TRAINING DISTANCE INSTRUCTORS AS ONE OF THE STAGES TO IMPLEMENT DISTANCE EDUCATION

Teaching at distance in general and teaching foreign languages particularly is one of the major paradigm shifts, including the use of videoconferencing and Web-based environments. And one of the main challenges or stages on the way to implement distance education successfully is the process of training highly-qualified distance instructors. Distance instructors need to learn how to use information-communication technology and view the technology as supplanting the instructor as an authority. Distance instructors need to embrace and model the learner-centered instructional approaches. These new types of pedagogy may conflict with distance instructors’ beliefs about the role of the instructor itself. Distance instructors without a strong knowledge of information-communication technology or innovative pedagogy may and usually face a steep learning curve. Those distance instructors with more knowledge may still find it difficult to integrate information-communication technology and innovative pedagogy in the process of teaching and learning. Distance instructors who have never used information-communication technology and learner-centered pedagogy are used to resist the changing relationship between teacher, student, and technology, and may face the most difficult challenges of all