Capitalising on Internet and Computing Technologies for Improving Learning and Teaching: The Experience of Waseda Univer
This chapter explains how Waseda University, a forward looking university in Japan, has capitalized on internet and computing technologies to improve learning and prepare students to engage in globalised economies. Initiatives such as open education, shar
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Capitalising on Internet and Computing Technologies for Improving Learning and Teaching: The Experience of Waseda University Michiko Nakano
Abstract This chapter explains how Waseda University, a forward looking university in Japan, has capitalized on internet and computing technologies to improve learning and prepare students to engage in globalised economies. Initiatives such as open education, sharing of resources at a global level, and real-time exchange with students in other Asian countries will be discussed. The chapter concludes by examining the university’s future development plan and creative ways of using technologies to promote learning in an increasingly globalised world.
10.1
Background
Waseda University was founded in 1882. In 2015, it consisted of 13 faculties, 19 graduate schools, seven specialised graduate schools, and two affiliated high schools (Senior High School and Honjo Senior High School). It was the second largest university in Japan with around 45,000 undergraduates (including 4400 foreign students) and over 9000 graduate students. These students, as well as 1862 faculty staff members and 4500 part-time instructors, all used ICT (information and computing techologies) facilities. Technology has become a pervasive element of educational experience for all the Waseda students, whether studying on or off-campus. This chapter looks into technological changes at the institution level using a case study of this leading Japanese university. Extant literature on technological reforms in higher education, including Fox (2016) in this volume, mostly focuses on technological change in learning and teaching at a rather micro-level involving university courses or specific groups of students or teachers. For example, Fox in Chap. 8 discussed the use of technologies in developing MOOCs to reach a large group of
M. Nakano (*) Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016 C.-h.C. Ng et al. (eds.), Reforming Learning and Teaching in Asia-Pacific Universities, Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects 33, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-0431-5_10
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students worldwide. Drawing on theories of distributed cognition and ecological psychology, Thibault and King (2016) in Chap. 9 provided a detailed account of an innovative interactive learning design integrating new technologies. These are significant research efforts advancing learning and teaching using new technologies. However, the literature is rather silent in relation to technological reforms in higher education from an institutional perspective. Relevant policy frameworks at different organisational levels are required to create a supportive context for technological innovation to occur in university classrooms and online platforms. This chapter presents a case study of how Waseda university has proactively planned for technological change. This chapter also provides a technological context for Ng’s study (2016) of an innovative pedagogical model for teac
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