A private historical past: 21. Open and distance studying in Japan and South Korea

Having fun with summer time

I hope you’re all having a well-earned break. Right here in Vancouver we’re having fun with a beautiful summer time. I hope you’re discovering comparable ‘Goldilocks’ climate: not too sizzling, not too chilly, not too dry (though there’s nonetheless time for all this and extra). Nevertheless, due to the summer time I’ve been spending much less time in my workplace writing so there was a little bit of a break in my weblog posts.

I’m writing an autobiography, primarily for my household, but it surely does cowl some key moments within the improvement of open and on-line studying. I assumed I’d share these as there appears to be a rising curiosity within the historical past of academic expertise.

Word that these posts are NOT meant to be deeply researched historic accounts, however how I noticed and encountered developments in my private life. For those who have been round on the time of those developments and wish to supply feedback or a unique view, please use the remark field on the finish of every publish. (There’s already a dialog monitor on my LinkedIn web site and on X). A full listing of the posts up to now will probably be discovered towards the top of this publish.

The fraternity of academic expertise and educational design

Fraternity: the state or feeling of friendship and mutual assist inside a bunch.

I’ve been extremely lucky to be a part of the fraternity of these working worldwide in academic expertise or course design. This has meant I’ve made good pals and colleagues all over the world, individuals who share comparable values about training and who’ve a novel shared expertise of working in academia. The very nature of such work calls for good social expertise, particularly in regarding lecturers who are sometimes at the least initially suspicious about or proof against the concepts being touted by academic technologists or educational designers. Such colleagues often have an open-ness to new concepts, and a typical understanding of their roles and expertise. This fraternity has been an extremely vital a part of my life.

This meant throughout my profession that each time I travelled (and I travelled quite a bit) there could be both acquainted pals or new pals to be made. Subsequently though invites to talk at conferences or run seminars or applications usually got here from these I already knew, additionally they got here too from full strangers who knew about me, both by my writing or by having attended one among my keynotes or seminars.

Japan and Korea

A brief go to to Japan: has something modified in 30 years?

One of many shock invites got here in 1995 from the Nationwide Institute of Multimedia Schooling in Chiba, Japan. Chiba is about 90 minutes by practice from downtown Tokyo. I wasn’t certain why that they had invited me as I knew no-one there however I used to be requested to offer a keynote to their employees and invited friends at their headquarters in Chiba.

I used to be often very comfy travelling in international nations that I had by no means earlier than visited, however Japan was an exception. I couldn’t communicate nor learn any Japanese, and in 1995 not many Japanese spoke English, so simply getting round was troublesome, involving a whole lot of gesticulating and pointing to locations on maps. Even at NIME I discovered speaking with my colleagues unusually troublesome, partly due to the language, but in addition the tradition was very completely different. Though the Japanese I met have been very pleasant and well mannered, they have been rather more formal than most colleagues in international nations, and even the employees at NIME spoke little English, at the least at the moment.

Additionally there was a extremely heavy emphasis on expertise, notably new or forefront expertise. As a result of my lecture was being relayed concurrently throughout a number of websites, it consequently took about half a dozen technicians almost an hour to arrange my Powerpoint presentation, as a result of not one of the gear was normal or appropriate with my software program and Macintosh laptop computer pc, however, as almost all the time, the technicians made it work

Monitoring rising applied sciences after all was the job of NIME, however their emphasis, at the least in 1995, was completely technological. The instructing needed to match the expertise. The expertise that NIME was demonstrating – at the moment primarily satellite tv for pc TV, cable tv and particularly video-conferencing – was largely used for relaying lectures. Following my keynote (which was concurrently translated into Japanese), I felt from the questions on the finish that the principle curiosity at NIME was not on the instructing and studying implications of utilizing completely different applied sciences, however which expertise was technically higher for delivering lectures.

A lot has modified in Japan within the final 30 years, however I used to be nonetheless stunned to learn in the newest concern of Vol. 16, No.2 of the Journal of Comparative and Worldwide Larger Schooling (JCIHE) in a paper by Tookaa et al. (2024) that:

Though the Japanese authorities in 2018 indicated ‘the digitalization of upper training as an vital coverage concern for the conclusion of “Society 5.0….. digitalization remains to be in its infancy, and lifelong studying itself being peripheral to Japanese universities….there are additionally many challenges to be confronted’.

Regardless of the federal government’s needs and the affect of Covid-19 in shifting many Japanese professors to show on-line for the primary time, in Japan using on-line studying remains to be restricted. In a 2017 survey, using doc creation software program similar to PowerPoint was increasing each out and in of the category, whereas using LMS and file-sharing instruments to assist pupil studying was not progressing and was low… The explanations for the shortage of promotion of using LMS and file-sharing instruments are the desire for conventional paper-based training (Kano & Gobel, 2014) in addition to the mismatch with their lessons and the technological nervousness felt by college members concerning LMS use (Ishikawa & Hara, 2019). As well as, the shortage of pc literacy amongst college members has additionally been indicated as a problem (Nishii. (Ed.), 2020).

