In this research we developed a special needs education case database system to store and share the data of children's problem behavior. The system uses webcams to record children's problem behavior in the classroom. The main benefits of our system are as follows: (1) The webcam can store the video to a server from 20 seconds before the starting point when the teacher starts recording with a wireless mouse during the class. This makes it possible for a teacher to capture the children's problem behaviors that usually occur suddenly. (2) Teachers can clearly describe the children's problem behaviors in electronic educational records using the video recordings of the webcam even when the memory is unclear. (3) The system is designed for up to 4 webcams. This allows recording the children's problem behaviors from multiple perspectives. This also allows teachers to clearly describe in electronic educational records the problem behaviors, even the ones that are difficult to capture from single perspective. We have verified the effectiveness of this system through experiment and utilization in classroom trials.

View full abstract

The present study was conducted through alumni research in 2007 and had two main purposes: (1) to extract structure of Generic Skills (GS) among university students, and (2) to examine it's function with a focus on the differences between regular- curricula (RC) and extra-curricula (EC). Prior to their graduation, university students (N=657) completed a questionnaire consisting of eight domains. The results are summarized as follows: First, factor analysis results indicated that GS consisted of 35 items and 8 factors (F) (F1: critical thinking/problem solving, F2: social skills, F3: sustainable learning/social involvement, F4: knowledge systematization, F5: information literacy, F6: foreign language skills, F7: native language skills, F8: self-presentation). Second, the results of a t-test conducted on the differences between RC and EC showed that RC had a higher score than EC in F5 and F6, whereas EC had a higher score than RC in F2, F3, F4, and F8. Third, the results of ANOVA conducted on the differences of faculty showed that goal-oriented faculty like teacher's and doctor's certificate had a higher score than else. Finally, it was implicated that this study played an important role as a curriculum assessment in educational reform and FD.

View full abstract

College and junior college students participated in a paralinguistic skills training program designed by the author. The purpose of the paper is to understand change of participants' understanding and behavior of speech communication and to evaluate the program through questionnaire and Third Party (experts) Evaluation. The program included conscientization of transition toward occupational life and thorough utilization of occupational settings, focalisation on un-known or un-acquired paralanguage skills, and inter-participants discussion. Comparison through questionnaire and analysis of variances of experts' evaluation between two groups who participated in the program and who didn't suggests effectiveness of the program.

View full abstract

There are calculation problems such as 1+2+3+97+98+99 which can be solved rapidly and easily by using certain techniques. We call these problems "efficient calculation problems" and it has been pointed out that many students do not always solve them efficiently. To address this problem among students, the current study developed a new teaching method. The first study sought to examine underlying subcategories of efficient calculation problems. Multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis to a similarity matrix obtained from expert judgments were conducted, and the results showed that 20 efficient calculation problems were classified into 8 categories. The second study examined the effect of intervention. 59 eighth graders and 52 fifth graders received an abstract strategy "think carefully about the whole expression" and were taught solution. The results indicated that the eighth graders solved similar problems efficiently after the intervention, while the fifth graders could not. The results also suggested that the effect of the intervention was greater among students with sufficient basic calculation skills.

View full abstract

A lot of studies of class culture or class atmosphere have been in the past. But it is very difficult to find studies that focus on hours of teaching. The purpose of this study was to make up "class atmosphere scale" evaluable by an outsider not teachers or students and to reveal the difference on cognition of class atmosphere between student and teacher. Factor analysis found that three factors, which are "control atmosphere", "free and active atmosphere" and "annoying atmosphere", were picked out and the reliability and the validity was confirmed. As for cognition of class atmosphere, student was highly sensitive to "annoying atmosphere" than teacher. And multiple regression analysis found that teachers' class activity had an influence on three factors of class atmosphere. As a result of examining each assessor's atmosphere assessment of two classes, this study implies that class atmosphere depends on class assessor's concept of values rather than class content itself.

View full abstract

This paper describes the effects of an e-learning system with a feedback system in blended learning environments of information and communication technology education at a Japanese university. The purpose of this research was to analyze the relationship among the factors. (1) The degree to which students could access the e-learning system and their responses to the system, (2) their self-regulated learning strategies and their self-efficacy, (3) their performance in class, (4) their recognition of tasks and performances in the class, and (5) their satisfaction with regard to the class. The structural equation model indicated that the students whose class included the e-learning system with the feedback system accessed it more often than the students whose class did not have it. In addition, it was clear that their class performance was affected by the feedback system. The use of the e-learning system directly influenced the students' responses to the task. Their responses directly influenced their self-regulated learning strategies, and their self-regulated learning strategies in turn directly influenced their self-efficacy. Additionally, their self-efficacy had an indirect effect on their class performance.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe and compare perceptions of autonomy-oriented courses that a teacher had at the end of the first, second, and fourth semesters of the given courses by using Personal Attitude Construct (PAC) analysis. The teacher, called Teacher A, was well experienced in teaching Japanese as second language with over twenty years of experience, but taught autonomy-oriented courses at a college level for the first time in his career. The data obtained at the first time of data collection indicated that Teacher A had a teacher-oriented view toward instruction and could not define his roles as an instructor in an autonomy-oriented course. However, at the end of the fourth semesters, he gained clearer understanding of learners' autonomy and of teachers' roles in the courses. The data also showed that his perspectives broadened to include students' lives and life styles by the end of the fourth semester. These findings indicated that: 1) a new method was challenging at first for Teacher A, though he was well experienced; 2) encounter with a new instructional method provided Teacher A with opportunities to review and reflect on his everyday practice, which eventually give him new insights into his instruction and learners. However, such a success may have depended on the environments in which he was situated.

View full abstract

The copyright agreement system where author's copyrights are mutually respected was developed for promoting utilization of educational contents over the Internet. When original authors can resister their contents, they show various conditions depending on each creator's intent for reuse or modification of content at no charge or charged. Registered contents can be modified if authorized under the license term but modified contents must be registered to the system and prices are set by authors for the content. History of reuse and modification are shown by the system and original and modified authors can be approved their originalities each other. Metadata of contents are registered in the LOM (learning object metadata) and one can search by name of contents, metadata or condition of utilization.

View full abstract