When I hear “online teaching and learning,” I think about all of the access it brings to knowledge and the exchange of ideas. While I acknowledge the challenges inherent in online learning and realize that not all online learning experiences are created equal, I think there is a huge role that online learning can play in leveling the playing field for people around the world to get involved and excited about subjects that they otherwise could not. Online teaching and learning also allows people to connect to each other and learn from each other in ways we never could have before. I feel quite lucky to live in a time when this kind of learning is available to me.

My vision and hope for online teaching and learning is that is continues to become a robust, flexible, and inclusive educational options that harnesses the power of technology to enhance learning. As technology evolves, we are realizing that there are so many new ways to learn. Rather than being afraid of those opportunities, I choose to be optimistic and dig into them.

The COVID-19 pandemic, while tragic and certainly not something I would wish for ever again, brought us new opportunities to consider online teaching and learning. I agree with the article that we need to be careful about how we evaluate this kind of emergency online teaching and learning, which should be considered separate from deliberate, thoughtful, and intentional online teaching and learning. I worry that people are still possibly conflating the two! Hopefully, with more time and exploration of the tools and practices of online learning, we will collectively determine when and where these educational experiences can be most beneficial to us all.

Online teaching and learning are two different experiences for me.

Online teaching requires an instructor to complete a thorough and thoughtful exploration of the entire student experience prior to the first day of class. Providing inclusive, accessible, relevant course materials and course assignments and assessments make the difference to ensure a positive student experience with achievable outcomes.

Online learning is more of an individual experience for the students. This puts the onus on the institution and the instructor to craft activities to bring a social emotional component with community based learning opportunities to online learning. Of course, there are times when a course truly is asynchronous and student driven which would limit collaborative learning. An institution should make careful decisions about what outcomes are essential to the online learning experience and clearly provide them to students in advance.

What happened during the Covid 19 from March to May was truly a stop gap experience. Teachers at my institution really struggled (and many succeeded) in bringing studio based courses to their students’ homes. I taught courses at night and early in the morning to accommodate students who went back home to China and Korea. However, I also taught students who were up in the middle of the night in order to attend the synchronous part of our classes. It was very difficult for everyone. I also had the “black box" experience with students being little more than a name in a square on my screen and a disembodied voice.

Online learning is so much more than what we were able to provide students during the pandemic. In the article by Hodges and others, it suggests that evaluation of the Covid teaching experience should consider: “Was our ongoing faculty professional development sufficient to enable ERT? How can we enhance opportunities for immediate and flexible learning demands related to alternative approaches to instruction and learning?” This was certainly an issue at my college, as was adequate staff and technology to support the student experience. We all survived and students had experiences that enriched their learning, but was it the same as in person? Certainly not.

Online learning must be equitable to the in person face to face (F2F) experience in order to make it valuable to the students to encourage retention and completion.

Since I have not had the opportunity to teach online yet I will post from an online learner’s perspective. In my work life in Marketing Technology, I have had the opportunity to experience extremely high quality online learning. It’s rare these days for companies to spend money to send their staff offsite for classroom learning when a recorded webinar or a guided third party learning path may achieve the same objective without seriously impacting work schedules. Even our instructor-led classes are online. All my company’s required HR classes are extremely engaging and well-produced, with professional production quality and interactive experiences that reinforce learning for multiple types of learners. Evaluations are built into the process as well. So, for me, the definition of online learning is participating in well-planned and well-orchestrated digital learning experiences, either synchronously or asynchronously, that utilize the same pedagogical principles used in classroom teaching but bring with them all the added benefits of technology, breadth of resources and connectedness.

During the Covid-19 Pandemic both of my children switched to Emergency Remote Learning. Because I work from home, I had the opportunity to observe their online classes as well as hear about their experiences with remote learning from their perspectives. Unfortunately, the default delivery mechanism tended to be Zoom lectures, and both of my kids were bored and unengaged, as well as consumed with feelings of isolation. As was stated in the article, carefully planned online teaching processes were absent in what my children were experiencing. Teachers were just trying to get the job done and were struggling to simply operate Zoom, let alone fold in any online experiences that were not part of their original course design.

