Can Japan stand as a forerunner in educational informatization?

 ■ Can Japan stand as a forerunner in educational informatization?

This is the sequel to the symposium commemorating the establishment of the "Educational Information Promotion Law". 

The sponsored Higher Education Association has 31 organizations participating and 8000 companies under its umbrella. Mr. Ishido gave a report on the WG team for AI, cloud, copyright, blockchain, VR, and programming, and explained the WG that thinks about ideal schooling beyond the boundaries of high school and university. 

In the discussion, in addition to the representatives of the bipartisan parliamentary members, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Mr. Yoko, major of Taku City in Saga Prefecture, Mr. Morishita of Mitsumura Publishing, Mr. Jinno of COMPASS, Mr. Koide of Google, and Mr. Otomi of Amazon also participated. 

Textbook companies that have been involved in this field for many years, representatives of a technology promotion company, and GA of GAFA gathered together to exchange opinions between government, industry, and academia. 

Mayor Yoko is also the chairman of the National Council of ICT Education Chiefs and says, "We have presented solutions to the shortage of local governments' financial resources and human resources". "Future issues are support measures for promoting the spread of low-priced devices all over the country, and reforms for procurement, regulation, and cloud utilization are necessary."

Mr. Morishita of Mitsumura Publishing introduced the actual usage situation in the group, saying that "the integrated use of digital textbooks and digital teaching materials (videos, readings, works, QR, etc.) is effective". Diet members also pointed out that things such as videos that are currently being treated as teaching materials should be made into regular textbooks. 

Mr. Kamino of COMPASS talked about the "Future Classroom" project the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is carrying out at Kojimachi Junior High School, using AI-type tablet teaching material 'Qubena'. "The 62 hours of the 1st grade unit in junior high school can be shortened to 38 hours, and the remaining 28 hours can be used for STEM learning and 2nd grade units." This shows remarkable results. It is an era of technology for education. 

Last summer, Google formed an organization in Japan to invest in ICT for education and is working on inexpensive terminals. They showed their enthusiasm by remarking that "Chromebook is adopted by 70% of US education sites and 50% of the world's education sites, and we would like to provide a platform that guarantees security at a low price."

　

Cloud description from AWS:

"In addition to being used by educational institutions around the world, 19 of the top 20 educational startups in the United States use AWS." Cloud virtualization technology is used to separate internet connections, increase security and provide programs for acquiring cloud skills was also introduced. 

The speakers agreed that Japan's educational informatization has been delayed, but there is room for growth. Mr. Morishita of Mitsumura Publishing reported that "the penetration rate of digital textbooks has exceeded 50%, while the number of PCs is 2.17 million for 838.7 million students."Discussions were held on the necessity of introducing BYOD and the use of the Cloud as a prerequisite. 

Mr. Kamino of COMPASS said, "Edtech companies are rapidly emerging in China and India due to population growth and low quality of education, while Japan and the United States have high quality of education, and the type of things required from it are different, making it difficult to compare to China and India."As an industry, it is important to look at the global market. Until now, such discussions have been insufficient. 

Will Japan stand as a front runner under this law? 

Mr. Kamino: "If it starts now, yes, but if it waits 5 years it'll be too late". 

Mr. Otomibe: "It is important to create an environment where students can use what they want to use when they want to use it and private citizens can participate."

Mr. Koide: "The following three years will be win or lose. If you invest 1.3 trillion yen, 13 million students will have acess to PCs."

Mr. Asano, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry: "It is important to raise children who understand both the why and the how of using technology."

Mr. Morishita: "Schools, homes, cram schools, etc. will cooperate with services that share learning history data of textbooks, teaching materials and educational services." We look forward to new technologies for AI and big data. 

Representative Moriyama: "It is important to balance the importance of real experiences such as temperature and pain, with education using ICT."

Representative Nakagawa: "It is important for us to move forward while developing human resources in the field and creating an environment where ICT equipment can be used."

　The private sector will do its best. The support of government officials can also be looked forward to. Let's hope for the best.