports and develops all other skills we need. Period.

Teaching kids from an early age, typing and I say here touch typing becomes not only important but now mandatory.

Let me know your thoughts, do not be afraid to challenge me!

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How Typing become THE MOST Important Skill? was originally published in ZeduHow on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Hey guys, In this list I’ve been hunting down some really good tips ‘n tricks! I’m super excited to be writing this as I learnt a lot even if you are not looking for frameworks or changes to your current stack.

1. Material Design is a Must

Material Design is a skill companies are looking for in every individual’s skill set. It was developed by Google in 2014 as a set of design standards that enhances the user experience by creating neat and organized user interfaces that support responsive scaling across different screen sizes and dimensions. It’s based on Google’s material design language and provides components such as Parallax, Toast etc.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

2. PWA (Progressive Web Apps)

This was one of the revolutionary concepts invented and announced by Google in 2015. The popularity of such applications is based on the efficient web development that results in a straightforward and positive user experience. Progressive web apps are web sites that resemble native mobile applications and can work offline. Shortcuts to such apps can be created and saved on the desktop. As most of the data is stored in the cache, PWA can be loaded very quickly.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

3. React Native and Electron

React Native enables you to create apps for mobile devices, such as smartphones. On the other hand, Electron allows you to build apps for desktops. Both turned out to be well established frameworks in 2017 and are great solutions in order to go from JavaScript to a native app.

Some applications created on Electron are:

1. Slack
2. Atom
3. GitHub

Some applications built on React Native are:

1. Facebook
2. Instagram
3. Airbnb

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

4. Storybook

Storybook started off as a framework that no one knew about. But suddenly in mid-2017, it became immensely popular due to the efforts of its community. It allows you to create and test UI components in isolation. Storybook provides the developer great value for his/her efforts. Here is a pro tip, if you want to stand out as a developer, just show up to an interview with the storybook from your last project.

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Future Of The Web For 2019! was originally published in ZeduHow on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I am really upset every single time I read that kids do not score well on tests, that schools are rated based on these scores and teachers are leaving their jobs because of low ratings, high stress, parents are angry and students are frustrated.

This writing is not about debating do we need or not testing or what is good or wrong with the educational system.

This writing is about how all this affects our kids. This is what matters at the end of the day.

If you are following me, or read my previous article “Dude. what on Earth are you talking about?” you already understand that is nothing wrong with our students. They want to learn!

I want you to imagine the following scenario:

You just got your dream job! You are happy, excited /just like kids on their first day of school/.

You know what your job will be /kids know they go to school to learn, we tell them that/ you feel prepared./most of our kids go into school these days after already playing hundreds of learning games on the phones, ipads laptops/.

So, you feel safe as you know what to expect. / after we make our kids beLIEve that learning is nothing else but fun through games, we send them to school in the befLIEve that that is all that will happen in schools too/ and beLIEve is not misspelled or typo, see the capital letters only/

So, all started well…but …

Imagine going into your workplace and getting every day some new pieces of information that you do not understand and you can not follow procedures because you do not understand even though they are plain English? After a time, you are sitting there frustrated and burn out, reading worse and worse ratings of your work…then they let you go or you quit?

You wake up one day and ask yourself: how did this happen? You were such a happy and engaged person when you started your work suddenly you failed at most of your tasks?

You might reply: I never got the chance to ask questions, nobody cared about my understanding, you just kept giving me tasks that I never fully understand what am I doing or what I have to do!”

Well, this is what happens to our kids!

They start the learning process loving learning and being entertained with learning games, where they can make decisions, choices and in a very short time, they sit in a school asked to do things only our way, follow procedures and got tested based on what they are told!

Is it just not normal they lose interest because we never ask them how they “want” to learn?

It is not about changing the educational system overnight, it is not about letting kids deciding about their education it is simply giving them the chance to tell us what they know already about what we teach them.

