English to Greek Other Education / Pedagogy

Generally speaking, access to PCs and connectivity to Internet (even if it is a dial-up connection) are two of the basic prerequisites (i.e. infrastructures) for the trainees to successfully complete a given ICT-supported course. However, the students’ willingness to learn and critical thinking (i.e. personal traits) are of equal importance when enrolling for an ICT-supported course. ***Contextual factors*** such as infrastructure, shortage of ICT skills, geographic location, and lack of culture of use of technologies can affect the success of a project. XXX believes that the contextual factor of infrastructure is not an issue anymore for rural Greece. In addition, the lack of skilled support staff should not be regarded as a main obstacle for the wide dissemination of ICT-supported lifelong learning, especially in rural areas. New and modern infrastructures are in place to assist qualified teachers and trainers who live and work in the rural areas of Greece. Rather, the lack of funding available is the main problem associated with ICT-supported learning, especially in rural areas, from both the providers’ and presumably the students’ point of view.