The use of educational tools in virtual environments for learning a foreign language at The University of El Salvador

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the academic learning processes at different levels, particularly those in institutional organizations and those involving learners interacting with other students and teachers. Likewise, plenty of the curriculum has been adapted to an online format and currently the number of people taking online courses, and using technology as a tool to enhance their education has increased dramatically. People can now master a foreign language or get a whole degree with the new technologies. The Department of Foreign Languages of the University of El Salvador, UES, has worked on a new route to continue teaching languages. Due to the coronavirus pandemic and the large number of students registered in the graduation process, the Department decided to offer a specialization course that would serve as a new modality to complete their graduation requirement. A new specialization course was born in 2021: “Curso de especialización en la administración de ambientes virtuales para la enseñanza y aprendizaje de idiomas extranjeros”. This new academic experience is composed of three modules about e-learning: Online English Language Teaching, Educational Applications for Learning a Foreign Language and Design of Didactic Materials for Virtual Environments. Keywords: Virtual Education ; LMS ; Technological Tools ; E-learning ; Educational Applications ; ICTs tools ; EFL