Masumi Hori

Fusion of E-Textbooks, Learning Management Systems, and Social Networking Sites: A Mash-Up Development

Online education has provided good opportunities for educationally disadvantaged people. However, some traditional learning management systems (LMSs), the base systems of online education, had the limitations in offering standardized education for diversified learners with different skills, objectives, abilities, preferences, and backgrounds. In addition, the traditional LMSs, which required a constant connection of the Internet, could not be used where it is not available, that is, in the half of the world. Thus, we developed a new learning platform for large-scale online courses (LSOC), called “the Creative Higher Education with Learning Object (CHiLO)”. CHiLO is a comprehensive, open-network learning system which can realize e-textbooks, competency-based education (CBE), digital badges, and social learning. CHiLO can contribute to future research on next-generation learning content based on e-books and a flexible, diversified learning environment for people worldwide.

Learning System based on Decentralized Learning Model using Blockchain and SNS.

Learning needs to transcend traditional school education to cover the whole array of learning available, such as advanced technology, arts, or sports so that people can keep learning, training, and practicing at their own pace throughout their life. To fulfill these needs for learning, we have constructed CHiLO, a decentralized learning system, which utilizes e-books. We are now developing an entirely new learning system using blockchain to solve the issue regarding the copyright of CHiLO and to build a new learning model utilizing virtual currency. This paper reports the first phase of the implementation details of the new system, which allowed the ownership rights of the blockchain assets to be managed to create e-books by combining the posts on the SNS and paying in virtual currency.

Development of a Learning Economy Platform Based on Blockchain

Knowledge-based societies require more than just the accumulation of existing knowledge. Knowledge must be continuously updated and new knowledge must be created. In this paper, we propose a learning economy model that incorporates market economy principles. The model contributes to the production, dissemination, and monetization of new knowledge based on a blockchain technology. This study aims to propose the learning economy model and an example of implementing this model.

A Suitable m-Learning System using e-Book for Developing Countries

While large scale online courses such as MOOCs are popular in developed countries, their dissemination is difficult in developing countries due to the existing challenges faced by the digital divide such as poverty, internet accessibility, and the low PC ownership ratio. A learning platform for mobile learning was developed for developing countries where people often have no access to the Internet. The platform is called creative higher education with learning objects (CHiLO) and was developed with the aim of solving the problem. As a demonstration experiment, we distributed CHiLO books of the NSA1 series in about one year (from April 2014 to March 2015), 47% of over 20,000 downloaded books were from developing countries. Our experimental results in Japan have indicated the potential effectiveness of CHiLO for developing countries.

Developing an E-book-based learning platform toward higher education for all

While higher education rapidly grows worldwide, regional differences widen the digital divide. Our Creative Higher Education with Learning Objects (CHiLO), an e-book-based learning platform, aims to provide opportunities in higher education for developing countries or rural areas that have restricted digital literacy, digital devices, learning resources, and quality of networks. CHiLO provides an adaptable learning environment corresponding to diversification and flexibility in online courses such as massive open online courses (MOOCs) using device-agnostic m-learning centered on e-books with media-rich content. CHiLO also aims at a comprehensive open network learning system through the use of various existing technologies and various learning resources, including OER on open network communities such as SNS. Our set of experimental outcomes demonstrates the efficacy of m-learning using CHiLO, particularly with an e-book, including media-rich content, nano lectures, and digital badges.