Implementation and practice of a project-based college English course on BYOD basis

FLEAT VI at Harvard Univ. (12/Aug/15)
Implementation and practice of a
project-based college English course
on BYOD basis
Syuhei KIMURA (Ritsumeikan Univ., Japan)
kimuras@fc.ritsumei.ac.jp
Yukie KONDO (Ritsumeikan Univ., Japan)
kondoyu@fc.ritsumei.ac.jp
Foreign Language Education And Technology [FLEAT VI]
@ Harvard University (13/Aug/2015)

About Us
• Syuhei KIMURA
• Associate Professor, College of Life Sciences at Ritsumeikan Univ.
• Field: Utilization of ICT in higher English education
• Twitter: @syuhei
• Yukie KONDO
• Lecturer, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Ritsumeikan Univ.
• Field: English Education and Information Technology / Genre Analysis of
texts on the Web / Bibliobattle in English
2

About Ritsumeikan University
• One of the biggest private universities in Japan
• Established in 1869
• Three campuses
3
Kyoto (KIC)
Osaka (OIC)
Shiga (BKC)

Goals
1. Define
• Project-based English Program
• Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD)
2. Report
• How the BYOD environment has been implemented in our course
3. Discuss
• The results of the questionnaire to over 400 students across four
different colleges
• Future tasks and prospects of a PBL English course with BYOD
policy
4

“If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we
rob them of tomorrow.”
John Dewey
(1859-1952)
5

Define: Project-based English Program
• Project-based English Program (PEP)
• Compulsory English course for undergrads employed in three
colleges of Ritsumeikan Univ.
• Life Sciences (LS) : Freshman – Junior
• Pharmaceutical Sciences (PS) : Freshman – Junior
• Sport and Health Science (SHS) : Freshman – Sophomore
• PEP consists of two modules
• Projects, where learners present messages
• Skill Workshops, where learners build up English skills for Projects
6

• Key Concept of PEP
• Language proficiency skills will be utilized in communication by
being used in professional skills. (Suzuki, 2012)
7

8
P1
(Freshman, Spring)
・Self Appeal
・Oral Presentation
P2
(Freshman, Fall)
・Research Method
・5 Paragraph Essay
P3
(Sophomore, Spring)
・Debate
・Panel Discussion
・Term Paper
P4
(Sophomore, Fall)
・Advanced Research
・Term Paper
• PEP Courses (Freshman – Sophomore)

Define: Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD)
• BYOD was originally the term which means permitting
workers to bring and use their own mobile devices at their
workplace.
• Some point out that BYOD is disappearing and being replaced with
other new solutions in business field. (Laird, 2014)
• In education settings, BYOD means students bring
personally owned devices to school and use them as
tools for learning.
9

• How can you say whether or not an education institution
is BYOD-ready?
• Does it have a certain set of policies or guidelines on how to use
personal computer devices for the faculty members and students?
• Harvard University does.
• Central Administration Desktop, Laptop and Mobile Management Policies and
Procedures
• Ritsumeikan University doesn’t.
• It does have the policies and guidelines on how to use the information
resources of the university, but it does not have those for personally brought
devices as of today.
10

• Reality of Japanese universities and BYOD
• In most institutions, BYOD is not officially approved or encouraged.
• Some studies report that Japan is behind the other
developed countries in ICT adoption in education,
including higher education. (Kyoto University, 2014.
OECD, 2014)
• In Japan, ICT is likely to be regarded as a tool for teachers to
manage students, rather than a tool for students to learn with.
(Toyofuku, 2014, 2015)
11

• With official, experimental, or defacto BYOD policies
• Keio University SFC (defacto / since 1990)
• Kaetsu University (official / since 2008)
• Kyushu University (official / since 2013)
• Hokkaido University (experimental / since 2014)
• Kanagawa Institute of Technology (official / 2015)
• With a COPE (Corporate Owned, Personally Enabled)
policy
• Kio University (official / since 2014)
12

BYOD: Keio University SFC
13
Classroom scene of Keio SFC in 2006 (a photo from SFC CLIP)

BYOD: Kyushu University
14
Classroom scene of Kyushu Univ. in 2013 (a photo from ITmedia)

BYOD: Ritsumeikan University (PEP)
15
Classroom scene of Ritsumeikan Univ. in 2014 (peer-review)

