It has finally begun. Educational Information Engineering. I never imagined that the course title would be the same as the one taught by my mentor from my graduate school days, Professor Akahori. It has been nine years since I started my career as a university faculty member, including my time as a part-time lecturer (come to think of it, thanks to an introduction from Professor Mochizuki at Senshu University, I have been teaching at universities since my first year of master’s studies). However, this is actually the first time I have taught a course on Educational Technology, the field I have been researching all along. Students from the 21st Century Program and the Faculty of Agriculture, as well as the Faculty of Education, have enrolled. They are full of energy.

Since it is for undergraduates, I struggled with what content to include. I cannot simply do paper reading circles like in graduate school. However, I want them to properly understand the theoretical background, effectiveness, and limitations. After much thought, I decided to focus on theories often covered in Educational Technology in the first half, and in the second half, I plan to have them engage with systems developed for educational and learning support while reading research papers. I received cooperation from Professor Kato at The Open University of Japan, Professor Suzuki at Ibaraki University, and Professor Mochizuki at Senshu University. Thank you very much. I also received literature from Professor Funao at Soka University and Professor Fujimoto at The University of Tokyo. While reading international research papers is naturally important, I also want them to know that there is excellent research in Japan that is recognized globally. This is the same for my graduate courses. Since this is an undergraduate course, I would like to proceed while also using Japanese literature.

I would also like to include plenty of information on the learning sciences, but I could not quite find the time for that. However, I intend to incorporate it little by little. It is a research field that serves as the foundation for Educational Technology and is very important.

From the first session, I had the students work in groups to briefly think about and brainstorm ideas for “methods to support presentation learning.” Since time was limited, I had them reflect on what they struggle with during presentations and what kind of support or mechanisms would be needed to overcome those challenges. They had various discussions, and I told them that every point that came up in their conversations contained the essence of Educational Technology, and that thinking about those points is what “thinking about education and learning through Educational Technology” means.

Moving forward, I hope to broaden the scope of our discussions and help the students realize that thinking about education and learning is not only about learning what is important for entering the teaching profession, but also about contributing to their own future growth.