Why did a Pioneer in Online High School Choose learningBOX?
Broadmedia Corporation, which operates the Renaissance High School Group, a wide-area correspondence and credit system that utilizes the Internet and digital teaching materials, held a discussion with Mr. Takayoshi Momoi, Director and Executive Officer, General Manager of Educational Service Division, and Mr. Yoichiro Nishimura, President of learningBOX. Nishimura has been developing the group's learning management system on consignment since 2012, and has been involved in the development of various functions requested by the group since the transition to "learningBOX" in 2022. In this interview, we asked Nishimura about how he came to be commissioned to develop the system, his reasons for migrating to learningBOX, the benefits of the system, and his future outlook.
Director, Executive Officer and General Manager of Education Service Division, Broadmedia CorporationTakayoshi Momoi worked in the education industry and was in charge of creating new businesses at Dai-ichi Kosho Corporation. After moving to Broadmedia Corporation, he learned about the spread of online homeschooling in the U.S. and led the establishment of Renaissance High School, a correspondence high school focusing on Internet learning. Based on students' voices, he established Japan's first e-sports course and K-POP course, and continues to support students' desire to do what they want to do. Currently, he is making efforts to help students obtain qualifications such as certified tax accountants.
Yoichiro Nishimura, Representative Director of learningBOX Corporation, engaged in research in software engineering at the Faculty and Graduate School of Science and Technology, Keio University. After joining Kiban Corporation, he was involved in four of the 31 systems registered as "Learning Manegement Systems" with the e-Learning Consortium. In July 2012, he founded Tatsuno Information Systems Corporation (now LearningBOX Corporation). In the field of competitive programming (Atcoder) php, he still maintains a world-class position.
Renaissance High School Group, operated by Broadmedia Corporation, is known as a pioneer in e-learning correspondence high schools using smartphones and tablets. The company operates three schools, Renaissance High School, Renaissance Toyota High School, and Renaissance Osaka High School, and 11 campuses, offering e-sports courses and a variety of other courses specializing in performing arts, beauty, study abroad, and entrance exams.
The establishment of learningBOX was triggered by contracted system development for the Renaissance High School Group
I understand that Mr. Momoi led the establishment of Renaissance High School.
Mr. Momoi: Yes. About 20 years ago, I was in charge of the broadcasting business at Broadmedia. When you hear the word "broadcasting," you probably think of entertainment such as music, movies, and dramas, but I wanted to do something new, so I proposed the education business.
It was a time when services via the Internet had not yet become so widespread in the world, but I proposed that we establish a wide-area correspondence high school where students could study online and give it the attention it deserved as a correspondence company. At the time, some people within the company questioned, "Why is our company in the education business?" At the time, some people within the company questioned, "Why is our company in the education business? However, the proposal was readily adopted, and I was assigned to launch the new business.
Today, the Renaissance High School Group has grown to a total enrollment of more than 8,000 students in its three schools, but at the time of its establishment, there were only two students enrolled. At the entrance ceremony for the first school, in the town of Daiko, Kuji-gun, Ibaraki Prefecture, only one student showed up. There were about 80 visitors (laughs). That was the beginning of the wide-area correspondence high school.
Can you tell us how Nishimura came to be entrusted with the system?
Mr. Momoi: At the time, there were few educational businesses using the Internet, and there were no suitable systems for e-learning. At that time, we were using a system built by another company, but even the best system becomes outdated after a few years. So we decided to rebuild a new system.
At that time, there was an employee whom I trusted very much. When I asked him about a client for the system, he introduced me to Mr. Nishimura, a colleague from his previous job. However, Mr. Nishimura was a sole proprietor at the time, so I was apprehensive about requesting an important mission-critical system.
However, he strongly assured me, "I have never seen anyone who can work like that!" I decided to ask Mr. Nishimura to do the job, if he was so sure.
Nishimura: Because of this background, we decided to incorporate the company. The relationship with Broadmedia was the catalyst for the founding of Tatsuno Information System Corporation (now learningBOX Corporation). for nearly 10 years from April 2013, we were contracted to develop an original learning management system for the Renaissance High School Group, and we built the system from scratch (developing an original system from scratch). The system was built from scratch.
Mr. Momoi: At the time, Nishimura-san was still young, but I thought he was very impressive. I am glad I asked Mr. Nishimura to do it.
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Evaluating the versatility and safety of the cloud-based system.
What were the deciding factors in your decision to move to the cloud-based learning management system "learningBOX" in 2022?
Mr. Momoi: IT technology evolves rapidly, so even the best system will become unusable after 10 years. So we considered two options. We were torn between a fully custom-made system that was unique to our company, and a cloud-based system that other companies and schools also use. We were torn between these two options, but this time we decided to go with the latter, a highly versatile system. learningBOX is fast at upgrading its system in response to technological advances, and it is also highly secure and reliable. The fact that the system was also compatible with multiple devices was also a deciding factor.
About Version Upgrades LearningBOX undergoes major version upgrades four times a year, and new features are introduced and existing features are improved every quarter. Every Wednesday (excluding holidays), we also perform minor version upgrades that include bug fixes and vulnerability fixes, etc. Support for current versions is also an important part of our daily operations.
Security MeasuresTo ensure that customers can use learningBOX with peace of mind, we have established a security system and are continually working to strengthen various security measures.
Security Measures｜learningBOX e-learning system
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Administrators also experience reduced burden and hurdles for students to study
What kind of effect have you seen since the transition to learningBOX?