You see, they already know must of the things that 10–20 years ago were absolutely mindblowing for today's teachers, educators, and parents. That information that we consider awesome for them, it is just a normal, boring piece as they know it for long.

So, why do we not teach them the way they want to learn?

Instead of standing in the front of the class and talking why not asking them, engaging them in the process?

By this, we can make learning a game, just like we showed them that learning it is. A game through questions and answers, choices, failure and success!

Allow them to use resources, ask for their opinion, challenge them to support and sustain their theories. Be provocative and be open-minded, and do not be afraid to admit you might learn from them.

Set up your game and ask them to join in!

Let them show you how they understand and support them by filling their knowledge gaps while you are learning new information too.

I will no stop repeating the most important thing that you need to remember:

YOU ARE NOT ANYMORE THE ONLY SOURCE OF INFORMATION!

YOU ARE THE FACILITATOR IN THE JUNGLE OF INFORMATION THAT KIDS, STUDENTS ARE EXPOSED!

We leave in the era of knowledge!

Knowledge is to know how to get information, how to use and apply information.

Until the educational system will be willing to change, we need to make sure that we teach kids the way they want to learn and make sure that they understand what they learn.

Just the simple fact that we engage them in learning through games and interaction and suddenly we ask them to learn from us by listening to what we say it is a shock for most of our kids!

It only takes to pause for a moment and ask: show me how would you want to learn?

“WANT” is here the most important word.

Because if we slowly but surely kill the willingness to learn in our kids and students, well…then will be no use to teach at all.

Enforcing and reinforcing policies and ways that we already failed miserably, it is nonsense.

Adapting new ways to get results would make more sense.

When I say to set up your game I do not mean by any chance that you need to create and launch the next Fortnite game!

I mean that you need to “gamify” the process of learning by making the process engaging! Using INTERACTION, and that does not mean at all that is only technology involved.

There are millions of resources on the internet, where brave educators had already created it for you!

You see, it is not as hard as we think, it is not about confronting the system, it is just about adapting the way you go on the path. You can walk like we humans do from thousands of years, you can drive/ you can choose from cars made in 1920 and you can choose now self-drive cars, you can fly, /commercial airline or private jet/ and you can teleport yourself.

Same is in parenting or teaching. You can choose the way you do it to get the end results.

The goal is the same: get the best education to our kids, that serves their future!

We can choose: do it our way/ might some learning happen / or matching it to the way they want to learn…when learning will happen anyway!

The role of parent and educator is not any more to narrate and present the lessons, it is to ask and support the process of learning lead by the students level of understanding and guiding them through the process of learning.

Will these all be easy?

NO!

But, it will be REWARDING for all!

Let me know your thoughts!

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“If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” was originally published in ZeduHow on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The development of JavaScript is changing rapidly, especially in the last twelve months. 2018 was a year with a lot of action, changes and new initiatives in front-end web development. The race to become the preferred JavaScript framework has heated up, as more projects have started to choose to React js including Vue over Angular.

So what’s up with 2019? What is the trend for this year. What is the framework that will solve all of our problems? Well let’s go into the good old fashioned bullet list.

1. GraphQL

Many consider that GraphQL is the replacement for the REST APIs in the future. However, REST and GraphQL do not necessarily have to be competitors, and one is not better than the other for all applications.

GraphQL is a query language for APIs and a runtime for fulfilling those queries with your existing data. GraphQL provides a complete and understandable description of the data in your API, gives clients the power to ask for exactly what they need and nothing more, makes it easier to evolve APIs over time, and enables powerful developer tools.

It’s been becoming a trend for a while now. I’ve noted it being used more and more now. It comes from FaceBook and if you’d like a more detailed and in depth view of it then click me!

2. AngularJS

AngularJS is an open-source structural framework designed for building dynamic web applications. It’s a powerful, client-side technology that provides a really powerful combination of functionalities of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It allows developers to use HTML as the language of their templates. Moreover, developers can extend their HTML syntaxes as per the requirements of the application’s components.