So, my experience and perspective about online learning has not necessarily changed – I have always known how expansive and effective it could be. What has changed since Covid-19 is my perspective on school readiness for operating in an online environment during an emergency. Covid has taught us that we cannot take the status quo for granted. Teachers should be designing their classroom courses to include varied delivery methods; they should already be integrating digital online experiences into classroom teaching. Connectedness is key for active learning, whether students are sitting in the same classroom or on a Zoom call. We need to learn from the past and be open to new ways of working in the future.

“Due to the threat of COVID19” is a phrase that stopped me in my tracks, made me dizzy from the speed at which my eyes sought the date of this article and then just for a moment allowed me to indulge in the nostalgia of what many people I know call the Before Times. Emergency Remote teaching will never be the same as what students experienced in the spring of 2020. The content that was offered bears no resemblance to a well-planned intentional remote teaching curriculunm, with ALL due respect to anyone who taught through it. From the experience of the students in my home, teachers had little to no chance of success in the K-12 environment when they found themselves competing for the attention of students who suddenly had all the distractions of the internet at their fingertips on school-issued Chromebooks, the same students who weeks earlier might have had their personal cell phones confiscated if used in class. Online learning has emerged from it’s ‘lesser than’ status, become more mainstream and strengthened it’s core principles since COVID19. As many more educators have been exposed to online learning concepts either through continuing education or professional development, the word emergency can shift from the panic and danger connotation to the gentler arising from need.

When I think of “online teaching and learning”, I think of a structured educational experience conducted primarily or entirely through digital platforms including lectures, discussions, assignments and assessments that are delivered digitally.
The format can be synchronous or asynchronous and it can be through LMS, video conferencing and interactive multimedia.

The difference between “Emergency Remote learning” vs. More traditional Online
teaching and learning formats.

The shift to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted for me the distinction between emergency remote teaching and traditional online teaching. The first characteristic of the emergency remote learning was the clear lack of preparation as a consequence of the requirement of a rapid response to maintain continuity during the crisis. The focus was on a quick deployment of remote instruction without the typical planning and support structures of traditional online courses. Another unexpected outcome was that lack of training was evident since instructors were forced to record themselves giving a lecture, and when we watched such videos, it was clear that the teacher was struggling to keep the instruction going using a platform they were clearly not familiar with.
In addition, there were not enough student engagement strategies and communication between instructor and students was poor.

On the other hand online teaching is about leveraging technology to facilitate educational outcomes in a flexible and accessible manner. It involves thoughtful instructional design, clear communication, and robust support mechanisms for students to engage with content and each other, regardless of physical location. Based on my background and experience, Cyber Schools are good examples of organized online education because they are built to provide instruction based on technology and teachers are trained to conduct lectures with strategies to promote the acquisition of knowledge and promote engagements during live sessions.

When I decided to switch my kids from the emergency online instruction the school district was providing to a cyber school, I could clearly experience first hand the difference between emergency remote learning vs. more traditional online teaching and learning formats.

On the surface, when I hear “online teaching and learning,” I think of online courses that are administered to students by an instructor, all separated by space and time. I picture the instructor, let’s say a college professor, sitting in their office on a university campus, creating Powerpoints, grading assignments, and responding to student inquiries via email. I picture the students, counties or states away, in their homes, work offices, or local libraries, reading the materials assigned by the instructor, and engaging with other students via discussion board posts. This is probably what many other people picture when they hear “online teaching and learning,” as well.

However, I’ve come to realize that online teaching and learning involves a complex process of design, implementation, and evaluation. It’s not as simple as taking an in-person curriculum, plugging it into a learning management system, and expecting success. Also, online teaching and learning is not just limited to higher education, and the COVID-19 pandemic opened our eyes to that. As companies shifted to remote workforces, and elementary and secondary schools closed their doors, corporate trainers and schoolteachers had to learn how to adapt to online teaching. In turn, students and working professionals had to adapt to learning online.

