Distance education and the COVID-19 pandemic: between concept and conceptual grounding.

Abstract

This article addresses distance education and the COVID-19 pandemic between “concept and conceptual grounding.” It summarizes the extent of the concept of distance education and its emergence during this phase of the pandemic that affected all countries of the world. Algeria, in particular, adopted a positive approach to reducing the crisis caused by the spread of COVID-19 by shifting toward distance education in universities.

University pedagogical activities were resumed exclusively through distance learning. As a result, official university websites have become tools created to provide diverse services and achieve specific objectives. The practice of distance education consists of providing an educational environment within a virtual space, namely the Internet, where educational resources are made available, including teachers, students, and academic curricula, allowing the learning process to be completed online.

Distance learning is also defined as encompassing all methods of study and all educational stages that are not subject to the direct and continuous supervision of teachers who are physically present with their students in traditional classrooms, although the educational process remains planned, organized, and guided by the university.

The civilizational development achieved by humans in the field of information technology has contributed to the entry of humanity into a new era previously unknown in its history. The effects of this development are reflected in the increasing use of information technology in modern societies, whether in the advancement of sciences and their increasing interconnection and convergence, or in the interaction and integration of various world cultures. This has made human civilizations more interconnected and characterized by increasingly similar features.