Pedagogical Pleasures and Perils of Teaching During the Pandemic: Japanese History and YouTube

ABSTRACT

In this article, I focus on the role of YouTube as a pedagogical tool and its associated media literacy issues. In the courses I have taught since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, I have included short videos produced by well-known YouTube history channels alongside required readings to stimulate student engagement with historiographical issues. Students respond positively to these videos, which they also seek out themselves. However, YouTube history channels are increasingly producing polished and entertaining videos that do not clearly cite sources and gloss over historiographical inaccuracies or misrepresentations. YouTube videos on Japanese history should be selected and utilised carefully. Media literacy skills and academic readings are essential to students’ ability to critically view and understand these media representations of the past. Therefore, I argue that it is important for Japanese Studies students to develop critical media literacy skills and be aware of the role and power of social media sites such as YouTube in the creation and representation of Japan and Japanese history.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ It is beyond the scope of this article to fully assess and discuss the reasons for this, but they appear to be structural. Shamoon and McMorran (2016: 4) say that this is because of the way the tenure system works, where publishing on language pedagogy is preferred and other types of pedagogy have less value. Virtue (2021: 128) notes that the main focus of higher education institutions in relation to teaching is on assessment and learning outcomes, as well student performance and retention, leaving little time for reflection on pedagogical choices or student interactions.

² Telop is a term mostly used in Japan that means screen text such as captions or subtitles.