Johann amos comenius and his legacy at the information age

Abstract

The main idea of this paper is to illustrate validity and functionality of educational principles, which were stated by Comenius already in the 17th century in the dark time of religious, power, consequently social, scientific and cultural changes in Europe but which are incredibly eternal, vivid and efficient up to now in the so-called information society. These principles are shown in the eLearning environment. This presentation encompasses two main areas which inherently blend together: didactic area which represents the theoretical level and the practical level with examples of applied Comenius principles in the current educational situation in teaching/learning languages at the Faculty of Informatics and Management, University of Hradec Králové. Modern approaches to learning languages mingle with the medieval approach to the process of education. This paper begins with introducing the theologian and philosopher Johann Amos Comenius who was born in the Czech kingdom under the rule of Habsburg dynasty at the very end of the 16th century. His importance and contribution as a reformer of the educational system is briefly outlined so that the readers could get acquainted with his ideas born and developed at the outbreak of a new epoch. This is followed by an illustration of selected timeless didactic principles formulated by J.A. Comenius applied in the current concept of teaching/learning languages with focus on the design of accompanying e-course.