Keywords

1 Introduction

1.1 Digital Presentation Platform (DPP)

The authors have developed and started using a system called a Digital Presentation Platform (DPP) in order to contribute to university education in Japan.

The principle behind the design and development of the DPP was to change traditional university teachers, who use old lecture notes to present only their own knowledge, into facilitators who search for the vast amounts of unknown knowledge on the network together with their students from the classroom. The goals and methods maybe change as the technological environment changes, but the principle does not. It is stable.

The DPP principle is not just the digitization of educational data, but the digitalization of the educational environment. The DPP has the following three functions.

  1. 1)

    Response Analyzer (also known as the “Audience response system” or “Clicker”)

  2. 2)

    LMS (Learning Management System)

  3. 3)

    Distance Education

    • *1. DPP is a cloud service. If the teaching environment has Wi-Fi, it can be used anytime, anyplace.

    • *2. DPP is a function of the KK2 site. Instructors and learners need to register as web members on the KK2 site to use the DPP. KK2 ⇒ www.kk2.ne.jp.

    • *3. The DPP aims to ensure learning service quality that meets the basic requirements of ISO29990.

    • *4. The KK2 Digital Presentation Platform has been granted a patent as of April 5, 2019, for Media Links Co., Ltd. Patent No. 6507328.

Figure 1 shows the outline of the DPP system.

Fig. 1.
figure 1

Configuration of DPP

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This paper presents the main function of the Response Analyzer, as it is the function most specialized for two-way interactivity in classrooms, the main purpose of the DPP. The development and implementation of the first Response Analyzer system, using cellphones supported by AVCC, has already been reported [1].

The DPP that has been developed now is not just about reforming education by getting students to actively participate in classes, but targets what is perhaps the traditional essence of the university lecturer; is something that works on that. Thus, the DPP slogan is “Two Way or Go Away,” a stern yet gentle phrase. In other words, it calls on university lecturers to “leave the classroom if your classes cannot be two-way.”

The authors have already reported on the former HCIIs, which they developed based on the same goal of support university education as an education and learning system to support two-way style participation in classes and its use in seminars(small and discussion based classes) [2,3,4,5].

The development of DPP of this time as an extension of these previous results provides a qualitative assurance.

2 Background to This R&D: The Current Status of Japanese Society and Universities

2.1 The Current Status of Japanese Society

Today, Japanese universities are required to revitalize their on-campus classes even further. There is a policy of reinforcing two-way communication between teachers and students in many classes, and the reason this is happening is because the one-way knowledge presentation education and learning is already shifting to more effective distance education or e-learning formats, which has been already implemented off campus.

The globalization of contemporary society and the influence of ICT that this trend is probably common to any university in the world, but this is a particularly urgent task for Japan.

From the 1970s to the 1990s, Japan succeeded in becoming the most industrialized country in the world, and its economic power was experiencing a golden age as in the book “Japan as Number One” by Ezra F. Vogel [6]. Vogel’s book states that the foundation for Japan’s rapid economic growth was the interest in learning and the reading habits of the Japanese. As proof of these desires, Vogel noted the fact that the total amount of time spent in reading by Japanese was twice that of Americans, and the huge numbers of newspapers published. This diligence and seriousness, which could be termed the national character of the Japanese, allowed an unrivalled strength among industrial societies.

However, Japan’s international competitiveness has tumbled from 1st in 1992 to 30th by May 2019 (according to the IMD World Competitiveness Rankings [7]). Social structures have drastically changed, and Japanese companies, which once were famed throughout the world, are now being swung around by GAFA. The top headline for the Nikkei(Japanese Economics) newspaper on January 1, 2020, was “The Rusting Formula for Growth.”

There are a few intriguing and mysterious episodes that explain how Japan came to be this way.

Episode 1: Educational Reforms 75 Years Ago

The General Headquarters (GHQ) of the Allied Occupation of Japan following WW2 carried out the following three educational reforms [8].

  1. (1)

    The old “injection”-style learning was to be changed into debate-style education which promotes independent activities by students.

  2. (2)

    Students were to learn not just from textbooks, but going out into the community to see, listen, and learn in hands-on education.

  3. (3)

    The use of audio-visual materials was to be heavily promoted.

This was 75 years ago. If we replaced “audio-visual materials” in (3) with ICT, then these could be identical with what is being called for today. It is fascinating just how resistant to change Japanese education is.

