Service Guide for

Evolving Edtech Services in the U.S. [e-Learning Around the World]. Hello. I'm Motoki, a breakfast person and in charge of marketing. Thanks to your support, this is the fifth installment of the "e-Learning Around the World" series. In the last issue, we introduced the impact of adaptive learning on the field of school education. This time, I would like to touch on the impact of Edtech on companies in the U.S. and its movement. Click here to see the table of contents 1. Diffusion and evolution of e-learning and Edtech in the U.S. Examples of Edtech services in the business field 3. Emergence and Diffusion of e-Portfolio 4. Summary Diffusion and Evolution of e-Learning and Edtech in the U.S. The United States is a large country, and many companies are expanding globally, not only domestically, so there are limits to the extent to which group training can be used for employee education and human resource development. As a result, along with the spread of the Internet, e-learning became one of the means of human resource development for companies, and the evolution of Edtech services progressed. And recently, e-learning and Edtech services are increasingly being used not only for corporate human resource development, but also as part of employee benefits programs for the purpose of acquiring human resources. Examples of Edtech services in the business sector Let's take a look at some of the most popular Edtech services for business. First is LinkedIn, a social networking service for business people. LinkedIn has acquired Lynda.com, an online learning service. This acquisition allows for a mix of social networking services and online learning history information. On LinkedIn, users disclose their business profiles, including where they work, job title, industry, skills, and education. This information, combined with Lynda.com's learning information (user course history and certificates of completion), allows users to discover their talent and skill preferences through the social networking service. This allows users to make a better use of human resources within their companies, as well as to make a better decision when recruiting or collaborating with others. This service is unique to the U.S., where human resources are highly mobile. Emergence and Spread of e-Portfolio I would like to go a little further into the learning history information introduced on LinkedIn. In the U.S., IT for storing and accumulating learning history is progressing, and so-called "e-portfolios" are being used for employment and higher education. For example, the content and results of students' research at university are compiled in e-portfolios, and university students use the e-portfolios to promote themselves to companies for job hunting, which are then used by companies as materials for internships or to recruit human resources. Portfolium" is one of the e-Portfolio platform services. This one is being used by universities and is helping to improve the skill level of students. It is expected to change the way people find jobs, change jobs, and enter higher education, as more concrete information such as learning history is converted into data by IT, instead of formal information such as resume and academic history. Conclusion E-learning and edtech services are evolving and spreading in the U.S. due to its large land area and the presence of numerous global companies. In addition, the base of Edtech services is expanding as online education and learning history are connected to existing IT services such as social networking services, and platform services focusing on learning history management have emerged. We have learned that the impact of Edtech services has been significant, not only in learning, but also in changing the way people go on to higher education and find employment. From the next issue onward, I would like to touch on cutting-edge technologies in e-learning and edtech, such as VR. Thank you for reading to the end!

