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 Educational Innovation through ICT Use in the Large Knowledge Resources Learning Community Takashi Sakamoto, Prof. Dr. Chairperson, AEN Promotion committee President, Japan Association for Promotion of Educational Technology Professor emeritus, Tokyo Institute of Technology and National Institute of Multimedia Education sakamoto@japet.or.jp Abstract should be re-constructed. The new paradigm is that teaching and learning in the wired environment represents the true The main activities of the AEN include interoperability of nature of education, but traditional face-to-face lessons in technology, international standards and certification, e- universities and schools are conceptually considered as just learning professional development, quality assurance, one set of all kinds of educational components. Any management, validation, portal site development and research educational provider can freely participate in the learning trends analysis. A survey was conducted on the present state community. of e-learning in ASEAN+3 countries. In Japan, e-Japan In this context, the important issues seem to be quality Strategy Statement I & II, e-Japan Priority Policy Program assurance of educational systems, tools and contents, setting 2003&2004, and IT Policy Package 2005 also promote IT use up national and international standards, copyrights, user in education intensively. protection, and blended learning. There is also a global need In the background of these trends, changes have occurred for collaboration within each sector as well as across different in the use of ICT and the large knowledge resources in sectors such as academia, industry, government, culture, education and e-learning: changes of human resources languages, countries, and ethnic groups. Advances of recent requested, need for expertise to deal with the solutions for the learning technologies could solve some of these problems. sustainable development for saving the environment and the human race, cultivating employment, emphasis on active self- 1. Structure of Asia E-Learning Network learning in the networked environment, expansion of learning (AEN) activities in the social context, advances of learning technologies, emphasis on cost-effectiveness and the wide METI, Japan proposed an Asia e-Learning Initiative at the introduction of quality assurance of all kinds of educational AEM + 3 meeting in Siem Reap, Cambodia in May 2001 and components with national and international standards. the proposal was approved as an AEM + 3 project by many Following these recent changes in the learning counties at the meeting in Hanoi, Viet Nam in August. In FY environment, the conceptual framework for dealing with 2002 Asia e-Learning Network was established and the first teaching and learning in the networked learning community international conference was held in Tokyo. Withi th n As A ia R egion Asia e-Le L arni r ng Netwo tw rk Human network for promoting e-Learning in the region. (a) Sharing information on the latest e-Learning trends and technologies (b) Promoting interoperability of e-Learning systems and contents (c) Promoting the spread of knowledge and effective use of e-Learning Seoul Bangkok Asia e-Learning Network Brunei Vietnam Cambodia Thailand *Sharing Information P hilippines *Standardization Singapore ITECC *Promotion ECC e-Learning sub-Committee China Myanmar Tokyo Kuala Lumpur Indonesia Korea Japan Malaysia KELIC ALIC Lao PDR Then AEN Experimental Projects with 6 countries started. The task of the WG3 was to enhance e-Leaning In FY 2003 when Second international conference was also Professionals. In this year the WG3 reconstructed held in Tokyo, AEN four working groups were organized and instructional design process models for reflecting ALIVE (AEN LMS & contents Interoperability Validation characteristics of e-learning approaches, defined a framework Experiment) started. In 2004 the outcomes of the 4 working of e-Learning professional classification in Asia, including groups, results of ALIVE Experiment, and present state of references and glossary, also defined the skill sets required Asian countries were reported in the third international for e-Learning Professionals, and conducted a questionnaire conference in Singapore in December 2004. survey on the state of e-Learning Professionals in AEN The aim of the Asia e-Learning Initiative is to promote countries. The results by 10 respondents from 11 AEN Asian collaboration to facilitate the enhancement of e- countries showed that instructional designers were highly Learning through improving access to high-quality evaluated, the Course Operation Supporters were also education / training, standardization of e-learning system and recognized as expecting high potential and having vague technologies, and knowledge sharing among member image, and Course Mentors were clearly needed, but countries, and also to establish the Asia e-Learning Network. unfortunately