Seminar: Education technology in the future
The Department of Flipped Learning Technologies (FLIT) at the prestigious University of Tokyo hosted the 学習テクノロジーの未来 (がくしゅう technology の みらい) seminar this afternoon. The guest speakers were Hajime Shirouzu from the National Institute of Educational Research, and Daniel Schwartz from Stanford University. That brought the number of non-Japanese to a total of 2 out of the 100 or so there. It was a well-organised event with an onsite interpreter and headsets for all participants.
It was a scorching hot 37 degrees outside, but inside was beautifully air-conditioned. It looked like the visiting guest speaker was struggling from either the heat or a bad case of jetlag unfortunately. Anyway, the event was an interesting "business trip". It was classified as this, since the flyer for the event was given to me from, and recommended by my principal. It still strikes me as a little puzzling why he did not want to attend himself. Any of the major changes to infrastructure or implementation of technology would be decided by him and not me.
I should have paid more attention to the flyer in hindsight. Although it was fascinating, the focus turned out to be more on game creation and gamifying the classroom. This is popular, and I know it has some good learning experiences for the students, but this area of research does not really interest me at all. I'm not knocking gamification, it just isn't my area of choice. I was definitely blinded by the name of the department - Flipped Learning. I am still incredibly keen to connect with educators that are implementing this here in Japan, with no luck so far.
Professor Schwartz spoke quite well and gave good examples of his creativity and the pedagogy behind it. It made sense and would be beneficial if it were embedded in a good unit of work. The second speaker, Professor Shirouzu was an animated person and explained his research using robots as companions in the process of learning. Yes, that is right. There are little 40cm high robots that sit at the end of the table and can help scaffold questions for elementary school kids to help them better understand particular concepts. I found it pretty interesting at first, until it became a little too serious about how it can foster emotional understanding as well. Nup.
Later on, I took an opportunity to speak to them both together. I asked Prof Shirouzu about the proliferation of 1:1 tablets in schools around Japan so far. He responded that schools are still reluctant to implement them, so the research is still in its infancy. The research that has been conducted was with iPads, and the educators using them with the students were lacking confidence in how to effectively implement them. I then recommended they look at Australian schools and see how they have been progressing with iPads, tablet PCs etc. and learn whatever they can. I also explained the school situation I worked at prior to moving, which startled them a little. Not so much Prof Schwartz from the USA, but more Prof Shirouzu.
I can't help but get a little confused when I think of Japan's situation. The education system (and perhaps some might say Japan in general) is very reluctant to change. It is largely due to the domino effect of changing one thing, which means the entrance exam system would change and then the .... the list goes on and on.
You would be well aware that I have a passion for Japanese history. This situation reminds me very much of the Bakumatsu period. In 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Tokyo aboard the infamous black ships and demanded Japan open its doors to trade. The leaders (shogun and his military government) were very reluctant and fought against the idea until eventually they conceded in 1854. Civil war erupted and lingered, but eventually Japan ended its shogun/samurai system in 1868 with the Meiji Restoration. Japan then rapidly changed.
Will we see something of the sorts here? Are we at the 1853 black ships stage? Or the late 1850s stage? How long will it take for the 1868 transition to arrive? What or who will be the catalyst (e.g. Ryoma Sakamoto) for the modernisation of the Japanese education system?
I know that it has already begun. There are some Future Schools that are experimenting with the implementation of 1:1 tablets in schools already, but they are too few. It is blatantly obvious that leaders are focusing more on the negative aspects, which are entirely managable, than the positive effects on student learning. Sadly, it is not considering the skills that students will either need or at least be inevitably confronted with in the coming years. It is a clear case of sticking with the status quo, an outdated 19th century model of education (watch Sir Ken's speech on "Bring on the learning revolution", or basically any of his speeches/books/blogs... he is a legend), as opposed to preparing students for their life after school in however many years time.
As I said in my Tweets, who will be the change-maker?
