1) Asuka Academy is a non-profit organization that translates open educational resources (OER) from world-famous universities like MIT into Japanese using volunteer translators. 2) They have translated over 38 hours of content from 24 courses covering subjects like physics, chemistry, programming, and K-12 education. This content is distributed through their proprietary e-learning cloud platform. 3) Over 6,800 learners have accessed the translated content, with contributions from 158 volunteer translators including students from high schools and universities. Asuka Academy's goal is to increase access to high-quality open educational resources for Japanese learners.

1. OER-MOOC using world famous OCW
through translation in Japanese by
volunteers and its distribution from
proprietary e-Learning cloud
Yoshimi Fukuhara
President, Asuka Academy
Professor, Meiji University
Toru Kishida
Vice president, Asuka Academy
Chair, NetLearning, Inc.

2. Where we came from

3. Background
• Huge accumulation of quality OER in the world OE
community since 2001
• In some countries those OER contents are used by
mother tongue through translation
– In case of MIT OCW: Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish,
Persian, Korean, etc.
• In Japan those OER content have not been translated
to Japanese officially so far
– More distribution activities, less usage activity regarding
foreign courses

4. Asuka Academy
• Non Profit Organization established in 2014
– Established on April 1st
– First Translated OER course delivered on Oct. 1st
• Our missions
– To provide with World Famous Quality OER to those
who use Japanese as the mother tongue.
– To provide with not only translated contents but also
discussion board combined with those contents in
Japanese.

5. Our Activites
• First step
– As very first course we selected MIT-OCW
– We talked with MIT OCW team about our plan
that we would like to translate MIT OCW contents
to Japanese and distribute from our platform
combined with some learning support functions in
Japanese
– Preparation distribution platform
• Our strong supporter is Netlearning, Inc. who provides
e-learning cloud service commertially in Japan.
• We are allowed from them to use their cloud with
some custamization in free of charge.

6. Our Activities
• Second step
– After signing translation affiliate agreement
between MIT OCW and Asuka Academy, we
selected some popular courses.
• Physics and Programming Language related courses
– We recruited translation volunteers through
various channels, using internet, contacting to the
related organizations etc.

7. Our Activities
• Third Step
– After confirming environment and some know-
hows for operating course like MOOC, we
enhanced courses in terms of quantity and
category.
– Focusing on K-12 education
• MIT K-12
• UC Irvine: Open Chemistry

8. MIT K12 Videos

9. MIT K12 Videos

10. MIT K12 Videos

11. UC Irvine: Open Chem
Original Asuka Academy

12. MIT OCWOriginal Asuka Academy

13. Other Translated Courses
• MIT
– A Gentle Introduction to Programming Using
Python
• TU Delft
– Water Treatment
• Open University(UK)
– Short clips: 60sec series
– Creative Futures

14. www.asuka-academy.com
Our Web site
My Page: registration is required

15. Introduction to Drinking Water Treatment (TU Delft)

16. Introduction to Computer Science and Programming
(MIT)

17. [MIT+K12] Science Out Loud

18. 60 second adventures (Open University)

19. OER-MOOC
• We provide translated OER in OER-MOOC
Style
– Scheduling course, not open for anytime access
– Providing assessments in Japanese
– Offering discussion board mainly for mutual
discussion among learners
– Issuing Certificate from Asuka Academy for
learners who get the qualifying scores

20. Translation
• Three type of translation project
– By openly recruited volunteer translators
– By translators belonging to the organization who
provide translation as social activity
– By students of university or high school who have
a special relationship with Asuka Academy in
terms of use of our contents

21. Translation by School
• Private Junior &high school: Hiroo Gakuen
• Translation for MIT K-12
• Translation for Open Chem of UCI
• Use translated course in the class

22. Translation by University
• In the class of Project Management
• Case for real project
• Yokohama National University

23. Use of contents formally
• Vocational school
• Content: A Gentle Introduction to Programming
Using Python

24. Total Activites
• Courses : 24
• Total movie length：38h 56m 58s
• Total time for learning： 160h
• Total learners：6804
• Volunteer Translators： 158
– High School： 78
– University： 18
– Individuals: 43

25. Future plan and Challenges
• More courses from various famous Universites
• More schools use our courses formally in their
classes
• More high skilled volunteer translators
• Stronger financial body
– Members dues from members only
– Another budget: cloud funding or grant

26. Conclusion
• Thank you for your attention
• Thank you very much for contents holders and
learners
• In addition
E-Learning Award 2015,
Global HRD Award