Addressing the challenging elements of distance education

For this special issue, we invited submissions from all disciplines and domains to understand how innovative learning and teaching strategies, learning design approaches, and the uses of technology might enable students to fulfill authentic learning requirements and the challenging aspects of higher education in fully online modes. The response to our call was somewhat overwhelming, with abstracts submitted by practitioners from all over the world, confirming to us that there are many stories to share, both successful and less so, about new and reimagined approaches that inform innovative teaching and learning practice. There were far more ideas and cases than we could fit into this issue, so we have carefully selected the articles that serve as insightful examples and critical reflections of practice. They are also a reminder that the genie is well and truly out of the bottle, and returning to pre-COVID-19 practice will not make the most of what we have learned, nor offer the flexibility that is required for the future. This special issue provides both a glimpse into that future and a range of ideas on how to approach some of the challenges of designing for distance education.