The COVID-19 pandemic set a new precedent for online teaching and learning. Perhaps now, instructors and institutions are realizing that online learning and teaching is a permanent part of the learning experience. Because emergency remote learning was a quick response to an acute global emergency, there were bound to be hiccups. However, now that remote education is becoming a norm, instructors and institutions are coming to understand how to facilitate online education to make it equally as successful as more traditional formats.

I have never taught online. Instead, I was an instructor who attempted to facilitate Emergency Remote Learning (ERT) for a lab-based course for two summers during the COVID pandy. The distinction between ERT and true online teaching is considerable. That is not to say that I took this responsibility lightly or grossly failed to plan the instruction, I simply lacked the time and tools to do it real justice, especially knowing what I know now in terms of the instructional design process. Also, as a side note, outside stressors including the health and safety of all individuals involved, greatly impacted the 30,000-foot perspective on the situation: is learning (under these circumstances) how to distinguish dependent vs. independent variables on a scatter plot, for example, even important when you’re a student who’s afraid to go to a family event for fear of getting sick? Or, possibly even worse, not being able to visit a hospital-bound grandparent due to visitor restrictions? Being in academia I obviously view education as invaluable; however, as a human I realize that you have nothing if you don’t have your health or the feeling of safety and stability. Needless to say, the term “emergency” definitely fits the circumstances surrounding the COVID ERT epidemic.

On the contrary, building a successful “learning ecosystem” as described by Hodges, et. al. (2020) requires careful instructional design planning and development using a systematic model (pick one!); it’s NOT simply online content delivery. This learning ecosystem should intentionally incorporate the Nine Dimensions of Learning, choosing the best options within each dimension, for the greatest effectiveness. I appreciated the line stating, “careful planning for online learning includes not just identifying the content to cover but also carefully tending to how you’re going to support different types of interactions that are important in the learning process” (Hodges et.al., 2020). This, again, emphasizes that content delivery is NOT enough! Addressing the fact that learning is both cognitive and social is a crucial element to planning instruction that supports the following interactions: student-student, student-content, and student-instructor.

I endorse the definition that [good] online education is a robust ecosystem that fully integrates and supports the cognitive and social aspects of learning, not just a hierarchical transmission of information from teacher to student. It requires full and active participation from instructor and learners alike, which in actuality, is not very different from [good] traditional face-to-face education. Good education, whether in person or online, requires abundant resources, careful planning, and participation.

In my personal journey with online teaching and learning I can remember the intense frustration of emergency remote teaching (ERT). Particularly being an art teacher, this proved to be a daunting task as I did not know of what materials students had at home and by what means they could work on/complete assignments. I feel as though with all things, it takes time to understand and adapt to different intricacies when it comes to online teaching/learning.
I would say the distinction between ERT and online learning is that one was more or less thrusted upon the academic and learner where as online learning has flexibility for growth without the intense pressure of creating lessons to meet constricted timelines (in my experience). Also, pulling in from the previous reading from the History and State of Distance Education, studies have shown the positive data to asynchronous learning vs synchronous learning in a distance education context. When I was in ERT during the pandemic, students were expected to meet via zoom for specific times during the day which proved to be stressful and unobtainable.
Moreover, distance education is more conducive to adult learners then younger learners. As I was working with children 5-13 years of age during the pandemic, they did not have the same capacity for online learning as an adult learner would. Now, if they had the time and resources before being thrust into an emergency response form of learning, like that of online learning, I think the data and completion of assignments would have been very different.
Although the pandemic was a difficult time in adapting to a ERT way of working, I do feel as though it pushed me to find new ways of using technology within my art pedagogy which I might not have done had COVID not taken place.

The difference between online learning (OL) and emergency remote teaching (ERT) is preparation and design. OL courses, whether synchronous or asynchronous, are planned: resources curated, schedules made, assignments created, LMS training, etc. They can also be adjusted each time the course is taught, to make it a more effective course.
ERT is more akin to the newly certified teacher stepping into their own classroom for the first time. The walls are bare, there’s no textbooks, and no cooperating teacher to help guide you. You are left to reinvent the wheel. On top of that, many of your students have no experience being in a classroom.

