The article is focused on the problem of online education effectiveness. The introduction considers conditions for transition of education to a remote mode and distance interaction between students. The main part contains a detailed description of activities organized by university authorities which were aimed at improving teachers literacy in the field of online education at D. Serikbayev East Kazakhstan Technical University. It describes practice of teaching languages at a technical university on OpenedX platform. The article also analyses OpenedX platform capabilities and describes already developed course which was launched last academic year. Language disciplines are successfully taught at a technical university in a mixed mode which includes asynchronous learning of materials structured on OpenedX platform as well as synchronous learning (conversations, conferences, seminars, on the appropriate platforms (BigBlueButton, Zoom, GoogleMeet).