Satoru Fujii

Practice of Linux Lesson in Blended Learning

In recent years, online distribution of academic lectures to distant locations has occurred through development of Internet technology. To address several main challenges to distance learning—long-term motivation and effective evaluation of student progress—we developed a Blended Learning system combining face-to-face lecture and coursework along with online distance learning content. Under this system, the teacher could effectively evaluate student progress and also provide direct individual advice. Moreover, motivation was maintained through direct contact at lecture time.

A Trial of a Bidirectional Learning Management Tool for Promoting Learning by Mobile Phone

Education outside of the traditional classroom environment is growing more widespread, particularly opportunities presented by distance learning. In Japan, students today are frequently seen using the mail function of the WWW from their mobile phone. With this in mind, we tried making a bidirectional learning management tool accessible by mobile phone. To promote competitive behavior between students, and to maintain interest and motivation, we created a function to display relative student progress in graph form on the WWW. We can access this bidirectional learning management tool by Internet from a mobile phone and a personal computer. Students can access their common schedule, and correspond in a mutually beneficial manner. They can help one another by registering questions and exchanging important information. They can easily engage in discussion using a mail list. We observed that this system generated student interest. Distance learning through mail exchange by mobile phone raises motivation, and will soon become an effective learning tool.

Web-CALL: a language learning support system using Internet

The online language learning support system, Web-CALL is the software that enables language teachers to produce web-based teaching materials and enables students to study them online. It is the user-friendly software which even beginners in computers can use easily. Teachers can produce Web-page materials without knowledge of HTML or any computer programming. Students can study at their own pace regardless of time and location. Furthermore, teachers can interact with students via email. When students have questions, they can email their teachers. The teaching materials database on the server is available in LAN or Internet. Teachers of language have tested this system in their classes. To evaluate the Web-CALL lesson, they compared Web-CALL class with a normal, traditional, teacher-oriented class. At the end of both the Web-CALL class and the normal class, students took a test which consisted of four types of questions; Comprehension check, Grammar A (multiple-choice), Grammar B (translation) and Grammar C (put in order). The Web-CALL class was superior to normal class in Comprehension and Grammar C. More than 80% students surveyed after Web-CALL classes have assessed the system to be useful and helpful in language learning.

Development of ubiquitous historical tour support system

We have developed the historical tour support system that provides its users with appropriate information according to each phase of the tour ubiquitously. There are many systems to serve sightseeing information used WWW, but most contents of those systems are not so interesting. In addition, there are few systems to support the lifecycle of historic tour. Our system has interesting display such as 3D graphics and multilingualism for users before sightseeing. And this system serves information about the historic spot where they are now with a cellular phone and GPS. After the tour user can enjoy his picture albums that have been produced automatic by the server during tour. We have tried this system and have gotten a good evaluation by 10 users questionnaire.

Development of a System for Learning Ecology Using 3D Graphics and XML

There is a growing need for environmental protection. We developed a new online learning system called “Eco-system of Lake Shinji” for learning ecology. The system is designed to raise the ecological awareness of the students by helping them to understand the biotic system of nearby Lake Shinji. The system is constructed with 3D graphics, which simulate water clarity in the lake and has a search function of the database constructed by XML programming. The effectiveness of the system was evaluated by the questionnaire from the students. The survey result showed that they found the system useful for studying the biotic systems of the lake because of the visual simulations of water clarity and the useful database. We examined problems for further improvement of the present system to make it more effective tool for promoting environmental protection.

Development of e-learning system using handwriting on screen

This paper describes the development and enhancement of an elearning system to replace the conventional blackboard and student note-taking approach. The concept is based on hand writable student terminals that connect to the teachers terminal. An earlier version used PDA but this advanced approach uses tablet or note PCS as student terminals. The wider screen improves usability and facilitates writing and drawing. The teacher can evaluate work via thumbnails of each student screen. The teacher can write comments to individual students and also project examples of good answers to a wide screen for the benefit of the whole class. The functions provided to students enable simultaneous view of teaching materials and annotation capability, Internet search access and immediacy of teacher response. Evaluations of this upgraded approach by ten students were very positive. We are planning to extend students terminal into Android Tablet PC.

Distance learning support system for game programming with Java

In recent years, students have confronted the importance of developing intermediate level programming skills. Many students are weak not only in programming; they are also not good at cooperation and collaboration when designing a program. Therefore, we produced a distance-learning support system using Java. n nGenerally, students can acquire knowledge that is constant in distance learning, but they find that it is difficult to finish a program independently. In distance learning, it is important to use mutual teaching and regular communication among students. When interesting programming of contents exists, games can make more effectively using Java software. This paper presents Java programming techniques that are necessary for game programming. Moreover this system supports upper level functions of game programming.

Development and evaluation of a ubiquitous historical tour support system

There are many systems to provide sightseeing information using the Internet, but there are few systems to support the lifecycle of an historic tour. We developed an historical tour support system that provides its users with appropriate information at each phase of the tour. Our system has interesting displays such as 3D graphics and multilingual information for use before sightseeing. This system also provides on the spot information about historic sites using a cellular phone and GPS. After the tour, a user can enjoy a picture album that has been produced in the server during the sightseeing. Twelve tourists tried this system and found it useful.

Trial of a distance learning system using a brain wave sensor

We developed a self-study system using Perl language. To date, no device has been available to observe a human state effectively. However, brain wave sensors have become inexpensive recently, allowing observation of the human state. We analyzed the information effectively; a brain wave sensor for human feedback has become usable. n nThis feedback system can measure a students state of concentration and a state of a motivation. Additionally, students show raised motivation because the system sends a students status. Sensing that motivation, effective methods can be recognized. This report presents our results.

Development and evaluation of a historical tour support system using 3D graphics and mobile terminal

We have developed a historical tour support system based on Matsue Castle and the surrounding historic area. The system has pre tour mode using 3D graphics and tour mode using a mobile terminal. We used Virtools to modify our earlier system to enable mouse operation in 3D space in the pretour mode. Evaluation of the pre-tour and tour modes by users resulted in positive responses although there were areas for improvement. As a result, the tour mode was upgraded by using smart phone with touch pen draw and notation options. Other improvements and applications are proposed.