Because of the need to have more balanced ways of applying digital technologies in learning, this paper presents a few of the negative aspects of our dependence on writing and reading using the computer. By referring to Walter Ong’s analysis of symbolic experiences, it is argued that the essence of digital writing is a sense of phenomenological lightness, being destined to control, and being destined to copy. By referring to Martin Heidegger’s philosophy of Being, the substance of modern technologies is understood as a web of control. In digital writing, we control words and symbols as objects. This makes words more situation-free, and loosens the ties between words and our physical selves in specific places and times. This, in turn, facilitates our tendencies to be rootless, to be not at home, and to forget Being (as in Heidegger’s conception). Based on these discussions, this paper suggests that we need more to hear thoughts in art education to reflect on ourselves regarding the use of technologies in education.

View full abstract

Educational cooperative activities between countries for human capacity building are expanding in accordance with the international stream of modern globalization and information. A variety of models on exchange activities are also appearing based on this stream. These trends made many changes in the field of traditional education through online-based activities which anyone can access to beyond spatiotemporal barriers. This study aimed at developing the performance model to support the activities of members who carry out cooperative projects under online learning community, applying it to actual performance case, analyzing the results, and deriving improvements. The developed performance model consists of three components. The first component is the core principle for management and implementation of the performance model. The second one is the process of performance model and activities of each step, and the third one is online workrooms (websites) to support the performances. Moreover, members of the community applied core progressive strategies to accomplish projects and a few suggestions were raised so as to make aggressive and dynamic activities of online learning community. Based on the ‘Online Learning Community’, the members who carry out international educational cooperative projects acquired meaningful knowledge not by one-way giving from others but by forming recursive process, where the members with various cultures and backgrounds could be an instructor at one time or a learner at the other time, so they experienced social learning process acquiring knowledge cooperatively.

View full abstract

As promising benefits of online collaborative learning are evidenced, a digital learning community is taking its place as a popular learning environment. Despite the many benefits of collaborative learning, learners experience ambivalence. The promising benefits of a learning community cannot be obtained without purposeful facilitation. The primary goal of this study is to see if activity theory is useful to analyze and explain the learning process in a digital learning community. The secondary agenda is to capture the conflicts or contradictions manifested in the activity system. As a pilot study, this paper examines the applicability of activity theory to collaborative e-learning scenarios.

View full abstract

The Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity & Promotion (KADO) began to provide e-learning from 2001, via the site Baeumnara, primarily to the 4 major underserved groups including the disabled, the elderly, housewives, and other low income classes-farmers or blue collar workers. This research was proposed to design the strategies and future directions for the development and management of Baeumnara content. To do this, the SWOT matrix model was adopted in order to analyze strength, weakness, opportunity, and threatening elements of its content, based on the findings from the reviews of e-learning trends and programs for the underserved groups both in the United Kingdom and Australia, the survey on the user satisfactory level of its content, and a meeting with the managerial staff of Baeumnara. As a result, 5 main areas of strategic tasks were suggested and their subordinated tasks were reclassified into medium- and long-range strategies in terms of timeliness and practicality.

View full abstract

The present study aims at identifying innovative and good practices of open and distance learning (ODL) in Asia and the Pacific (AP) region at the tertiary education level, and sharing the findings to promote knowledge sharing with ODL institutions. To achieve these objectives, a survey of ODL institutions in the AP region and analyses of published documents and web sites have been conducted. The results of the study show that many ODL institutions have implemented quality assurance (QA) measures throughout their ODL practices including student services and tutoring, course development, staff evaluation, and student assessment; and most institutions have introduced ICT-based programs and services in pursuit of quality improvement and expansion. The paper concludes with a list of recommendation for the future development of ODL in the AP region.

View full abstract

Inter-School Collaborative Learning (ISCL) is a teaching method wherein pupils collaborate with pupils in other schools by using various online and offline communication tools. The instructional design model for ISCL was developed, which is based on an analysis of teachers’ curriculum design and the communication process among pupils. For evaluating the ID model, three types of worksheets were developed: the planning worksheets, the reflection worksheets and the feedback worksheets which teachers used to consider learning objectives and the learning process based on the ID model for ISCL. In an experimental study, after 24 teachers used the worksheets to conduct their own ISCL plans, they confirmed the validity of the framework model and said that the procedure model had helped them to design their plans.

View full abstract

This research aimed to study the different attitudes and preferences between foreign students and Japanese language teachers in using a reading support e-Learning system. In experiments, 20 language teachers and 22 foreign students used reading e-Learning content on LMS Server (WebClass) and answered a 33-item questionnaire that investigated four factors (e-Contents Effectiveness, Relevance between Modules, Difficulty of New Modules and Positive Perception of Traditional Exercises). Results revealed that foreign students show a positive attitude toward new tasks and explanation with graphics on e-Learning system. They also approved of ordinary language tasks (vocabulary and grammar), that were implemented in Module 1 and Module 2. On the contrary, Japanese teachers indicated difficulty and inadequacy of textual information in new tasks and explanations on e-Learning. They also showed a negative attitude toward ordinary language tasks.

View full abstract

This study attempted to build a system environment that would lead to diversification in human relationships by enabling communication between a child and grandparent via the Internet using a computer. The day-to-day dialogue with a grandparent is realized via the Internet by employing a medium that would give direction to the dialogue and thereby enliven the communication. Along with presenting the possibilities of ICT to increase the opportunities for communication with people, which is indispensable for a child’s development, by increasing the communication with close relatives, the study succeeded in presenting a new relationship with computers for a child that is different from the conventional software for children.

View full abstract