2014年創立的非營利組織東京社區學校，最近安裝了BenQ的智慧白板，並與校方密切合作討論互動式教學的經驗，與使用BenQ互動教學解決方案的經驗和意見。
"Writing on BenQ's interactive whiteboard feels just like writing on a regular whiteboard. I especially like the pen - it makes me feel like I've found a new favorite fountain pen." ---Chikara Ichikawa, Tokyo Community School Principal and Research Producer.
Tokyo Community School is a nonprofit corporation that runs a full-day school for children in grade school. They installed a smart whiteboards from BenQ Japan when they moved to their current school building in September 2014. Kazuyuki Kubo, Board Chairman of Tokyo Community School and Chikara Ichikawa, the Principal, discussed their experiences with installing and using a BenQ interactive projector.
Profiles of the Board Chairman and Principal
Kazuyuki Kubo's Profile
Founder and Board Chairman of Tokyo
Community School, a nonprofit corporation
President of Global Partners Inc.
Associate Professor and full-time graduate
school lecturer at Business Breakthrough
University Inc.
Mr. Kubo has brought his extensive experience in practical teaching at all levels from preschool to grade school, junior high, senior high, university, graduate school and professionals to bear in researching, developing, implementing and spreading lessons intended to help raise globally-competitive Japanese citizens. In recent years he has turned his focus to elementary education in particular, and he enthusiastically supports research-based learning and the introduction and implementation of the International Baccalaureate in Japan.
Chikara Ichikawa's Profile
Tokyo Community High School Principal and Research Producer Moved to the USA in 1990 and spent 13 years managing a tutoring school for the children of Japanese expatriates. After returning to Japan in 2003, he made waves by writing "Eigo wo Kodomo ni Oshieru na (Don't teach Children English)" (Chuo Shinsho Laclef), an influential book about the difficulty of raising bilingual children that drew from his real-life experiences. In August 2004 he was appointed as the first principal of the Tokyo Community School. He continues his research and experiments into what it takes to develop the “heart for research” needed to live boldly and flexibly in a global age. His books "Kenkyuu suru Chikara (The power to research)" (Chi no Kenkyuusha) and "Sensei! (Teacher!)" (Iwanami Shinsho, ed: Akira Ikegami) are highly regarded not only in the educational world but also by researchers and businessmen. He is a TED x Tokyo2013 presenter. He has gone by the affectionate nickname "Occhan (Uncle)”since he was a child.
Tokyo Community School: making cutting-edge education a reality
Please tell us more about the Tokyo Community School.
This school was founded in 2004 as a full-day school for children in grade school. At present we have 24 students, most of whom have been studying here since first grade. The education provided here is based on what we call “research-based learning”. Instead of pounding information into students' heads, we believe the main purpose of education is to teach students to use their brains in globally-competitive ways. There is a movement under way to put this style of active learning in place from the university level onwards, but here we start teaching that way from the first grade.
How Tokyo Community School is using its interactive whiteboard
How does Tokyo Community School use its interactive whiteboard?
Practical use 1 - Storing learned material as data
In order to intensify the learning process, we try to write down and record what the children say as faithfully as possible. When children see their own opinions written down, they gain more confidence and become more enthusiastic about speaking up. That's why we needed something that felt the same as a whiteboard but that could also store data. Since words written on an interactive whiteboard can be turned into data, they can be stored on a Google drive and shared with all the children. Since they view and review this data at any time, they don't need to spend time taking notes during lessons.
Practical use 2 - Reusing past lessons
We can use an iPad to transfer whiteboard data from past lessons to the interactive whiteboard, add new things we have learned and use them as learning material. One child in the 4th grade suggested pasting the material in Keynote. Now he's using the whiteboard data to study, with his own modifications.
Practical use 3 - Sharing lessons
During lessons, experiments filmed with individual iPads and figures with students' opinions written on them recorded with a document camera can be projected on the interactive whiteboard. While looking at the images, students can share ideas and exchange opinions on why an experiment failed and what needs improvement in order to get better results.
Why they chose to use interactive whiteboards
Please tell us what made you decide to use interactive whiteboards in your lessons.
We decided to use IT initiatives to make active learning possible here. We've had the opportunity to use interactive whiteboards in mock lessons at other schools before, but they were hard to use and didn't seem very practical. So we had all but concluded that they weren't ready to be used in school settings, but then we got the chance to try BenQ's interactive projector, and we thought, "This is it. We can definitely use this in our lessons." It's only been two months since installation, but the children just keep coming up with all kinds of ideas as they use it.
Challenges they faced before installing the BenQ interactive whiteboard
What kind of teaching style did you have before you installed the BenQ interactive whiteboard?
At first we just wrote normally on both black and white boards. Of course, the space for writing was limited, so we had to erase the older stuff as we wrote. Then we decided to use sheets of imitation Japanese paper instead. This worked out pretty well because we could always refer to past lessons. The children could study them and form new thoughts about the material too. However it took time to put up and change the sheets of paper. The time loss was fairly large. We went through a lot of trial and error in trying to come up with good lessons.
The criteria used for selecting a BenQ interactive whiteboard
Why did you choose BenQ interactive projector when you decided to adopt an interactive whiteboard?
Selection criteria 1. High cost performance
We had used interactive whiteboards in business training before, but we thought they were so expensive we couldn't adopt them. However when we moved the school, we took the opportunity to reconsider the matter. After doing a lot of research, we found out that although BenQ was a foreign manufacturer, its products were highly-rated on Japanese word-of-mouth websites. They were consistently at the top of the user rankings. Our minimum standard was a brightness of 3000 lumens or more for usage in a bright classroom, and this projector had better cost performance than similar products.
Selection criteria 2. The electronic pen's performance
I really like BenQ's electronic pen. It lets me write at the same speed as with a whiteboard. It's surprising how quickly I can write with it. I feel like I've found a new favorite fountain pen. I occasionally use pens from other companies when doing public lessons with interactive whiteboards from other companies, but they can never keep up with my writing speed. There's a lag before what I’m writing appears on the board, and depending on the angle of the pen some things might not appear at all. What's more they're not just heavy but they also have a terrible battery life. BenQ's interactive whiteboard pens are just the right weight and the batteries can easily last a whole week.
Selection criteria 3. Support for Apple produ
BenQ met one of our requirements, which was to support Apple products. Maybe being a company based overseas let them do this when other companies could not. We held face-to-face discussions with Japanese interactive whiteboard manufacturers and told them we wanted to use Apple TV, MacBooks and iPads in our lessons, but none of them supported Apple products.
Why BenQ's interactive whiteboard is perfect for learning initiatives
So what do you think of the BenQ interactive whiteboard? Do you have a message for any schools thinking of installing one?
The Japanese government has introduced the International Baccalaureate program in 200 schools nationwide. In the future, education that teaches children to use their brains and that values the ability to think and express oneself over the mere acquisition of knowledge will be in increasingly high demand. The methods use to strengthen such skills are fundamentally similar whether they're carried out at the elementary, university or professional level. The BenQ interactive whiteboard is extremely well-suited as a tool for the “learning to use your brain” style of education we practice. We hold public lessons, so I would encourage any educators thinking of installing BenQ interactive whiteboards to visit one of the lessons and see a board in use for themselves.
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