When you build apps using AngularJS, you can break your app into multiple components. Each component can then be broken into files, which makes writing and managing the app easy.

AngularJS framework considers declarative code superior to imperative coding for creating user-interfaces and wiring software components together. It facilitates NativeScript for developing native apps. You can add loops and local variables directly within the template. You can track, process and display changes that take place during the user data binding. AngularJS’ latest versions Angular 2 and higher have added to the popularity of this notable framework.

Key Features:

• Two-way data binding saves developers from writing extensive code.
• Automatically synchronizes data between view components and model.
• HTML templates
• Built-in dependency injection helps natural development and testing
• Configurable in both MVC and MVW architecture
• Faster development with clean, understandable and error-free code

Top companies using AngularJS: PayPal, LinkedIn, Freelancer, Lego, Hopscotch

3. React.js

In computing, React is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces. It is maintained by Facebook and a community of individual developers and companies. React can be used as a base in the development of single-page or mobile applications.

Declarative:

React makes it painless to create interactive UIs. Design simple views for each state in your application, and React will efficiently update and render just the right components when your data changes.

Declarative views make your code more predictable and easier to debug.

Component-Based

Build encapsulated components that manage their own state, then compose them to make complex UIs.

Since component logic is written in JavaScript instead of templates, you can easily pass rich data through your app and keep state out of the DOM.

Learn Once, Write Anywhere

We don’t make assumptions about the rest of your technology stack, so you can develop new features in React without rewriting existing code.

React can also render on the server using Node and power mobile apps using React Native.

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Top 3 Futures Of Javascript. was originally published in ZeduHow on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

FREE WILL -TO Allow or no to Allow?

Warning: Please read this with an open mind! Go back to your younger self after each paragraph.

Ask yourself the question: How would my life look like if my parents would allow me to make choices and have free will?

After this, you can start reading. With an open mind!

Who are we talking about when we say, kids?

Do we know them, or we assume that they are just like us?

Well, not quite!

Not sure what generation you are?

You can learn more here about your or all generations if you click on the links bellow. For me understanding these “generation” things, made me understand people better and improved my communication better as I knew how to approach them. It made me clear, made me forgive and made me more compassionate towards other generations.

I trust that reading about generations will make a lot of sense for many of you too.

So here we go:

• Lost Generation (Born before 1901)
• G.I. Generation/Greatest Generation (Born 1901–1936)
• Traditionalists/Silent Generation/Builders (Born 1936–1945)
• Baby Boomers (Born 1946–1964)
• Generation X (Born 1965–1976)
• Generation Y/Millennials (Born 1977–1994)
• Generation Z (Born 1995–2009)
• Generation Alpha (Born after 2009)

So, now that you know what generation you belong to, let us go to today`s generation: Alpha Generation and learn about them.

Alpha generation is all the kids born after the year, 2009.

They are part of our everyday life, they mesmerize us, they challenge us and certainly make us upgrade our game as a parent, teacher, educator.

What is so different about these kids?

The main characteristics of the Alpha Generation are:

1. they do not like to share
2. they like to move/unless they do not want to move/
3. they do not care about privacy / take our their clothes, wear no socks…/
4. they don`t play by the rules
5. their favorite way to experience by“taste”
6. they love carbs /crackers, cookies/ and full-fat diary
7. they constantly change

So, you might ask yourself: how can we parent, educate these kids in everyday life?

Simple. By allowing them to choose, by allowing them to practice their free will!

I know, many of you will now jump up and say: well this is ridiculous! Parenting, education is something that was never about the free will, but about the following direction and respecting rules! How comes that a child can make decisions and choices when they do not have the experience of knowing and understanding consequences?

Before all these thoughts escalades in your mind, let me tell you something: free will is not choosing and doing what you want, free will is choosing to act from love, kindness, and joy.

So, how we gonna do this?

You see free will is coming from love and joy. There was no baby ever, born to this Earth and willing to be a bad, compulsive and stubborn.

