13th Annual International TAM Conference on Special Education and Technology,
Austin, Texas, January 11-13, 1996. 

Use of the Internet in Empowerment of Students and Teachers at Schools for the Handicapped 
in Japan

Shigeru Narita, Ph.D.
Hyogo University of Teacher Education

Abstract

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry, in conjunction with the Ministry of Education, 
Science and Culture has launched a school networking project in the summer of 1994 where 
100 elementary, junior and senior high schools including schools for the handicapped have been 
awarded the Internent connections.  Some schools for the handicapped have participated in the 
experimental programs making up an electronic community in schools.  New visions of 
instructional strategies for planning, curriculum development, and teacher empowerment have 
been gradually established in those schools though the schools have had difficulties, both 
technically and financially in getting a better network connection. Seven special schools for the 
handicapped are extensively using networking capabilities within the 100 school project on the 
Internet.  The Center for School Education Research(CESER) at Hyogo University of Teacher 
Education is providing technical assistance over the Internet and on-site workshop to schools 
for the handicapped. In addition, a new curriculum is underway in which teachers-to-be are 
trained with hands-on experiences in the use of networking. 

Introduction

In the last couple of years, the government has strongly supported the introduction of PCs into 
K-12 schools.  Computer labs are no longer viewed as "weird."  According to a Ministry of 
Education report, Japanese schools were equipped with one PC for every 38 students as of the 
end of the 1992 school year, while the student-to-computer ratio was 19:1 as of the end of 1993 
school year (Minstry of Education, Science and Culture, 1994). 

One problem is determining the actual level of computer use.  Indications are that the significant 
use of computers is very low.  In many special schools, computers sit idle, and instruction via 
computers is limited. While few teachers view computer technology as detrimental to learning, 
many claim to be unfamiliar with computer technology applied to teaching and, as a result, they 
are not strongly motivated to use them.  A number of teachers have a different attitude about 
computers.  Teachers working in academically advanced schools, for example, do not want 
computer classes because they supposedly are not helpful for university entrance exams.  

In schools where students use computers, they learn basic computer literacy--word processing 
and spreadsheets.  Students are usually taught about computers only in their home economics 
classes.  Computers are expected to be used in the other subject matter areas as well, however, 
thus far the Ministry of Education has not made their use mandatory in other subjects.  In 
addition, global education and networking are no longer alien ideas in Japanese schools, except 
for a few pioneering ones that are hungry to allow few teachers to experiment with the 
networking. 

100-School Project

The year of 1994 was recognized as the year of the Internet in Japan.  Commercial Internent 
service providers have started up businesses to cater to the Internet boom. The Internet has been 
described as the world's information superhighway, a web, cyberspace and a global yarn ball.  
The terms are intriguing and confusing n most Japanese schools.    

Computer networking mediated education has only recently been introduced to Japanese 
schools.  The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI)  has launched a project  
where 100 K-12 schools receive a grant for a school networking throughout the nation: 100-
School Project.  This  project is intended to identify how the schools will use the Internet.  MITI 
initiated the project with its budget, and the Ministry of Education participates as a cooperative 
partner. Internet connections have started in 1995.  This project involves the installation of work 
stations and personal computers in these institutions which will then be linked to the Internet. 
Though this type of project may lead to a further advancement of Japanese K-12 networking, 
only a very limited number of institutions have a chance to connect. Most schools in Japan still 
have a hurdle, both technically and financially, in getting a network conductivity.

Six special schools for the handicapped have been chosen for the 100-School Project. 
Commercial Internet providers are supporting these schools for a smooth operation of the 
system.  However, none of the schools have a trained media specialist.  An experienced teacher 
usually plays the role of a speciaist in the school.  In addition, most non-Internet schools are 
struggling to find creative solutions to the universal problem that confronts the majority of 
classroom professionals: the lack of a phone line. Only 1.8% of schools for the mentally 
retarded and orthopedically handicapped have in-school networking capabilities.

Internet in Special Education Schools

One issue is that most special schools lack teacher training and funding for installing networking 
capabilities, purchasing educational software and peripherals that are required for students' easy 
access to computers. Every year a number of computers are dumped into schools; computers 
tend to sit in the faculty room or business office, but not in the classroom. Those computers are 
not wired. Purchasing computers in special schools is always a one shot deal. School 
administrators do not realize that it is never going to be cheap to buy technology, because they 
have to buy peripherals, software, networking capabilities, maintenance, training, and 
upgrading.