Though in current instances the federal government has allowed the next proportion of lessons to be on-line, authorities nonetheless strictly regulates accreditation primarily based on time spent in-class, and in keeping with this and different papers on the subject most Japanese professors nonetheless imagine the one legitimate methodology of college instructing is orally in lecture theatres. Now one may say this about most nations, together with Canada, however in Japan the sturdy tradition, traditions of instructing and studying, and rules limiting on-line studying make these limitations greater than in lots of different nations.

Japan has remained an enigma for me, leaving me with a sense that I’m lacking one thing actually vital. Actually a three-day working go to was inadequate to actually perceive and respect the distinctive Japanese tradition. I’d like to listen to from others extra accustomed to the Japanese system, particularly concerning college instructing immediately.

South Korea: on-line studying is alive and properly

When colleagues on the Korean Nationwide Open College (KNOU) heard I used to be coming to Japan in 1995, they invited me to proceed on to Seoul. It was a brief keep, only one in a single day cease, adopted by a keynote subsequent day. My flight again to Canada was late the identical night time. Following the keynote, I used to be invited to hitch two of the employees of the KNOU (all girls) for dinner at a restaurant, from the place I’d go direct to the airport. On the finish of a pleasant dinner (the ladies all spoke glorious English), I used to be stunned to see one among them push a big, plain brown paper provider bag below the desk to me.

‘As to procure your personal ticket and paid in your lodge your self, that is in your journey bills to Korea. It’s 3 million received.’

I peered into the bag which was nearly filled with Korean cash.

‘You may change this into Canadian {dollars} if you get to the airport. Please signal this receipt. Additionally, due to the visitors, we’ll take you to a close-by subway station and you may get a direct subway practice to the airport.’ I used to be a bit nervous, as there have been solely a few hours earlier than my airplane to Vancouver was attributable to depart.

‘No, no, you’ll have loads of time’, they mentioned

I had no thought what number of received there have been to a Canadian greenback, but it surely appeared like an enormous amount of cash. The ladies graciously escorted me to the subway, purchased my ticket, and mentioned goodbye. I then sat on a packed commuter practice with my small carry-on bag with my pc on my lap and the brown provider bag between my knees, terrified somebody would rob me, however no-one appeared .

Once I acquired to the airport I discovered a forex trade counter. There was a brief queue. Once I acquired to the counter, I mentioned:

‘Do you communicate English?’

‘Sure, some.’

I held up the provider bag.

‘Can you alter this to Canadian {dollars}?’, I mentioned, pushing the bag throughout the counter.

The person behind the counter didn’t bat an eyelid. He scooped up the cash and fed it into an automated counting machine. In lower than two minutes, he paid out simply over $3,000 in Canadian forex. It appeared very small as compared. And I made the flight in loads of time.

I’ve made a number of extra journeys to Seoul since to offer displays and to speak to employees, not simply at KNOU but in addition on the Seoul Nationwide College and the Ewha Girls’s College. On one journey I used to be taken to the Korean Demilitarised Zone, which is barely 30 kilometres north of Seoul, and peered over the wall into North Korea.

As elsewhere, the affect of Covid-19 on instructing and studying has been important in South Korea. Lee and Lee (2024) not too long ago reported that one of many greatest achievements of the quick and expanded digitization of instructing and studying is the elevated data and follow to make the instructing and studying in HE more practical for learners. New ‘learner-centered’ pedagogical fashions have actively been explored throughout the pandemic with the utilization of digital instructing and studying.

I used to be stunned on the massive distinction between South Korea and Japan. Most likely as a result of English was by no means a barrier on my visits to South Korea, I discovered South Korea rather more open and westernised. It was additionally rather more dedicated to open and distance studying, with many private and non-private universities providing complete diploma applications at a distance, in addition to the KNOU. Particularly, girls in Korea, similar to Insung Jung, have been, and are, very lively in on-line and distance studying, and are globally recognised consultants in open and distance studying.

Nevertheless, I’d really want to spend extra time in Korea and Japan notably to really feel comfy with this comparability. I’m questioning if others have had comparable or completely different experiences (please use the remark field on the finish of this publish).

References

Ishikawa, Ok. & Hara, S. (2019). The connection between the perspective and utilization for LMS (Studying Administration System). Yamanashi Gakuin College journal of administration data science (Keieijohogaku ronsyu), 25, 41–49.

Kano, M. & Gobel, P. (2014). Japanese lecturers’ use of expertise at Kyoto Sangyo college. Discussion board of Larger Schooling Analysis, 4, 57–69.

Lee, H. and Lee, R. (2024) Transformation of Korean Larger Schooling within the Digital Period: Achievements and Challenges Journal of Comparative & Worldwide Larger Schooling Vol. 16. No.2

Nishii, Y. (Ed.). (2020). Personal universities within the COVID-19 pandemic. The Analysis Institute for Impartial Larger Schooling. https://www.shidaikyo.or.jp/riihe/ebook/5141cdec074a1afe0b8a693c935936f95b5e92ed.pdf

Tatsuya Tookaa, Naoyoshi Uchidab, Keigo Takenagaa, Kazuaki Maruyamaa, and Maki Katoa (2024) Digitalization of Larger Schooling in Japan: Challenges and Reflections for Schooling Reform Journal of Comparative & Worldwide Larger Schooling Vol. 16. No.2