Albert Einstein did more than rewrite the laws of physics. His personal philosophies are fascinating, and many of his ideas are directly relevant to online education. These online teaching lessons from Albert Einstein offer inspiration on how we too can leave a lasting legacy: in the lives of our users.
Lessons by Albert Einstein in Online Education
Inspiration for eLearning can appear in surprising places. Who says it should be limited to conferences or magazine articles? The words of famous thinkers can offer a lot of food for thought. Albert Einstein provides a perfect example.
Although known to rewrite the laws of physics, Einstein’s genius extended beyond his academic achievements. He had personal philosophies on a wide range of issues, from religion to nuclear disarmament.
And, more than 60 years after Einstein’s death, many of his perspectives resonate strongly with the practice of online teaching. So here we give you 6 Albert Einstein online teaching lessons to keep in mind.
“Information is not knowledge.”
As professional educators, we know the difference between information and knowledge. But do our students know? We use the online education process to guide students to absorb information, apply it, and transform facts and principles into valuable knowledge.
We can often see the development of the process during evaluation activities. That is why we must be guides and encourage them to make better practices of the elements so that they not only receive information but also acquire valuable knowledge.
“If you can’t just explain it, you don’t get it right.”
This idea is directly relevant to online education.
How often have you received an email from a student struggling to understand a key concept in their course? When this happens, simply explain the idea in a different way, ideally using examples adapted to the student’s experience… And as you do that, you think and measure your own understanding of the subject.
With the subject matter well known, it is very easy to guide a student through a complicated concept. But this is not always the case.
When you find yourself replacing another tutor, perhaps, or teaching a course for the first time, there may be areas of the subject with which you are less familiar. This is where the student’s curly questions highlight gaps in their own knowledge. If you have trouble explaining the concept, you may need to try a different approach to understanding eLearning content.
“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”
This idea could easily form the cornerstone of his teaching philosophy.
Another way of saying this is, “There are no stupid questions. He assures them that they should never feel stupid for not knowing the answer and reminds them that they enrolled in the course to learn. If they knew all the answers, they wouldn’t need to take the course in the first place.
Students who are new to a subject will naturally make mistakes.
It is our job to make them feel safe enough to do that, and to move forward with the confidence that provides a new level of understanding.
“It has obviously become obvious that technology has surpassed humanity.”
How interesting that a statement made decades before the invention of the Internet could be so relevant to the practice of online education. Too often in eLearning the emphasis is on technology. But the process of online teaching and learning is not a cold exchange between anonymous robots.
Users and tutors are human beings in the first place. Adding some humanity to the online teaching experience transforms the experience for both the student and the teacher. Real connections are established, a relationship is created, and learning and teaching experiences become much more than a series of messages delivered electronically.
“It is the supreme art of the master to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.
Yes, teaching is an art! It involves a combination of natural talents refined over years of disciplined practice. And it is a powerful career choice. Teaching changes lives. It is part of the job to inspire creative thinking and find joy in the learning process. It is intended that they can do more than just say numbers and facts on online tests.
Online education is an art and can have profound results and help create lifelong learners who understand the essential value of an education.
“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot rely on important matters.”
There are hundreds of “small matters” that you face in the course of a normal day’s work. How you handle them has a real impact. Your approach reassures your users that they have made a wise decision by entrusting their education to you.
Einstein lived in an era that preceded online education by a few decades. But his intellectual passion and curiosity about human experience make his ideas surprisingly relevant to our profession.
Your words can be a source of inspiration for online tutors who also want to leave a lasting positive mark: on the minds of the students they teach.