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