News FY 2019

On October 15, 2019, OUJ concluded a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the National University of Mongolia (NUM).

NUM was established in 1942 as the first national university in Mongolia. Since then, the Medical Department, Science and Technology Department, and Education Department have respectively become independent as universities separate from the original organization. NUM currently has more than 20,000 students in five departments, which is the largest number in the country.

In recent years, NUM has been proactively promoting online distance education, since no open universities as such exist in Mongolia. In January 2019, NUM opened a new studio called the Digital Professor Studio (DPS) specializing in producing online courses.

On December 12, Professor Battulga Sukhee, Dean of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, visited OUJ and made a courtesy call on President Kisugi for the first time since the conclusion of the MOU. Following an outline of NUM by Professor Battulga Sukhee, possible future collaborative production of online courses was agreed in conversation with President Kisugi.

On November 20–22, a delegation consisting of Professor Jeong Hyeon Suk and two senior researchers from the KNOU Institute of Distance Education visited OUJ. This visit was made as part of a four-year KNOU research and publication project on the world’s major open universities. OUJ was selected as the first research subject for the project.

In the morning of the 20th, the International Affairs Section gave an outline of OUJ at headquarters, followed by detailed explanations on topics requested by KNOU. In the afternoon, the delegation toured the master control room, studio, seminar house, and library. The visitors finished their day with a discussion on support for students with disabilities.

On the second day, the delegation visited the Chiba Study Center located adjacent to the headquarters buildings and interviewed Director Nagasawa, focusing on organization of face-to-face courses at the study centers. They then toured the study center.

After making a courtesy visit to President Kisugi in the afternoon, the visitors learned about the role of the Center for Online Education, OUJ’s new course establishment system, the future vision, production of printed materials, and the role of the Student Support Center.

On the last day, the delegation visited the Tokyo Bunkyo Study Center. Director Hayasi gave an introductory presentation outlining the study center and talked about his struggles in organizing face-to-face courses. He then took the visitors on a tour of the center. The delegation was able to attend a face-to-face course for a short time.

OUJ hope that the three-day-visit to OUJ will bring a fruitful result for their project.

Hosted by Dublin City University (DCU) and the National Institute of Digital Learning (NIDL), the 28th World Conference of the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) was held at the Dublin Convention Center in Dublin, Ireland, from November 3 to 8, 2019. More than 360 people participated, including educational experts mainly from European countries. Attending from OUJ were Professor Kumiko Aoki and Professor Motofumi Suzuki of the Informatics course, Department of Liberal Arts.

Based on the main theme, "Transforming Lives and Societies," Professor Aoki delivered a speech titled "Online student workload: perceptions of workload and actual self-log of study time at the Open University of Japan" and Professor Suzuki made a presentation under the title "A command-line based exam generation system for computer science education."

As an ensuing event, the ICDE Leadership Summit will be held in Korea from November 25 to 27, 2020, hosted by Korea National Open University.

On October 30 and 31, 2019, an OUJ delegation consisting of Professor Kumiko Aoki, Associate Professor Yosuke Morimoto, and Mr. Kenjiro Jin, Head of the International Affairs Section, visited UOC to study its online learning system and current situation. OUJ and UOC signed an international cooperation exchange agreement in 2014, aiming for cooperation between faculty and staff members.

UOC was founded in October 1994 by the Government of Catalonia to provide lifelong learning through ICT and individualized educational models. The following year, UOC welcomed students to its government-approved courses on educational psychology and business research. Since then, UOC has expanded and established a network of 14 UOC Regional Centers and 40 UOC Points across Spain, and has extended its operations to the Latin American market. Currently, more than 50,000 students in seven departments are learning online.

In the afternoon of October 30, Associate Professor Morimoto and Mr. Jin visited Professor Otsuki, who is in charge of Japanese subjects at the Modern Language Center at UOC headquarters in the northern hills of Barcelona. They were briefed on Japan-related academic activities at UOC. Every semester, about 100 people with an interest in Japanese language and culture, often triggered by anime, enroll at UOC.

In addition to the headquarters, Barcelona is home to three other buildings where departments and research institutes are located.

On October 31, Dr. Ana Elena Guerrero Roldán, who was a keynote speaker at the 2019 OUJ International Symposium, welcomed the OUJ delegation at a four-story building called “22 @.” It is located in a redevelopment area with good access, and OUC plans to consolidate functions by relocating several departments to adjacent buildings within the next few years.

That day, the Dean of the Computer Science Department explained the current situation of UOC, and faculty or staff members responsible for academic tutoring systems and quality assurance at OUC outlined their own systems. The afternoon session covered the fields of student service and a new business model for lifelong learning, followed by a lively discussion and opinion exchange.

OUJ would like to thank all the UOC faculty members who warmly welcomed our delegates with a flexible approach during their visit. We hope to continue developing our mutual relationship based on substantial information exchange.

