To make sense of the changes provoked by the COVID-19 pandemic and its immediate aftermath, this paper critically examines digital education policy responses in the context of the 'new realities' faced by schooling. Based on seven case studies contributed by authors from Australia, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Canada, Sri Lanka, two key questions…

It started with a simple little filler in "USA Today" 25 years ago. It showed a broken student desk with cobwebs on it and offered data on "average yearly absences" in Japan, Germany, and the United States. Assessing my own data, I verified that they were on point and proceeded to discuss why this was a major hurdle for our…

This article conceptualises how disruptions to conventional teaching models may lead to innovative practice. We have identified a gap in current knowledge around how innovations in higher education teaching and learning are initiated in times of crises. Disruptive Innovation Theory and Roger's Diffusion of Innovation Theory are used as lenses to…

The purpose of this study was to investigate five Japanese graduate (master's level) students' experiences in online courses in international development and peace through sport that used English as the medium of instruction. The study was situated in the framework of andragogy theory and used a descriptive-qualitative design using an in-depth,…

The coronavirus pandemic has instituted mandatory online education across Japan and many parts of the world. Using a semi-structured interview, we collected and analyzed students' reactions to online education across high-rank, mid-rank, and low-rank universities in Japan to determine learning outcomes among undergraduates with different…

International student exchange is integral to internationalization at higher education institutions and global human resource development in Japan. However, border closures and restrictions on physical mobility since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic forced universities to adopt virtual mobility models to deliver international exchange programs.…

This paper investigates the challenges EFL instructors faced while delivering online classes during the pandemic in Japan in order to help language instructors improve the quality of classroom interaction they provide. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven EFL instructors at the English Department of a Japanese university.…

The purpose of this study was to investigate Japanese adult learners' experiences in online recurrent education modules with a focus on race, ethnicity, disability, assessment, and multicultural education to raise social justice and diversity awareness among adult learners, and promote positive change through sport and physical activity. This…

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the inability of the Japanese higher education system to adapt to widespread unexpected disruption. The limited metrics available to assess Japanese higher education's response in the wake of the pandemic indicate several areas where the system needs to be strengthened. This paper aims to harness the…

Teaching mathematics online has been highlighted as one of the solutions to the current crisis for education caused by the COVID-19 virus pandemic and subsequent school closures. However, we do not know what attitudes and experience teachers have towards online teaching. The aim of this study was to gain insights into how Japanese teachers were…

This article reports on a mixed method study that investigated the differences in Japanese EFL (English as a foreign language) learners' satisfaction toward two different online teaching formats incorporated in universities during the COVID-19 situation: synchronous online courses (n = 324) and asynchronous on-demand courses (n = 323). Applying…

The temporary shift from face-to-face instruction to online teaching at North American universities as an alternative solution in response to the COVID-19 pandemic brought significant challenges to international students who had to study abroad from their home countries. Studies on how international students perceive their study-abroad-from-home…

Over the past decade, the Japanese government and Japanese universities have increased student mobility, both inbound and outbound, to accelerate the internationalization of higher education. However, student mobility was halted in early 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and international students who had planned to engage in a traditional…

The COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated an unprecedented and mandatory shift from face-to-face to online education. This has occurred in numerous contexts worldwide, including language education. Little research, however, has investigated language education under such conditions of emergency remote teaching (ERT). This article focuses on the…

Given the difficult and unforeseen circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to transition from face-to-face instruction to digital instruction. This paper provides a teacher educator's autoethnographic account of implementing the pedagogical intervention of digital learning and student teachers' reactions to its effects on their…