We parents put our expectations, our unfulfilled dreams, our fears, and thoughts before the kids' free will.

We think we know better what is good for them. Sometimes they grow up and nobody asked them: what is what you want? What would you choose?

When they act strange, when they do not fit in, parents, educators panic. Kids end up medicated, end up punished and end up making choices that they would never do if they could act from their “free will”.

Why are we so afraid to let our kids make choices, and practice free will?

Maybe because we never had the chance to do it. Look back and ask yourself: how many of your important choices in life were influenced by your family, friends, school, educators?

Before the year 2000, we did not have many pieces of information, resources. Our resources were the parents and educators, the few tv channels and some media, books …

Today, we have so many sources of information. We know from a very early age how to do things that even today adults do not know how to access.

So, how can we start practicing the new way of parenting and lowing free will?

Well, for example, instead of telling them what to do by asking them how they would do things that we expect them to do.

Instead of showing them, letting them show us the way they would do things.

Instead of teaching them, facilitating them to get the academic knowledge that they need.

You are afraid you may fail with this kind of parenting?

Well, if you have to fight to install rules and regulations into your daily life and you have to face constant rants, tears and stress every day to make your kids do or function at a minimum level of expectation…you already failed.

So what do you have to lose?

The transition will be hard. They will first be suspicious. They will challenge you to see if you are real about this change.

Teens especially will be reluctant and suspicious.

You, like a parent or educator, will freak out and you will feel that you are losing control.

But if you will be consistent, very soon all will settle.

Why? Because free will is nothing else but love.

Because love is nothing else but allowing the other part to practice free will.

Let me know your thoughts!

FREE WILL -TO Allow or no to Allow? was originally published in ZeduHow on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

“Dude, what on Earth are you talking about?”

How many times did you hear that today`s kids are incapable of paying attention, have poor listening skills and they do not follow instructions?

I met teachers, educators and many parents over the last ten years, all exhausted about trying different methods to grab the attention of their kids and students.

I red books and articles about how to make kids listen and follow instructions and met people who applied different educational models, with not much or long term success.

Adults get so frustrated over time and kids do too!

It is frustrating when you see all these eyes, looking at you and having the same question in their eyes:

“Dude, what are you saying?”

Your frustration goes to the roof, like: what`s wrong I speak plain English, what is that they do not understand?”

And frustration is the root of ever-growing fear and fear builds conflict.

Kids become unresponsive, it seems as they look over us and just do what they think they have to do.

With time, communication stops, and silence takes all over…parents are not talking anymore to their kids, educators burn out under the pressure from the parents, and responsibility to educate…kids feel neglected…and when communication stops it builds up tension and tension brings to stress and anger.

This was my observation in schools, in families and watching parents and kids together in everyday life situations, and educators in schools.

What is happening?

Kids do want to learn, they love exploring new things and they do love our attention.

Especially today`s generation: they are looking for instant gratification!

I saw kids coming into schools smiling and willing to learn.

I saw them smiling and entering the classroom happy and excited!

They were ready to listen and learn.

But when the teacher starts talking, in the following 2 minutes they completely lost interest and start playing, talking and disrupting the class.

What is happening?- I asked myself over and over in the long hours of observation.

Even teachers that brought in playfulness and fun in the teaching process, were losing their student's attention after the first 3–4 sentences they tried to explain the most simple things.

I could not accept either, the idea that all these kids are having ADHD and other disorders. It was never before such a high number of students that would be diagnosed with so many learning deficiencies in human history!

Most of the students get “labeled” to easily, and the truth is that in most of the cases they are just bored or ignored and they are just looking for attention.

So, why they do not pay attention to us?

One day I was observing a very interesting workshop for kids and there was the same: the teacher was explaining what will be going to happen and even though that all kids came in looking interested, smiling, excited… after a few minutes, they become distracted and looked bored.

As I was observing them I noticed that they all sit and look at the teacher but in the same time I could see that they were transmitting a desperate message: “Dude, what on earth are you talking about?”