Hosted by the Virtual University of Pakistan, the 33rd Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) Annual Conference was held at Pearl Continental Hotel Lahore on October 14–16, 2019. About 450 university officials and educational experts in the field of open and distance learning from 23 countries participated in the conference.

From OUJ, President Shin Kisugi and Vice President Masaya Iwanaga attended the AAOU Executive Committee Meeting, and papers were presented by Professor Yamada, Professor Takeo Tatsumi, Professor Tomokazu Yasuike, and Mr. Kenjiro Jin, Deputy Head of the General Affairs Division.

On September 28, OUJ held the 2019 International Symposium "Exploring Methods of e-Assessment: Learning from the Latest Cases" at the Tokyo Bunkyo Study Center. About 80 people participated, including OUJ students, graduates, and members of the public.

In the first session, Dr. Ana Elena Guerrero Roldán of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya gave a presentation titled “Adaptive trust-based e-assessment system for learning: the cases of the TeSLA and LIS projects.” She outlined the TeSLA project, which was supported by the EU, and explained its benefits. This project provides educational institutions with an “adaptive trust-based e-assessment system” in order to make the online learning assessment process reliable.

In the second session, Professor Hideo Hirose, director of the Data Science Research Center at the Hiroshima Institute of Technology, gave a presentation titled “Education assistance using large-scale online testing, and its learning analytics.” In 2016, the Hiroshima Institute of Technology installed a program involving online testing of students, and data on students’ proficiency were accumulated. He described the research results from that attempt and showed the possibilities for learning analytics based on large-scale online testing to suggest the direction of future educational methodologies.

The third session was a discussion led by Masaya Iwanaga, Vice President of OUJ, acting as moderator. He posed questions to the two speakers and exchanged opinions about their presentations. In the latter half of the session, a lively discussion was conducted based on various questions asked by the participants.

Both of these talks, built on an immense amount of work by the two speakers, were impressive as well as informative. OUJ plans to continue holding international symposiums.

A delegation consisting of six faculty members of The Open University of Guangdong in China, led by Vice President Sun (孫), visited OUJ On June 26. This visit was coordinated through The Japan-China Society and its aim was to learn about case studies of advanced Japanese education for elderly people.

The Open University of Guangdong was established in November 1978 as one of the six open universities in China, with its predecessor being the Guangdong TV and Radio University. It belongs to the Guangdong Provincial Education Office and uses IT to provide distance education to society as a whole.

The delegation was welcomed by Professor Yamada, the chairperson of International Exchange Committee, and Professor Yuan of the Psychology and Education Course. After an outline of OUJ by Professor Yuan, the hosts and visitors exchanged souvenirs and took pictures.

The delegation then toured the Chiba Study Center, library, master control room, and studio. At the Chiba Study Center, they chanced upon the opportunity to interact with students working on research and club activities. The tour was very fulfilling for the visitors.

The 9th KNOU-OUC-OUJ International Seminar hosted by Korea National Open University (KNOU) was held in Seoul on May 23 and 24, 2019, attended by representatives from the Open University of China (OUC) and OUJ. This seminar has been hosted by the three open universities in turn since 2009.

The main theme was “Transforming Open Education with Innovative Technologies,” and six delegates from the three universities gave presentations from the perspectives of technologies to support learning and teaching.

At the opening ceremony, President Ryu Su Noh of KNOU made the opening remarks, followed by congratulatory remarks by President Kisugi and Vice President Yang Xiaotang of OUC.

In Session 1 in the morning, Professor Junichiro Kishine gave a speech on the theme of “Technologies to support bi-directional learning in natural science education: some attempts in the Open University of Japan.” He outlined some of his television, radio, and online courses at OUJ, and shared ideas and initiatives for maintaining bi-directional learning for students.

In Session 2 in the afternoon, chaired by Vice President Iwanaga, Professor Katsuya Ishizaki gave a speech titled “Technologies to support teaching.” The talk focused on the introduction of ICT in his TV courses "Introduction to Calculus ('16)" and "Problems and Exercises in Calculus ('19)."

The three lectures were followed by an open discussion and Q&A session led by Mr. Ock Tae Kim, Dean of Office Planning at KNOU. The seminar concluded with a closing address by the KNOU President, and the 10th OUJ-KNOU-OUC Seminar to be held in Japan next year was announced by President Kisugi soon afterwards.

In this seminar, we were able to share information and ideas on new attempts at each university and further deepen the relationship among the three open universities.

On May 21, a delegation of nine faculty members from the School of Political Science at Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University (STOU) visited OUJ.

The delegation arrived at the Makuhari headquarters of OUJ before noon, in time for a conversation with President Kisugi and Vice President Iwanaga. In the afternoon, after receiving an overview of OUJ, they toured the studio, library, Chiba Study Center, and master control room.

Professor Miwa of the Informatics course then gave a presentation on the university's approach to lifelong learning. After the presentation, STOU members asked various questions. It was a good opportunity for the two open universities to talk about issues common to both their countries, such as aging societies.