With advances in information communication technology, the governments in many countries have been promoting e-learning by offering more convenient and diverse learning options for students. Higher Education institutions in Taiwan and the United Kingdom have followed such trends and have set up a variety of distance learning courses. This paper reports how university educators in two different countries, Taiwan and the United Kingdom, design online learning materials and conduct instruction through online methods using web technologies. As the authors of this paper, we outlined and compared the different approaches taken in using virtual learning environments within higher educational institutions in the two countries. We explain how we developed these materials based on the programs and technologies offered by our institutions and we also offer examples of student learning situations. At the end of the paper, recommendations are provided relating to pedagogical issues. The results will be helpful for educators and school administrators of different countries. They will be able to see different approaches of design and implementation of e-intensive modes of learning in higher education.

This study examines how students and instructors perceived online instructors’ roles in asynchronous courses designed for language teachers. Five instructor interviews, 46 student questionnaires, and ten course evaluation summaries presenting the opinions of 69 out of 120 students in total were analyzed. Based upon Berge’s (1995) framework, asynchronous online course instructors’ roles were divided into four categories: pedagogical, social, managerial, and technical. The results highlight and give suggestions to what is characteristic and likely problematic in online teaching—using the tools and pedagogical techniques to make learning more social than conventional classroom exhibit, orchestrating discussion not only technically but also by instructing and modeling effective postings, assessing the various ways that students participate in the class, and managing time, the students’ as well as the instructor’s. This study provides an opportunity for language educators and researchers to think about the unique characteristics of web-based distance education in general and the changing roles of instructors in that new form of education in more critical way.