The teacher was explaining simple facts in everyday words, taking time to stop and making sure that all kids understand and follow.

Despite trying to keep a continuous connection, she was losing the attention of more and more kids!

At that moment I suddenly got the message: kids do not understand our BODY LANGUAGE!

We all know that 70–80% of our communication is the body language and only the remaining percentage is words!

So I started observing different age groups and situations in school, workshops, families on the streets, playgrounds…and it all seemed to be the same.

After every observation, I was more and more convinced!

Our body language is OUTDATED!

Our body language reflects the era that we had to grow up, the words that we say are reflecting the way we interpreted the words, the emotions and feelings that we had at that time, before technology entered at full force in our lives!

Most of teachers and educators were born before 2000, before the technology started to flee into our lives, bringing new words, languages and changing the speed of our everyday life.

The kids that we have today up to high school they only understand one world and one language: the world and expression after 2000, filled with technology!

This is why is more easy for them to communicate in messages and writing: they cut out this way the confusing body language!

So, when they listen to us they hear the words, but our body language is confusing them. They do not have listening deficiencies, they simply are confused!

They hear the words, but they are confused about the “body language” they see.

I experimented step by step:

Kindergarten and primary kids respond the best when they can experiment and learn through senses and movement.

Middle schoolers love to use computers to read more and they enjoy anything written and transmitted this way, and also love video tutorials, that are not longer than 3- 4 minutes.

So, the question is: do we need to stop teaching them by speaking and lecturing, as we did it in the last 100 years?

YES!

So do this generation need parents, teachers anymore? Is there anything that we can still teach them?

Do not panic! They still need us, but we need to “reposition” ourselves!

I truly know that today teachers have to become facilitators that have the role of keeping the educational process in flow, but allowing the students to learn the way they understand better. using technology for research and getting information.

Educators need to facilitate the process of learning.

We need to understand and accept: we are not anymore the only source of knowledge.

The students of today are bombarded with information. They do not need more information, told from the perspective of a person that has been born in the industrial age or even earlier.

They all have the information, all they need is a facilitator that keeps them on track, follow up and most of all reassure them every second that they are doing the right thing.

Allow them to express themselves, let them explain to us what they understand and guide them towards the right answers.

The era of teaching has ended.

We need to accept: we are in the era of knowledge!

I only got to understand today, what I read 6 years ago in the “12 Elements of the Winner Matrix” book, written by a truly “gamechanger”.

He said: we need to step back from the front of the classroom from speaking and demanding kids to listen and move to the back of the classroom to facilitate and guide the flowing of information.

So what is the solution?

Educators, stop standing in the front of the classroom but instead try to ask questions and allow the students to come up with their solution, support the process and celebrate the learning.

Parents, stop the preaching, and ask questions and start listening, learn to be supportive. Do not be control freaks, you can`t control a generation that has the freedom of the fourth dimension that is the internet. Not even by banning them in your homes!

Build trust and collaboration, that is the only way to keep it safe!

Kids today have more knowledge than us in many areas, but what they do not have is the experience.

Let them find and interpret the information, and share with them your experience. Support the process of learning instead of demanding them to learn from you.

Step back and guide!

Soon you will notice the smile in the eyes and you will be able to read the message:

“ Now, I got it, dude, I got it!”

Let me know your thoughts and share with us your experience!

Dude, what on Earth are you talking about?” was originally published in ZeduHow on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

After a few good years working with kids in workshops and in schools, after listening and reading many articles and reports about low reading scores, hearing that this generation has more dyslexic kids than any generation before I started observing this problem.

I followed and checked out many literacy and reading programs and I always felt that something is missing from them. I am not here to judge or score what is the best program that kids can use. I simply observed how kids react and how they benefit from all these programs.

Kids are always excited when there is something new to do or learn. They love interactive apps and games the most and also they watch youtube videos with great enthusiasm. So no wonder that many companies build programs based on the above interest.