16
Classroom scene of Ritsumeikan Univ. in 2014 (group work)

17
Classroom scene of Ritsumeikan Univ. in 2014 (panel discussion)

Report: How to make BYOD happen
• Initial plan when new colleges started
• All the colleges were newly established in the past 7 years.
• College of Life Sciences: 2008
• College of Pharmaceutical Sciences: 2008
• College of Sport and Health Science: 2010
• College of Comprehensive Psychology: 2016
• A pioneer with powerful leadership
• Yuji Suzuki, a professor emeritus of Keio University
• Care for those who are not BYOD-ready
• Suzuki purchased more than 50 laptops in 2008 and 2010.
• He allowed students to use them freely.
18

• PEP Classrooms (Co-Learning III on BKC)
19
stairwell
Teacher’s
lounge
storage
All the classrooms have
・separate, movable desks and chairs
・an over head camera
・a projector and a ceiling screen
・an external display
・an Apple TV
・2 microphones (wired/wireless)
・Wi-Fi connection

20
OHC
External Display Projector Screen
I/O Controller for sound and image

• Problems and Solutions
• Power Supply
• Distributing power strips to each classroom
• Network Speed and Stability
• Setting up a LAN in the building (experimental)
• Cables and Converters
• Preparing extra cables and converters in the storage
• Choice of Laptop
• Providing a guide brochure on which laptop to buy
and things to do with a new device
21

• English Education and BYOD
• Relevant use of ICT in and out of classroom for students and teachers
• Doing project-based research on the Web
• Making documents, slides, images, movies etc. with own devices
• Checking grammar, pronunciation, idioms etc. individually
• Sharing files, knowledge and information with classmates
• Submitting assignments to LMS
• Monitoring around relatively small number of students
22

Discuss: The questionnaire results
• General concerns about BYOD
• What if students own no appropriate devices?
• What if students don’t know how to use online
resources provided by the university?
• What if students’ ICT literacy is not high enough?
• What if students are not used enough to dealing with
schoolwork with digital devices?
• What if …?
23

• The online questionnaire was conducted to investigate how our
students use digital devices on campus.
• Period: 17-31/Jul/2015
• Respondents: 410 undergrad students of Ritsumeikan University (206
males & 204 females)
• Colleges:
24
Life Sciences 101 (24.6%)
Pharmaceutical Sciences 53 (12.9%)
Sport and Health Science 112 (27.3%)
Law 113 (32.4%)
Others 11 (2.7%)

• Q4. In the following digital devices, which one do you
own?
25
Smartphone 391 (95.4%)
Laptop computer 321 (78.3%)
Mobile music player 193 (47.1%)
Tablet device 49 (12%)
Handheld game console 127 (31%)
Feature phone 19 (4.6%)
E-book reader 17 (4.1%)
None of the above 0 (0%)

• Q5. In the following digital devices, which one do you
usually bring and use on campus?
26
Tablet device 31 (7.6%)
Handheld game console 10 (2.4%)

• Q6. In the following digital devices, which one do you use
to do schoolwork in class on campus?
27
Tablet device 22 (5.4%)
Handheld game console 0 (0%)
None of the above 30 (7.3%)

• Q7. In what kind of class, do you mainly use digital
devices?
28
Foundation course 173 (54.6%)
Specialized subject 129 (40.7%)
Practicum / Experiment 67 (21.1%)
Language 218 (68.8%)
Teacher’s training course 12 (3.8%)
Others 2 (0.6%)

• Q8. For what purposes do you use digital devices in
class?
29
Taking notes 64 (21.1%)
Classwork 68 (22.4%)
Presentation 205 (67.7%)
Group work 137 (45.2%)
Access to LMS 246 (81.2%)
Access to research databases 74 (24.4%)
Access to off-campus resources 75 (24.8%)
Others 8 (2.6%)

• Q10. How often do you hook your digital devices to
campus Wi-Fi?
30
Once or more in a day 222 (54.1%)
Once or more in 2 days 85 (20.7%)
Once or more in 3-4 days 42 (10.2%)
Once or less in 5 days 61 (14.9%)