recognized as poor qualification. The member countries are ASEAN +3 countries. These 13 Based on the survey, AEN countries were divided as four countries selected respectively 2 delegates representing each category groups as shown in the Table. country. Most of the delegates belong to the related Government sections, foundations, research institutions or • Advanced corporations. Many other specialists also participated the － activities such as information sharing, standardization, Specialist Diploma course in e-Learning ID by promotion, and implementation nationally and internationally. NIE (National Institute of Education) (Singapore) － Many ID courses in Universities (Korea) 2. Activities of AEN in 2004 and 2005 • Well Developed Main activities of AEN in 2004 were to implement research － IDer and other e-learning professionals are not so and development activities of four working groups , to hold popular. However, visibility is increasing, and the third AEN international conference in Singapore, and to there is a certain demand (Japan, Malaysia, conduct the research survey on e-learning trends in Asian China, Thailand region. Topics of four working groups are (1) Interoperability • Developing Technology in WG1, (2) Standards Qualification in WG2, － In many cases, teacher/trainer carry all the burden. (3)e-learning Professionals in WG3, and (4)e-Learning However, there are some advanced cases like Quality Assurance / Management in WG4. UPOU (Univ. of the Philippines Open Univ.) The tasks of the WG1 are to share technical information (Philippines, Indonesia) and issues about platform and content in terms of e-learning standards and to collaborate with US and Europe based • Primary Stage communities by exchanging information and requirements on － High demand for training course for e-learning standards. As a standard platform for interoperability, the SCORM (Sharable Courseware Object Reference Model) was professionals and best practices from other selected and promoted, and the validation experiment for countries (Vietnam, Cambodia, etc.) LMS and content produced in participating countries was conducted twice in 2004; one in Tokyo and another in Moreover, maps of organizations were summarized Singapore. In the ALIVE (AEN LMS and content related to Quality Assurance activities in AEN countries The Interoperability Validation Experiment) data was collected Quality Check Tool was also developed for e-Learning form 58 Japanese venders. 21 of them were never operated contents and service. with multiple LMS, but the 37 were operated with multiple These outcomes of four WG are shown in the Portal Site LMS, among them 19 had no interoperability problems and of AEN (http://www.asia-elearning.net/.) 18 had some minor problems. 6 out of 11 contents provided In December 2005 the final AEN conference of the 5 by Asian countries showed some interoperability problems. years project was held in Tokyo and explicit outcomes were The tasks of the WG2 were to examine SCORM summarized. Through main activities such as establishment of compliance qualification programs for maintenance of interoperability among SCORM 2004 Compliant LMS and interoperability, to review SCORM ASSESSOR qualification content for e-learning, development of multilingual contents programs and their deployment in participating countries, to and system, enhancement of e-learning professionals, share information with AEN participating countries on preparation of quality assurance for e-learning contents and interoperability technologies and the qualification programs, services, preparation of portal site, significant achievement and to find the problems in each country. The questionnaire such as a formation of human network among participating survey on the current state of operation was carried out and countries, sharing information and knowledge among the SCORM ASSESSOR training programs were reviewed. countries, survey results for e-learning in ASEAN +three 60% of respondents answered the SCORM conformant countries, and so on. qualification programs as effective, 32% pointed that In order to promote the Priority Policy Programs for programs were effective for early solution of problems and enhancing e-Learning in each country, continuous promotion of distribution. collaboration within AEN will be more and more needed based upon each country’s efforts. Map of ASEAN+3 (PRC,ROK,Japan) Countries C Advanced Developing Ko S Jap M Ch Tha s P I Vi My B C La o i ndone nga a h e r a unt r la ilip t a une os e i m a n i n a n y a l n a a bodi por s nd p ma m i r y ia i s n i e a r e a Rank by N/ N/ N/ N/ Econo 5 6 23 25 46 36 43 53 57 mist* A A A A KIEC, Relat LSTC ALIC, Nationa CELTS NECTE ITECC, Pustekk KELIA, ed l C eLC C PeLS om KERIS Org. Steer Stron i g n SCORM Certification System Not Gradual increase of Still in early stage Still not in practical etc. g demand chasing applying standards stage. Poor Collaboration with ADL etc. Co formmit the US- infrastructure. certificat