Chapter 5. Instruction

Online teaching in adult education, whether it happens in class or at a distance, is ever evolving. These changes are due to more widespread availability of free and licensed edtech tools and curriculum products, along with increased access to learning made possible by mobile technologies. This evolution accelerated dramatically in response to the need to rapidly shift to distance learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Across the United States, providers of professional development and practitioners have come together in webinars and communities of practice to share innovative strategies and resources. Much innovation has been hatched in IDEAL Consortium states, buoyed in part by their past efforts to implement distance education. The lessons learned by these teachers have shown that many of the major functions of a distance teacher may mirror those of a classroom teacher, yet the tools and methods for accomplishing these teaching activities need to be different. This chapter introduces an approach to distance and blended learning instruction that encompasses both what we have learned from these teachers and the opportunities made possible by new technologies.