Posted 3/25/2005 by Steve McCarty

At Osaka Jogakuin College in 2005 at age 55:



New online article published by a think tank
at the International University of Japan:
"Global Communications in a Graduate Course on Online Education
at the University of Tsukuba"

ABSTRACT

This article describes an intensive course on the theory and practice
of online education taught at the national University of Tsukuba
Graduate School of Education in Japan's Science City near Tokyo
in early 2004. Conducted in a networked computer lab, the course
was distributed in space and media to the utmost, while being fully
hybrid with the instructor in the classroom throughout the course.
WebCT platforms in the U.S. and Australia were utilized, with
HorizonLive and Wimba for synchronous and asynchronous Internet
voice technologies integrated into WebCT, and online mentors in
the U.S., England, Malaysia and Brazil engaging the students in
audioconferences, text chatting and other Web-based communications.
There is an abridged version of the article, but the full version
includes many colorful illustrations and can serve as a tutorial
to virtual learning environments that are usually inaccessible
behind password protection. Conditions of a globalized classroom
were reflected in graduate student testimonies indicating that
their learning was transformative and empowering. Both learning
with new information and communication technologies (ICT) and a
constructivist approach were welcomed by the learners, indicating
compatibility with the Japanese learning style and a positive form
of globalization realized in a globalized classroom.

McCarty, S. (2005, March 25). Global communications in a
graduate course on online education at the University of Tsukuba.
GLOCOM Platform, Colloquium #60. Tokyo: Japanese Institute of
Global Communications, International University of Japan.
Full version (PDF format)
Abridged version (HTML Web page linked to the full version)

Note: If your Adobe Reader prompts you to download fonts for the
Japanese language in the last five pages, it will not be necessary
for most people so long as you can view the English.

Collegially, Steve McCarty, Professor, Osaka Jogakuin College, Japan
President, World Association for Online Education (WAOE) Online library