The Frontline of Online Education in Japan: Thinking About Learning in the After-COVID Era

2021/01/21

According to a survey by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), as of April, only 5% of schools were conducting simultaneous interactive online instruction. Faced with the unprecedented event of school closures spreading worldwide, while other countries were introducing online classes one after another, Japan was unable to respond. This was to be expected, as Japan was a laggard in school ICT.

The response of Japanese schools during the COVID-19 closures was purely analog. Teachers called each household one by one. Massive amounts of paper handouts were prepared for home study, and teachers went around posting them in mailboxes house by house. While the world is attempting to transition to Society 5.0 supported by AI and IoT, society came to realize the reality that schools had not even finished digitizing and had not even reached Society 4.0. Any further delay in response is no longer acceptable.

This book is a record of the struggles of local governments, schools, the private sector, parents, and children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Don't stop the children's learning! With this common, strong desire in their hearts, many people collaborated across their respective positions and did their best through trial and error.

The authors have been working on the informatization of education for about 20 years. This includes the development of legal systems for digital textbooks, making programming education compulsory, the formulation of the Act on the Promotion of Utilizing Information and Communications Technology in Education, and the launch of the GIGA School Program. Digital education was finally ready to start in 2020! It was at that timing that the new coronavirus spread. As a result, it can be said that it accelerated the movement to improve the school ICT environment.

However, the world is moving much further ahead. As we enter Society 5.0, isn't it necessary to redesign education once again? And shouldn't that be a design centered on all learners, envisioning "Super Education"—a place of learning that removes the traditional framework of schools? Isn't it important to gather the wisdom of industry, government, and academia—all of Japan—interested in this field and take action?

Based on such ideas, the "Digital Education Council" (Super Education Council) was launched in 2018. Super Education can be called After-COVID education. Now is the time for all adults to join hands and create the education of the future. We must make 2020 the first year of Education DX. I hope this book will be of some help.

The Frontline of Online Education in Japan: Thinking About Learning in the After-COVID Era

Nanako Ishido

Akashi Shoten

272 pages, 1,800 yen (excluding tax)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.