堀 真寿美

While large scale online courses such as MOOCs are popular in developed countries, their dissemination is difficult in developing countries due to the existing challenges faced by the digital divide such as poverty, internet accessibility, and the low PC ownership ratio. A learning platform for mobile learning was developed for developing countries where people often have no access to the Internet. The platform is called creative higher education with learning objects (CHiLO) and was developed with the aim of solving the problem. As a demonstration experiment, we distributed CHiLO books of the NSA1 series in about one year (from April 2014 to March 2015), 47% of over 20,000 downloaded books were from developing countries. Our experimental results in Japan have indicated the potential effectiveness of CHiLO for developing countries.

Online education has provided good opportunities for educationally disadvantaged people. However, some traditional learning management systems (LMSs), the base systems of online education, had the limitations in offering standardized education for diversified learners with different skills, objectives, abilities, preferences, and backgrounds. In addition, the traditional LMSs, which required a constant connection of the Internet, could not be used where it is not available, that is, in the half of the world. Thus, we developed a new learning platform for large-scale online courses (LSOC), called "the Creative Higher Education with Learning Object (CHiLO)". CHiLO is a comprehensive, open-network learning system which can realize e-textbooks, competency-based education (CBE), digital badges, and social learning. CHiLO can contribute to future research on next-generation learning content based on e-books and a flexible, diversified learning environment for people worldwide.

Open education offers higher education opportunities for underprivileged communities and solves the problem of deficit in learning resources, such as human and material resources, throughout developing countries. Open education, however, has certain challenges in terms of dependency on the Internet. The use of mobile devices is expected to aid in meeting these challenges. Mobile learning (m-learning), which is learning through mobile devices using various modes of communications like a phone line and contiguous communications, can potentially provide learning services anytime and anywhere without using the Internet. Our Creative Higher Education with Learning Object (CHiLO) project aims to provide an adaptable learning environment corresponding to diversification and uncertainty in large-scale online courses such as MOOCs using device-agnostic m-learning centered on e-textbooks with media rich content. It also aims at a comprehensive open network learning system through the use of various existing technologies and various learning resources, including OER on open network communities, such as SNS. Our set of experimental outcomes demonstrates the efficacy of m-learning using CHiLO, particularly with an e-textbook, including media-rich content, nano lectures, and digital badges.

Mobile learning has become a useful method of learning and teaching in Japan. We present in this paper how to integrate mobile devices such as cell phones, iPod Touch and iPhone, portable game devices and other peripheral tools with an eLearning system to enhance students' mobile learning at both on and off-campus activities.