Transforming Teaching and Learning with Online Education Models, Strategies, and Insights

Dear Colleagues,

In an increasingly interconnected and digitized world, education is undergoing a structural—not merely instrumental—transformation. The expansion of digital technologies has not only extended learning beyond the physical classroom but has fundamentally reconfigured how teaching, learning, assessment, and institutional organization are conceived. Online education has moved from the margins to the core of educational systems worldwide.

The COVID-19 pandemic acted as an unprecedented global stress test for education. It exposed systemic vulnerabilities while simultaneously accelerating long-pending shifts toward openness, flexibility, inclusivity, and attention to learners’ well-being. Emergency responses forced institutions to scale online provision rapidly, often without sufficient pedagogical grounding. Yet this period also generated valuable lessons, innovations, and empirical evidence that now demand critical examination. As we move firmly into a post-pandemic phase, the central challenge is no longer adoption, but consolidation: building a robust, research-informed foundation for sustainable, high-quality online and digitally enhanced education.

This Special Issue of Education Sciences, “Transforming Teaching and Learning with Online Education Models, Strategies, and Insights” is positioned precisely at this inflection point.

Its purpose is to move the field beyond descriptive narratives of emergency remote teaching and toward theoretically grounded, empirically validated, and institutionally scalable approaches to online education. We invite contributions that critically interrogate what works, for whom, under what conditions, and why.

The issue is structured around three interrelated pillars that together define the current and future landscape of online education:

1. Innovative Models

We welcome analyses of diverse delivery formats, including fully online, blended, hybrid, and hyflex models. Contributions should address not only design and implementation but also questions of scalability, institutional strategy, sustainability, and alignment with learner needs across educational levels and contexts.

2. Effective Strategies

This pillar focuses on evidence-based pedagogical and organizational practices. Topics of interest include instructional design, assessment and feedback, faculty development, learner support, and the purposeful integration of educational technologies. Particular emphasis is placed on research examining emerging tools—such as adaptive learning systems, learning analytics, and artificial intelligence—and their role in personalization, social presence, collaboration, and meaningful learning.

3. Critical Perspectives

The transformation of education through online modalities raises essential questions that extend beyond pedagogy. We encourage critical examinations of equity, access, digital inclusion, and digital literacy, as well as the psychological, social, and ethical dimensions of online teaching and learning. Contributions that foreground student and teacher experiences, well-being, and agency are especially valued.

Across these three pillars, this Special Issue prioritizes work that transcends anecdotal accounts. We seek rigorous empirical studies, robust theoretical frameworks, systematic reviews, and methodologically sound design-based research that collectively advance the field toward sustainable pedagogical change.

The contributions assembled in this issue aim to provide actionable insights for researchers, policymakers, institutional leaders, instructional designers, and educators committed to navigating—and shaping—the digital transformation of education. Rather than positioning online education as a temporary alternative or emergency solution, this collection frames it as an indispensable, mature, and integral component of a flexible, global, and equitable educational ecosystem.

It is our hope that this Special Issue not only consolidates current knowledge but also sets a forward-looking research agenda, stimulating informed dialogue and guiding future innovation in online teaching and learning.

Prof. Dr. Teresa Romeu
Prof. Dr. Montse Guitert
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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