My anecdotal experience with ERT during the Covid-19 pandemic, is that instructors and learners were thrown into a platform for learning, that they were largely unfamiliar with.
Instead of the flow of an organized, well planned course, students got disjointed activities, making learning feel like a chore rather than an exploration of the content.
Instructors who teach in-person need plans in place for ERT. It is important that institutions provide these instructors with OL course design experts, who can give them advice on designing ERT content for an existing in-person course. In-person lessons can be quickly adapted for synchronous/asynchronous learning, with the right tools and pedagogy.

I certainly agree with the authors of the text, that ERT is a different beast from OL. ERT Will become another pedagogical area of study for learning design.

Online teaching and learning encompass the delivery of educational content, communication, and interaction via the internet, fostering flexible and accessible learning opportunities irrespective of geographical boundaries. It involves the use of various technologies like video conferencing, learning management systems, and interactive media to facilitate instruction, collaboration, and assessment. At its core, online teaching and learning adapts traditional educational practices to the digital age, offering both challenges and opportunities for personalized learning experiences and skill development in a global context.

The shift to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic profoundly transformed my understanding and experience of online learning. Initially, it highlighted the necessity and potential of digital platforms in maintaining educational continuity amidst disruptions. As I adapted to virtual classrooms and asynchronous learning environments, I gained a deeper appreciation for the flexibility and accessibility that online learning can provide. It also underscored the importance of robust digital infrastructure and supportive learning tools for effective engagement and communication. Moreover, navigating the challenges of online assessments and maintaining student engagement further broadened my perspective on the diverse methods and technologies that can enhance learning outcomes in virtual settings. Overall, the pandemic accelerated my recognition of online learning as a viable and evolving educational modality with its own unique advantages.

The difference between emergency remote learning and traditional online teaching and learning formats lies primarily in their intent, preparation, and execution. emergency remote learning, as experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, was a rapid response to an unforeseen crisis, necessitating a quick transition from in-person to remote instruction without adequate time for comprehensive planning or training. It often relied on existing technologies and tools available to educators at short notice, aiming primarily to maintain educational continuity rather than fully replicate the structured, pedagogically designed approach of traditional online learning. In contrast, traditional online teaching and learning formats are meticulously planned and designed with clear learning objectives, incorporating instructional strategies tailored for online delivery. They leverage purpose-built platforms, instructional design principles, and ongoing support for both educators and students to ensure effective engagement, assessment, and interaction in virtual environments. While emergency remote learning served its immediate purpose during crises, traditional online teaching and learning formats offer a more robust framework for sustained and effective digital education.

When asked what comes to mind when I hear “online teaching and learning,” I think of both the autonomous acquiring of knowledge in addition to a collaborative effort between educators, institutions, families, and learners.

I have only been teaching for four years now, and my first year of teaching was during the COVID-19 pandemic. I was hired as a second grade teacher in 2019, excited to move to a new city, start working in a school, and learn everything I could to be a great teacher. Then COVID-19 hit. While I was still required to relocate, everything needed to be done remotely. I feel incredibly fortunate that the school system I worked for was extremely organized and on top of remote learning. I was also lucky that my team and co-teacher were amazing. I am still close to my old co-workers to this day and we still support in each other with in-person education strategies. My experience was not able to shift because my first experience was remote. Going back in person was another learning experience for me.

Our faculty provided consistent team meetings via zoom, and lots of class-specific support meetings as well. My co-teacher and I were in constant communication overlooking the classwork our students were completing, creating interactive material and lesson plans, role playing lessons, and testing out zoom features our students could use.

Online education was relatively new at the time for my school as a means of learning. Students were sent chromebooks to use and the already created curriculum had to be adapted accordingly. Originally, the fully online design was more similar to emergency remote teaching, since no one knew how long the pandemic would last or when we would return to in-person schooling. As it became clear we would remain remote, we shifted to an online-learning mentality.

