Digital teaching when infrastructure is unstable:
What does resilient teaching require?

On 16 September 2026, the CLOUD HED consortium hosted the Fireplace Talk “Digital Teaching in Low-Resource Environments and Unstable Infrastructure”, bringing together higher education teachers and experts from countries affected by armed conflict and other crises. The event was part of CLOUD HED’s training and exchange series and was developed in response to the needs identified in an exploratory survey of HEI teachers in and around conflict zones.

Five distinguished speakers joined the moderated panel: Prof. Neli Muntean, President of the Association of Women in Research and Education, Moldova; Prof. Hanna Smaliichuk, Associate Professor at Kyiv National Economic University, Ukraine; Prof. Svitlana Tarasenko, Associate Professor at Sumy State University, Ukraine; Prof. Olena Tupakhina, Vice Rector for International Affairs at Zaporizhzhia National University, Ukraine; and Prof. Sureyya Yigit, Professor at New Vision University, Georgia.

The discussion showed that resilient digital teaching is about much more than having the right technology in place. Stable digital infrastructure remains essential, but speakers repeatedly highlighted the human dimension of crisis-driven education: the changing circumstances teachers and students face, the importance of wellbeing and resilience, and the need to make these aspects part of institutional support structures rather than leaving them to individual teachers.

At the same time, practical resilience requires teaching systems that can continue to function when digital infrastructure cannot. Speakers discussed the importance of asynchronous and low-bandwidth options, alternatives during power outages and connectivity disruptions, and the protection of energy-generating infrastructure. They also pointed to the need to decentralise and diversify digital infrastructure so that the failure of one component does not bring teaching to a standstill.

The speakers also pointed to student engagement and motivation. For some students, prolonged periods of online learning – first during COVID-19 and subsequently, in Ukraine, during the war – have fundamentally changed their educational experience. The speakers discussed how universities can maintain meaningful interaction and participation under these circumstances, while also addressing a difficult question: How can academic quality be sustained when the conditions for teaching are anything but normal?

The role of AI emerged in this context as both an opportunity and a question for further discussion. Could AI help teachers maintain quality and provide support under difficult conditions, and where are its limits?

The Fireplace Talk highlighted that there is no single technological solution to crisis-driven education. Instead, resilience depends on a combination of flexible teaching practices, robust and diversified infrastructure, institutional support, and attention to the wellbeing of both students and teachers.

You can see more about the Fireplace Talk on the training materials section.