Distance Learning during Moments of Crisis: Opportunities, Challenges and Implications of Online Instructional Design

Abstract

The ongoing COVID 19 pandemic has shown that distance learning is no more regarded as a mere luxury or just a complementation to in-person learning. It is increasingly being considered by educationalists as an important source and asset of education, especially within the context of the twenty-first century education and the different ICT and soft skills it requires. Starting from a number of webinars and trainings I did during this period, and based mainly on  a personal online training at Harvard university’s edX platform on ‘Family Engagement in Children’s Education’ that lasted four months, this paper attempts to explore the potential that online learning and training represents for learning and teaching English. Specifically, emphasis will be on dissecting the formal and content qualities of successful online course designing. Finally, the paper will end with a discussion of some results and recommendations for educational practitioners as to material selection and design of distance learning