Online Learning Materials for Responsible Conduct of Research Education in Japan

Advantages and Limitations

Abstract

　Education in the Responsible Conduct of Research （RCR） is in the midst of a change in Japan. One trigger of the change was the publication of the Guidelines for Responding to Misconduct in Research by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2014. Since the announcement of the guidelines, the demand for suitable materials for use in RCR education has raised dramatically. In this paper, I have focused on the effectiveness and limitations of the Japanese version of CITI online educational resources, one of the major online sources of material in Japan when it comes to RCR education in universities. If the quality assurance of a given educational content is reliable, from the learners’ perspective, the online material has advantages in the sense that users can learn anytime, anywhere. From the perspective of the provider, the advantages are that the online platform is cost effective and the content is easy to update. However, online RCR education is not sufficiently effective without supplementary face-to-face group discussions, lectures, mentoring, and adequate organizational support from each learner’s organization. Moreover, active discussion is needed within the research community about the content and methods of RCR education in the context of Japan.