The Future of Education

The present paper is extracted from in-progress research entitled “Effectiveness of Online Language Learning: a case study of Italian as a foreign language” which aims at investigating the effectiveness of learning Italian online. In recent years, the use of technology and the Internet have spread rapidly and have made it possible for people to learn foreign languages online. More recently, the unexpected shift from proximate learning to emergency remote learning during COVID-19, has raised attention on online and distance learning. The aim of this paper is to explore and discuss current theoretical approaches on the impact of COVID-19 on education, as well as delineate the differences between online learning and emergency remote learning, with the intention of building a literature review on COVID-19 and emergency remote learning. This can serve as a contribution in the research field and allows a critical evaluation and analysis of the last two years of pandemic and the near future. The study also represents one of the first contributions to the discussion about COVID-19 and emergency remote learning. The collection and presentation of sources from existing literature and articles, evidence from recent international documents (recommendations, regulations, guidelines), technical reports and opinions on the topic will provide a better understanding on how the pandemic has affected education and training. By building an integrative literature review on emergency remote learning, including European documents and guidelines, we were able to evaluate and synthesise such a large field of research, in order to generate new frameworks and perspectives (Torraco, 2005, 2006) and with the intention of developing “fresh theoretical models” (Raju and Poh Phung, 2021, p.6309).

Keywords Emergency Remote Learning, COVID-19, Literature Review, Online Learning, European Union.

References

[1] Torraco, R.J. (2005) ‘Writing integrative literature reviews: Guidelines and examples Human Resource Development Review’, 4, pp. 356-367, 10.1177/1534484305278283.
[2] V. Raju and S. Poh Phung (2021) ‘Resilient Motive for Reviewing Literatures in Business Research: Exploring Process of Research Design’, 25 (4), 2021, pp. 6307 – 6328.
[3] Torraco, R. J. (2016) ‘Writing Integrative Literature Reviews: Using the Past and Present to Explore the Future’, Human Resource Development Review, 15(4), pp. 404–428. doi: 10.1177/1534484316671606.