After Central Council for Education published the report in 2006, various reforms of in-service training programs for teachers and teacher-training course, have carried out. But the argument about what capabilities as a teacher is, and how they are improved, have been lacking. In this study I will reexamine abilities that is required for the teacher from the perspective of media theory, with reference to the concept of epistemology, dissimilation and curation. A teacher must be skeptical about authority so that dissimilation happens in the recognition of the student. In addition, a teacher must be sensitive to the fixer ideas and the sense of values of the student. And a question to bring relativization of them is necessary. The teacher has to make a class such a place.

View full abstract

The exponential growth of YouTube has changed how individuals access and contribute to video content.Yet despite the wide spread impact of YouTube on the lives of students and educators, little research has been conducted to determine how YouTube is being used in educational settings. The purpose of this study is to investigate how and to what extent college students and educators in Japan and USA are creating YouTube videos and using the vast archive of online video content on YouTube. This research also looks into the implications of YouTube culture for college media literacy education. Even though there was a big difference in the number and age distribution of American and Japanese students, and a small number of educators participated in the study, the findings indicate that there are some differences in how YouTube is used by students and educators from the USA and Japan. Differing socio-cultural cultural perspectives between both countries offer an interesting insight into educational content creation and implementation in teaching and learning.

View full abstract

Elementary school level English education software for tablet-type device was developed, and the effect on pupils’ impression and learning were examined. 51 pupils (5th and 6th graders) were divided into TV group (25 pupils: watching TV program for elementary school level English), and Combined group (26 pupils: Watching TV and studying with the tablet-type device). The result showed that both TV group and Combined group showed improvement in general impression on English (e.g. I like English), preference to English listening (e.g. I like listening English), and attitude toward cultural difference. In terms of learning, the combined group showed higher improvement than the TV only group in 3 out of 5 tasks which measured English learning. This result showed that combined study method is more effective than watching TV alone for better impression and English learning.

View full abstract

This article compares educational media research trends in Japan and in US, together with a reflection on the author’s trajectory with this association, in order to discover new by taking lessons from the past. The common theme between two countries seems to study media application to gain, expand, and improve communications with educational intentions. One of the strengths of this association is ample outcomes of research accumulated in its long history. It is said that we are now in the era of social media. Would this be different from our past experiences with other kinds of media, which came into educational scene with overwhelming expectations, but with short-term small impact on practices? Is social media different from the ones in the past? It is the era of drastic changes with lots of new stuff coming and going. It is important, therefore, to look back what we have experienced, and to learn from the past. It seems that one of the missions of this association is to provide an information-rich environment for its members to learn from the past easily.

View full abstract