• Q12. In the following resources provided by the university,
which one have you ever used?
31
Email 292 (71.2%)
LMS: post a message 237 (57.8%)
LMS: quiz 271 (66.1%)
LMS: questionnaire 357 (87.1%)
Research databases 227 (55.4%)
Mailing list 57 (13.9%)
Personal space for website 12 (2.9%)
Server management 3 (0.7%)
VPN access from outside campus 17 (4.1%)
Eduroam access from outside campus 3 (0.7%)
Others 0 (0%)

• Q13. In the following web-based services, which one have
you ever used?
32
Email by cell phone careers 255 (62.2%)
Web mail (Ex. Gmail) 306 (74.6%)
Cloud clipping service (Ex. Evernote) 47 (11.5%)
Cloud storage (Ex. Dropbox) 123 (30%)
LINE (Japanese messaging service) 378 (92.2%)
Twitter 317 (77.3%)
Facebook 172 (42%)
Skype 122 (29.8%)
Music streaming (Ex. Apple Music) 100 (24.4%)
Original domain 4 (1%)
Web hosting / VPS 5 (1.2%)
None of the above 3 (0.7%)

• Q17. How do you evaluate your ICT literacy regarding
schoolwork?
33
High 72 (17.6%)
Moderate 221 (53.9%)
Relatively poor 101 (24.6%)
Poor 16 (3.9%)

• Q20. Feel free to tell us any requests and suggestions for
a better ICT campus environment.
34
Excerpted answers
Faster and more stable Wi-Fi connection everywhere
on campus PLZ!!!
The university should have a better solution, such as an official Twitter account,
for disaster alerts and cancellation of class.
Some teachers complain about student’s taking notes with a smartphone and a
laptop.
I need an Apple TV for every classroom.

• A number of the students bring smartphone and/or a
laptop computer to campus to do schoolwork.
• Most students get used to various kinds of web services
in addition to resources the university provided.
• About 70% of them think their ICT literacy is high enough
to do schoolwork.
• What the students want most is stable and faster Wi-Fi
connection.
35

Cont.: How to make BYOD happen
• How about teachers?
• Teachers are highly encouraged to bring and use their own devices
in PEP.
• Teachers can show students how to make use of ICT for better
English learning via own devices.
• “You learn best by doing.”
36
Meeting of PEP faculty members

Discuss: Future tasks and prospects
• Further research is required, including…
• Another questionnaire to students
• How much of their learning environment is digitalized
• Textbooks!
• Which device they feel most comfortable using for learning
• The questionnaire to faculty members
• How often they use ICT in and out of class
• How much useful and helpful they find ICT in their work
• Why they hesitate to use ICT
37

Summary
• While many Japanese universities are reported to be
lagging in ICT adoption including BYOD, some
universities seem to be catching up.
• Project-based English course can propel reasonable and
relevant use of ICT for both students and teachers.
• The questionnaire reveals that most college students are
familiar with web-based intellectual, social activities
including schoolwork.
• Students are ready. How about us?
38

“If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we
rob OURSELVES of tomorrow.”
Syuhei KIMURA
(1977- )
39

References
Kyoto University. (2014). Koutou Kyouiku Kikan niokeru ICT no Rikatuyou nikannsuru
chousakennkyuu [Research Report concerning the Use of ICT in Higher Education
Institutions]. Submitted to the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and
Technology.
Laird, J. (2014, November 7). A Brief History of BYOD and Why it Doesn’t Actually Exist
Anymore. Retrieved August 10, 2015, from http://www.lifehacker.co.uk/2014/11/07/brief-
history-byod-doesnt-actually-exist-anymore
OECD (2014). TALIS 2013 Results: An International Perspective on Teaching and Learning,
OECD Publishing.
Suzuki, N. Y. (2012). Guroubarushakai wo ikirutameno eigojugyo [An English Education to
Survive in a Global Society]. Tokyo: Soueisha/Sanseido.
Toyofuku, S. (2014). The characteristics of ICT use in elementary secondary education in
Scandinavian countries―Background & trends of 1:1/BYODpolicy in school education―.
Computer & Education, 37, 29–34.
http://doi.org/http://doi.org/10.14949/konpyutariyoukyouiku.37.29
Toyofuku, S. (2015). Use of ICT in Primary and Secondary Education：1. Why ICT Use in
Japanese Schools are Retarded? for Policy Conversion to Learner-centered Use of ICT.
IPSJ Magazine, 56(4), 316–321.
40

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