Despite a rather discouraging computing situation in schools, several university lab schools for 
the handicapped have started to link other K-12 lab schools. With support from a university, 
interested teachers and their students are now using networking capabilities. Fukuoka School 
for the Deaf and Osaka City School for the deaf participate in video conferencing using sign and 
body languages by seeing each other on line and by accessing multimedia-related Internet 
resources.  They communicate with their peers in the other part of the nation through CU SeeMe 
application getting answers and questions they asked in the conversation. With these cases, a 
desktop video conferencing for schools for the hearing impaired will be a promising technology 
for real time communications.   

Moriyama School for the Health Impaired is active in the use of computer network inside and 
outside the school.  After the tone of the bell marking the end of class, students work on their 
computers in their rooms at their hospital.  They are forced to live in the hospital due to their 
health impairment and use email and chatting functions. They exchange mail and pictures with 
their peers and family.  They are also enjoying the Virtual Classroom where courses and 
learning materials are delivered in whole or in part over the computer network.

"Virtual Classroom"

The Internet schools have their own home page. Shiga University Lab School for the 
Handicapped, for example, uses the World Wide Web (WWW) for instruction using its Web 
page as an information delivery tool.  The Web is a handy way to distribute instructional 
materials. Furthermore, this page is moving beyond a basic information delivery model for the 
WWW.  The school is developing virtual "classrooms" where course materials are delivered in 
whole or in part over the WWW. These virtual classroom Web pages incorporate such 
components as online instruction and instructional materials.  

Online instructional materials
A Web page can incorporate hypertext, images, sound, video, animation, and the delivery of 
binary versions of spreadsheets, presentations, and other documents. 

Interactive multimedia textbooks
The Web allows for the creation of textbooks that integrate images, video and sound, and other 
binary files.  These textbooks can include hyperlinks to encourage exploratory learning, or they 
can remain linear to provide more content control.  

One-to-one communications
Email among teachers and students can be integrated into the Web environment.  The Web page 
allows email to be sent to teachers and students.  Email can include attachments of any binary 
files e.g., word processing files,spreadsheets, graphic images, and even sound and video files. 
Video conference technology is also making it  possible to establish virtual classrooms for 
students with hearing impairment.

Teacher Training

Most special education centers in the nation provide newly hired teachers with initial training. 
The duration of the training programs is approximately 60 hours throughout a year. However, 
the hour spent for introductory and intermediary application of computers in school is 
minimum.  National Institute of Special Education(NISE) and prefectural special education 
centers offer 3-month and one year training programs to experienced teachers for their 
empowering skills of technology. Only 20 teachers are allowed to participate in a 3-month 
training at NISE.

Dozens of special education centers in the nation offer a variety of empowerment programs for 
special education teachers in the use of computers in schools. The programs range from 
instructional use of computers to courseware development. Now they have begun to use 
educational computing to empower students with special educational needs. Although 
computers offer greatly increased sound and graphics possibilities, few in-service training 
programs offered at special education centers have the spectrum of creating new learning 
environments on the WWW for handicapped population.    

The in-service training for computer coordinators and teachers has been implemented at The 
Center for School Education Research (CESER) at Hyogo University of Teacher Education  
since 1995. The CESER programs are now intensively geared toward the use of the Internet as 
an ideal environment for information publishers. Two summer session programs were 
conducted for overflowing teachers and citizens in the local community.  

Special education teachers have begun experimenting with instructional uses of the Internet, 
mainly WWW simply because it is an interesting new environment to explore. As the bandwidth 
of the Internet continues to expand, and as Internet technology increases in sophistication, the 
incorporation of dynamic multimedia technology and video teleconferencing into WWW pages 
will become pervasive. 

For special education, this increased use of multimedia means that teachers can deliver 
sophisticated instructional materials directly to students with special educational needs both on 
campus and at the home. It is clear that these networking and multimedia technologies will make 
special education delivery  on the WWW increasingly important to teachers and students.  


References

Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (1994). Report on K-12 Computer Use Survery. 
Tokyo.

Shintani, T. & T. Uchimura (1995). Constructing Japanese K-12 Network Community: Case 
Study. Proceedings of INET'95. 333.

Tsuji, Yoich (1995). Japan and K-12 Networking; Finally the Mountain Is Beginning to Move. 
Learning and Leading With Technology, 23(2), 46-47.


Contact:
Shigeru Narita, Ph.D.
Professor
Center for School Education Research, 
Hyogo University of Teacher Education
E-mail: naritas@ceser.hyogo-u.ac.jp