This study revealed the actual conditions of work-life balance (WLB) and the support required for improving the work environment of faculty members engaged in various types of work such as education, research, and university operations under the discretionary labor system. A survey was conducted among the faculty members of three universities. The results obtained indicate the following: Faculty members tend to be more satisfied with their WLB than general workers and experience occupational stress due to obstruction of their research activities; specifically, such obstruction includes suspension of independent research and less time for research due to life events, other tasks, and adverse effects caused by the lack of support for people around faculty members who receive support. In addition, worry over the amount of workload results in negative attitudes toward promotion to a senior position, and women, especially, are reluctant to get promoted due to gender bias.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to contribute to solving various problems spreading through society today. To that end, students should acquire knowledge of AI from an early age and be sensitized to careers in this field. Therefore, this study implemented an educational practice using AI for career development in an elementary school. Four items were used to verify the educational effectiveness of the practice: intrinsic value, attainment utility value, expectancies for success, and career development. The results of the analysis confirmed an increase in the observed items. Thus, the educational practice proposed in this study is considered valid in terms of educational effectiveness from the perspectives of motivation, career development, and so on.

A dialogue system that responds mechanically to given queries can be used for public relations for prospective university students. However, as a user-specific problem, collecting information from first-time entrances and passive examinations is difficult, and a conventional dialogue system may not collect sufficient information. Therefore, we developed a recommendation-type dialogue system that supports information gathering by evoking potential user requests. Based on the preference analysis results using previous and real-time query histories and recommended information from universities, information in the form of queries is recommended to users when considering their personal attributes. We evaluated the presence or absence of a recommendation function and implemented an introduction evaluation targeting public relations for those who wish to enroll in a university. The average number of queries increases by evoking potential requests, and the information gathering of the user is supported.

This study aimed to create Augmented Reality (AR) materials aimed at understanding the scientific conceptions of electric current, devise teaching methods using the created AR materials, and verify the effectiveness of the teaching methods through class-room practice. To achieve these objectives, this study created AR materials that superimpose electric current models on experimental apparatuses and worksheets using a tablet PC, and devised a teaching method that focuses on clarifying the students’ mis-conceptions. The results showed that the AR materials and teaching methods contributed to the understanding of the directional concept of electric current. They also contributed to understanding some of the concepts of continuity and conservation of current.

In order to assess the extent to which text-mining techniques can be used to gain insights into a particular topic area, we apply hierarchical word clustering and the Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) measure to articles on computer programming published since the 1970s, when research articles on teaching programming are now more readily available in PDF files. Study 1 compares two sets of papers published before and after the introduction of the concept of Computational Thinking in 2006 to highlight the changes seen in these research sets. Articles mentioned in frequently cited review papers were selected as the target articles to ensure the quality of the sample. Study 2 extends the sample pool to include a range of papers published after the 1970s, allowing us to examine the stability of the conceptual structures identified in Study 1. In both studies, the obtained word clusters or concepts align with known research trends in the programming-education literature. The significance and potential of text-mining techniques are also discussed.

This study proposes a new method for detecting and preventing proxy test-taking in online examinations using a tablet device that authenticates the identity of examinees based on multiple types of touch gestures. We proved that the support vector machine has the best performance among classifiers for authentication when various touch gestures are used and various positions on the screen are touched. The results also showed that if support vector machine is used as the classifier, a handshape image taken from above or from the side can be used for identity authentication. In the future, we will improve the experimental environment to make it more similar to an actual online examination and investigate the possibility of performing authentication using touch gestures at arbitrary points on the touch screen of a tablet device.

This study examined whether students’ learning strategies and class engagement were improved by teachers providing open-ended questions in advance and facilitating class-preparation. The participants were 42 university students (Mean age= 19.3, SD = 0.6) from an educational psychology class. In the first baseline assessment class, students responded to a scale that measured their intellectual curiosity. During Intervention 1, a simple explanation and several open-ended questions about the content were provided before class. During Intervention 2, the students received specific assignments for class-preparation. Results showed that the scores for learning strategies and class engagement were higher after the first and second interventions than after the baseline assessment. Moreover, class-preparation assignments and the provision of advanced open-ended questions were effective for students with low intellectual curiosity.

Participating in peer-review activities can enhance students’ learning outcomes. However, past studies have not thoroughly explored how student performance in peer-review activities and their open-ended tasks relate to online classes. Using synchronous and asynchronous communication tools, we analyzed how students’ collaborative learning activities and participation in a peer-review activity are associated with their learning outcomes in an online undergraduate course. By developing open-ended tasks in small groups, students created Open Educational Resources through a series of peer-review activities. Students’ contributions to collaborative activities were assessed using self-reports and a questionnaire. The findings highlighted the importance of active participation in peer-review activities in online learning that combine synchronous and asynchronous communication tools, which can enhance the completion of open-ended tasks.