The New Historical Divide of Online Education - Dialogues with Key Leaders During the Epidemic - ECNU Review of Education 2020 Vol. 3(4) 755-761

Oct 15, 2026

The article examines how the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped education through the rapid shift from offline schooling to online teaching and learning. It frames an International Interview Project that brings together educational leaders and scholars to dialogue on the historically unprecedented divide between technology and education. The discussion highlights forecasts that online education will keep growing, while raising concerns about treating online learning as a temporary Plan B and emphasizing long-term strategy beyond immediate technical access.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Participants’ prediction

Continued growth after COVID-19

Participants’ concerns

Beyond Plan B and into long-run strategy

International Interview Project

Dialogue on technology, education, and innovation

The New Historical Divide of Online Education: Dialogues with Key Leaders During the Epidemic ECNU Review of Education 2020, Vol. 3(4) 755–761 ª The Author(s) 2020 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[DOI: 10.1177/2096531120931107](DOI: 10.1177/2096531120931107)[ ](DOI: 10.1177/2096531120931107)[journals.sagepub.com/home/roe](journals.sagepub.com/home/roe) Xiaolei Zhang School of Education, Tianjin University Xiaoxiao Wang Office of Lifelong Education Administration, Undergraduate Academic Affairs, Tsinghua University Manli Li Institute of Education, Tsinghua University Date received: 6 May 2020; accepted: 11 May 2020 The Coronavirus epidemic has reached far deeper into people’s daily life across the world, with the sweeping shutdown of all schools and the educational upheaval of students globally.“The speed and scale of the educational tumult has little parallel in modern history,” as commented by The New York Times (Wang & Inoue, 2020) . During the outbreak ofCOVID-19, many universities and schools have responded as quickly as possible and shifted the courses from off-line to online. However, with the explosion of online teaching and learning, there came growing questions and challenges for educational leaders, scholars, and educators. The current crisis has stimulated discussions about online education before, during, and after the Coronavirus. One of these critical questions is where online education shall move in the post-epidemic era. Recently, the Research Center for Online Education of China’s Ministry of Education has launched an International Interview Project to invite scholars, Corresponding author: Manli Li, Institute of Education, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. [Email: marylee@tsinghua.edu.cn](Email: marylee@tsinghua.edu.cn) Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License ([https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages ([https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage](https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage)). educational leaders, and academic researchers to have dialogues concerning the significant issues about technology and education in this historically unparalleled divide. Furthermore, this dialogic space expects to include different voices about online education under this crisis, discuss the opportunities and challenges for technology and education, and prompt further collaborations for education innovation globally. Despite the busy schedules of scholars and educational leaders, at the end of many thorough, open, and substantive conversations, the organizers and participants agreed that the current crisis presents an opportunity that would add significant value to our understanding of online education in the post-epidemic era. Participants also raised a range of issues that confront educational leaders, administrators, researchers, faculty, instructors, and students across the globe during the discussions. Participants’ prediction Almost all participants predicted that online education would continue to increase and develop after the COVID-19 epidemic. Some trends are happening in education, which make online education an undeniable future. As Professor Froumin from the University Higher School of Economics responded that “as soon as you can do something, it is difficult not to do that; as soon as most professors and students master the new tools, they will keep on using them.” Schoolteachers and students now have realized that not every instructional session has to be achieved physically in person. More than that,

FAQs

What is the core purpose of the International Interview Project discussed in the article?

It invites educational leaders, scholars, and researchers to hold dialogues about significant issues at the intersection of technology and education during the crisis, and to encourage collaboration for education innovation globally.

What predictions do participants make about online education after the epidemic?

Most participants predict that online education will continue increasing and developing, driven by improved readiness among lifelong learners and the growing mastery of new tools by professors and students.

What concerns do participants raise regarding online education during the crisis?

Some participants worry that online learning is viewed only as an alternative or Plan B solution, rather than as a distinct approach with unique value that must continue to develop independently.

Oct 15, 2026

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