The General Incorporated Association Learning of Tomorrow (Chairperson: Nanako Ishido, Professor at Keio University; http://lot.or.jp/) submits the following recommendations to the Digital Agency with the aim of realizing “personalized learning.”

Web URL: https://lot.or.jp/project/8233/　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　-

– Recommendations to the Digital Agency –

March
2022, Learning of Tomorrow (General Incorporated Association)

　According to the results of a Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) survey released in February Reiwa 4, high schools are also scheduled to complete the deployment of one device per student across all grade levels by Reiwa 6. Now that the infrastructure for the GIGA School Initiative is nearing completion, we have reached a stage where we must consider how to effectively utilize this environment.

　Furthermore, regarding digital textbooks, various pilot projects are underway in preparation for full-scale implementation starting in fiscal year Reiwa 6. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has established an expert panel to examine how cloud tools, digital textbooks, and digital teaching materials can be integrated, marking the start of substantive discussions focused on their adoption in schools.There are high expectations that cloud-delivered digital textbooks will further advance the realization of “personalized learning” by leveraging the “one device per student” and cloud environments established under the GIGA School Initiative
. Therefore, we propose the following 10 recommendations.

1) Identify the stakeholders involved in educational data and clarify their respective rights and obligations. Clearly define the following stakeholders and establish guidelines for the handling of educational data from each of their perspectives. It is necessary to recognize the formulation of guidelines for data across society as part of the design of social institutions.
　* Learners (pupils, students, and working adults) themselves, and in the case of children, their
guardians; * Other learners participating in the learning process (for use in understanding their relative standing and improving their learning attitudes); * Teachers
, educators, and instructors (particularly for the scientific analysis and improvement of educational outcomes and teaching methods)
;　* Administrators of the educational institution in question (for use in improving educational systems and environments, evaluating teachers, etc.
) * Other educational institutions (e.g., access to past learning data for entrance examinations
) * Private education
providers *
Stakeholders involved in educational administration * The general public (data made publicly available)

2) Engage in a fundamental discussion about what educational data should be retained regarding the relationship between learners and teachers.Rather than merely recording which teaching materials were used and test scores, the government should take the lead in clarifying a vision for collecting data that captures communication between teachers and students, and for utilizing learning analytics to improve teaching and learning methods based on scientific evidence.In addition, clarify the rights holders and their obligations based on the categories of educational data. Clarify the obligations of each stakeholder regarding ownership of educational data, access rights (including rights of use and modification), and security measures for data storage. Consider enacting relevant legal frameworks.

3) Formulate basic guidelines for the long-term preservation of data. In particular, establish a societal framework for data management that accommodates changes over time in the devices and software used by individuals, such as through the effective use of the cloud.Nothing is more difficult to handle than digital data that can no longer be read. (Build an architecture that ensures paper is not considered a better alternative.) In addition, by utilizing educational data, consider designing social systems that allow records of individual learning processes—going beyond existing digital badges created by digitizing traditional certification systems—to be explicitly leveraged in learners’ lifelong career development.

4) Regarding the development of a platform for digital textbooks under the GIGA School Initiative, while local boards of education have traditionally been responsible for selecting textbooks and teaching materials, we must first address the reality that these resources cannot be utilized due to limitations in school and community network infrastructure by working in collaboration with relevant government agencies to improve the infrastructure.Subsequently, a common platform should be utilized. This will improve the current situation, where low compatibility among specifications makes it difficult to share and use materials across systems.

5) To further advance digital education, we should introduce AI to analyze where each individual child is struggling and provide guidance accordingly. Needless to say, simply ensuring students graduate is not the true purpose of education.Furthermore, to promote broader support for children and holistic education, we must integrate data from schools—which falls under the jurisdiction of the Board of Education—with data on welfare and other matters managed by various departments within local governments.

6) Although a policy has been established to complete the rollout of one device per student across all grades in high schools by Reiwa 6, many local governments are currently unable to fund the device rollout with public funds because financial support, such as subsidies, is more limited compared to elementary and middle schools.Furthermore, under these circumstances, some local governments have postponed the adoption of MDM (device management and security measures), which is a prerequisite under the “Guidelines on Educational Information Security Policies.”
However, device security without MDM relies on security measures taken by individual households, posing significant risks—such as the inability to address unauthorized use, theft, or loss of devices, and the inability to access logs necessary for resolving incidents when they occur.To prevent these issues and establish a safe and secure learning environment that leverages ICT, future device deployment in high schools should prioritize the use of MDM-managed devices.

7) In conjunction with progress in network and device infrastructure development, promote the visualization of the status of security measures related to the digitization of education across government agencies, based on documents such as the “Guidelines on Educational Information Security Policies” (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology).At the same time, based on the visualized status of security measures, the national government should take the lead in implementing necessary measures—such as budgetary allocations—for local governments, schools, and households where adequate measures have not been taken. Efforts should be made to promote the visualization of the status of security measures and to implement measures for local governments and schools (elementary, junior high, and high schools) that lack adequate security.While the expansion of take-home learning and Internet-based learning has been driven by the development of networks and devices for
educational informatization, significant disparities exist among local governments regarding security measures such as filtering; these disparities must be addressed.

8) Promote widespread adoption based on the GIGA School Initiative environment. Discussions regarding the widespread adoption of digital textbooks should, above all else, be conducted with the GIGA School Initiative environment as a prerequisite. When digital textbooks are fully introduced into actual school settings, it is a prerequisite that they coexist with the ICT environment established under the GIGA School Initiative.When introducing digital textbooks, it is desirable to give maximum consideration to the convenience of students and faculty and staff, and to proactively promote technical integration—such as Single Sign-On (SSO)—with platforms used on a daily basis, such as groupware. Even if the textbook publishers selected differ by subject, technologies that support smooth operation by students and faculty and staff should be effectively incorporated.This will make it possible to further advance learning by leveraging the GIGA environment through the widespread adoption of digital textbooks. The utmost care must be taken to avoid the serious situation in which neither the existing GIGA School Initiative environment nor the digital textbooks are utilized.

9) Establish unified standards for the utilization of data through the use of digital textbooks. Digital textbooks have the potential to realize “personalized learning” by integrating with other educational data, such as learning histories from other digital teaching materials and groupware. To promote this integration, we must first establish the standard specifications necessary for the utilization of educational data.Standardization among textbook publishers should be advanced urgently, taking into account the convenience of students and school staff as mentioned in the previous section. Budgetary measures should be taken to this end. At the same time, to facilitate the utilization of educational data, the standardization of data specifications for all types of data used in educational institutions should be examined under government leadership, while involving all relevant stakeholders.

10) The number of children requiring support due to their home environments or individual circumstances is increasing. We must establish a learning environment in which these children can study alongside many friends at school using the same digital textbooks and learning materials, and can also use these digital resources at home or in facilities outside of school—such as hospitals—just as they would at school.At the same time, to ensure that no one is left behind in the learning environment, the government should cover the costs associated with digital textbooks and learning materials—particularly in light of the aforementioned issues related to family circumstances—to facilitate their widespread adoption.

Chairman of the Learning of Tomorrow Association (General Incorporated Association
): Hiroshi Komiyama (Chairman of Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc.; 28th President of the University of Tokyo)
President: Nanako Ishido (Professor at Keio University; President of CANVAS, a Specified Nonprofit Corporation)
Official Website:
http://lot.or.jp/公式Facebookページ :https://www.facebook.com/LearningofTomorrow/