The purpose of this study is to clarify the function of a teachers' community for the inter-classroom collaborative learning. To promote collaboration among students, it is necessary that teachers make their community to develop teaching practices, work together, and improve mutual curriculum. The authors manage "Health of Earth" which is a collaborative learning project working with a TV program. The classroom participates in this project yearlong, and finds the other suitable classrooms for their practice. The classroom collaborates on ecological issues through e-mails, the world wide Web, videoconference, live TV programs and so on. Research focus is the function of a teachers' community which serves as background to promote collaborative learning. Analyzing the mailing list of the teachers and the Web of students, we revealed three phases in building a teachers' community as follows: (1) A period of building, (2) A period of practice, (3) A period of summarizing. In addition, this community helps the teachers to coordinate their theme, to follow each practice and to exchange their skills. From a case study of teaching practices in this project, the authors found the attitude of the teacher who reflects his/her teaching practice and follows it in this community.

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The purpose of this paper is to suggest the development of scientific teaching materials of using "Breathing Earth", part of a website which includes a virtual simulation of earthquakes (http://www.sensorium.org/breathingearth/inside-j.html). The university students were divided into an observing Breathing. Earth group (N=146) and a non-observing group (N=53), and the author investigated what differences occurred between the two groups. As a result, the observing group members realized that a lot of earthquakes happen in Japan. Then the author conducted a trial survey similar to the observing group trial on junior-high school students (N=33), and the result was the same. Furthermore, the author analyzed scientific teaching materials from the viewpoint of a Breathing Earth and the author suggested that imagining natural phenomena using this concept is also important for science education programs.

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Field-based enquiry aimed at the improvement of an Open Educational College in Iraq and practice across different professional fields was executed to develop a project proposal to innovate it with multimedia technologies. Actually, this study was intended to utilize and implement a plan to improve an open educational college. Throughout the investigation activities, an action research method was employed, and triangulation in the form of different angles of observation was tried out with a two-fold aim of raising the awareness for pedagogical knowledge and viewpoint, as well as giving reflective commentaries and feedback as to the author's own interaction with various school department. The research was concluded developement as the style of a project concept paper, and proposed to the Ministry of Education, Iraq.

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This project was started in 1999 when Prof. Masayoshi Akahori was assigned to become a support expert for a pilot project in distance education (telesecundaria) for the Peruvian Ministry of Education by the JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency). At that time, the percentage of students entering secondary school in Peru was only 56%, with figures even lower in rural and Amazonic areas. Under the government of Alberto Fujimori, the Japanese government helped start a project that was initiated in 101 locations. To verify that the project goals were achieved, a study was started in June of 2000. However, in July of the same year, with the collapse of the Fujimori government, the project entered a standby state and the new government was not too eager to continue with the project. Under these circumstances, we were able to reach a new agreement to carry out this study together with the Peruvian Ministry of Education, and work was resumed. The year 2000 was the first year of this study and we mainly investigated the social and cultural background and importance of the project in communities where it started to function. We gathered related data through the distribution of a questionnaire administered by the tutors working in the participating schools. The second year (2001), of the study was the central one, hence we prepared research material and carried out case studies as established in the agreement with the Peruvian government. The research during this year was carried out together with two experts from the Ministry of Education: Marcos Brones (in charge of mathematics) and Margarita Leon (in charge of audio-visual materials). The case-study research was done between the 13th and 31st of August, 2001. We measured the level of achievement and the understanding and capability of students to extract information from video materials. Then we processed the data obtained and analyzed the results from both a psychological and statistical viewpoint.

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The purpose of this paper is to report a practice of creating video works at a junior college of domestic science, and to consider its educational significance. Video art education was introduced as a subject within the general education at first, but it made a gradual change, assuming a greater importance as a professional and technical course. It is considered that the practice of creating video works at Mimasaka Women's Junior College has achieved adequate results as a component of students general education, making the most of the characteristics of video production which is group work as well as creative work. On the other hand, as professional education at a non-art junior college, the practice dose encounter specific difficulties that involve students' motivation, equipment and employment opportunities.

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The "Theory and Practice of Image Expression" is an area of study focused on second and third year students in the Department of Media and Cultural Studies at Tokyo University of Information Sciences, which provides them with two-year learning in video program production. The author introduced a program to increase understanding of the fundamental principles of photography. The author reports that the approach has contributed to a clearer understanding of scientific and reasoned principles applied to image expression as well as to the cultivation of a more careful and serious attitude when students try to focus on the subject.

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