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The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 transformed the educational spaces and lives of teachers and students worldwide. Students entering Japanese universities in 2020 were particularly affected by this, moving from high school to university during this period, and therefore facing multiple challenges. As part of a larger project exploring how the move to online learning affected them, the participants in this study were asked to reflect on their experiences of emergency remote teaching and learning (ERTL) in 3-minute videos they created and uploaded to the university learning management system (LMS). This paper focuses on one significant theme that proved pivotal during this transition – the use of social network systems (SNS) to bridge the move between school and university. It was found that SNS provided vital support during this time of physical distancing and contributed to student well-being. Students were able to create relationships with their peers through SNS and construct social capital in their new community while maintaining previous relationships and existing social capital.

This paper presents an exploratory study of Japanese university students’ usage of digital space and digital identity formation in the context of the sudden move to emergency remote teaching and learning (ERTL) during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online questionnaire was administered to attempt to capture this unique historical moment, to gain a picture of the digital spaces the students typically inhabit day to day, and to document COVID-19 pandemic related changes. The questionnaire used was adapted from Lee and Kim’s 2014 study on the digital identity of Korean university students, and the results were analysed using concepts from Ito et al.’s 2010 work Hanging Out, Messing Around and Geeking Out. It was found that Japanese students are immersed in a technology-rich environment, are active in friendship-driven online practices, and that the impact of the pandemic on their digital environments in connection with language learning and academic identities has been significant. 本論文は、COVID-19パンデミック時に公衆衛生対策として実施された「緊急遠隔教育・学習」（ERTL）への突然の移行環境下における日本の大学生のデジタル空間使用とデジタル・アイデンティティ（デジタルコミュニケーション上の自己同一性）形成を探索的に調査したものである。本研究で使用したアンケートは、韓国の大学生のデジタル・アイデンティティに関するLeeとKimの2014年の論文をもとに作成され、また得られたアンケート結果は、2010年に出版されたHanging Out, Messing Around and Geeking Out (Ito et al.)の概念を使用して分析された。本調査結果から、日本の大学生はテクノロジーに富んだ環境に没入しやすく、また、オンライン演習においては友情主導で積極的に取り組むこと、そしてそれが彼らの学術的なデジタル・アイデンティティの形成に大きな影響を与えていることが明らかになった。