How the COVID-19 Pandemic Is Reshaping the Education Service

Abstract

History teaches us that crises reshape society. While it is still uncertain how COVID-19 will reshape our society, the global pandemic is encouraging and accelerating innovation and advancement, especially in the digital sphere. This chapter focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education service, which is typically classified as a service industry in industrial classifications. Digital transformation in the education sector has attracted significant attention recently. The current education system in Japan is based on a structure that was institutionalized in the industrial age. Although education has seen innovation since then, it is one of the sectors wherein innovation occurs at a slow pace, and therefore, it does not meet the sector’s expectations and demands. The COVID-19 pandemic is, however, accelerating digital transformation in education: Not only in Japan, but globally too, educators, students, policymakers, and other role players are now actively undertaking efforts to bring about digital transformation in this sector. This chapter reviews the rapid expansion of digital transformation in the education service and explores, in detail, the two main trends in digital transformation in the education service in Japan. These trends are the expanding of distance education and increasing innovation in educational technologies. The discussion further reflects on prior studies questioning the impact of digital transformation on education; it also anticipates and explores the effects of and concerns about the digital transformation in the education service. Finally, the chapter includes a discussion on how to address these concerns and maximize the digital impact. It indicates three concerns of the digital transformation in the education service: (1) poor motivation management, (2) negative effect of IT devices usage in education, (3) educational inequality by digital divide. They can be overcome by changing roles of instructors and further investment in ICT infrastructure in the education service. The discussions in this chapter give insight into how the education service might evolve after the COVID-19 pandemic. The distance education is becoming a new normal in the education service. However, the education community in general is not ready to maximize the merits of distance learning. We need to change the role of instructors from a knowledge teacher to a learning motivator and progress manager. In addition, we need more investment in ICT infrastructure in the education service to enhance educational effects.