Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruption to the traditional delivery of education at all levels. The forced shift to Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) exposed different levels of preparedness and willingness for online teaching. This study first describes that tumultuous, and ongoing, period in Irish third-level education and, through a mixed-methods approach, goes on to identify, in both technological and pedagogical terms, the challenges raised by and the lessons learned from the enforced switch to ERT. Based on the results of this research project, the authors make a number of recommendations. Firstly, that there is a need to adequately equip language teachers with the technological and pedagogical competencies to re-evaluate online programme delivery to better cater to the affordances and constraints of online learning on different technological devices. Secondly, that teacher-training curricula should emphasise a more permanent blended learning approach which would include online presence across modules as a matter of course. Overall, the development of Critical Digital Literacy is central to current and future teaching needs.
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Mullen, M., Giralt, M., Murray, L. (2023). Extending Blended Learning and the Roles of Technology to Meet Teacher-Training Needs in the New Normal. In: Sadeghi, K., Thomas, M. (eds) Second Language Teacher Professional Development. Digital Education and Learning. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12070-1_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12070-1_3
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