Mr. Momoi: In terms of operations on the administrator side, we were able to reduce man-hours for user registration and other tasks. The previous system, which was developed 11 years ago, had an outdated UI design and was not optimized for smartphones, but learningBOX solved these problems at once. The learningBOX system solved these problems in one fell swoop.
Smartphone learning is now commonplace.
Mr. Momoi: At the time, some people questioned, "Is it safe to study on a cell phone?" Mr. Momoi: At the time, some people wondered, "Is it safe to study on a mobile phone? However, children are familiar with cell phones and smartphones, and the habit of studying on mobile devices has naturally developed.
In one case, a high school student from a single-mother household was studying on her cell phone while taking care of her younger siblings while her mother was at work. With a computer, you can't study while babysitting. When I heard that story, I was convinced that being able to study anywhere and anytime is a very good thing because it lowers the hurdle for studying.
We needed a learning management system that would make it easy to study on mobile devices such as cell phones, smartphones, and tablets, and learningBOX, with its strengths in this area, matched the "mobile learning" that we were aiming for.
Nishimura: Speaking of "mobile learning," the free quiz and question creation tool "QuizGenerator" received a major upgrade at the end of last year. It has evolved to be even easier to use, with a UI that makes it easier to study even on smartphones.
Mr. Momoi: (Looking at Nishimura's smartphone screen) It looks very easy to use! When we think of "studying," the image we have is of sitting at a desk and opening a textbook for a long time, but I think the style of studying efficiently on a smartphone is more suited to the current era. I believe it is thanks to smartphones that the hurdle to studying has been lowered.
About QuizGeneratorQuizGenerator allows anyone to easily create and publish quizzes and questions in a wide variety of formats on the Web, even if they do not have technical knowledge of the Web or IT. There are a total of 13 types of quizzes and questions, including correct/incorrect and fill-in-the-blank questions. The tool is also free for commercial use and can be used for corporate training and examinations.
QuizGenerator - Free quiz and question generator
In May 2023, we also released "Easy Quiz Generator with AI," which can generate quizzes from keywords, YouTube video URLs, and website URLs.
Easy quiz generation with AI! | QuizGenerator
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From Group Classes to Individualized Tutoring, AI Utilization is Key
It is expected that the use of AI will be increasingly promoted in the field of education. What are your thoughts on the future of education?
Mr. Momoi: The number of students in wide-area correspondence high schools nationwide has increased from at most 180,000 in the past nearly 20 years to more than 260,000 now, partly due to the Corona disaster. I think correspondence education will continue to grow.
I believe that the educational policy will also change from group classes to individualized instruction. And the core of individualized instruction will be AI. In the current group classes, there is no choice but to adjust to the middle of the range between those with high grades and those with low grades. In this situation, "able-bodied" students who want to move up to a higher level cannot do so, and they lose motivation. This is why we believe that individualized instruction is best for each student. However, there is a limit to human ability alone, so AI is still necessary.
Will it also help to solve the "teacher shortage"?
Mr. Momoi: Certainly, the use of AI has the purpose of compensating for the "teacher shortage. As AI becomes more and more prevalent in the field of education, the role of teachers will become less about teaching learning content and more about life guidance. For example, the role of teachers as counselors and supporters of children will gradually change.
Nishimura: The evolution of AI is accelerating. I feel that it has evolved to such an extent that high school and college students do not know what skills they will be expected to have once they graduate from school.
Mr. Momoi: Yes, that is true. Our school is also considering enhancing education related to AI in the future. I believe that information education without programming is like English education without English conversation. Many people can understand some English grammar, but are not good at listening and speaking. Programming is another situation where students learn a lot of things in information subjects but cannot actually program...this is the current reality. I believe this situation must be changed. I hope that talented engineers like Mr. Nishimura can take on the responsibility of programming education.
Nishimura: Yes, I believe that in order to survive in a society where AI is accelerating, programming language operation skills will also be increasingly required.
Regarding the development of AI functionsIn the fall of 2023, we developed "AI Assist," a new ChatGPT-linked function that automatically generates quizzes and tests, automatically generates memorization cards, automatically analyzes reports, and automatically creates courses.We plan to implement various AI assist functions in 2024 as well.
AI Assist | e-learning system learningBOX
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Wide-area correspondence high school x learningBOX provides children with opportunities for spontaneous growth
What do you expect from learningBOX in the future?
Mr. Momoi: The Renaissance High School Group has produced many graduates who are golf and soccer players and entertainers. Recently, more and more of our students are going on to college. What we have felt since launching the wide-area correspondence high school is that what children are looking for is an environment where they can do what they want to do at their own pace. If it is to achieve what they want to do, children will go to school and study.
An example of a student who attends the e-sports course is a student who originally did not attend school, but enrolled in the Renaissance High School Group and started attending school to play e-sports. He also became a leader in that group and began to demonstrate his skills more and more. Furthermore, since the common language of e-sports is English, I felt the need to study English hard. We want to increase opportunities for that kind of spontaneous growth.
To that end, we would like learningBOX to develop a system that is easy for children to use and enjoy studying. I hope that schools other than our school will use this system as much as possible.
Nishimura: Thank you very much. As a provider of the system, we would like to see many more students who graduated from Renaissance High School Group playing an active role in the future. We will continue to focus on expanding our development areas to realize "a future where anyone in the world can freely learn anytime, anywhere.
LearningBOX" is a learning management system suitable for school education and correspondence high schools.
Reference] School education | Usage scenarios | learningBOX e-learning system
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