Activity Reports(Archive)

7th OUJ-OUC-KNOU International Seminar (7th and 8th Sep. 2017)

OUJ organized the 7th OUJ-OUC-KNOU International Seminar at OUJ headquarters in Chiba. This seminar has been initiated amongst the three universities of Korea, China and Japan from 2009 for the purpose of cultivating further ties and exchanging experiences, and has been held almost every year taking turns at hosting. This year, five delegates including President Yang Zhijian of the Open University of China (OUC) and four delegates including Acting President Oi Sook Kim of Korea National Open University (KNOU) participated in the seminar. The main theme was "Supporting Various Learners in Open Universities"sectioned into Session 1 and 2 with the sub themes of "Educational Aspects" and "Technical Aspects" respectively. In the opening remarks, President Shin Kisugi firstly showed his gratitude for the participation of the guests from China and Korea and emphasized the importance of having such an opportunity to learn each other's experiences and expertise which can help promoting open and distance learning in each country. From OUJ, Professor Makiko Miwa made her presentation titled "Cultivate Elderly Students' ICT Literacy Necessary for Taking Online Courses" based on the educational aspects in Session 1. Professor Haruo Kodama introduced his challenges under the title of "Mobile App Development of Lecture Notes in Online Course 'Media and Intellectual Property' " based on the technical aspects in Session 2 on the following day. In the discussion, Associate Professor Rie Ohashi served as the moderator and prompted the presenters of Session 1 and 2 to the active remarks focusing on "how to support our diversified students". For the presentation abstracts, please access from here.

Report of 7th OUJ-OUC-KNOU International Seminar新規タブで開く

2016 OUJ International Symposium (15 Mar. 2017)

OUJ held its annual international symposium at AV Hall in OUJ Library, on Wednesday, March 15, 2017. The theme of the symposium was "What can we learn from open universities abroad?" and about eighty people attended it. The symposium was not open to public this time and it was targeted to the personnel working for OUJ. At the beginning, President Okabe addressed the keynote speech of OUJ's issues and challenges during his tenure, which was followed by the presentation by Professor António Moreira Teixeira from Universidad Aberta, Portugal, who succeeded in transforming a distance learning institution to fully online within only three years. Professor Teixeira's presentation showed us various practices experienced in the transformation he directed. Subsequently, six OUJ faculty staffs reported and shared collected information through interviews and facility tours from ten open universities abroad they visited. At the final panel session, many questions were posed toward Professor Teixeira from the audience, in regard to the management on the transformation of Universidad Aberta.

OUJ TIEC International Symposium (27 Nov. 2015)

OUJ TIEC International Symposium co-hosted by JASSO (Japan Student Services Organization) was held in Tokyo on the 27th of November 2015 on the theme: "Assessment of Learning in the 21st Century''. In the keynote speech titled "Learning Analytics: In their own words'', Professor Belinda Tynan from UK presented a holistic approach to learning analytics and showed how it can benefit the students with a willingness to learn. Practical examples and approaches on assessment of learning were introduced by the four distinguished speakers from Japan, USA, Australia and Malaysia. The symposium indicated that the methods and quality of assessment of learning would greatly affect the quality of online education.

The abstracts, videos of the presentations and the symposium report can be accessed through

Report of OUJ TIEC International Symposium新規タブで開く

2015 OUJ International Symposium (13 Feb. 2015)

OUJ International Symposium 2015 (OJIS2015) was held at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan under the theme of "Impacts of ICT on Supporting Students with Disabilities in Higher Education". 4 distinguished speakers were invited from the USA, UK and Japan and their practical research and experiences were shared with the participants. From their point of view, sharing information between not only the student and support staff but also professors and technical staff is important and will ameliorate the disability support.

More information can be accessed through

Report of 2015 OUJ International Symposium新規タブで開く

2014 OUJ International Symposium (7 Feb. 2014)

OUJ held its annual international symposium (OJIS2014) at Makuhari International Training Center, on Friday, February 7, 2014. The theme of the symposium this year was "Global Trends of Online Teaching and Learning" and a total of 180 people attended the symposium. The symposium speakers included Sir John Daniel (Education Master, Beijing DeTao Masters Academy / Former Vice-Chancellor, the Open University, UK), Prof. Grace Alfonso (Chancellor, University of the Philippines Open University), Mr. Andrew Law (The Director of Open Media, The Open University, UK), Prof. Jan Herrington (Professor, Murdoch University), and Prof. Yoichi Okabe (President, The Open University of Japan). The panel discussion followed the invited talks by speakers mentioned above and various aspects of online teaching and learning were discussed. The symposium concluded that online teaching and learning would be very promising in transforming higher education and we now live in a very exciting time to witness such transformation.

More information can be accessed through

Report of 2014 OUJ International Symposium新規タブで開く

The 5th OUJ, OUC, KNOU International Seminar (5 Sep. 2013)

OUJ organized the 5th OUJ, OUC, KNOU International Seminar. This year OUC was unable to participate due to the unexpected circumstances and 4 delegates from Korea participated in the event. The topics were chosen 2 for each by OUJ and KNOU under the main theme of "Quality Improvement in Open University Education", which we would like to learn from the other university. Active discussions were made on the topics of "Responding to Aging Societies", "Learning Support System for students", "Learning Material Production System" and "Online Lectures". The seminar ended with fruitful success.

The 26th AAOU Annual Conference (16-18 Oct. 2012) 

OUJ hosted the 26th Annual Conference of Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan. The main theme of the conference was "Expanding the frontiers of Knowledge through Open and Distance Learning in Changing Societies," and six scholars and policy makers in the field delivered keynote and plenary speeches. In the parallel sessions, over 100 participants presented their papers on one of the eight sub-themes. About 300 participants from 22 countries and regions attended this conference. A special session titled "Crisis and Risk Management" was also held to present what has been learned from the great east Japan earthquake of March 11, 2011. In addition, OUJ campus tours were organized for participants to visit our facilities of the TV recording studios, the master control room and the Chiba study center.