NOTE
e - Le a r ni nga ndHi ghe rEduc a t i oni nJa pa n
Yos hi hi koI ke da
ExpectationandCriticism toUniversity
Thecriticism andtheexpectationfortheuniversityhavebeenoftenrepeateduptonow.
Theuniversityhasbeendenouncedby thepublicmany timesin thepastasfollows. Universitiesare“Ivorytowers”andtheydonottrytorespondtotherequestofthesociety.
Universitiesareintheplaceinwhichtheywerefarapartfrom thepeopleandwidely differentfrom arealisticsociety.Itseemsthattheyarenotfacingatthedirectionofthe presenttrend.
Ontheotherhand,thereisapersonwhofindsuniversitiessignificantexistencemean- ings.Thatis,universities,keepingaconstantdistancefrom thepresentworld,arewell managed.Alsotheyaresearchingout“seed”ofthedevelopmentofthesocietyandare creating“bud”oftheworld.Insuchameaning,itcanbesaidthatthepostureofthe universitythatdoesnoteasilylongtime.Inthisissue,wemaysaythatthecriticism tothe universityoriginatesthefactthattheuniversitybeginstobeparalyzedinthedistance feelingwiththisworld.Thecleverbalancebetweentheuniversityandthesocietyhas collapsedbythedistancefeelingwiththesepeople.
Theworldhascontinuedtochangedramatically.Theuniversityhasbeenoftenleftfrom thisrealsocietythatisrapidlychanging.Thisisclearthattheunbridgeablegulfofthe universityandthesocietyisnothappysituationforbothparties.However,universities seem toshutthemselvesupinitshuskandlocktheirdoors.Asuniversitiesdosothey affirm anundesirablesituation.
Thisproblem mightoriginatepartiallyinahistoricalbackgroundofthehighereducation system inJapan.Thissystem wasstronglyrelatedtothenationaltargetandthepolicyof
ThisnoteisbasedonthestudyofKyodoKenkyuProgram,BunkyoWomenʼsUniversity.Associate Professor Masakazu Shimadaisco-researcherofthisstudy.AlthoughProf.Shimadaand Ihave discussed thetheme,theauthorisfullyresponsibleforthecontentsofthisnote.
constructionofthemodernnation,whichiswellknownbyus.Thegovernmentwishedto controlstronglyovernotonlyNationalUniversitiessitedinthewholecountrybutalso privateuniversities.Thereisafactthatthepresenthighereducationsystem ofJapanhas beenestablishedinsuchanabove-mentionedsituation.Itmightbeaneffectivemeasure thatthehighereducation system hasbeen established with a strong officialcontrol, becausethefundamentalforthenation-constructionwassopoortospeedupthemoderni- zationatthattime.
Perhaps,ataninitialstagewhereamodernsystem isestablished,thegovernmentis likelytoholdmuchcontrol.ThisisnotonlyacaseofJapanbutalsoofothercountries.As astateismodernized,thecontroltoauniversitybecomessmalleringeneral.However,in thecaseofJapan,sinceWorldWarIIhadbrokenoutintheShowaerawhentheuniversity system wasalmostinorder.Itledtothecontinuanceandthereinforcementofthecontrol overtheuniversitybythestateagain.TheuniversityinJapanwascompletelyimpoveri- shedinthewar.Theuniversitywasnotabletorevivebyownpower.Consequently,the governmentneededtogivetheassistancenotonlywithNationalUniversitiesbutalso privateuniversities.Thosehistoricalbackgroundswillinfluenceinvariousrespectsinthe universitysystem ofthepresentJapan.Asaresult,ahistoricalconditionmightalso influencethepositionofauniversityinthepresentJapanesesociety.
Anyway,suchasituationisnothinglessthanamisfortune.Theuniversitytriesto advanceonanownroadbesidesthemainstream ofthesociety.Thesocietycriticizesthat theuniversitydoesnotrideontheflowinthepresenttrend.Moreovertheuniversityshows acoldheatedreactionaswehaveseenevenakindoftakingadefiantattitude.
Atthetimewhenthemovementofthesocietywasmadecomparativelyslowly,the university,inasenseinarelaxedmanner,hasbeenallowedatthepeople.Thespeedis necessaryaspectinvariousscenesinthesociety.
Ofcourse,universityshouldnothavetemporizedtothefashioninthesociety.Itisalso truethattheworlddoesnothopeso.However,keepingacertaindistancefrom thereal societytheuniversityshouldcatchtheessentialchangeandhow thebigundulationto people.Thismeansthattheuniversitymustnotbeamereonlookeratthechangingworld.
