Y. Okabe

The Open University of Japan

Y. Okabe

Lifelong Learning in Aging Society

Yoichi Okabe

PresidentThe Open University of Japan

Y. Okabe

The Open University of Japan is…

An accredited university under the dual control of the MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology), and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

A distance education institution that provides educational programs to students through TV, radio and Internet.

An open university which enables anyone to take higher education anytime and anywhere.

A large university at which around 87,000 students are studying.

Y. Okabe

Watching and listening to broadcast lectures

Broadcasting (Open for general)• BS digital broadcasting• Cable television• Terrestrial broadcasting

(Tokyo vicinity area) Internet broadcasting (Open for students

only ← Limit from Intellectual property right) Study Centers

Y. Okabe

The Open University of Japan

Academic Structure

School of Graduate Studies

Faculty of Liberal Arts

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Undergraduate School

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No entrance exams Rather severe exam for each lectures 124 Credit: About 20% of whole courses

should be schooling (1 credit each), and other 80% is correspondence courses (2 credit each)

Cheap tuition fee: 24,000Yen (~8,000B) for enrollment fee, 5,500Yen (~1,800B) / credit, total ~700,000Yen (~230,000B)

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Faculty of Liberal Arts

Facultyof Liberal Arts

Departmentof Liberal Arts

6 Areas of Study

Living and Welfare

Psychology and Education

Society and Industry

Humanities and Culture

Informatics

Nature and Environment

NEWApril 2013 ～

NEWApril 2013 ～

Y. Okabe

Living and Welfare22.8%

Psychology and

Education24.6%Society and

Industry14.4%

Humanities and Culture

15.1%

Nature and Environment

7.0%

Others16.2%

Examples of Subjects for 2012

Some 300 subjects available

Number and Ratio of Regular Students in the 2nd semester of 2012

Course (regular students)

53,599

“Others” consists of those who take the previous 3 courses

※OUJ reorganized types of courses from 3 courses to 5 courses in 2009.

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Graduate School

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Graduate School

Graduate School of Arts and SciencesGraduate School of Arts and Sciences

Division of Arts and Sciences (7 Programs)

Division of Arts and Sciences (7 Programs)

Human Life and Health Sciences

Sciences of Human Development and Education

Clinical Psychology

Social Governance

Arts and Humanities

Informatics

Natural and Environmental Sciences

NEWApril 2013 ～

NEWApril 2013 ～

NEWApril 2013 ～

NEWApril 2013 ～

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Study Centers

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Regional Study System

50 Study Centers

7 Satellite Spaces

70 Audio Visual Spaces

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Study Centers in 50 Locations Nationwide

Fukui Study Center

Tottori Study Center

Tokushima Study Center

Nagasaki Study Center

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Study Centers can be used at any time for study purposes.

Classroom lectures Unit accreditation examination

Library study Borrowing study materials from the library

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Find the Smiles of “Study Friends” at Study Centers

Spanish Friendship Society/Chiba Study Center

Social club activities

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Find the Smiles of “Study Friends” at Study Centers

Field trip

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ICT in OUJ

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ICT of OUJ

My job from 2006 after joining to OUJ

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ICT System in OUJ

E-mail School record system (registration, exam result) Internet delivery of broadcasted lectures BBS Drills for lectures Web-seminar for graduate course SNS (under test) MOOCs (planning)

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Internet Delivery of Lectures

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 20140

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

テレビラジオ

About 350 lectures

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Midterm exam via Web

2010I 2010II 2011I 2011II 2012I 2012II 2013I0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000

総人数Web 提出数 ( 人）

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SNS

Testing stage by myself Twitter: __obake (double underscores)

• Good advertising tool / quick answer for mostly students / show future plan

• Triggering administrative officer Facebook: yoichi.okabe

• OUJ group (> 1,000 members) like (virtual) campus• Good for making virtual groups

No LINES yet

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MOOCs

Try to kick off JMOOC this autumn MOOC→MOC (How to earn money)

• The model will be very similar to that by broadcasting system (contents can be seen freely but tuition free is necessary for exam and credit)

At least 1 lecture (Japanese language) till next spring

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Education for Aged People

Y. Okabe19

9619

9719

9819

9920

0020

0120

0220

0320

0420

0520

0620

0720

0820

0920

1020

1120

1220

130

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

25,74426,44926,89237,322

45,84852,42756,33257,21458,77458,78357,02154,95153,01851,06151,04051,41353,33453,599