tee led ion standar system ds WG1/ WG2 Still in Certifica Gradual increase of professionals Still not in practical stage. Still not in practical Certifica early Lack of professionals tion on stage. Poor tion on Interop stage. private infrastructure. National Lack of erabilit level level professi Needs for education education y onals E-Learning Professional education program program program WG3 Law related Needs Still not in practical to e- Stil in early stage. Lack survey, Experimen Still in Still in Still in Experimen Experimen stage. Poor of QA activities e- Learning item and tal QA/QM early stage. early stage. early stage. tal QA/QM tal QA/QM infrastructure. Quality criteria for projects Lack of QA Lack of QA Lack of QA projects projects Learnin Assurance activities activities activities Quality g Certification on National level Assurance Profes AWARD related to e-Learning AWARD *Rank: “The e-Learning Readiness Rankings” , Economist Intel igent Unit & IBM Corp., 2004 sionals 3. E-Japan Strategy value on the key word “e-Learning” along with other key concepts such as electronic government (e-Gov), electronic In July 2003, the Japanese Government announced its e-Japan local government, electronic commerce, and electronic loans Strategy Statement II. The IT Strategy Headquarters’ e-Japan collection. According to e-Japan Priority Policy Program Priority Policy Program-2003 was made public in August 2004 and IT Policy Package 2006, main activities such as 2003. The program is part of the Government’s strategy to advancement of HRD and promotion of teaching and learning raise Japan into the top of group of advanced IT nations by in the fields of IT professionals, content creators and 2005 and to foster continued innovation to sustain this status international standardization of IT performance skills and also from 2006. promotion of e-learning were implemented. The program stressed the importance of “Advancement of Human Resource Development, and the Promotion of 4. Major reversal of educational philosophy Education and Learning”, the second policy area of five areas given priority. With this policy, the Government places high due to growth of e-Learning P resen t S tag e M ain C on cep t S u p p lem en tary tran saction T raditional F ace to F ace e-L earning L earning F u tu re S ta ge M ain C on cep t P art F ace to F ace e-L earning L earning Change of Main Concept in Learning In the background there are major changes in the use of ICT 3. Changes of research focus in educational technology and the large knowledge resources in education and e- 4. Emphasis of education in the field closer to the real learning. world 1. Changes of human resources required in a networked 5. Development of advanced media society 6. Introduction of cost mind into education 2. Enhancing human resources with problem solving 7. Development of education supporting technology. abilities for sustainable development to save the earth 8. Emphasis of evaluation, assessment, validation, and and human resources accreditation. Evaluation R & D Accreditation Educational Outcome Pres entation R & D Support Development Collaborati ve Research Evaluation Competenc y Anal ysis Accreditation Learni ng Technology Learning Support Learning Mechanism Learner Process Leaning Supporting Supporting Resources Body Activity Learning Goal Activity Trainin g Indiv idual Achiev ement e Juku Collect Leadership Academic 指導者 Accept Leader 指導者 Le Instructional Design Provi de IT Use Educ ation Ins titute Support Dev elopment Research Institute Teacher Management・・・ Answer Expert Gov ernment Educ ation Response Design Admi nistration Servic e Utilization Management Coordinator KR Gov. Educ . Policy 学習者 Web page 学習者 Industry Learner Intellectual Database Demand Media Request Aff ectiv e Produc tion Knowledge Repositor y Propos e Device Content Skill Sys tem Portfolio Servic e Will Tool Copyright Problem-sol ving Ability Content Collaboration Creativity Quality Communic ations Ability Real World Law Consortium Assuranc e IT Literac y Nature Curriculum CSCW International Moral Budget ・ Society ・ and National ・ Artificial objects Promotion Standard Help des k Network related e-Learni ng Network Learning Network related Network related Competenc y CSCL Resources Network Support Collaboration ©T. Sakamoto Corresponding to those changes the following problems to e-Learning, at most it is seen as one of many tools that should be widely and deeply investigated. support classroom lessons. 1. Analysis and enhancement of network related In the past, lack of advanced communication networks competency. meant, aside from distance education by post, traditional face- 2. E-learning and CSCL to-face lessons were the only learning method available. For 3. Network learning resources in the form of leader, media this reason, the traditional face-to-face lesson was considered and real world. the bedrock of education, a belief which has now been rocked 4. Network related support and collaboration. by the advent of e-Learning. 