Creating Online/Offline Spaces for Knowledge Transfer and Competitiveness in Teaching English to University Students in Romania
Creating Online/Offline Spaces for Knowledge Transfer and Competitiveness in Teaching English to University Students in Romania

Summary/Abstract: The global pandemic, together with the ever-rapidly growing pace of Internet technologies, prompted a paradigm shift in university education, along with changes on various societal levels. Online spaces replace offline knowledge delivery, but will they supersede the offline experience and effectiveness? In the case of English language teaching, the multitude of electronic materials, the often enhanced circumstances for exploiting such resources via the available online platforms, joined with the convenience and cost-effectiveness of online courses, might determine many learners’ preference for this form of interaction, or at least a mixture between the traditional and the newer means. The role of academics is examined not only as repositories of knowledge, but also as facilitators among the myriad of possibilities, and as forecasters of needs and realities, which will require new spaces and places for development or adaptation. With universities revisiting their educational offers both according to economic realities, and to the students’ “likes”, educators have the responsibility of keeping structure to the educational process; moreover, they are the human “interface” that mediates what is lost and what is gained in the space in front of the screen.

• Details
• Contents