In recent years, the flourishing of the Covid-19 pandemic and the need for physical distance have affected many educational institutions. These were also the reasons for the switch from face-to-face classes to online education. Many schools and universities have moved to online and blended teaching formats. Students are now commonly learning from home, and the proliferation of different learning platforms and tools has made education more flexible.
On the other hand, some students may not have access to adequate Internet connections or appropriate devices, which can affect educational equity.
However, I think online learning offers new opportunities. Online curriculum and online study abroad, which were not possible due to distance, have become easier and have enabled a wider range of learning environments.
Last year, I participated in a program using VR to conduct international exchanges between Japanese and foreign universities. My group interacted with Turkish university students who were interested in Japan. in VR, we created our own original characters and played games and had discussions with them virtually. At first, I thought it would be easier to discuss face-to-face because we could see the other person's facial expressions, but there were no problems, and we were able to interact in the same way as face-to-face, talking about the characters we had created, rather than on the virtual.In my opinion, online learning provides more opportunities for learning environments and has a positive impact on students compared to face-to-face learning.