To provide "learning for living and learning to use".

• IT/Internet

Hare Yaka Japan Co., Ltd. (formerly known as Wonz Japan Co.
He started a computer school in Sabae City, Fukui Prefecture in 2000.
Currently, I am running a class to teach the fun of smartphones and computers, and at the same time
As a producer of ICT teaching materials, the company provides teaching materials to about 370 classrooms nationwide.

 

Please tell us about your company's business.

We sell computer and smartphone teaching materials to computer classes, transition-to-work support services, after-school day services (services where children with developmental disabilities attend classes after school at facilities, etc.), companies, and organizations nationwide. We also operate computer classes as a directly managed store.

Could you tell us about the challenges you faced before introducing learningBOX?

For the last seven years I have been selling bookbinding materials.
When we first started, there were no problems with the bound materials, but as the number of materials increased, we faced the problem of holding a large amount of inventory. We also had to deal with the effects of price hikes by printing companies over the past few years, and the rapid updates of applications, which made it difficult to replace the bound materials. As a solution to these issues, we had been considering "digitization of teaching materials" for about two years. By doing so, we wouldn't have to raise the price of teaching materials due to price increases, and we would be able to respond smoothly to app updates.

How did you hear about learningBOX?

We participated in the "Education IT Solution EXPO" held at Tokyo Big Sight, and talked with about 5 companies that deal with e-learning. There were actually other companies besides Tatsuno Information Systems that I thought would be a good choice... (laughs), but when I tried them out, I was concerned about the UI of the basic screen, such as the small font size and old design. It was when I was thinking that that I came across learningBOX. They immediately issued me an ID with a free plan, and when I actually tried to create content, I thought, "This is much better! (laughs).

What is the current ratio of bound materials to e-learning materials?

The materials for seniors are in book form, while the other materials are e-learning using learningBOX. The ratio is about 6 (learningBOX) to 4 (bound materials). However, for the materials for seniors, there is a strong demand from students who want to write on the textbooks, so we will provide the short materials in learningBOX and print them in the classroom. It's a little bit of a nuance to say that it's a complete e-learning system, but I think that by providing digital learning materials through learningBOX, we can meet the learning needs of the students while quickly responding to changes in the application specifications.

What was the deciding factor for you to hire learningBOX?

First of all, it's 'easy for anyone to understand. Also, we have three types of learning materials: for seniors, for children, and for business. If the same e-learning material is mixed with material for different demographics, it can be confusing for the learner. However, learningBOX comes standard with a function that allows you to create content according to the target audience, which is great. Also, in the case of teaching materials for children, it is important to be able to type first so that they can use the materials to learn, so the fact that typing materials can be created easily was also very attractive.

Also, because you can choose the format of the quiz questions, it's possible to create teaching materials that vary and don't get boring, and I felt that this was the perfect feature for developing teaching materials for children. The business-oriented materials are in video format. With a plan where the monthly fee increases according to the amount of videos, it would be very costly, but with learningBOX, it is a pay-as-you-go system with IDs, so we don't have to worry about the amount of videos. It's also good that the e-learning system was easy to switch to because we can easily embed the data of the teaching materials we have been using. The ability to flexibly set customer ID management permissions has also been very helpful. This is because we are not a BtoC company, but a BtoBtoC company.

I'm also thinking about using an app plan in the future, although it's not concrete right now.
...I've listed a lot of things (laughs), but for us as an e-learning provider and for the customers (classrooms) who use it, we really appreciate the fact that there are a lot of functions for creating teaching materials.

Also, there was one major issue with the binding.
Apart from the teaching materials, we had prepared training manuals and supplementary materials for classroom instructors, which could be downloaded from a dedicated website. With learningBOX, we can provide all the materials, the instructor's manual, and the guides for the students from one site. There is no confusion, right? It's convenient for our customers and easy to manage for us, which was a major factor in our decision to implement the system.

Thank you! How was your experience with our staff?

The female staff member who always answers the phone, Ms. Ueda, is wonderful.
They are polite and courteous, even when it comes to trivial matters, and they respond quickly to emails. They also respond quickly to requests from our company, i.e., from our customers, which is very helpful in allowing us to be proactive in our sales activities.

What kind of effect do you see after implementing learningBOX?

There was a reduction in production costs and sales costs.

In the case of bookbinding materials, once they are submitted, they are final. After that, no changes are allowed. That's why we had to be very careful about the final check. With learningBOX, we can make changes anytime and as many times as we want, so we can shorten the production time and reduce the production cost compared to the case of bound books.

We also used to send update notifications to our customers (new releases, updates to teaching materials, etc.) as email newsletters. using the "notification function" in learningBOX, we are very happy to be able to notify our customers of updates twice.

Salespeople can use a single tablet to explain educational materials without having to carry large volumes of heavy, bound materials. In addition, since demo IDs can be issued immediately, it is easier to keep customers' interest and lead to contracts.

With the introduction of learningBOX, it has become easier for us to promote our product lineup and new products, such as by providing samples of all new products. After introducing learningBOX, it has become easier to show off our product lineup and new products, such as preparing samples of all teaching materials.

What was the reaction of your customers when you switched from bound materials to e-learning materials?

When I switched to bound materials for children, I first explained the benefits of e-learning materials. I told them that they could use the typing materials and that there were plenty of quizzes (confirmation tests). In the case of bound materials, you repeat the process of learning with the materials and then doing the assignments, but in the case of learningBOX, you can study and do a confirmation test for each unit, so you can deepen your understanding. In addition, with the typing materials, you can improve your typing skills at the same time as your learning skills. When we communicated the appeal of e-learning with learningBOX by multiplying the learning outcomes, we received the response, "That's great! We received a response of "Great!
In addition, we used to have the children check the video materials on a separate website, but with learningBOX, we can deliver the videos, so the instructors don't have to explain the video delivery site to the children, and the children can proceed with their own learning. It's self-study. This reduces the time and effort required in the classroom, and it also allows us to teach many children at once. We've had a very positive response.

Unlike PC learning materials, the needs of students for tablets and smartphones are very specific. Even in a single lesson, we need to respond to detailed requests such as "I want you to teach me XX" or "I want to be able to do ▲▲".
We couldn't achieve this with the bound materials, but with learningBOX we can provide short materials that allow students to learn one thing in 15 minutes. We've actually used it in the classroom, and the response has been great. It has increased the flexibility of learning. I'm an instructor myself, and I think it's very appealing to be able to learn from anywhere you want. It's important to be able to provide students with not only ease of understanding, but also the enjoyment of learning.

Can you tell us about your plans for future business improvements?

Even if the need was high, it was hard to bind materials on subjects with a short shelf life because of the high inventory risk. Recently, that's been the case with cashless courses such as PayPay and Line Pay. There's a huge need for it right now... we created the materials around September (2019) and got a lot of subscriptions. learningBOX doesn't require you to hold inventory, and if the materials reach their expiration date, it's easy to recreate or discontinue offering them. This is something that is difficult to do with bound materials, so in the future we hope to create more and more new materials without worrying about inventory risk!
 

postscript

How did you like this case study?

We are pleased to be a part of learningBOX's efforts to provide educational materials that flexibly respond to the trends of the times, as part of Hare Yaka Japan's "Iru Manabi.
We will continue to develop a more efficient and flexible system for Haryaka Japan in order to spend as much time as possible delivering the essence of education to their customers.

Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to speak with us.