About the History of E-Learning Hello! My name is Sakamoto, and I am in charge of CS. Have you been learning or studying using the Internet, such as through online learning? With the recent proliferation of PCs and smartphones, learning via the Internet has become commonplace, but how did it all begin? In this issue, we would like to talk about the history of e-learning. Click here for the Table of Contents 1. The Beginning of e-Learning 2. Development of e-Learning 3. Internet-based learning 4. Emergence of Smart Devices The Beginning of e-Learning The development of computer-based learning, which is the basis of e-learning, began in the 1950s, mainly in the United States, with the idea that computers could be used to support education, known as CAI. Conventional group training could not be called efficient because the instructor and trainees had to be in the same place for a long time, and all checking of the trainees' progress had to be done by a person. Video materials were also introduced, but they presented information in a one-way manner and could not be said to be highly effective for learning. This is why the use of personal computers for learning has attracted attention because of the advantages of not having to choose where to study, cost savings, and the ability to manage learners. However, because it was difficult to construct an ideal system in practice, the quality of education through CAI did not improve as much as expected. Development of e-Learning In the 1990s, with the development and spread of personal computers, CAI was replaced by computer-based training (CBT). CBT mainly represents a learning method using CD-ROMs as teaching materials, and taking advantage of the large capacity of CD-ROMs, teaching materials utilizing video and audio were created. It was also around this time that the term "e-learning" was introduced. In particular, in 1995, the explosive popularity of Windows 95 was launched and personal computers became widespread in homes, and Windows 95 came standard with a CD-ROM, which helped to establish CBT-based education. CBT, however, did not become widely used due to the cost of producing teaching materials, the difficulty of modifying the content after distribution, and the difficulty for the administrator to manage the progress of all participants. To Internet-based learning In Japan, a major change occurred in 2000, when the then Mori Cabinet announced the "e-Japan Concept," which aimed to create a Japanese-style IT society, and the following year, a project to promote e-learning began in earnest. The following year, e-learning promotion projects began in earnest. As a result, the e-learning learning method shifted from CD-ROM learning to online learning using materials distributed over the Internet. By placing the learning environment online, it became possible to easily and inexpensively manage learning materials and check the progress of students. The online learning method is called WBT (Web-Based Training), and with the spread of the Internet, more and more companies began to introduce e-learning training and it gradually became a part of our daily lives. Emergence of Smart Devices Since the late 2000s, e-learning has changed even further with the advent of smartphones represented by the iPhone and Android, as well as larger tablet devices. Smart devices are portable, making it possible to study anytime, anywhere, in any spare time, and it has become common to study on the move with a smartphone. Because of the convenience of portability, e-learning is also being introduced in occupations where education and training could only be conducted through real group training, such as customer service, maintenance, and cooking. In addition, recently, the combination of SNS and other tools for communication among trainees has been introduced, as it is expected to be highly effective in supporting and motivating trainees to learn by communicating with each other. Conclusion In this issue, we have reviewed the history of e-learning. Starting with the use of computers in education, the spread of personal computers and the Internet, and now with the advent of smart devices and social networking services, the role and effectiveness of e-learning itself has expanded greatly. With the further evolution of technology (which has already begun to be used), cutting-edge technologies such as AI and VR will be incorporated into e-learning, and the nature of e-learning may change in the future. Thank you for reading to the end. We look forward to seeing you next time.

The Beginning of MOOCs in the U.S. [e-Learning Around the World Hello. My name is Motoki, and I am in charge of marketing. This is the first installment of the "e-Learning Around the World" series, which began last time. In the first installment, we introduced you to Khan Academy, one of the first flipped learning programs in the United States. This time, as a continuation of the Khan Academy, I would like to look into "MOOCs," which have become popular as a form of online education. Click here for the table of contents. 1. What is a MOOC? 2. Representative MOOCs 3. Summary What is a MOOC? A MOOC is also known as "MOOCS," and its official name is "Massive Open Online Course. As the name suggests, MOOCS is a platform service that allows students to take large courses online. It became popular mainly in the U.S. and other countries because it allows anyone with Internet access to attend lectures at prestigious universities (basically) for free. Some of them offer not only lectures but also post-lecture tests and assignments to qualify for completion of the course. MOOCs are platform services, so each university does not set up its own service, but rather, students use the platform of a "MOOC consortium" or "MOOC provider" that acts as an intermediary. Now it seems that not only universities but also companies are participating and offering lectures, so in a broad sense, it seems that it can be simply regarded as an "online course. (This page focuses mainly on online courses at the university level.) Representative MOOCs ▼Coursera https://www.coursera.org/ Courses from famous universities such as Stanford University are available. ▼EdX https://www.edx.org/ It was launched jointly by MIT and Harvard University. Udacity https://www.udacity.com/nanodegree Udacity is a MOOC specializing in programming and other computer science fields. Summary MOOCs have created learning opportunities for anyone with Internet access to take university-level courses without having to go to a university. In fact, there was news that a 15-year-old student from Mongolia received excellent grades in an edX course and went on to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). However, MOOCs have a very low completion rate due to their low hurdles. The completion rate is low because MOOCs are self-study services that depend heavily on the motivation of the learner. However, MOOC courses are being developed through industry-academia collaboration with the world's top companies such as Google and Facebook, and the number of lectures on cutting-edge technologies such as AI, data science, and automated driving, which are currently the focus of attention, seems to be increasing. It is likely to continue to attract attention in the future. The spread of edtech services like MOOCs in the U.S. is also changing the way students learn in school education. From the next issue onward, I would like to take a sharp look at the impact on school education. I would like to discuss the impact on school education in the next and subsequent issues. We look forward to your continued support in the next issue. Reference: Edtech will change the future Author: Masahiro Sato