Online Teaching Satisfaction and Technostress at Japanese Universities During Emergency Remote Teaching

Abstract

As the COVID-19 pandemic hit Japan in early 2020, courses that were already prepared for face-to-face delivery from the start of the spring term in April suddenly needed to be delivered online via emergency remote teaching. In order to understand the challenges that university faculty faced and to find ways to improve upon the situation if this becomes the “new normal,” it is imperative to understand faculty satisfaction with online teaching and how these perceptions affect motivation and lifestyle. University faculty teaching English-language courses were recruited from several universities in Japan and asked to complete an online survey which consisted of demographics, questions related to online teacher satisfaction, teacher motivation, teacher lifestyle, and open-ended questions. Results indicated mixed feelings toward online education, negative evaluations of the lack of Japanese universities' preparedness for online long-distance learning, and concerns about the social and physical health of students and instructors.

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“…It was clear that these teachers experienced remote teaching as a challenge that expresses the knowledge and practical tools acquired during these programs, and that for them, the pandemic provided an "opportunity" to implement the knowledge they had gained in real time. These findings are in line with other recent studies (Apple, Mills, 2022;Pham, Phan, 2023).…”

“…Moreover, levels of stress increased due to the great load placed on the teachers' shoulders (RAMA, 2022). Another study that examined stress among teachers during the pandemic found that teachers experienced stress mainly due to personal factors and other reasons related mainly to their role and their work environment (Appel, Robbins, 2022;Zadok Boneh et al, 2021).…”

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“…It has been previously reported that most participants at eight universities in Malaysia were not fully comfortable with e-learning as a tool for teaching and this perception was attributed to technological challenges [48]. Thus, during the COVID-19 pandemic period, it has been recognized as "the phenomenon of technostress", reported especially among teachers [49][50][51].…”

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“…Therefore, considerations about their privacy and anxiety about being on camera often meant that instructors had to be mindful of student boundaries in online synchronous classes (see Comment 7). However, this can also hinder the class and affect teacher motivation, which can potentially affect class quality and levels of engagement with the class (Apple & Mills, 2022). It is important to note that all of the teachers who responded to this survey were living in a foreign country, unable to visit family and friends in their home countries and possibly feeling very isolated.…”

“…In some cases, this may even have included using an institution's learning management system (LMS) for the first time (Lavolette, 2022;Provenzano, 2022). Indeed, OECD data from 2019 indicates that teachers throughout Japan felt unprepared for information and communication technology (ICT) based teaching prior to the pandemic (OECD, 2019), exacerbated by the low level of online learning programs offered by institutions or the utilization of digital tools in classrooms (Apple & Mills, 2022;Aoki, 2010;Funamori, 2017). This despite a plethora of research indicating the benefits that digital learning can provide for students, most importantly, the opportunity to create a more student-centered learning environment (Aoki, 2010;Caldwell, 2018;Stevens, Bienz, Wali, Condie & Schismenos, 2021).…”