Page 124 - Proceedings of the 2017 ITU Kaleidoscope

2017 ITU Kaleidoscope Academic Conference

education in humanities, culture and informatics programs. example, simple programming skills are less valuable in
Since then the faculty and staff undertook various preparations advanced countries. On the other hand, ICT consumer markets
for educational contents and lecture notes. are growing. Digital content production has become target skills
This paper reports on important educational items in the field for students such as animation, electronic games, e-book, e-
of the Digital Campus, such as the improved test results on editor and IPTV.
students’ information and technology knowledge by comparing The iPad as a typical tablet PC was considered a very useful
before and after implementation of the proposed system. LMS device for our educational purposes when it first appeared on the
is a very useful tool for distributing lecture slides and market in April 2010 in the U.S. and later in Japan. In July
documents without printed handouts so that students can pay 2010, Otani University decided that all the students of the
more attention to the lecture rather than note taking with the Department of Humane Informatics for coming academic year
help of a tablet PC. Groupware and Social Networking Services 2011 were given this device in order to improve lectures,
(SNS) are also proven to be effective tools to communication practice and seminars in a drastic manner.
means among professors and students. There are several open After Apple released the product, there have been many tablet
databases and e-learning services available free of charge. We PC vendors using Android OS provided by Google. In general
use one powerful open online education service for the “IT Apple’s products are more expensive however we continue to
Passport Examination” (a Japanese government approved test) adopt iPad because of strong linkage with Apple PC and
for a preparation of study and successful results. Writing an e- application software useful to content developers as our student
Pub format document is another meaningful subject for the business model.
Digital Contents class, as e-format books with multimedia are
very interesting for students to read with a tablet PC.
In recent years students have started to use wristband-type
wearable devices on campus. Using those devices we have
implemented a system to monitor students’ daily behavior in
walking and sleeping for the purpose of improvement of their
health consciousness.
This structure of educational platforms is depicted in Fig. 2 as
layers of the campus network [4].

Fig. 3. Digital Campus

In order to maximize curriculum reform and educational
improvement, the “digital campus” concept was created as
shown in Fig. 3. Places for mobile tablet usage are not just
classrooms but many other locations within the campus, as well
as off-campus, on the train or at home. Collaboration is
important among students, faculty and service-
providers/vendors on the same platform.
Fig. 2. Campus Network, Devices and Applications

2. CHANGE OF HIGHER EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND
CURRICULUM REFORM

After the rapid economical growth in the years between 1955
and 1980 in Japan, the population of children began decreasing.
The number of universities, however, doubled from the year
1980, according to the deregulation of Japanese higher
education policy. In general, Japanese household economy
became relatively better compared to the previous generation,
and the ratio of students who attend university was 50.2% in
2009, which may have changed the needs for students with less
academic ability and diverted interests to vocational skills.
The Department of Humane Informatics of Otani University Fig. 4. Curriculum Reform by ICT and Mobile Device
was established in 2000 within the Faculty of Letters for the Capability
purpose of coping with the requirements for interdisciplinary
higher education opportunity. Students are able to study Regarding curriculum reform, Fig. 4 depicts an overview.
humanities and social sciences while simultaneously developing Students are motivated to gain skills as digital content creators
Information Technology skill. Ten years from the department’s or ICT professionals, as they use iPad almost every day during
establishment, educational needs have changed even further. For class, out of class and at home. Four years of undergraduate

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