Especially,thechangeofasituationoftodayinthefieldoftelecommunicationtechnolo- gyisalsointense,andthechangingworldaskstobreakoutexternalsoftheuniversity.The developmentofthistelecommunication technology isto say thatitinfluencesasthe IndustrialRevolutiondid.Theinfluencemightbewideanddeep.This“IT revolution”
pressesabigadjustmentincludingourlifestylesandvalues.Theuniversitycannotalso correspondtothechangewelllikebeingsothesocietybecausethechangeinthesituation
istoorapid.However,wecansaythatthemissionoftheuniversitywillbeasked.The university should show theappropriateview whatinfluencesthecoming ofa highly developedinformationalizedsocietygivestoourlife.
Thisreportappliesthefocusto theproblem ofthemultimedia and theuniversity education.Theworkontheinformationtechnologyandthemultimediawaspositiveinthe highereducationorganizationsuchasuniversitiesfrom atfirst.How doestheteacheruse toresearchandtoeducatethemultimediaenvironment?Itistruethatteachershave examinedthepossibilityandavailabilityofusingthemultimediaenviconment.Theusage possibility willhaveto beexamined in thefuturebecausetheappearanceofa new multimediatechnologynevercuts.Ontheotherhand,Itcanbealsoseenthatthereisa movementoftheevaluationorreexaminationastothemultimedia.
“Multimedia”and“Multi-media”
Theclassoftheuniversityis
(１)
various,andwecannotindiscriminatelydiscussthematter. However,itisnottoodifficulttoshow onetypeincaseoftheclassofthelectureform of thesocialsciencethatintendsforcomparativelyalotofstudents.Theprofessorspecifies thetextbook forthestudentinthesyllabusinadvance,andinmanycasesheorshe requeststhestudentstobringitintheclassroom everytime.Thestudentsareexpectedto readtwoormorereferencebooksatthesametime.Itisnotrarethattheprofessor distributesinthelecturetheprintedmattercalledaresumebesidesthetextbook.Professor oftenusesthevideodevicethatisprovidedinmostclassrooms,andheorsheusesthevideo teachingmaterialthatusesapartoftheprogram telecastwiththetelevision.Professor explainswiththemonochromeimagingmaterialsthatneednotbemadeanimationby usingOHP.TheenvironmentwhereitiseasytouseOHPisreadyintheclassroom now.
TherearealotofprofessorswhouseOHP mostaccordingtotheresumeinwhichthe progressoftheclass.Ofcourse,a conventionalmethod whereprofessorswriteon a blackboardbyusingthechalk(orthewhiteboardwithink)isstillalsocommon.
Thus,theclassofauniversityhavebeenperformedbyutilizingtwoormoremedia,such aswritingonablackboard,aprintedmatter,amotionpicture,asound,animageandso on.Sincelecturerusestwoormoremediaasteaching materialsitcan besaid that
“multi-media”inacertainmeaninghasalreadydonetheuniversityeducation.However, thereisapointwherethe“multimedia”thatisgoingtobediscussedhereisutterly differentfrom “multi-media” definitely.Forinstance,itisalmostthe case thatthe distributionfrom ofthedatabywhichtheteachingmaterialsshownbyOHP areonce distributedbyprintedmatteronly replaced OHP from paper.In a word,OHP isan
alternativemeanofmediaofpaper,andthereisalmostnorelevancebetweenmediaof paperandmediaofOHP.
Here,Iwouldliketoarrangethemeaningofthemultimedia.Thewordof“multimedia”
wasfrequentlyobservedinthelatterof80ʼs.Recently,“multimedia”mighthavebecomea generallanguagethatpermeatedwidely.Theitem of“multimedia”thathadbeenfoundin
“Imidas”wasdeletedin1999.Also,“multimedia”becameonlyaneasyexplanationasa loanword.“Multimedia”canbeconciselyexplainedbyImidas1998versionsimmediately beforebeingdeletedasfollows:“MethodoftheIntegrationofdigitalizeddatasuchasa character,mathematics,asound,astillpicture,ananimationandsoon.”“Chiezou”of1999 version,whichisoneofanothertypicalterm dictionary,explains“multimedia”as“the form to beableto operateprocessing by integrating them into a pastcharacteras informationthatthecomputertreatsintheform ofdigitalinformationincludingafigure, animage,avoice,asound,animation,andasolidimage.”Basically,itcanbesaidthatthe
(２)
multimediacanintegratethreekindsofinformationelementsincludingakindofsound,an image,anddata.
