Since March 2020 when quarantine measures forced us to move our lessons online at the Università di Torino, lessons have been learnt in more ways than one. Firstly, the experience forced me as a teacher at the Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures & Modern Cultures to deeply reflect on the purpose of higher education including the reasons why people choose to go to university in the first place.

Secondly, as a result of this online experience, I have recognized that distance learning has its place but have come to the conclusion that completely replacing classroom learning with online classes would be a seriously ill-advised long-term strategy both from an educational and social perspective.