Teaching online course have been a challenge. That being said, I am really glad I accepted it and gladly surprised we have been able to sort most of the obstacles and learn some basic tools to carry out this new form of teaching langauges.
Technology is moving fast, but there are still some aspects that will take a while to perfect or at least improve to fully deliver the promise of distant learning.
With students having to keep their cameras off to make sure the conection flows better, it is hard to interact with distant metalic voices (in some cases) and a dark screen.
This lack of direct interaction that we are so used to in face to face classrooms is probably the main obstacle that I see to achieve any educational goal. You still can teach a lesson, but we cannot pretend to be really reaching out to students. Teaching is much more than just transmiting information and giving specific feedback.
On the bright side, this sort of annonimity allows some students to participate more. Not having their classmates physically in front of them, making gestures or faces, teasing them if they make mistakes or just ignoring them if they are talking can be quite a relief for shy or insecured students. I can feel them be more disinhibited and willing to participate. If they make mistakes the remote correction of those mistakes, either via chat, board, or audio does not feel as intrusive or pinitive as it usually feels in person.
That is surely a possitive thing that some students can benefit from. Additionally, distant learning forces students to be more focused if they really want to learn and pass a given course. They have to be more responsible of their own behavior. The teacher can't see what they are doing or if they are doing anything at all. One cannot call their attnetion if they are talking distractively with someone else. They become their own supervisors.
For the teacher, online course demand more planning and that is always a good thing. One cannot improvise when students are hundreds or thousands of miles away. We have to anticipate technology failures, students needs and expectations, media issues, and always have alternative activities in case one or two cannot be done.
The combination of teaching tools and materials will surely affect language teaching methods in the short term. Today's language students can benefit from a smaller world. In my days, it was hard to find an English speaking person, especially natives speakers to practice the booking English we were learning. Now, social media allows students to make friends anywhere and practicing a foreign language (with authentic materials/imputs) is considerably easier now.
It is now up to students to speed up their learning while teachers catch up with new trends and tools to incorporate them in their teaching.
