Instructors' Role in the e-Learning Environment: The Case of Kuwait

Abstract

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on education have been deep and multi-faceted, with instructors and students forced to immediately shift from conventional face-to-face classrooms to e-learning. This is also the case in organizational training, where it poses a significant challenge to the strategizing of human resource management (HRM). HRM's aim is to help attain organizational goals, which includes the educational aspect, and thus the focus should be on enabling instructors' competencies. This paper aims to review the importance of HRM strategies and instructor competencies in the context of e-learning. It further proposes a model for instructor competence and offers recommendations for education globally and the education system in Kuwait in particular. This study uses a three-phase research methodology. First, the relevant literature is reviewed. In the second phase, a qualitative analysis is performed to examine the key terms in relation to instructors' skills and competencies; this is followed by a review of the existing literature, including technical reports and documentation. The study goes on to highlight the critical success factors in this case by examining the primary and contextual factors of the Kuwaiti education system and its instructors. The third phase proposes a new Instructor Competency Model that incorporates the skills and competencies required of instructors to facilitate learning in the 21^st century. This model may serve to guide educational institutions in their efforts to implement both online and blended learning.