THE HUMAN ASPECT OF ICT IMPLEMENTATION IN THE JAPANESE EDUCATION SYSTEM: A CASE STUDY OF PRE-PANDEMIC SECONDARY EDUCATION IN KANAGAWA PREFECTURE

Soonbo (Nicholas) Woo

Abstract


This article is based on a case study done at one public secondary school in Yokohama, Japan with supplementing data from surrounding schools. The aim of the research is to bring attention to student and teacher lifestyles concerning information communication technology (ICT) prior to the pandemic (before it became an enforced necessity) in personal and school-related settings and discuss possible implications for ICT policies at secondary schools in Japan. After a yearlong observation period, a questionnaire was conducted to find specific patterns that could impact ICT policies for the school. Additionally, teachers and parents were interviewed for details and information to highlight potential reasons behind the survey results along with additional findings. Interviews from surrounding schools were conducted to further supplement the case study. The analysis focused on finding patterns that highlight positive and negative elements of ICT perceived by the students, teachers, and parents at the school. Discovered patterns were further discussed to find implications for policy development and areas for future research. Critical findings included the deterring factors for teachers to use ICT being nearly identical to the desired factors for parents, thus creating a conflict of interest when it comes to ICT use cases for school-related purposes. Additional findings include the parents’ roles in assisting ICT-related productivity work in conjunction with modern-day smartphone consumerism, which leads to a lack of productivity mindset for the students. It was identified that without measures in place to address teachers, it is difficult to expand the usage of ICT for teachers with just a general policy and device availability. This implies that post-pandemic ICT plans could still produce resistance and issues from users despite their proliferation and that any progress in ICT for education can enter stagnation unless the issues found in this study are addressed.

 

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Japan, educational technology, ICT, education policy, technology perception

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v11i9.5494

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