My personal definition of online teaching and learning is: the adaptation of course material to be interacted with online in an engaging and useful manner. I am not 100% sure how to add a picture but here is a link to an animated bitmoji banner my co-teacher and I created for our google classroom!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jYxKW_gyPzhKiFPxg2KuOrRCpt_RYjF_/view?usp=sharing

Online teaching and learning is basically when you learn and attend classes over the Internet. You can watch videos, join live sessions, and do your assignments online, which allows greater flexibility for both the instructor and learner. Emergency remote teaching, though, is like a quick turnaround to online when something unexpected happens, like COVID-19.

It’s important to be intentional about online learning, which means planning it out carefully to make sure it helps you learn. This includes thinking about how to make it interesting for you and making sure that you have what you need to take part, like the right technology and support.
The assignment mentioned adding a photo but I am not sure how to do that on here.

When I hear “Online Teaching and Learning” I tend to think less of timed classroom-like experiences, and more of self-directed knowledge bases. Most of my online learning has happened using sites like Khan Academy, Wikipedia, LinkedIn Learning, or YouTube. These sites don’t have “classes” or “Semesters” and the expectations of teachers are quite different. Teachers in these paradigms just design the content one time, then post it. It’s much more “Sage on the Stage” than examples like this class.

In my past, I’ve found tasks like written reflections unnecessary, but these courses at Villanova have shown me the value in them. The best way to learn is by teaching, and working together with the class fills that role somewhat. More than Duolingo or something similar anyway.

I find the text History and State of Distance Education encouraging when the authors say things like “Our results indicate that distance education, when properly planned, designed, and supported by the appropriate mix of technology and pedagogy, is equivalent to, or in certain scenarios more effective than, traditional face-to-face classroom instruction.” Hopefully education as a whole will continue to improve, distance education in particular.

“What we know from research is that effective online learning results from careful instructional design and planning, using a systematic model for design and development. The design process and the careful consideration of different design decisions have an impact on the quality of the instruction. And it is this careful design process that will be absent in most cases in these emergency shifts.”

At the time of the pandemic, I was a 5th grade teacher and I also have kids who experienced emergency remote teaching during this time. From both the online teaching and online learning perspectives, the above quote is the most relevant to why there were so many misses and fails with emergency remote teaching/learning. The success of these experience varied due to expertise, available resources, and level of support for both teachers and learners. Compounded with the global crisis of people dying and families handling the myriad of changes to our everyday lives (remember grocery shopping during that time?!?!), it is easy to understand how for many, this period of learning for student and teachers was set up for failure.

There just wasn’t enough time, expertise, and resources to do it right. I have memories of my 5 year old being on live Zooms the MOST and my children in high school expected to navigate posting things online, juggling multiple google classroom pages, and having to interact with their teachers in very different ways. I have to believe that teachers were doing their absolute best to make do with the situation, but the reality is that many online learning experiences were not fully developed or based on pedagogically appropriate decisions.

While I applaud the problem-solving and creativity of both teachers, students, and families during this time, I also recognize how unfair it was for many people who were going through incredibly challenging times. Issues of accessibility, equitable learning experiences, and building strong methods of communication with students and families were the most problematic from the teaching and learning perspective.

I started with my university in August 2019 and still was adjusting to my role when Emergency Remote Learning was instituted. I helped my department transition our learning and build out our blackboards for the courses as quickly as possible while supporting students in my role at the time as Academic Advisor. My own university online learning experiences were two courses that were conducted as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) so this style of distance learning was not only a new concept for my students but for myself as well. Coordinating synchronous, online learning presented many challenges but when I think of online teaching/learning it is the format my brain goes to.

This is ironic to me because I currently teach a hybrid course and it is not the format we use to facilitate the course’s learning. Half the modules are in-person synchronous, and half the lessons are asynchronous, online. I do not feel this format works for the course and we are evaluating/updating this course as a whole and it will run with enhanced curriculum and a different format in academic year 2025-2026.I believe it does not work in it’s current “online format” as the students lose momentum switching between the two instructional styles. Attendance falls off after we had had back-to-back weeks of asynchronous work and as the semester progresses, it is like pulling teeth to get them to engage in our in-person curriculum.

