The quick shift to teaching online in 2020 forced all of us in higher education to rethink how to do what we do and why. Those lessons, however messy and difficult, were well worth learning.

It’s clear that in the approaching post-pandemic world, some version of online learning will be a part of the fabric of most universities. And I believe that is good.

There were plenty of problems with how brick-and-mortar universities transitioned to online instruction in 2020. Many students and faculty struggled to access reliable Wi-Fi and technology. Most of us struggled to use online tools for teaching and learning. All of us struggled to study and work in the same spaces where we live, raise children and care for aging parents.

But when we focus solely on those problems, we risk missing the big picture. Last year, I learned a lot about what works in an online college course and what doesn’t. Like my colleagues, I paid even closer attention to the challenges that my students overcome each semester as they work hard to earn their degrees, and I found strategies to support them.

Now is the time to leverage that knowledge and start building the kind of inclusive, high-quality online instruction that faculty can really get behind. To do that, we need our universities to invest seriously in this effort and commit to offering online courses post-pandemic.

Historically, talk about online instruction in brick-and-mortar institutions brings up legitimate concerns about the privatization of public education. I can easily imagine a dystopic future in which the work of teaching has simply been turned over to profit-driven EdTech companies or academic service contractors. But so far, while some universities contract out services, such as tutoring and mentoring, they remain public institutions, not profit-driven corporations.

Read the full article about online education by Faith Kirk at EdSource.