The morning sun shines into the room… I turn on my computer… I make myself an espresso and return to my desk close to the window… It’s already quarter past.. I have to prepare my class… Today I am in the mood for something different… I will wait for them with some music at the online platform. Even though it is February it smells like spring outside. Is it also sunny in Athens or is it raining like in yesterday in Thessaloniki? For sure here in the Tuscany the days are beautiful… not like in Canada where you can’t get outside because of the cold. Of course it is not like in Crete, where the weather is always great, as Costas is telling us in class. My mind travels and time passed by….
-Good morning Konstantina! How are you doing?
– Good morning Mrs. Sofia. I am fine!
– You cannot imagine what I have prepared for you today!
– You are in quite a good mood early in the morning…
– It is just that I enjoy some simple things. You know, sometimes I think, who could imagine that there would be a time where I can teach you from so far away through a computer? Do you think there will be a time where I can even hug you online?
– This time has already arrived, Mrs. Sofia. Don’t you feel me hugging you?
When everything is changing, just follow your instinct and don’t be afraid! The new… the different is not a threat. It came to help you evolve. As long as you know how to exploit the various tools laid in your hands, change does not endanger you.
Online teaching is the future, not because it wants to replace the traditional school classroom, not because it wants to diminish face-to-face teaching or because it is a fashion and we tend to be tempted by anything from abroad. Modern online-teaching is the future because it combines all advantages of a school class that can interact with various programs and tools and provides access to the internet as well. Traditional teaching constitutes the basis that online lessons are built upon. Then the lessons are continuously enriched in order to keep the interest, define inclinations, to wake up and to keep the student on the learning track. Online learning is not a sterile transmission of knowledge without perceiving the modern reality, without taking the psychology and the lifestyle of the youth into consideration. On the contrary, it can be essential for a student who sees everything changing in reality without anyone adapting to these changes in the field of education.
The use of computers is one of the most valuable tools in recent history. The Internet is a wide-open door to unique paths leading to knowledge and freedom. Online lessons combine traditional standards with the amazing possibilities that technology provides us. We can have access to nearly everything… however, the ability to stay critical is important and information about the right use of it necessary. The family is responsible to help the student in order for him to understand risks and to exploit the advantages of the technology.
The team of online-teachers at etsimathainw and Greek Lessons OnLine is well-trained and enthusiastic to present new ways in education, research, the pursuit of the truth and freedom, because knowledge has the power to unchain a human…!
- Can a student feel any freer when e-learning and the use of technology releases him from any restraints so he is ready to conquer the whole world…?
- Yes, Mrs. Sofia… sometimes I feel that I can vision again, regardless everything that is happening, that I can realize my dreams one day, because I have got the whole world in front of me. And since I can have equal access to knowledge and education, despite my mobility impairment, then yes… I will conquer the world!!
Oh, it got late again tonight… Finally, if I could turn back time I would become a teacher again… an online teacher!!
Androniki Tachi-Lavouti