Online learning to me is ideally synchronous courses conducted via distance. I believe it allows for flexibility while still engaging the learners in interactive situations and providing accessible of instruction and to the instructors. It also provides structure that some students may not be able to adhere to in asynchronous online learning environments.

The United States decision to transition from a traditional in-class curriculum to online learning caused interminable confusion about how online learning, online teaching and online education genuinely function. As mentioned in last week’s blog post, I really enjoy words. And as much as words are incredible, they can be used in ways that are detrimental to their meaning. That is the exact thing that happened between the years of 2020 until the middle of 2022. Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) may be the official term but through a massive game of telephone, ERT lost its meaning and use in the conversation. Within that conversation, it seemed as though people were conflating ERT as a 1:1 comparison with online learning and teaching. The link between the two appears strong, these are both means of relaying education, despite the underlying mechanisms shouting, “NO, DO NOT MAKE THIS ASSUMPTION!” Having a handful of teachers as friends, the number of stories that were told where distrust of technology and its ability to help teach was reason enough to highlight that the United States’ ability to transition its schools to any level of online learning and teaching was a trial in futility. Thus, within any emergency, lacking that amount of preparation, you’re hoping to survive. It’s truly incredible that despite the spate of teachers resigning, education as an institution still stands. This is also a great reminder and highlight of human ingenuity, human persistence and human evolution: there are still aspects of this life we as human beings can solve through iterative mastery.

What constitutes the difference between emergency remote teaching and traditional online learning and teaching is decidedly in the manner the learning environment is created, planned and supported. With those three tenets in hand, traditional online learning and teaching also has history, data and institutional confidence in how it is utilized in practice. What makes a good learning experience is when the instructor can build a rapport with their students, maintain a consistent lecture-esque style of class, provide multiple forms of media content (i.e. not just the book for the class, but article links, TEDxTalks, etc.) and provide time during the class for the learners to engage with the materials amongst themselves. The way in which this class and CLDT 1300 were proctored are the way I would like to work in an online learning and teaching environment. What I really truly enjoy about the way these have been proctored is that there is a major asynchronous component that requires the learner to actually use the internet. I know and understand that there are a handful of people from previous generations that would do anything else than use the internet. Accounting for this subset of people, there is an even larger subset of people who genuinely live on the internet. It is an opportunity for two different perspectives to mesh because they must engage in forum discussions because the discussions are where the rapport is built, and learning can be monitored.

A reason for why many of these online classes function, require and demand this level of participation is because there is not a “common room” (i.e. literal classroom space). Professor Richard Schwier of the University of Saskatchewan intimated that a challenge for him with online education and learning is that the “experiential factor of a classroom, walking through the door, finding their seat and managing [the] space” is lost. Those moments of preparation before class are actions that need to be physically done to truly understood how important they are to the thought of “being in a class setting.” While I understand the merit of his challenge, what I am unsure he realizes is that there is an even greater appreciation for these actions when an online learner is preparing for class: situating oneself in a space they won’t be deserved; letting the people around them know they have class and do not want to be disturbed; checking internet connection and that their computer is working properly; and most of all, being as closed to relaxed and unbothered prior to class because instead of commuting to campus, learners are commuting to their couch, office, kitchen table, etc. Allowing students to access high quality educational instruction and content in their homes on their schedule allows for potentially better outcomes because there is one less stressor removed. When the world and the internet are your classroom, when the learning management system is the repository for all the knowledge shared instructor-to-learner and learner-to-learner, online teaching and education turns the chaotic world (wide web) into a well-oiled machine.

I am not a teacher in the academic space, nor do I have kids in the educational system so I’m forming my opinion on this subject, based on friends or family who are teachers, or had kids in school during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

My teacher friends had a love/hate relationship with ERT. Most of them enjoyed being able to teach from their homes, though did struggle with managing their students. The behavioral issues they would deal with in the classroom didn’t go away, but changed, and in some ways were harder to deal with. They struggled with attendance, with feeling like their kids weren’t learning enough, or were theyteaching well enough. Overall it was great emotional struggle. So much so, a few of them sought alternate careers after that first year!

