デジタル社会の諸様相 -社会学の新たな展開-

JAPANESE EDUCATION IN
THE INFORMATION AGE
SOCIETY
Fumie Kumagai, Ph.D.
KYORIN UNIVERSITY, TOKYO, JAPAN
E-mail: [email protected]
URL: http://www.sfc.keio.ac.jp/~n96287fk/
Outline of the Presentation
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Introduction
Community Network
Digital Kids and Participatory Education
Media literacy Education in Primary and
Secondary Education
Growing Up Digital and Youth Education
Online Higher Education
Media Literacy Education for the Elderly
Conclusion
Introduction
The Information Age Society
 The Internet
– Essential Part of the Infrastructure
– New Communication Medium
 The ADC Principle
– Autonomy
– Distribution
– Collaboration

The ADC Principle in Education

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IT & Media Networking →Emergence of a
New Network Society
Highly Unexpected, Discontinuous, and Sudden
Changes
Needs for the Changes in the Management
System:
– from the Authoritarian Power of the Top-Down
Organization
– to the Autonomous, Distributive, and Collaborative
System of Bottom-up Organizations

Application of the ADC Principle for the Study
of Japanese Education in the IA Society
What Is Community Network?
 The
Information Technology
 Narrows Gaps in Information
Services due to Regional Variations
 Revitalization of Local
Administrations
 Distributing Information beyond the
Boundaries of the Local Community
Services of Community Network To
Meet the Needs of IA Citizens
The Content
– Must be proposed clearly
– Need to be understood fully
 The Telecommunication Infrastructure
(Universal Service)
– Information Infrastructure (cabling,
equipment, etc.)
– Information Services (Email, Web, etc.)

Figure 1 The Four Components of a
Community Network
Information
Network Infrastructure
Services
INFRASTRUCTURE
People
Digital Kids and Participatory
Education
 Education
Fostering Humanity
 Education Encouraging Creativity
and Independence
 Education Meeting the Demand of
the Information Age Society
 Education Establishing the Sense of
Community Sharing
Digital Kids and Participatory
Education

Too much emphasis on the entrance exams
for colleges and universities
Information & Memorization›The
Intellectual Growth of Children
 Lack of Communication Skills
 The Learning Process=A Series of Trial and
Error Explorations
 Learn from the Failing Experiences
 Resulting in fully formed human being with
autonomy and creativity.

Figure 2 The Process of Education
Encouraging Creativity and Independence
Diversity in
Orientations
TASK
Imagination
Positive Attitudes
toward Theory
Construction
Logical
Reasoning
CREATIVITY
Theory
Construction
Skill
INDEPENDENCE
Figure 3 The Process of Education Meeting
the Demand of the Information Age Society
IT
Education in the
Information Age
Society
●English
Skills
Skills for International
Individual
●Communication
●Cross-Cultural
● Personnel Management
Understanding
● Multi Media Skills
●
●
Information
Selectivity Skill
●
Human
Management
Skill
Team Work
● Leadership
● Stress
Management
Overcoming Pressures
Autonomous
Self
INTERNATIONAL
INDIVIDUAL
Figure 4 The Process of Education
Establishing the Sense of Community Sharing
Pupils
School
Community
Home
↑
Teacher
SUPPORTIVE
FAMILIES
Parents
Elderly
Participator
y Team
Teaching
Participatory
Learning
Participatory
School
↓
Community
Sharing
Children’s Attitudes for
Autonomous Study
 By
the active use of Internet Search
Engines
 Web Sites both in Japanese and
English
 Expand communication network into
the Worldwide Cyberspace
Community
 Open Mindedness
 A Willingness to Study on Their Own
Youth and Media Literacy
Education in Japan
 Published
by Japanese Ministry of Post
and Telecommunication (June 2000) which
highlights 3 kinds of abilities:
»The ability to read and understand
media.
»The ability to access media and utilize
them effectively.
»The ability to communicate creatively.
Media Literacy Education in
Primary and Secondary Education
 Assist
to develop creativity and
imagination in children.
 Children take the initiative on the
technical aspects of learning.
 The teaching staff facilitate the
learning activities with the children.
Growing Up Digital and
Youth Education
 Youth
Socialization at Home=
Intergenerational Communication
between Parents and Youth.
 Don Tapscott (1997): Growing Up Digital
(‘net generation and adults)
»The N-Gen (Net-Generation of under
16)
»The Grown Up includes all the others.
Online Higher Education
Online Degree Programs in Higher
Education
 Enrollment of the Japanese People in
Online Education
 Online Education and Burden to the
Instructors
 Higher
Education as Distance
Education
 Online Textbooks
Online Degree Programs in
Higher Education
 Correspondence
Course College
Education
 In the 1980a=The introduction of the
VCR
 In the 1990s=The Internet and
online education programs. (=the
Internet equivalent of the
correspondence course.
Distance Education
Enrollment of the Japanese
People in Online Education
 Conversational
skills are secondary.
 The primary English ability is to
express one’s ideas.
 Therefore, Japanese who lack good
conversational English skills are not
at such a disadvantage.
Online Education and Burden
to the Instructors
It absorbs too many hours in preparing
lecture notes, and to place them on the
Internet.
 Time consuming to respond to students’
queries by email.
 Students show strong interests in the online
education.
 However, being a good teacher will not
contribute much toward one’s tenure and
promotion.