Episode 2: Undergrounding

“Undergrounding is the replacement of overhead cables providing electrical power or telecommunications” [9]. An egregious example of not changing is the removal of electric poles. In other words, whether or not to bury electrical lines underground. Everyone including Japanese has long understood how their removal has merits both in terms of the visual landscape and in dealing with disasters, but, as shown in Fig. 2, Japanese cities are well behind the curve compared to major cities overseas. This maybe shows a lack of bold resolution based on the gentle national character.

Fig. 2.
figure 2

Status of undergrounding in major cities in the West, Asia, and Japan [10]

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In the past, Japan did its best catch up to the industrialized Western world through unifying its citizenry. It succeeded in doing so, joining the ranks of advanced nations. If Japan has a clear goal, like catching up to Western economies, it can unify and use its unequalled diligence as a strength. However, in an era of maturity and uncertainty, Japan appears to finds itself without goals, confused. The issue of burying power lines is perhaps symbolic of its inability to make bold decisions and inflexibility.

Episode 3: A Country of Bold Decisions

There are examples of countries that made successful bold decisions all over the world. One is Finland, which on December 10, 2019, elected the world’s youngest female prime minister, 34 years old. Olli-Pekka Heinonen, appointed as Finland’s Minister of Education at just 29 years of age in 1994, took a country where more than 20% of its five million people were out of work and, through bold reforms to education, granting schools a great deal of discretion, turned it into one which was ranked by PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) as top academic nation in both 2000 and 2003.

We are yet to see this sort of bold decision-making in Japanese education. However, if we aim to restore the unified, knowledge acquisition-based study based on the earlier success story of the “economic miracle,” today’s Japanese youth, born in a mature society, probably lack both the quality and quantity to compete with the youth of China and India. Japan’s university education is faced with the need to make bold reforms. We need the “advanced education” to suit the changing times.

2.2 So What is “Advanced Education”?

In the sense of offering a bird’s-eye-view of this background, Fig. 3 presents the learning that Japanese students should aim for, along with education and learning-related trends over time. There are various theories discussed elsewhere regarding the learning principles in the figure, but here they have been shown as three stages. As society changes over time, two-way participatory or discussion-based classroom formats become even more necessary.

Fig. 3.
figure 3

Temporal trends in education/learning

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Today, the knowledge and information that people require exists in the space of the internet. This space contains vastly more knowledge than that previously in the exclusive possession of the university professor. So, it is clear that what humans need to do is to extract that, utilize it, and boldly create new ideas themselves. For students, the role of the university campus is to provide a venue for training towards mastering this essence.

The following section provides an explanation of Fig. 3.

First, as is shown at the left of the topmost line in Fig. 3, shortly after WW2 ended, “behavioral learning” theory became popular, and was successful as a knowledge acquisition method suited for an industrializing society. Conditioned responses, as made famous by Pavlov’s dog, were applied to human learning, and learning was considered to be changes in actions that could be observed as being able to accomplish something. In plain speech, learning was, as the second line underneath states, “memorizing”. In other words, the goal of learning for students was to know things.

However, human learning is not as simple as being able to be explained just by behavioral learning theory. So “cognitive learning” theory was then propounded. This is akin to “understanding” on a slightly more advanced level. This is systematizing and mastering knowledge rather than behavior in one’s own fashion, and the goal of students shifted to becoming wise.

Whether behavioral learning theory or cognitive learning theory, these are just changes in the knowledge inside one’s head. But what the world really needs from learning is social “constructivism learning” theory, which considers attaining mastering in more practical terms so as to become a person useful to their community. Rather than memorizing or understanding existing knowledge, students seek out this knowledge themselves, mastering the competency (the forms and characteristics of the behavior of a top performer) in their community, using intellectual behavior located in a more upstream process. The goal of learning here is to “become a veteran”.

This would be where the “advanced education” that should be aimed at for the time being fits in.

2.3 Response Analyzer is a Toolset to Train University Lecturers into Veteran Facilitators

Over the last few decades, the ICT-based media technology environment for university education has changed in the same way as for general society. Before that, when there was no media technology environment, knowledge only existed in the professors’ heads, and students had to carefully note down and remember what the professors were saying in the classroom. This was how classes were conducted back then. Today, however, specialist knowledge exists in a network space that vastly outstrips the professor’s head in terms of both quality and quantity, and anyone can easily access it.

University lecturers have taken on the role of facilitators who teach students how to utilize knowledge, and how to spread creative ideas and communicate with others, helping them master it. They may have a lot more experience as a teacher, but these professors are just beginners at being facilitators, so getting support from the Response Analyzer, the core function of the DPP, as a toolset for training them to become veteran facilitators, will allow them to be so for the first time. Preparations for using the Response Analyzer require from university lecturers “a little effort and much content arrangement.”