Themostimportantfunctionofthemultimediaistointegratetwoormoremediaand tomakethem treatasasinglemedium.Therearebackgroundsrelatedtoadigitalization ofinformation,acomputertechnology,adigitalinformationandatransmittednetwork.In general,threeareascanbepointedoutasaprimarypartitionofthemultimediaasfollows: (1)theplatform (installingdeviceandoperatingsystem),(2)thenetworkenvironment,(3) anddigitalizedcontents.Justasablackboardandapieceofchalkareindispensableand somesheetsofpaperandinksarenecessaryfortheprintthing,sotheplatform andthe network-environmentarecrucialconditionsforthemultimedia.
Intheviewpointofeducationattheuniversity,thosethreedomainsbringaserious problem andbecomeabottleneckinthecaseofpractice.Ahugeinitialinvestmentrequires formaintenanceofnetworkenvironmentascomparedwithpreparationofpaperandink.
Itcanbesaidthatwhetherthemultimediaenvironmentisachievedinthelimitedresources inuniversitywillhavestronglyaffectedthesuccessorfailureofthemultimediaeducation.
EducationandMultimedia
TheOpenUniversityisoftentakenupinmanycasesasanexampleoflayingcaseofthe multimediaandtheeducationeachother.TheOpenUniversity isa highereducation system thatstartedin1969inBritain.Thishigh-educationsystem thatutilizedthemass media,suchasthetelevisionsandradios,hasbeencarriedoutforalltheBritishresidents. Thiseducationsystem hastriedtocombinevariousadult-educationinstitutionsinthe
provincesanddistance-learningcourses,andgavethecitizensthegraduationqualification from auniversity.Afterwards,thesamekindofopeningcollegewasdevelopedinthe UnitedStatesandGermany.Inthissense,theOpenUniversityinBritainwasanoutrider- example.TheUniversityoftheAirthatisexecutedbyNHK isJapaneseversionsofthe OpenUniversityinthisBritain.Recognitionthatthehighereducationisonlypossibletobe receivedinsidethecampuswasoverturnedbyusingthedevelopingmassmedia.TheOpen UniversityinBritainwasanepoch-makingsystem inthepointtohavecreatedabasictype ofthedistancelearningofahighereducation.However,theutilitymethodsofsomemedia intheOpenaredifferentfrom thecontemporarymultimedia-education-system thatweare goingtodiscuss.
Thecontemporaryeffortsformultimediaandeducationinacampusbecamerealistic afterenteringin70swhenspreadintheeducationfacilitiesofPC devicesthatcometo realizethenetworkenvironment.Alsofortheperformanceofthecomputer,itwassopoor ascomparedwiththepresentdevices.Alsosomesurroundingtechnologiessuchasan informationcompressiontechnologywerealsostillundevelopedin70s.Furthermore,there wasarestrictionwhenthenetwork environmentwasbuilt,sincemostofthenetwork environmenthadtobedesignedonitsownaccountandatitsownexpense.A bigsystem wasnecessaryinordertotreattwoormoredigitalizationinformationaldatasuchason atext,animagingdata,andasound.Specifically,inordertotransmitthemultimedia-data toaremoteplacethededicatedleaselinewaslaidandthecommunicationssatellitewas mindedbythecase.Thatis,agreatinitialinvestmentwasrequiredtomaintainand improvethemultimediaenvironment.Althoughitispossibletofixitbyhalftheexpendi- tureofthenecessarycapitalbygivenoffinancialassistanceofthesubsidyfrom the governmentfortheuniversity,thisisnotfew amountsofmoney oftheinvestment. Moreover,atleastthespecialstaffinvolvedinthemultimediawasnecessary,ifnotso, neitherateachernorastudentwasabletouseitreadily.
WhenwehavediscussionwithpeoplesattheremoteplaceviaTV,itismostlikelyto requireadedicatedlineandsomenetworkadministratorsofdevotion.Allparticipantssit downatfrontofthemonitorandtheconsole,andthewholemembersandtheindividual areprojectedontothemonitoratthesametime.Inordertotransmitthosehugeimaging datatotheremoteplacealeaselineand/oracommunicationssatelliteisutilized.Thus videoconferencingprogresses.Therehasbeenavirtualclassatacampustomakegooduse ofsuchahightechnology.Concretely,ajointresearchofKyotoUniversityandUCLA,the satellitelectureoftheKansaiUniversitygraduateschoolthatiscarriedoutonOsaka Kita-kucampusand20km awayfrom Takatsukicampus,andtheresearchpresentations
