Evaluation of a remote system for undergraduate students to learn how to teach geography in junior high schools

Abstract:

Most Japanese universities have been offering online lectures since April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and both faculty members and students had to accept the rapid shift to online lectures. In this situation, we conducted online lectures for undergraduate students who are enrolled in a course to learn how to teach geography in junior high schools. Contents of these lectures cover the fundamentals of geography including physical, human, and regional geography and the use of Web-GIS. The lecture format was a combination of various methods including on-time, on-demand, and training/group work approaches. We conducted a questionnaire survey to follow up the benefits and challenges of the online lectures, particularly based on the students’ viewpoints. The results show that many students welcomed online lectures at the beginning, but later more students wanted to take face-to-face lectures. About 60% of students felt that the total amount of study time has increased with the online lectures compared to the previous semester with only face-to-face classes. Also, more students preferred the on-demand format to the on-time format because with the former they can listen carefully and repeatedly what they did not understand firstly, and they can study at their own pace. On the other hand, students who preferred the on-demand format tended to get lower examination scores. We plan to provide an effective learning environment in a hybrid format, taking the advantages of both on-demand and on-time lectures.