How could we safely educate our students with restrictions against meeting in person? We knew that overcoming this challenge required rethinking our entire education model. Only weeks after this, the entire country was placed under restrictions, with about 60 million people under lockdown orders.Īs the entire world awaited the inevitable second wave of infections, our school faced its own set of challenges. Less than a month later, several parts of northern Italy were under quarantine. When the first confirmed pandemic infection in Italy happened in January 2020, we were hardly prepared for the new reality. Because of these experiences, I am very familiar with Cisco equipment. At Ettore Majorana, I lead our partnership with Cisco Networking Academy, through which we teach networking, cybersecurity, IoT courses, and help students work toward obtaining ITE and CCNA certifications. My educational background was in Physics at the University of Messina, where I studied parallel computing and computational physics. I currently serve as a teacher of Electronics and IT and provide instruction on Network and Computer Systems Design. Everything worked as it should and there was, therefore, no need to change. Our teachers managed students’ learning, IT professionals managed the technology, and administrators managed the operation. Prior to the pandemic, our teachers and students met in the same room, supported by complicated networks, software, and equipment. The Global Pandemic and Cisco Webex Solution Nothing short of a worldwide emergency would cause us to rethink our philosophy. Although we were aware of remote working and distance learning technologies, we remained consistently focused on in-person education. It was tough enough to coordinate the moving parts with everyone sitting in the same building. As far as networks and computer science are concerned, thankfully, through our partnership with Cisco Networking Academy, we use Cisco Packet Tracer-a powerful network simulation tool, which students can use at home.īy now, it should be quite clear that ours was a very complicated institution-both in logistics and organization.
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This is more imperative for those specializations in mechanics, chemistry, and biotechnology, where we use a variety of special equipment and support software that would not be easily available for remote use. A significant part of our curriculum is based on hands-on laboratories, and it is difficult to teach labs remotely. Part of this resistance to change was due to our subject matter. We still believed that the best instruction took place when teachers and students were together in the same room: the only difference was that our classrooms used interactive whiteboards instead of traditional chalkboards. Despite our focus on technology, we did not change our basic philosophy about the importance of proximity. In the past few years, distance learning technologies have experienced substantial growth. Finding a job in Italy is difficult and our goal is not only to help them find a job, but if it is possible to stay in the area. We are constantly on the lookout for new methodologies and updates to our academic content to help us provide our students with the best chance of a successful career in IT. Ours is an organization dedicated to using the latest technologies and educational techniques. Spread throughout our facilities, there are 26 laboratories, 32 LANs, 280 workstations and an advanced testing laboratory on AI, robotics, and programmable systems, called FABLAB. We teach 67 classes hosted in 74 classrooms. We have as many as ten specializations for our students, including Materials and Inorganic Chemistry, Biotechnology, Electronics, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Telecommunications, Mechanics/Mechatronics, Transport (Air Navigation), and Logistics. But, perhaps, it is our operation itself that is most impressive. We have 180 teachers educating 1,600 students, which provides a ratio of one teacher for almost every nine students. Ettore Majorana Secondary Technical School in Milazzo, Italy, was a part of this proud tradition.įor a secondary technical school, Ettore Majorana is large. These interactions, with both teachers and students, have always been critical to the learning process. Even with the advent of homework, the majority of the learning took place in a central location. For centuries, education has always been an in-person activity.
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