Shifting Modalities: Lessons of the Transition to e-Learning due to COVID-19

Abstract

Online and distance learning is not new to global higher education, as different versions and modalities have existed for several decades.  However, COVID-19 forced instructors who had never planned for e-learning to suddenly prepare for and execute a massive shift to online education.  The forced shift to e-learning provides an opportunity to reframe instructional modality as a collection of instructional practices as opposed to exclusive categories of face-to-face, hybrid, and online.  The pandemic forced open a window to help inform instructors and students about the benefits and struggles of e-learning, as well as tested our assumptions about students’ technology access and literacy.  This chapter will examine the potential of e-learning and reflect on how the pandemic may impact the way that instructional modality is understood and leveraged moving forward.