Attitudes of part-time Japanese university teachers on technology use after emergency remote teaching

Abstract

[EN] With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, many Japanese universities made the decision to stop on-campus classes. This generally meant teaching remotely, either synchronously or asynchronously. Online courses are usually planned in advance with a curriculum and materials designed for that mode of teaching. The situation in 2020 was different, most teachers had only a few weeks to adapt their teaching materials and methods for Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT). The aim of this research was to investigate the experiences of university teachers during and after the period of ERT and to investigate how we can learn from this experience to avoid what Vegas (2022) refers to as a ‘missed opportunity’. This was achieved through an initial pilot survey and five semi-structured follow-up interviews conducted in 2023. The results indicated that despite some reporting high levels of initial anxiety, most teachers adapted, learning new skills and developing their technical expertise, which is now being used in face-to-face classes. As most teachers reported support in the period of ERT as having been uncoordinated – being provided by colleagues rather than through official workshops organized by institutions - this is an area that could be developed in the future.