Gakushuin University explains its close examination of what the term ‘active learning’ implies
and what technology could help the university implement it on its campus.
Gakushuin University has its origins
in Kyoto being established as an
imperial school for court nobles
near the former Imperial Palace in
Kyoto in 1847. After the capital
of Japan moved from Kyoto to Tokyo, another
school for nobles was established in Kanda,
Tokyo in 1877. Emperor Meiji instructed that the
school should succeed the name “Gakushuin”.
Presently, Gakushuin University has a campus
in Mejiro, Tokyo which is 180,000 square metres
wide and teaches more than 9,000 students
across ï¬ve faculties with 17 departments.
Advancements in pedagogy and technology
have meant that Gakushuin University introduced
a new studying class supporting system using
presentation and collaboration functions. The
move is in line with the university’s new education
style which focusses on active learning. The
aim of Gakushuin University is to develop each
student’s individuality and broad outlook with
an international point of view. To enable this
vision, Gakushuin University chose Kramer VIA
Campus as its technology solution.
Hiroyasu Kidokoro from Gakushuin University
Computer Center says: “What led Gakushuin
University to introduce VIA Campus was the
update of the AVC multimedia system in the
classrooms. When updating, a tool which had
collaboration features in addition to presentation
capabilities to trial active learning was a
mandatory requirement. The Kramer VIA Campus
met all of our needs.”
Toshio Murakami of Gakushuin University
Computer Center talks about how the university
decided to commit to testing the feasibility of
the VIA Campus: “When trialling active learning,
testing it out in only one or two rooms would
provide limited veriï¬cation and we were looking
to verify the feasibility of such an endeavour on
a wider scale. We thought that our deployment
needed to be above a certain scale so that we
could thoroughly plan development for the
future.”
Early on, Gakushuin University identiï¬ed
BYOD as a key enabling feature for the active
learning model that it wanted to pursue.
Hiroyasu comments: “Active learning is a two
way dialogue. To carry out active learning, the
participants need some device. Generally, the
way this is done is by distributing dedicated
devices to each classroom. On the other hand, in
the current era, the teachers and the students are
carrying devices personally.”
Rather than go down the route of dedicated
devices, Gakushuin University wanted to leverage
the personal devices of people on campus.
Toshio says: “We obviously wanted to have
usable collaboration features for active learning.
But, it was also important to have simple
operations with regards to BYOD devices of the
teachers and the students. Active learning does
not have a speciï¬ed deï¬nition and a speciï¬c way
to implement it. In our approach we identiï¬ed
collaboration and multifunction as more more
esteemed features when compared with cost
effectiveness.”
Wide support for devices was also needed
for BYOD to be successful. Hiroyasu says: “As
for BYOD devices, many models exist in each
of the technology verticals of PCs, tablets and
smartphones. Each has an operating system with
more than one version and there is difference of
hardware among the models. Supporting BYOD
devices widely became an important element in
our selection process.”
Kramer VIA Campus met the selection criteria
and Toshio says: “In addition to Windows, Mac,
iOS, Android, VIA Campus also supports Chrome.
Most BYOD devices which the teacher and the
students possess can be used.”
Once Kramer VIA Campus was selected, the
university found it easy to deploy. Toshio details:
“With PCs, we didn’t need an administrator as
installation was simple and the application was
accepted by the teachers without resistance. For
mobile devices, you can simply log-in with a QR
code and install the application from the Apple
Store or Google Play and operation is quite easy.”
Hiroyasu adds: “All VIA Campus units are
managed by the VIA site management in
addition to the individual administrative function
accessible through a web interface. This is very
important from the operational management
point of view because all the 16 VIA Campus units
are installed away from the operation centre.”