A successful example of distance Learning opportunity

In 1997 the Romanian Internet Learning Workshop (RILW) project begun as a challenging experiment: to organize in Romania an International workshop devoted to Internet and using Internet tools only. There were five editions, and from the third one they included a summer school. Just after the third edition, it happens that two very ill kids asked us by email, to help them to learn. They discovered on the Internet our involvement in using Internet in education. It was a challenge to organize an Internet-based class and to teach them. With a severe disease, they were unable to go to school, but they have a PC with Internet access. Consequently they became our students for three years, and we called this activity “a virtual class”, even if it was mainly distance asynchronous learning. Now, after twelve years, they are yet alive and very active, graduated successfully in Computer Science, enrolled as master students. The difficulties and the problems of this distance learning case study will be analysed.