Issues in the field of education and the expected role of DX in 2021
The Latest 2021 Edition: Challenges in Education and the Expected Role of DXing
Hello! This is Nishimura from Tatsuno Information Systems.
With the recent remarkable evolution of digital technology, digital transformation (DX) is being promoted in various fields.
Since Corona, remote work and web conferencing have become common in our lives, and the way we work has changed dramatically.
The educational field is no exception.
For a long time, it has been pointed out that Japan's educational field has lagged behind in digitalization, but the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has begun to seriously address this issue.
In this article, we will discuss in detail the current status and challenges of DX in the field of education.
Table of Contents
1. Japan's educational field lagging behind the rest of the world
2. Challenges facing the Japanese educational field and expected effects of DX
3. learningBOX is an LMS that makes it easy for anyone to start e-learning
4. summary
Japan's educational scene lags behind the rest of the world
According to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's White Paper (published at the end of July 2020), a 2018 survey conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) found that while students' time spent using the Internet outside of school exceeded the OECD average, the frequency with which they used computers to do homework was the lowest among OECD member countries The results were the lowest.
A 2018 survey of teachers conducted by the OECD also showed that the percentage of Japanese teachers having their students use ICT for assignments and classroom activities at school was less than 20%, the lowest level among the 48 participating countries.
▼ The following is a brief summary of the reality of the Japanese educational scene
The frequency of using computers for homework is the lowest among OECD member countries.
The percentage of teachers who have their students use ICT is less than 20%, the lowest level among the 48 member countries.
Challenges Japan faces in the field of education
Many in the industry have voiced their concerns that "the supply and demand of human resources is not matching up," and that there is no time to wait for change in Japan's school education system.
Modern society is highly information-oriented, and technology is advancing at an ever-increasing pace, as symbolized by advances in artificial intelligence (AI).
In this ever-changing society, the traditional group, passive style, and deviation score-oriented examination system is not sufficient to solve the mismatch of human resources.
What is important is an educational system that comprehensively equips students with programming thinking, information literacy, and communication skills to discover and solve problems on their own.
MEXT-led GIGA School Initiative
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) took seriously the fact that ICT utilization is lagging behind in Japanese education and proposed the GIGA school concept in December 2019.
(GIGA stands for Global and Innovation Gateway for All.) The goal of the GIGA School Initiative is to create an environment where children's learning opportunities are fairly distributed through the use of ICT, and where teachers can make the most of their abilities while reducing the burden on teachers involved in the development of children. The GIGA School Concept aims to create an environment where teachers can make the most of their abilities while reducing the burden on them.
Specific efforts include the development of an environment that provides each student with a digital terminal and the development of a communications network for this purpose.
Reforming the Japanese educational scene through ICT education
ICT stands for Information and Communication Technology.
ICT education" is a generic term for initiatives that utilize information and communication technology in the educational field.
The term may sound formal, but it is easier to understand if you imagine a school classroom.
Students write down the solution of a calculation problem on the electronic blackboard and explain how to solve it.
Students create presentations on their tablets and share them with the whole class in an instant.
Students submit assignments and take periodic tests on the computer, and teachers can immediately grasp the results.
Educational activities that were unthinkable just a few years ago are now possible through the use of ICT.
For more information on ICT education, please refer to this article.
Challenges facing Japan's education field and expected effects of DX
In addition to the discussion on the use of ICT, what are some of the issues facing the education field in Japan today?
One of the most common issues is the "diversification of children and the increasing workload of teachers.
The number of children enrolled in special-needs schools and special-needs classes in elementary and junior high schools is increasing.
In addition, there are various circumstances such as support for foreign children who need Japanese language instruction and children who have not been attending school.
Correspondingly, the workload of teachers has also become a major issue, as they have to "do a lot of paperwork" and "have to deal with parents.
What is important in the field of education is to provide each child with equal and fair opportunities to obtain the necessary academic skills and experiences.
To this end, let's review what can be achieved by DX in the education industry.
Realization of individualized and optimized learning
There is a growing need to provide education that is optimized for the individual, rather than providing uniform learning based on each student's proficiency and ability.
ICT-based education makes it possible to analyze learning logs and other data on an individual basis to derive the most appropriate teaching materials.
In addition, when a child needs support in Japanese, it can be expected that understanding will be advanced by using automatic translation technology in combination.
Improved efficiency of office work
ICT in the field of education streamlines manual administrative work in the process of creating questions, scoring, judging, and notifying results, etc. It also enables batch management of grade data and prevents human error.
This system reduces the workload of teachers by automating routine clerical work in their extremely busy workload.
Teachers can concentrate on their professional duties, such as preparing materials for classes, conducting training, and studying teaching methods, and are more likely to have more time to spend with each child individually.
Improving the quality of education through the use of high-quality digital teaching materials
The quality of education, which used to depend largely on the competence of teachers, can also be improved through the use of ICT.
Teachers can spend more time on creating curricula and teaching materials, as they have less administrative work to do.
In addition, the quality of education can be expected to improve as the students' learning status can be monitored statistically and in detail.
learningBOX is an LMS that makes it easy for anyone to start e-learning.
learningBOX is an e-learning system that was created with a focus on making it easy for anyone to build a web-based learning environment.
It is easy to use in terms of both cost and operation.
It is a learning management system (LMS) that covers all the functions required for school education, such as creating learning materials, creating tests, grading, and managing grades, and can create e-learning materials with a focus on price and ease of use.
Easy operation without IT expertise
Even those who are not good at operating a PC can easily add content to learningBOX using a dedicated creation form, and it can also be set up to distribute the content to different groups.
Detailed settings can be configured for each user, such as course settings, learner group management, and the ability to distribute learning materials to different groups.
Easily available for as little as ¥33,000 per year for 100 accounts!
Our greatest advantage is that our prices are the lowest in the industry.
Most e-learning systems on the market today are very expensive and are mainly designed for large corporations.
With our Starter Plan, 100 users can use e-learning for as little as 33,000 yen per year (plus tax), or 2,500 yen per month.
The learningBOX concept is a "cheap and easy-to-use" system.
About the free learningBOX plan
With the exception of optional features that require a fee, almost all functions of learningBOX are free of charge for up to 10 users, including the administrator.
For those in charge of school education who are considering implementing this system! Please take this opportunity to try our learningBOX.
Conclusion
Japan is lagging behind the rest of the world in the field of DX in education, but with the Corona disaster, reforms are not waiting for long.
The educational field is steadily beginning to change thanks to the strong promotion by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), which has finally started to get serious about the issue.
On the other hand, the diversity of students and the chronic high workload of teachers in Japan's education field remain major issues.
The use of ICT is not an objective, but an educational means to provide each child with equal and fair opportunities to obtain the necessary academic skills and experiences.
▼ We also recommend this! Also read "[2021 Preliminary Report] Corporate Commitment to DX Accelerated by Corona Disaster"