As online classes became the only lifeline of schools around the world at the height of the COVID pandemic, Japan’s education ministry has released its first-ever set of guidelines for students who still opt for remote learning because of its convenience.
The ministry said that different universities and learning institutions should collaborate with each other to make remote learning more effective.
The guidelines highly recommend the wider use of the metaverse, an online virtual space. Students and teachers can be represented by avatars to impart a sense of community and make them feel that they are all sharing one space.
In a survey conducted in 2021 among 60 universities and institutions for higher learning, the ministry found that around 60 percent of university classes were done online. Many respondents have stated that this provided students with several benefits.
The following year, 40 percent still held online classes, with many adopting new strategies and methods to improve remote learning and maintain effective interaction among students and faculty members.
Initiatives to promote remote learning have become challenging because interaction between students and teachers remained limited. To solve this issue, the ministry urged schools to adopt more interactive methods, like encouraging more exchanges of ideas in chats, carrying out voting functions, or setting up discussions that allows everyone to share opinions and share their screens.
While all these have already been set in motion, the ministry still believes that on-site learning is still most effective.
“Although on-campus learning is the priority, it is important to pursue post-pandemic higher education by taking advantage of the benefits and possibilities of remote learning,” the ministry said in its guidelines.