My friends who were parents of kids in school pretty much hated every minute of it!

It made managing work/life balance tough. With everyone at home working or going to school it affected bandwidth on the home networks, resulting in countless technology issues, not to mention privacy to work or study with all the added distractions.

ERT was not something teachers or parents were prepared for. Whereas online Learning is typically well thought out and planned.

Hopefully we don’t have to use ERT again, but now that schools, teachers and parents better understand it, if the need arises again, hopefully we are better prepared to make it more positive experience for all.

Emergency Remote Teaching refers to the temporary transition of instructional delivery to an online format due to an immediate crisis or emergency. The primary aim is to ensure educational continuity, allowing teaching and learning to continue despite disruptions. This method is characterized by its swift implementation, often using existing technology and digital tools to mimic traditional classroom experiences. It is typically executed with minimal planning and preparation time, utilizing available resources and materials hastily adapted for online use. Consequently, it may lack the structured design of fully online courses, with adjustments made on the fly.
In contrast, Online Learning is a deliberate and planned mode of education specifically designed for digital platforms. It encompasses a variety of instructional methods and tools crafted to create an engaging, interactive, and effective learning environment. Online learning programs are meticulously developed, often by teams of educators, instructional designers, and technologists, to harness the unique advantages of digital education.
The educational landscape has undergone significant transformation in response to COVID-19. Two terms that have gained prominence are “Emergency Remote Teaching” and “Online Learning.” While they may appear synonymous at first glance, they represent distinct approaches to education. Understanding the differences between them is crucial for educators, students, and institutions striving to optimize learning experiences.

The most significant difference between online learning and ERT is the structure in the creation of the classes. An online class is well-structured, well-planned, and well-created. When you start getting into ERT, it is based on the necessity to fill a void. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for effective online learning and instruction. If done right, it can be beneficial for gaining a broader spectrum of students regardless of location. It allows for flexible learning while adjusting for accessible options for learners and instructors. The pandemic showed that the classes can be set online if done correctly.

My experience was very different. The pandemic abruptly forced the need for distance-led remote instruction. Our training class was hastily assembled after getting authorization from the government to proceed. We needed a functional LMS; we dealt with technology issues and limited resources for laptops, internet hotspots, and some adult learners who still used flip phones. We were tasked with the role of creating testing, learning activities, and accessibility to an unsuspecting group of mixed-age learners. The task was completed, but only with huge drawbacks.

The students who came out of the ERT class were less knowledgeable than those who took the in-person instructor-led courses. The instructors who taught the ERT class were lacking, but it did bring a positive change to my organization: the creation of an IDD team, the procurement of an LMS, restructured classes, and a better learning environment for all upcoming classes.

Online Teaching and learning is a boon considering the accessibility and flexibility it can provide. But online learning in an emergency situation such as the COVID- 19 pandemic has its downfalls. With the resources available and the emergency training given to teachers, instructors and students , it was admirable on all fronts how education persevered online on such a short notice. From my experience with high school students and teachers that had to go into Emergency Remote Learning , It was a struggle for the teachers to go through the material and keep the students engaged when they weren’t physically in the same room. It was a very stressful time for K-12 teachers and classroom management. Meanwhile some of the students were struggling with paying attention online and grasping all the concepts. Nevertheless , this was born out of necessity during the pandemic and I hope such a scenario does not happen any time soon ! As the article mentions , I agree that in the case of emergency remote learning, there must be a shift in evaluation. “ From the faculty point of view, student learning outcomes would be of primary interest. Did learners achieve the intended knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes that were the focus of the instructional experience? Attitudinal outcomes are also possibly of interest, for students and for faculty. For students, issues such as interest, motivation, and engagement are directly connected to learner success and so would be possible evaluation foci. For faculty, attitudes toward online instruction and all that it entails can affect the perception of success.”