Higher Education as Distance
Education
 Some
programs enable the students to
pursue and complete a degree program
entirely through the Internet. (e.g.,
Athabasca University)
 Students:raw materials → customers
 Higher Educational Institutions: the
Secondary Industry of Manufacturing
→the Tertiary Industry of Services
Online Textbooks
Some publishing houses in the U.S. are eager
to adopt IT in their college textbooks.
 Example: Dushkin McGraw-Hill
(http://www.dushkin.com/)
 The Social Sciences
 Sociology and various topical areas

in the 21st century is truly
global in the sense of SPACE and TIME.
 Education
Media Literacy Education for the
Elderly
 Digital
Divide in Japan
 Not between the middle class and the
poor.
 But among the disabled and the elderly.
 A great majority of Japanese elderly are
healthy and active. (Active Seniors)
 They possess strong desire to learn the
IT of the 21st century.
Elderly Friendly Media
Environments
Voice Recognition Software (Via Voice by
JIBM, Smart Boy by NEC vs. keyboard)
 Zoom Text (by NEC enlarges the screen
text)
 Me-no-Tasuke (Visionary Assistant,
enlarges letters on Web sites)
 The PC Pico (by Richo, allowing to input
letters by pencil rather than by keyboard.)

Senior Network Groups
Friends Saloon:
http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/~tsalon/toppage2.htm
Links for Aging Society:
http://www.kahoku.co.jp/senior/links.htm
Mellow Society Forum:
http://www.mictokyo.co.jp/mellow/index.html
Senior Live: http://asahi-net.or.jp/~by7m-kkmm/
Senior Network: http://www.lec.handy.nfukushi.ac.jp/senior/index2.html
SeniorNet Link:
http://www.seaple.icc.ne.jp/~fukai/no.8link-link.html
SeniorNet Sendai:
http://www.kahoku.co.jp/senior/index.html
SeniorNet: http://www.seniornet.org/
Tips for the Success of Senior Net
(by SeniorNet: http://www.seniornet.org)
Teachers are older adults themselves.
 Not to give tests or pressure about the rate of
learning.
 Classes to be small with no more than 20,
usually under 10 students.
 For every 3 students, 1 coach to assist
students while the teacher instructs.
 Instruction should focus on issues of concern
to older adults such as keyboarding skills,
using a mouse, and increasing type size.

Conclusion-1
Education in the 21st
century and the IT
 Education on Demand
 English as Lingua Franca (Samuel
Huntington, 1997)
 English Skills based on the sound
knowledge of the Japanese language
 Identity Formation
 Japanese
Conclusion-2
4
Steps for the Globalization of
Japanese Society (Kumagai, 1996)
»To know oneself.
»To understand the partner.
»To realize the ethnocentric
orientation of ourselves.
»To be cultural ambassador.
Conclusion-3
 Socialization
of children in the
Information Age Society.
 Place school children in an easy access to
the media facility in the community.
 The Internet facilitate people to carry on
communication globally.
 Need for the educational reform so that
Japan is accepted as a true partner in
rapidly evolving global communities.
図9-1
独創性および自己確立養成の
プロセス
多様な考え方
課題
独創性の確立
想像力
論理展開の姿勢
論理的推論
論理構築力
自己の確立
図9-2 国際人確立へのプロセス
技 術 革 新
情 報 化・ 国 際 化
時代 の 教 育
国際 人と し て の
ス キ ル
英語力の養成
コミュニケーション
異文化理解
人間管理
マル チ メデ ィ ア
技法
情 報選 別能力
マネジメント
能力
チームワーク
リーダーシップ
ストレス ・
マネジメ ン ト
プ レ ッ シ ャ ー の 克 服
自律 す る
自 我
国際人の
確立
図9-3 暮らしの共同体と開かれた
学校確立へのプロセス
生徒
暮
ら
し
の
共
同
体
↑
学校
先生
参 加型
地域
助手家 族
チ ー ム・
学習参加の
ティー チング
授 業 作り
家庭
父 母
高 齢者
開かれた学校
↓
暮らしの共同体