3 Response Analyzer, Functions and Effects

3.1 Response Analyzer Smartphone Screens

This paper is mainly concerned with the Response Analyzer, the core function of the DPP. This is because it is a function particularly specialized in making classes two-way interactivity.

Figure 4 shows an example of a student learning process in class using the Response Analyzer.

Fig. 4.
figure 4

Example of student learning processes in class using Response Analyzer

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There are five Response Analyzer smartphone screens available: the start screen and four types of question screen.

  1. 1)

    Start

  2. 2)

    Question

  3. 3)

    Test

  4. 4)

    Questionnaire

  5. 5)

    Asking Instructor

The Figures below, from 5 1) to 5), show illustrations of sample screens for the start screen and the four others listed above. The screen design has a great deal of impact on how easy something is to use in practical terms, so it is important to have an easy-to-use interface. Ease of use is, by extension, an important element in achieving two-way communication that makes use of the DPP Response Analyzer function.

Fig. 5.
figure 5

1) Start. 2) Question. 3) Test. 4) Questionnaire. 5) Asking Instructor

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3.2 Response Analyzer Questions

Based on the authors’ experiences, various examples of Response Analyzer questions previously encountered are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Various examples of Response Analyzer questions
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This expansion of communication methods brings a new environment to university campuses.

The ice-breaking in 1) above is effective when done at the start of the term or semester, when the instructor and the students meet for the first time. In particular, new students are often nervous about taking their first university classes, and this gives them a sense of security and familiarity. Number 2) is an orthodox method for using the Response Analyzer. It is used to ask about factual knowledge.

As students have been spending the years leading up to their entrance examinations training in giving the only correct answer to test questions, all their mental energy has been directed towards getting the right answer, and they are often deathly afraid of giving the wrong answer. The use of 6) and 7) are especially desirable for emphasizing the action of spreading information rather than correct answers, and creating an opportunity for practicing this.

Table 2. is an example of 3) Views and opinions (encouraging introspection). This question was actually used in the Educational Media Science in the 2017 academic year at Waseda University’s School of Human Sciences. The actual responses to this question are shown in Fig. 6.

Table 2. Example of a question type: views and opinions (encouraging introspection)
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Fig. 6.
figure 6

Responses for question in Table 2

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There are no correct answers to this question. It is about finding out what the students think and feel. Showing the response opinion handouts to the students will lead to even further discussion as they become aware of what the overall answer trends are and what others are thinking and feeling.

3.3 Effects of Response Analyzer

Effects regarding quality improvement to classes: opinions of students and teachers obtained in trial classes conducted by universities, companies, corporations, etc. are shown below.

  1. 1.

    Bi-directionality: Classes involved the teacher asking questions and thinking about the answers, so I didn’t get sleepy.

  2. 2.

    Knowledge retention: Issues raised, answered, and immediate feedback. Easy to remember knowledge.

  3. 3.

    Comparing opinions with others: I liked being able to know what others thought.

  4. 4.

    Thinking about non-regular questions: Debate on questions without a single right answer.

  5. 5.

    Meaning to participatory-style classes: You need to put out your own ideas and actively take part. Unfortunately, some students couldn’t get past the idea of scoring points by selecting the most common choices from among what others were saying.

  6. 6.

    Good that attendance is simple: In old-style classrooms, the TA hands out and collects attendance cards, so it takes about five to ten minutes before the actual class can begin.

  7. 7.

    Labor-saving: Attendance data, question response data, and so on, which the instructor would have to do manually before, is now automated.

  8. 8.

    Environmentally-conscious: Not using paper helps save the planet.

  9. 9.

    Saves on storage space: The storage of paper media for class data which university regulations require to be stored. All the data stored on this paper media is now automatically stored electronically, saving space provided by DPP.

  10. 10.

    (Negative!) Unhappiness with individual identification: Initially, there was a function to identify individuals based on their seating positions, but students this semester tend to dislike speaking in front of large numbers and so this function is no longer used as it was not popular.

4 Conclusion

The DPP system was created, developed, and operated based on the experiences and track records of the authors in order to respond to the social expectations placed on Japanese university education today. This paper has presented the construction of principles and development of functions of this research and development, as well as its educational and learning effectiveness of the Response Analyzer.

We believe that the DPP, particularly the Response Analyzer function, is an effective method for strongly supporting revitalizing the classes required in Japanese university education today, or in other words, changing mono-directional knowledge presentation-style university classes into bi-directional discussion-based classes in which students actively participate.

Research and development of the DPP is being actively promoted, and we are currently moving ahead with practical trials in universities and company training sessions to verify its educational effectiveness and deployment of revolutionary methods.