Teaching online is different: critical perspectives from the literature

[favorite_button]

Creator(s) (alphabetical)

Organisation(s)

Discipline(s)

Teaching & Learning

Topic(s)

Digital Learning, Professional Development, Student Success

License

CC BY-NC

Media Format

PDF

Date Submitted

Submitted by

Export Resource Data

Description

Teaching online is different. In this report we attempt to explain why. This report arises from the #Openteach: Professional Development for Open Online Educators project, which is funded by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. In this project we plan to uncover and promote the keys to effective online teaching practice, while recognising that effective teaching is an art, craft and science. We aim to harness this knowledge to support the professional learning of online educators. Ultimately we want to support online students to learn online by helping and inspiring their educators. This report was developed to help lay a foundation for the project through a critical analysis of relevant literature

Benefit of this resource and how to make the best use of it

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC)

This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC license, permitting sharing and adaptation for non-commercial purposes with proper attribution.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
? This citation is automatically generated and may require adjustment. Always verify it against your style guide.
Author, U. (2021). Teaching online is different: critical perspectives from the literature. National Resource Hub (Ireland). Retrieved from: https://hub.teachingandlearning.ie/resource/teaching-online-is-different-critical-perspectives-from-the-literature/ License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC).

Adapting this resource? Share your version!

If you have modified or adopted this resource, share your version here. Tracking adaptations helps us measure impact and connects others with useful updates.

Related OER

This case study outlines a first-year intervention at SETU Waterford using a timetabled weekly session to tackle common causes of academic failure such as time management, assessment planning. and study skills. It is intended for programme teams seeking practical, low-resource approaches to improving student progression and retention.

This OER explores novice programmers’ experiences of pair programming across face-to-face, hybrid, and remote settings. It provides insights into collaboration, role switching, satisfaction, and challenges, helping educators and students understand how to effectively prepare learners for modern hybrid software development environments.

This OER guides students through human-in-the-loop software development, demonstrating how AI tools can be effectively supervised, refined, and integrated across the Software Lifecycle. Designed for computing educators and learners, it combines agile practice, teamwork, DISC awareness, testing, and critical reflection on human–AI collaboration.