2018 Volume 13 Issue 2 Pages 534-548
The effectiveness and challenges of a combination of a “survey of a home regional area” and editing Wikipedia as experiences for first-year university students were examined. A practical study was conducted in Naramachi, Nara, a former capital of Japan which has many traditional homes located near Nara University of Education. Each student was in charge of one local community designated as “my town” and made a page on the community on Wikipedia. After they conducted fieldwork in the towns, the results were summarized in presentations at a report meeting and in a booklet for elementary school pupils. As a result of analyzing this project, its broad significance was recognized as first-year experience at universities. In addition, the knowledge, skills, ability to think, ability to make decisions, ability to express oneself, subjectivity, diversity, and cooperation needed to conduct local fieldwork in university education and then to disseminate the results became clear. Such projects also contribute to building relationships among universities, students, and the local community. Furthermore, this study showed that geography can contribute to first-year experience at universities.
