Abstract
Demand for international distance education with universities across the globe has been gaining its importance in recent years. The implementation of such education requires mutual needs and benefits as well as manageable burdens. Under such circumstances, this study proposed a "module exchange system" as a means to satisfy the requirements. This system is different from the conventional joint distance education in that the system makes it possible to both parties to receive and send the only necessary classes. The two universities, the Faculty of Education, Gifu University and the Faculty of Arts, the University of Sydney have exchanged four classes in the past two years, which verified the practicability of international distance education based on the "module exchange system". Although no serious problems in terms of contents and technical systems were identified, the two-year experiment manifested several points for improvement. First, the system in which the sender and the receiver of the class do not necessarily coincide makes it crucial to achieve mutual understanding and cooperation within the respective organization. Second, the participating students should be fully informed how the module class fits into their regular course. Third, the students should be given teaching materials such as handouts in advance so that they are well prepared for the delivered class.
