In Part 1 got to grips with Japan’s GIGA school initiative and the less-than-promising results of comparable one-device-per-child initiatives.
In Part 2 we dug into the political, social and economical factors influencing Japan’s education policy.
Now, with all that under our belt, we’re going to take a closer look at what Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) expects to achieve through the introduction of digital textbooks. We’re also going to have a look inside Japanese classrooms to consider how the policy might work in practice.
And coming up, in the final post in this series, I’ll to bring it all together to discuss why I think Japan’s digital experiment might actually work and what we can learn from it. If you want to receive it direct into your inbox – and a meme you can readily appropriate for wonkish kudos – remember to sign up below.
Big vision, grand goals
The era of Society 5.0, in which advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, Internet of Things, and robotics have become more sophisticated and incorporated into all industries and social life is approaching. […] In such a rapidly changing era, education plays a major role in enabling all people to acquire the power necessary to survive a prosperous life and play an active role. In order to foster diverse human resources who can live affluently in turbulent times and open up the future, we are approaching a major transitional period in which continuing the same education as before is not enough.
So reads the policy throat-clearing introduction to MEXT’s Guidelines for Effective use of Digital Textbooks for Learners. (Hello fellow human resources.)
You can tell the profundity of the seismic changes envisaged for the future, both in work and life, because its neologisms have decimal places. What is Society 5.0, you might ask? That’s such a Society 4.0 question. (Presumably life after Industrial Revolution 4.0, by which point we’ll have settled the question of what Web 3.0 really is.)
But, tl;dr, things are changing, we need to get with the plan.
After such a futuristic vision, you might wonder whether the GIGA schools might be making use of VR headsets, augmented reality, adaptive learning and AI.
Well, stick a pin in that thought. In order to understand how digital might change what happens in Japanese classrooms, we need to have a look at how teaching and learning works right now.
How does teaching in Japanese classrooms work?
Before we look at how the learning design that underpins the digital textbooks, let’s look at how classrooms work in Japan at the moment. The 1998 book Teaching and Learning in Japan (Thomas P Rohlen, Gerald K LeTendre, Cambridge University Press) provides a good overview of what makes Japanese pedagogy distinct:
[A common aspect of Japanese approaches to] teaching is their intention to foster social adhesion and peer bonding through a process that makes the sharing of difficult experiences the basis of greater attachment. The fact that learning is essentially accomplished in a collective environment and is experienced largely collectively characterises an outlook that we find typical of schooling in Japan [...] Cooperation is not only a major goal, it is a critical foundation for other kinds of learning.
All this makes teaching different from the typical and expected role established by the model of classroom instruction. The task is not to convey explicit information effectively. Nor is it to order and lead. Rather, the teacher plants seeds of insight, facilitates processes that are carefully designed to cause change, and monitors unobtrusively to see that all is going according to plan. In the Zen tradition, metaphors like “transmission of the lamp” or “transmission outside the scriptures” are common. These convey the belief that wisdom (enlightenment) does not come from a reading of the scriptures but rather from a direct and penetrating apprehension of the ultimate nature of the phenomena – be it one’s self or the object of one’s actions.
[…] What distinguishes the Japanese case is that these kinds of learning and teaching are not relegated to the periphery. Central social institutions such as corporations, schools, and factories may readily incorporate them if they desire. The intensity and thoroughness the Japanese bring to most of these undertakings also gives such practices a Japanese flavour. Finally, the language of the self and self-development in Japan is closely tied to the philosophy embodied in such training, giving it a culturally generated importance not found in the modern West.
International interest in the goings-on in Japanese classrooms stems from the 90s, when TIMSS researchers recorded Mathematics lessons, bringing the practice of lesson study to wider attention.
Plenty has been written about the teaching of Mathematics in Japan, primarily due to international interest in the practice of lesson study. Mathematics has been the focus because it’s deemed the most internationally comparable subject. As Ron DeSantis might say, “Math is Math”. As a consequence, relatively little has been written about Japanese pedagogy for other subjects.