5. Research and development on e-educational The new paradigm is that e-Learning represents the true methodology, e-competency analysis, advanced nature of education and traditional face-to-face lessons in technology, evaluation, validation, e-assessment, universities and schools are, so to speak, exceptional practices. accreditation, collaboration, e- portfolio and so on. Put simply, the spread of e-Learning is causing a major, if As computerization, networking, and the application of somewhat belated, shift in educational philosophy. However, information technology have not yet been integrated into the adopting this new paradigm will take considerable time as education sector, many people concerned still believe that there is a great deal of inertia in educational communities that mainstream education must be school education based on have always practiced traditional face-to-face education. traditional face-to-face lessons as a matter of course. In regard not restricted to children or students; Teachers, experts, civil 5. Structure of e-Learning servants, politicians, indeed, all members of society can be learners. The relationship between learners and sources should allow for synchronous and asynchronous learning in terms of time; a multiplicity of environments in terms of place; and a variety of methods, encompassing lectures, drills, experiments, observation, individual practices, small-group Learning activities, and distributed and collaborative activities. Objectives Education is the state of affairs where learning objectives are achieved through learning, pursued in a variety of conditions Interaction yet always aimed at these objectives, and realized in the interaction between learners and learning information sources. Therefore the collective learning which takes place between take teachers and students in traditional face-to-face education at Information universities and schools can be considered a special or respond Learners Resources exceptional situation. Previously, due to the late introduction KR of information technology into education, other learning methods other than traditional face-to-face lessons were generally unavailable, causing educational communities to Mechanism of Education believe the traditional lesson to be the only possible learning method. On the other hand, it may be very difficult to Education consists of interaction between learners and imagine that everybody will be able to learn anyplace information sources. Information sources for learning include anytime through any means in a fully networked society. Of not only teachers, students, peers, experts, civil servants, course, it goes without saying that traditional face-to-face politicians, and other members of society, but also sources education is still important at universities or other schools. such as educational materials, textbooks, other books, videos, The traditional method can be regarded as a kind of pure TV, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, educational Web sites, as well situation, and as such it offers certain advantages, including a as the social and natural worlds. Anything can be a source for number of principles and basic understandings it delivers learning. Additionally, anybody can be a learner. Learning is which can be applied effectively to education in general. Learners Any member of our society children, pupils, students, teachers, experts, civil servants politicians knowledge, skills, attitude, Learning Objectives motivation, competency, ability Information Resources Teachers, students, peers, experts, Any member of our society civil servants, politicians, Othe r members of society Educational Content Educational materials, textbooks, books, videos, CD-ROMs, DVD- ROMs, Educational Web site of e ducational providers Real World Social and natural world Artificial obje cts Interaction Factor Anytime ; Synchronous, Asynchronous Time Anywhere ; Same site, Remote site Space Method Lecture, Seminar, Workshop, Methodology Experime nt Individual, Small group, Learning Style Collective learning, Distributed learning Collaborative Learning Curriculum structure Standardized Flexible Free Detail of Components The strengths and limitations of education and the traditional face-to-face method are clarified in this context. 