Witnessing two drastically different political regimes and the ending of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st within one single lifetime, as many other people, I have been profoundly affected by these changes and mainly by the new access to information provided by the electronic revolution. On the one hand, this paper aims to present, in a subjective and informal manner, my personal review of the evolution of technology, and my own contact with information and communication technology as a person, but mainly as a teacher. From the letters, the hand-written notes and the library books of my childhood, I am now faced with emails from students, laptop or iPad notes taken during classes and virtual libraries that instantly give access to numerous books. But this is not enough and the need for virtual modules, electronic resources, online learning and teaching is greater than ever, requiring innovative working methods and a complex educational design in addition to an adapted content design. On the other hand, the case study the article focuses on is an example of best practice that could also be used in Romania, boosting the modernisation of education and training. Finland is a pioneer in distance learning (since 1986) and e-learning (web-based education since 1998) and having experienced their educational services as an Erasmus teacher, I would like to refer to their expertise and promote their techniques. My purpose is to present the rationale, the benefits, and the challenges that the Finns have already faced, using their experiences for addressing and using e-learning appropriately in the process of teaching and learning. In addition it could also be used as a potential model of societal inclusion of the unemployed and low educated, people living in remote or poor areas, migrants, persons with disabilities or elderly, such as implied by the European Commission programmes.

best practice, e-learning, Finland, Romania