That said, in Japan the teachers move between classrooms, rather than the children. (In fact, the children will decorate and clean their classroom, making it a space they collectively own.) Here’s Lucy Crehan on the layout of Japanese classrooms:
Let me take you inside a Japanese junior high school classroom as it is now, and has been for decades. The desks are organised in rows, with space between each one allowing you to walk along the aisles, and see the students’ work. […]
The teacher is at the front, lecturing on the properties of parallelograms. He writes on the blackboard, which is dark green, and stretches across the entire wall at the front of the classroom. He adds each step of his working next to the last on the board, so that were you to come in at the end of the lesson, you’d be able to follow the whole lesson’s teaching based on the board work alone. […]
When he’s finished explaining, the teacher asks the students to repeat the three properties of parallelograms […] He then instructs the students to move desks so that each group of four students sit in a huddle, each with two boys and two girls. They do so without a fuss. Each group is given a different, challenging problem to solve […] The teacher patrols, checking their progress […] As each group finishes, one of their number comes to the front of the classroom and writes up their solution on the board. […]
The teacher gets a student from each group to talk through their solution […] and addresses some questions to the class, such as “Is there another method to solve this?” […] With the end of the lesson approaching, the teacher assigns the students some practice questions from their workbooks for homework, then invites the students to stand. They bow, he bows, he leaves.
The structure of these lessons, which are consistent (but not identical) across Japan, have fascinated Western researchers. The analysis of differences between Maths lessons between Japan and Western traditions is revealing.
One of the sharp differences between the lessons in Japan and those in the other two countries [Germany and the United States] relates to how lessons were structured and delivered by the teacher. The structure of Japanese lessons was characterized as ‘structured problem solving’.
[…]
The cultural script for Japanese lesson was described in the [TIMSS Videotape Classroom] study as follows. First, teacher poses a complex, thought-provoking problem. Then, students struggle with the problem. Various students present ideas or solutions to the class. The teacher summarizes the class’s conclusions. Students practice similar problems (Stigler et al., 1999, P.136).
While students are working on the problem, the teacher moves about to observe students’ work. During this time period, the teacher gives suggestions or helps individually those who are having difficulty. She or he also watches for students who have good ideas, with the intention of calling on those students in a certain order in the subsequent discussion. Then, a whole-class discussion begins. In this discussion, students spend the majority of their time listening to the solutions proposed by their classmates, as well as presenting their own ideas. When discussing solutions to the problem, the teacher asks students to present alternative methods to solve the same problem. Presenting an idea, even a wrong one, is strongly encouraged and praised.
Japan may now be a secular society, but concepts from Buddhism are present within the classroom. Principally, the concept of suffering on the path to enlightenment. Here’s Lucy Crehan again (you really should read Cleverlands) in conversation with parents about the lack of freedom experienced by children in Japanese schools:
It was good, they said, because in going through this environment, the young people learn to internalise the rules and the behaviour expected of them, so that they no longer need to be told what to do. On the flip side, “there are students who aren’t good at handling this.” Interestingly, they did not give the misery induced in students as a disadvantage of this strict culture, they seemed to accept that this was a rite of passage that everyone had to go through, as they themselves had. This is due to the cultural importance given to gaman in Japan, which is a term of Zen Buddhist origin, meaning “enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity”. Japanese students are supposed to develop this trait during their schooling, especially in the lead up to their entrance exams for [senior] high school and university when they are expected to work extremely hard. One of the mums told me, “This level of exam pressure is normal, you have to take it, you can’t really say it’s too much.” Another chipped in, “The children are too busy sometimes and I do feel sorry for them, but we went through that too, it’s just the way it is.”
As Crehan observes, the three years students spend in junior high school introduces them to a particularly strict set of rules around behaviour and expectations. Students’ performance and behaviour is judged collectively and there is significant social pressure, and frequent bullying, of any student who might be showing the class in a poor light.
There are three things I want you to keep in mind here:
The devolution of authority described in Part 2. The time spent getting students to devise their own solutions reflects this social tradition.
There are strong social dynamics that control behaviour in the classroom. Messing around or going off-task is punished through social stigma as much as through teacher authority.The role of the teacher in monitoring and facilitating student work, providing nudges and direction where required. These lessons involve the teacher walking between desks as students work to gently guide and direct with targeted interventions.
Students share their ideas, both in group work and in whole-class presentations. There is a significant focus on students being able to articulate and convey their workings and understanding.
And so to digital
Let’s return to MEXT’s Guidelines for Effective use of Digital Textbooks for Learners. Once it’s done with setting the stage for disruption and change, it outlines the various benefits expected to be realised by the implementation of digital textbooks.
Users will be able to change the colour and size of text, copy and paste, highlight, annotate content with a pen or stylus, add sticky notes and save changes.