34,34738,32939,577

34,445

34,228

33,56429,73627,75727,30427,09525,530

24,05523,00022,92424,67124,239

24,97829,595

1,940

1,203 1,521

1,679

1,182

1,074

1,101 1,0691,068 1,513

2,0021,793

1,9081,909 1,558 1,361

1,520

1,360

549 1043 1220 13521393

13521351 1261 1195 1157

11071096

9224 11428 6557 60615682

48934593

4366 4392 41044335

4611

Regular Students / The Faculty of Liberal ArtsNon-degree Students / The Faculty of Liberal ArtsMaster’s Course Students / The School of Graduate StudiesNon-degree Students / The School of Graduate Studies

Changes in Student Composition

62031

6598167990

73446

81258

87065

96942 9851194923 94804

9162887044

838708152182856 82274

8527488901

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Student Numbers in Japan180, 000

160, 000

140, 000

120, 000

100, 000

80, 000

60, 000

40, 000

20, 000

0

45

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0S60 61 62 63 H1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 1314 14

15 1516

17

19

22

27

30

32

3435

3940

4142 42

13

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011Student

Enrollment Number

Total 240,076 229,734 226,384 224,314 217,237Private 159,279 151,808 150,490 147,045 140,224OUJ 80,797 77,926 75,894 77,269 77,013

Percentage of OUJ 33.7% 33.9% 33.5% 34.4% 35.5%

1985 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 2000 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 2011

Number of Correspondence Univ.

Student Number of OUJ

Student Number of Correspondence Univ.

Y. Okabe

Targeted Generation

Other universities focused to students around 20 yrs old

It is now changing very fast but still lots of duty to visit university HQ frequently (mostly for schoolings) which limits the workers / homemakers (female)

OUJ has lots of study centers, and easy to access from any place in Japan

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Attributes of Enrolled Studentsat Faculty of Liberal Arts including Special Auditing Students:

as of the 2nd semester, 2012

Male44.8%

Female55.2%

Sex

10's3.8% 20's

13.7%

30's21.2%

40's24.0%

50's16.5%

60's ～20.8%

Age

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Population Pyramid 2010 → 2030

2010 203010510095908580757065605550454035302520151050

120 100 80 60 40 20 0 120100806040200

（Age）

120 100 80 60 40 20 0 120100806040200

10510095908580757065605550454035302520151050

（Age）

Ｍ Ｆ Ｍ Ｆ

20 years Later

Source : National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, JPSS

Ageing society with a low birth rate will be continue at an accelerating rate. By 2030, it is said, one out of every three people will be over 65 years old.

Ageing society with one out of three will be over 65 years old.

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Student Enrollement Numbers by Age

15

Student Enrollment Numbers

Age

20 25 30 50 55 70 75 80 85 90 9535 40 45 60 65

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Big Market in Aged People

35-45: Working students who want to acquire new knowledge (psychology)

35-45: Homemakers (female) who graduated from junior collages

60-65: Retired persons who want to learn new field especially liberal arts

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High school/high school under

the old system40.6%

Junior college/technical college

23.6%

University/graduate school

34.6%

Teachers6.0%

Civil servant7.7%

Office workers18.5%

Self-employed workers5.2%

Farmers, forestry workers, fishery work-

ers0.4%

Nursers17.6%

Unemployed (including homemakers)

21.8%

Part-time workers9.2%

Students from other universities and schools

8.3% Others5.3%

Attributes of Enrolled Students

as of the 2nd semester, 2012

OccupationEducationalBackground

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Motivation of Aged People

1/3 of enrolled students more than 45 yrs old has university degrees.

The number of people who contribute to society (NPO, voluntary works, etc.) is 3 times larger than that of the ordinal people in the same generation.

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（4.1％）

（5.1％）

（3. 2％）

（0.08％）

（0.04％）

（0.002％）

28.6％

29. 2％

47. 3％

54. 2％

25.0％

39. 3％

71.4％

70. 8％

52.7％

45. 8％

75.0％

60.7％

Senior People Study for their Career Formation

Source : Recruit Works Institute ‘2011 Survey Report on employment issue of 40’s to 70’s’

11,190 people

5,246 people

2,186 people

Figures in bracket are the ratio in proportion to the labor population.

