During the 2018-2019 academic year, the authors had the opportunity to begin work on a unique multi-year virtual heritage "Virtual Shikoku Pilgrimage" (VSP) project. The main goal of this project is to design and develop an immersive virtual landscape exploration platform that uses 3-D digital technologies, including the Unity video game…

The paradigm of design must drastically change to promote sustainable social development that considers not only economic growth but also human well-being and environmental sustainability. Some scholars argue that the central paradigm of design should focus more on the societal perspective. This article refers to such a socially oriented design…

The increasing use of online virtual laboratories (OVLs) in educational institutions as a recent educational technology application necessitates developing a new educational platform for assisting instructors in using such technology in the teaching process without web programming obstacles. The OVLs are online environments that provide students…

Purpose: The purpose of this exploratory study was to develop Global Lesson Study (GLS) defined as an international collaborative lesson study through international exchange of teachers using ICT. Its purpose is to nurture teachers from different countries with intercultural competence to conduct lesson study. Design/methodology/approach: We…

This paper takes the form of a detailed report discussing the development, rehearsal and presentation of a short English language "Noh"-style play performed by Japanese university students in 2018-2019. It shares students' perceptions in response to the flow of rehearsals and performances, which were documented with ethnomusicological…

This paper outlines the iterative stages involved in designing and developing a blended course of English for General Academic Purposes (EGAP) at Osaka University. First, the basic Successive Approximation Model (SAM 1) is introduced as the guiding instructional design model upon which the course was created. Afterward, the stages of design and…

This paper proposes extensive applications of virtual collaborative space in order to enhance the efficiency and capability of Digital Campus. The usability of Digital Campus has been experimented in different learning environments and evaluated by questionnaire as that the presence technology and a sense of solidarity influence the participants'…

This article describes the creation of a fully online master's program for e-learning specialist training. This program is the first of its kind in Japan. As background information, Japan's general trends in e-learning are described, including activities of the e-Learning Consortium Japan and National Institute of Multimedia in Education. Such…

This paper describes the achievements of an innovative eight-year research program first introduced in Mizoguchi and Bourdeau (2000), which was aimed at building a theory-aware authoring system by using ontological engineering. To date, we have proposed OMNIBUS, an ontology that comprehensively covers different learning/instructional theories and…

As a result of rapid developments in information and communication technology (ICT), dramatic changes are taking place in approaches to teaching and learning in university and school classrooms. These changes offer new opportunities to explore entirely new methods of instruction in teacher education. ICT provides alternatives to conventional…

This report presents the findings of a study conducted to explore the feasibility of developing and delivering an assessment of information and communication technology (ICT) literacy for the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The study was conducted at the request of an expert panel convened by Network A and was funded in…

The development and use of broadcasting satellites in Japan are discussed in this paper. The paper describes the medium-scale experimental broadcasting satellite, YURI, launched by NASA in 1978, and reports that experiments with YURI in the areas of basic technologies in the broadcasting satellite system, experiments on satellite control…

The paper presented in this three-part conference report trace the growth and development of distance education in the Asian and Pacific region. Part 1 provides a general review. Part 2 contains the following case studies: "Distance Education in India" (S. P. Mullick); "Distance Education in Indonesia" (Professor Setijadi);…