They will be able to zoom into figures, graphs and illustrations. They will be able to play animations, videos, and audio (either machine readings or, particularly for languages, audio recorded by native speakers).
Also useful for languages: students will be able to record themselves speaking for support with pronunciation.
There are various features that will support students with special educational needs, from the ability to change the background colour and reduce contrast and read text out loud through to adding ruby characters to kanji (phonetic marks that help students vocalise unfamiliar words).
And there are various anticipated benefits for teachers, from reducing the amount of time required to prepare lessons and writing on boards at the front of class, through to being able to monitor students’ screens and seeing results and students’ workings.
The Guidelines are broad and non-specific. They apply to every subject and every curriculum stage. Before we get into more specific details, I’m going to prescribe a pinch of salt.
A note on “can” and “will”
When we talk about digital as a form factor (i.e. in general), we talk about it in terms of “affordances”. Which is to say: this is the stuff that digital is capable of doing. Affordances are useful for developers and learning designers, who will then use this range of input and output capabilities to design interactions and patterns of use suitable for the product being developed.
However, just because a form factor is capable of doing something, it doesn’t mean that this functionality will be used.
Let’s step back and look at the affordances for a traditional printed book. We might say that a book can (1) contain the world’s knowledge, (2) present content in any language, (3) display text, illustrations and photos in monochrome, two colours, or full CMYK, (4) be completed or customised by the user through the application of a pen.
While a book is capable of all these things, it’s plainly not true to say all books do these things. As a form factor a book is capable of great wisdom and enlightenment, but if the book in front of you is Fifty Shades of Grey… well, at least you’ve got a Sharpie. Perhaps it’s time to unleash your inner Yossarian.
Crucially for our understanding, Japan’s digital textbooks are built on the foundation of the print textbook. Which is to say that they contain all the content of the print textbook.
There is no separate approval by MEXT for the digital edition, despite the various anticipated additions and additional functionality. Schools will use the print textbooks alongside the digital editions.
The arrival of digital textbooks does not – for the time being at least – herald the end of print textbooks.
Digital pedagogy in Japan
MEXT produced Digital Textbook for Learners: Practical Casebook in March 2022, which I’m using as my basis for understanding the learning design of the digital textbooks. A pilot was already live by the time this booklet was published and the scenarios – lessons it describes are based on real pilot materials.
The Casebook also includes some health and safety guidance for teachers to consider when using digital textbooks. This includes avoiding eye strain, reducing reflection on screens, and guidance on good posture when using devices.
More interesting, however, are the suggested patterns of use for digital.
The Casebook includes procedural descriptions of sample lessons from Japanese (elementary Grades 1 and 5; junior high school Grade 2), Maths (elementary Grade 5; junior high school Grade 1), Society (elementary Grade 5; junior high school grade 1), Science (elementary Grades 3 and 5; junior high school Grade 1), English (elementary Grade 5; junior high school Grades 1 and 2), and several lessons demonstrating features for students with additional needs.
It categorises opportunities for using digital textbooks as either teacher-directed (often displaying content at the front of class or monitoring student work onscreen) or learner-lead. Alongside this, it divides lessons into three different styles of learning:
Individual learning, where students work on their own
Group learning, where students collaborate in pairs or larger groups
Whole-class learning, which may be teacher directed or where students share their workings
Many (but not all) of the lessons described begin with whole-class teaching lead by the teacher, supported by presenting content from the digital book, before moving to individual work. Individual student work using the digital book ranges from reading and making notes through to completing worksheets and activities, before moving to group work. Group work using the digital book typically involves sharing ideas and understanding. Towards the end of the lesson, we return to whole-class learning where students share their ideas and the teacher draws things to a close.
What should be striking here is that the lessons described and the use cases for digital stick very closely to the model of classroom teaching and learning that has remained the same “for decades”.
It cost three and a half billion dollars just to keep things the same?
See you space cowboy…
Metaphorically, I’ve dragged you up this yellow-brick road, past all those flying monkeys, and we’ve pulled back the curtain and it’s just some guy?! Could Japan’s great digital revolution really be more a case of incremental business as usual?
Why, yes. And this is vitally important.
In the fourth and final instalment, we’re going to compare Japan’s approach to an alternative vision for what the future of digital learning and maybe uncover the real reason behind Japan’s move to implement digital textbooks.