● presence or absence of motivation to learn

underlying needs

actual needs

Lack motivation to learn Have motivation to learn

560,000 people

586,000 people

409,000 people

35-44

45-54

55-64

40-4445-5455-64

65-7475-79total

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Graduate Schools Student Enrollment Number by age

More than 40 More than 50 More than 55 More than 60

2012 OUJ Graduate Student Enrollment Numbers

2012 Graduate Student Enrollment Numbers in Japan

Under 30 30 34～ 35 39～ 40 44～ 45 49～ 50 54～ 55 60～ 61 or over Total 40 or Over 50 or Over 55 or Over

MEXT, School Basic Survey 2012Graduate Student Enrollment Numbers 68490 2078 1399 1025 798 509 384 302 74985 3018 1195 686

OUJ Graduate Student EnrollmentNumbers 24 29 43 53 67 61 41 76 394 298 178 117

Percentage of OUJ Graduate School 0.04% 1.40% 3.07% 5.17% 8.40% 11.98% 10.68% 25.17% 0.53% 9.87% 14.90% 17.06%

● Based on the Comparison between “MEXT, School Basic Survey “ and “OUJ Student Enrollment Numbers ”

Percentage of OUJ Graduate School

＊ Enrollment Numbers to OUJ is the data at April 2012

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Big market in aged generation ICT is next key technology to attract

mid-aged generation ICT is still not familiar to high-aged

generation more than 70

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ICT for Aged Student

Introductory lectures in regional study centers every year

Supporting system by skilled students in SCs

TV lectures Portable terminals than PCs

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Conclusion

Big market on aged generation Liberal arts fit for aged people Their learning motivations are quite high Such people has big motivation for

other activities Some aids are necessary for the

promotion of e-learning

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Thank you for your Attentions

http://www.ouj.ac.jp/eng/

Y. Okabe

1. What is OUJ

Several 10 DL Univ’s in Japan Among them, OUJ is the only ODL Univ.

established by Japanese gov. (60% support) One faculty, liberal arts Students can stay max 10 yrs. 80,000 students (big number of aged people) 350 broadcasted lectures 3,000 face-to-face lectures at 50 study centers

covering whole Japan

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What is OUJ (cont’d)

What is good?• No entrance exam. (Openness)• Qualified course exam. (Qualified students)• …

What is bad?• Unilateral education by broadcasted lectures• Lack of communication between students (and with

lecturers)• No big library in each study center• …

Y. Okabe

What is OUJ (cont’d)

What is good?• No entrance exam. (Openness)• Qualified course exam. (Qualified students)• …

What is bad?→ICT• Unilateral education by broadcasted lectures• Lack of communication between students (and with

lecturers)• No big library in each study center• …

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International Trends of OU’s

Mega univ’s mostly in Asia ODL （ Open Distance Learning ） via

internet Still lots of univ’s via R, TV

Lots of net univ’s OER （ Open Educational Resources ） Several univ’s who have no self-made

lectures and relied on OER only

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2. OER in Japan

Example: JOCW• Most univ’s: Up to several 10 internet video

lectures among several thousand ones• OUJ: several 10 internet video lectures

among 350 ones• 180 TV and 170 radio lectures are fully open by

broadcasting• 90 TV and 170 radio lectures are open on

network only for students

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Why so less?

Copyrights and/or property rights (historical arts, treasure, sculpture, etc.) are severe and very expensive (several million yen / 1 semester lecture) for broadcasting

More expensive and sometimes strictly prohibited for internet delivery for students

Fully open on internet is more difficult

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Other Reasons

Financial support from univ’s is relatively low

Professors do not care about internet delivery

OUJ: directors of broadcasting do not care about internet delivery

Government do not care about internet delivery

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Solutions

Raising interest for internet delivery for people in gov., univ’s

Introducing concept of fare-use Encourage creative commons

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3. Education in OUJ

Digitizaion of broadcasting• Digital terrestrial broadcasting (analog

stopped last July)• Digital BS broadcasting (last Oct.)

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Web Education

Digital library system (2005) Internet delivery of lectures (2007) Webinar for graduate course (2007) Web system for educational affairs (2007) LMS by Moodle (2010) ICT literacy lectures for mostly aged

people (2010)

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Future of OUJ

Aiming a top educational univ. of all Japanese univ’s including DL univ’s• All open contents: OER （ Open Educational

Resource ） by broadcasting and internet• Excellent educational method

Digital text book (2012-2013) SNS for intra univ. communication (2013-)

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Summary

Brief introduction of OUJ Present situation of OER in Japan

• Very low• Copyrights and/or property rights are key

ICT educational system of OUJ