Just the only problem seemed to be that kids get bored easily and seemed to just simply shuffle with their fingers to the next game, app or program.

Often happens that on the half way into reading programs, kids lost interest and lost the excitement.

My question was: why is this happening?

What is missing from all these programs that makes kids losing connection with the programs?

While I was researching and observing, it happened that at the school where we teach computer literacy and coding I assisted at a testing session.

There were primary school kids testing and most of them were struggling finding the right letters on the keyboard, not only losing valuable time from but also getting stressed and frustrated.

When we teach coding, there was the same issue! They were not frustrated as did not understand coding they were more frustrated by not finding easy and fast what they needed to use on the keyboard!

At this moment downed to me: we assume that because they growing up on games and all kind of devices our kids MUST know keyboarding just because of the exposure to technology form a very early age.

Wobbling on the keyboard all they long actually is not knowing the keyboard! It is like sitting down at the piano pressing random keys! It will be making sounds, but not music!

That was the moment that I got it!

We need to teach keyboarding and typing skills to kids as part of their academic education!

Not to mention that typing can differentiate your kids in the future when they are looking for employment! Seems far, but it is skill that now companies are looking for.

“Many employers now seek a minimum typing speed of 50 words per minute simply for the sake of productivity, and around 30% of managers say they wouldn’t hire someone who can’t touch type. Read this article and you will be surprised!”

So, we started a journey into learning keyboarding and typing skills as part of our coding curriculum, as coding also needs great typing skills!

The results spoke for themselves!

Every day we introduced 10 minutes typing!

From the 1st to 6 grade all students loved this part of the class!

Of course for the little one we started with 1 minute then 3 and 5 minutes and so we reached that they were doing up to 10- 15 minutes of keyboarding!

We run a few trials on a few typing programs, and there are many of them out there, and we found that for the little ones www.typing.com is working very well! Also, it is easy to set up for teachers and gives an accurately detailed follow-up option.

Then one day observing the kids it dawned to me what was the missing link in most of the literacy programs that they get easily bored with: the connection.

This generation we all know are kinesthetic learners!

So, typing gives them the possibility to learn reading and writing this way!

Typing is the CONNECTOR of letters, sounds, movement, focus, and playfulness!

Typing is the way our kids enjoy to learn!

It is the master game of gamification of literacy, it is developing focus, patience and helps coordination and brain development!

Learning to type is the missing element that CONNECTS today students and engages them in the learning process!

Would love to know your thoughts!

Katy Toma

STEAM & Technology Educator

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Typing — The CONNECTOR Element of Today`s Education was originally published in ZeduHow on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Today, Mozilla is sharing an early preview of an experiment we are calling “Hubs by Mozilla”. Hubs is an immersive social experience that is delivered through the browser. You simply click on a web link to begin interacting with others inside virtual reality. — Mozilla Blog

Why is it different or important? Simple this is the first VR experince where you don’t need the 1200$ Machine or the expensive VR headset or the super awesome graphics card. All you need is an okay computer with a good wifi connection.

So this opens the realm of possibilities to… Anyone.

Anyone can join a 3d world, share screens and video and audio it’s like skype in 3D and you can have many people in one world you can input your own 3D objects and do many wonderful things in this VR and Desktop friendly environment.

Here’s some screenshots:

We all know VRChat and even that does not require you to have the HTC Vive or Oculus but still it’s difficult to run it on a lower-end machine.

Now the graphics give off a little Roblox vibe however it’s an amazing technology. And the best part is it’s open-source.

What’s Open-source? Well open-source is when the person who created the software or web app releases some or all of the files for that tool for others to rebuild and share with others in the same community.

One of the easy ways to contribute to Open-source projects by checking out the Github: https://github.com/mozilla/hubs .

So anyone can build a map, Maps are the space where you are working with people and run it on your local server then share it with the Mozilla Repository for this project.

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Mozzila Hubs For Education? was originally published in ZeduHow on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.