Mission Unmet...

To all who asked me about finding a Skype partner class, I unfortunately had to abandon my quest once I saw the Japanese schools. Even in wealthier districts, technology is not used in Japanese classrooms the way that it is in American classrooms. I think that this has to do in large part with Japan being an older, more traditional, society. Historically, the core of Japanese society was in the power of its education. Parents gave everything they had to educate their children, or one child, because you could pass a national examination and be accepted into the upper echelon of society. The test was entirely memorization-based! Here's a 10 list with things I noticed or heard about technology and Japanese society. 1. In Japan as a whole, 50% of the population has Internet in their homes.

2. Over 90% of the Japanese population has cell phones. Most are Internet-enabled.

3. The University we visited requires two computer courses for all students,one typing course and one 'computer science' course. When we asked to hear more about this course, it turned out it's a course to teach Excel and PowerPoint.

4. Even the IT track of the senior high school we visited did not offer one computer programming course!

5. University students have the option of typing papers. Papers are hand written in secondary school.

6. In the senior high school, the students shared a computer lab for their weekly computer course. Teacher prep rooms had 2-3 shared computers. The school was working on providing teachers with laptops.

7. As a whole, the schools still use videos, not DVDs. In the schools we visited, some classrooms had televisions but most classes had to sign up to use the school's AV room. Multimedia materials are not frequently used by teachers. (The photo posted here is the high school's video collection.)

(This is the AV room)

8. After the broadcast, the radio station wanted to give us casette tapes of our program. We explained that we didn't really use them anymore, and they said, given a week or two, they could probably get the program in cd format. Young people still use I-pods though! So, there's a wide range of musical formats, something probably also true in the US.

9. In a question about distance education, a professor emeritus at Sofia University responded that Japan has no need for distance education programs. "How do you verify that the person taking the course is the person taking the test or writing the paper? Why would you need this?" (They do have "non-traditional" part-time programs for people currently in the workforce at his university. This, however, is more a response to the low birthrate, and thus greater need for recruitment activities, among universities. Meaning it's guided by economics over academics...)

10. The university students we interviewed had never heard of white boards. When we described it, the closest they got to understanding it was "like a quiz show." There are also no clickers, tablet PCs, document cameras...you know, all the necessities for modern teaching....

When we asked students and guest speakers about the lack of technology, they seemed confused by the question. US teachers repeatedly said that there's a stereotype in the US that Japan is one of the most technologically-advanced countries. I think the reason that schools in Tanzania actually have more technology hardware and more interest in using it is because they want to model themselves after US schools using "modern" techniques. In Japan, the attitude seems to be "we've always had a great school system. We'll keep using the methods that have been known to work." It isn't like teachers are frantically writing grants during their prep time, figuring how technology would help them teach better. Also, Japan still uses teacher-centered instruction. If the student doesn't learn, it's the student's fault. There isn't the same push for differentiated and active instruction. Because this is the case, the teacher lecture format is sufficient. The marketing departments of companies like Promethean, Leapfrog, and Pearson play on US notions of competitiveness and promise to give an extra edge to learning. I also wonder if teachers switching schools every few years plays a part. You probably don't get as attached to integrating technology into your lesson plans if you know that the school you'll be working at in a year or two might not have the same technological capabilities. And you can imagine the bureaucracy of implementing a certain technical component in all elementary and junior high schools in Japan!

Do you think that schools in the US are integrating technology effectively? Is technology actually necessary in schools or is it a cultural necessity?

By the way, if you want snail mail penpals, I can probably hook you up!

Figiting and Discipline

Guess when this video was taken!

It’s 12:50, about 5 minutes before lunch. Can’t you see the learning going on? People always picture Japanese school children in straight rows, silently scribbling notes. The desks are in rows, but the students still whisper to each other, sleep on their desks, and TEXT!

I asked about cell phones at both the junior and the senior high school. Officially from both, administrators told me that many students have cell phones, but they are not allowed to use them in class. They admitted that there was some difficulty enforcing this. Asking students, they were all too willing to show me the ways that they can hide their hands in their bags, text in their desks, or wait until the teacher turns his back.

While they were willing to talk to me (off the record), they were faster than cockroaches scuttling away from the light whenever I took out my camera. I think that the most effective cell phone policy we could implement would be to have a group of foreign teachers wandering around with cameras. I told one girl who I kind-of caught (whose English was excellent - she was an exchange student in Illinois last year - that I was going to put her picture up in my library with a big No sign around the phone. I doubt students anywhere want to be documented breaking the rules!

I've learned that the reason Japanese schools don't have discipline problems is because they define appropriate behavior much more loosely and they take a more holistic attitude towards discipline. I just explained how teachers don't acknowledge cell phone use or general disinterest in class material. But here's a more specific example. During our Q and A session, one teacher asked whether the school had a problem with student graffiti. The principal admitted that they did but said that it was a result of teachers not motivating students sufficiently. Students were dissatisfied and stressed. When they took disciplinary action last year, they found a backlash of increased instances of graffiti. They concluded that discipline didn't work. Instead, they made posters encouraging students to be proud of their school. (I'll bring one home.) In addition to the poster, administrators are now "reaching to the heart of the students" and trying to build trust with the families. I thought this demonstrated a departure from the US-based system I know. Not better or worse, just different, from an inside-out or outside-in perspective.

Cell phone use in schools. Good or bad idea? Potential advantages and pitfalls? Your thoughts...