When I hear “online teaching,” I think of something very vague and general. A person who has information that they would like to share with an online audience. My idea of “online learning,” has become very vague as well. A person using the internet to learn about a subject or answer questions they have. My definitions of these terms have become so general because of the pandemic. As soon as Americans learned that there would be a quarantine everyone began to look to online learning. The pandemic was a vulnerable time for many Americans. We were unsure what would become of our jobs and our lives. Courses offered a sense of direction for many. I saw many professionals whose jobs depended on interacting with the public begin to create and sell online courses. Social media influencers began creating and selling courses about becoming a social media influencer, people who did public speaking events made courses about how to master public speaking, dance teachers sold online dance lessons. My own hairdresser created and sold a course explaining how to install your own hair extensions to keep her business afloat while she was not able to take clients. I thought this was both amazing and concerning. While people who had lost their careers looked to create new ones by creating courses, others looked to create new ones by buying these courses. This insecurity was unfortunately preyed upon.

It was great that there were so many things that we could all learn from the comfort of our own homes. However, Instagram, Teachable, Kajabi, Patreon and other online course platforms did not require any credentials. It was up to us as consumers to vet these people and use our own discretion. Some of these courses were upwards of $1000. Some much more. In addition to the cost of the courses. Some incurred the costs of bad investments that these courses encouraged them to make.

I would consider most if not all of these courses to be emergency remote learning. To me that means that these courses were put together hastily and out of necessity. While they may or may not have been quality programs, the necessary time and planning that quality distance education required was not guaranteed. Even teachers were throwing courses together. Many teachers had just a few days to convert their classes from in person communities into online ones. Which is no easy feat. Much like the hairdresser, personal trainers, and other professionals that turned to online learning out of necessity, there was little training and little time for experimentation.

When I think of formal distance education, I think of instructional designers working with subject matter experts. Many online educators are not necessarily responsible for creating the infrastructure of their online communities. They can focus on a course’s content and have help when it comes to creating the websites and programs that will hold these courses. This is great because it allows teachers who have amazing and impactful lessons to share them on a larger scale without losing the quality of their programs because of their lack of tech skills.

I am certain that distance education will continue to grow. And, as time passes the quality of courses will increase. I also see safeguards being put into place for consumers. Hopefully, these open online education platforms will require their “teachers,” to show some kind of credentials before they are able to create and market their online courses.

Properly defining “online teaching and learning” is a task I feel confident in completing, as I have an extensive professional history in this topic. However, I also acknowledge a personal bias in this topic skewing towards K-12 settings and admit to ignorance of post-secondary education and professional online teaching in learning, which I hope to remedy with more discussion and experience in these learning environments.
Having taught for three years at an asynchronous Pennsylvania cyber charter school and remotely during the COVID-19 school shutdown, I have a well-rounded idea of teaching and learning. I can go back even further by saying I had multiple online and distance learning classes as a student during my undergrad and graduate studies. Where I need help finding the correct words to define online teaching and learning concisely. While traditional definitions of learning were largely written assuming learning occurs in synchronous, brick-and-mortar classrooms, the behaviorist and cognitivist learning theories still fit within online learning settings with slight adjustments. My experience has shown the most substantial challenges to learning theory definitions; however, when applying Bandura’s social cognitive theory to asynchronous learning settings, specifically in how one can adequately account for the environmental variables, which are core to the theory’s definition of learning. The most challenging variable for online teachers to account for when creating and delivering synchronous and asynchronous lessons is the environment in which a learner receives and participates in said lessons. An online teacher cannot control the learning environment in online settings to be same degree one can control the learning environment in traditional classrooms. Thus, acknowledging this minimized control must be considered when determining a definition for online teaching and learning. So, If I were to distill my experience, thoughts, and opinions into a definition of online teaching and learning, it would probably read something like this: 
Online teaching and learning are no different than in-person teaching and learning. The goal is for teachers to deliver effective and efficient lessons and activities in which learners can display proficiency and mastery of delivered content. Online teaching and learning differ, however, in that teachers must count for the absence of direct social communication and environmental control of the learning setting, and thus must deliver lessons in content with clear, concise, and direct messaging and design in mind while still promoting social aspects of learning in as many ways as possible.