7. Conclusion Information communication technologies such as OHPs, videos, projectors, and computers are the face of e-Learning In this context, it would become more and more important to in traditional face-to-face education. For distance education, evaluate the quality of education and training courses, e-Learning takes the form of content connected to a network. contents, instruction and also related organizations. The Networks make available knowledge from all over the world, global standard of systems, and platform also should enabling the learner to take the initiative in selecting and explicitly be defined. Each database in portal sites should studying necessary content from anywhere at anytime have its own independent and qualified characteristics for Yet while traditional face-to-face education cannot fully their own products, and their own culture and languages. offer such advantages, distance education does not Specially maintaining and deepening independent sufficiently enable visual communication such as facial characteristic of each knowledge site, multi-collaboration expression, gesture, enthusiasm, and emotional contacts across different component sectors within and among between teacher and student, which constitute extremely universities, IHEs, companies, disciplines, specialties, enjoyable aspects of traditional face-to-face education. In countries, districts, culture, gender, age religion, ethnic order to effectively promote education, the need to groups, social position and profession. incorporate these factors as important components of The AEN is one of these knowledge networks and education should not be underestimated. Distance education gradually will grow to construct AEEN(Asia Europe E- needs to show improvement in this area, for example by Learning Network), APEN(Asia Pacific E-Learning Network) including bringing in mentors or actively using images and and finally global world e-Learning network using large arranging off-line meetings. Teachers also need to be knowledge resources. Cultivating qualified leaders based on prepared in face-to-face lessons and should pre-download knowledge and skill standards is now urgent problem. content when using the Internet in the classroom. This kind of care will effectively improve education aimed at imparting 8. References knowledge, yet education which aims to discover or create Sakamoto, T., “Educational Reform Based on E-Learning: new knowledge further needs to provide occasions in which The Establishment of an International Web-Based learners can gain experience and solve problems in a Learning Community”, Journal of Studies in simulating environment, all of which are necessary for International Education, Vol.6 No.2 15-171, 2002. effective intellectual learning. Sakamoto, T., “Development of Information and Communication Technology use in School Education in 6. Influtence of e-Learning on Japan”, Information and Systems in Education, Vol.1 university education No.1, 5-14, 2002. Sakamoto, T., “E-learning and educational innovation in The spread of e-Learning will significantly influence higher education in Japan”, Educational Media university education. In an aging society with a diminishing International, No.1, 9-16, 2002. youth demographic, thirty percent of universities and fifty Sakamoto, T., “E-Learning in Japanese Universities”, Industry percent of junior colleges cannot meet their quotas. In and Higher Education, December, 397-404, 2003. addition to this severe situation, the introduction of e- Learning makes it more difficult for even prestigious schools to secure students both in Japan and abroad. A number of renowned foreign universities now confer master degrees on Short Bio students who study solely via e-Learning. This matter will become more pressing as Japanese students improve their Takashi Sakamoto, Prof. Dr. English and foreign universities offer courses in Japanese. After his retirement as a professor of Tokyo Institute of Universities are engaged in a variety of activities in the Technology, he became a Vice President of the National reorganization of national universities into independent Center for University Entrance Examinations. He later became corporations. Nevertheless, major threats are on the horizon the Director General of the National Institute of Multimedia that various corporations, organizations, and education Education and is now the President of the Japan Association businesses are expected to offer educational courses which for Promotion of Educational Technology as well as the match those provided in universities, though some of this President of the Accreditation Council for Practical Abilities. planning has already been implemented. These new He is also the president of the Japanese Association of competitors will award diplomas and qualifications that may Educational Technology Societies and Japan Society of Media be highly valued by society, thus conferring on their and Information Science and the chairperson of Asia E- universality and legitimacy. learning Network Promotion Committee. In such situation important problems to be solved will be He has written and edited extensively over 400 books and quality assurance, establishment of global standards in system, published many academic and professional papers and articles. platform, and content, copyright treatment, use of local Dr. Sakamoto has also worked as a member on various languages, user protection, building portal sites, blended governmental social activity committees nationally and learning, and specially collaboration across all kinds of internationally. different sectors and among sectors. |