Case study: Introduction and operation support for "Public University Faculty Training System" via Moodle

Overview of The Japan Association of Public Universities

・Established: October 22, 1949 (Incorporated on December 1, 2011)

Business Activities：

　1. Investigate and research trends in higher education policies of national and local governments, and provide information widely to society and members.

　2. Considering the policies of national and local governments, examine the role and future vision of public universities.

　3. Support the promotion of public university education, research, and contributions to the community and society.

　4. Conduct research and investigation on the management issues of public universities.

　5. Speak widely to society on behalf of public universities.

　6. Engage in businesses that are incidental or related to the businesses listed in the preceding items.

Services Utilized

Moodle Implementation Support Services

・Moodle Cloud Package e-CoreLea

Moodle Operation Services

-- Please tell us about the activities of the National University Association and Mr. Ebihara's work.

Mr. Ebihara: Our association was established with the aim of promoting public universities and contributing to the improvement and balanced development of the level of higher education and academic research in the country. This year, we have 99 public universities as members, and we are conducting various activities to support operations and business promotion at public universities, including holding seminars to provide information for these purposes.

I belong to the secretariat and am responsible for planning and managing seminars.

--Please tell us about the background of the e-learning implementation.

Mr. Ebihara: Before 2020, our association's seminars were conducted in person and in group formats to enhance our training programs. In response to the spread of the COVID-19 virus from 2020, we began conducting training online using platforms like Zoom. Implementing online training and distributing video content on YouTube has made our training programs accessible "anytime, anywhere," which we believe has improved services for our member schools. At that time, we thought that by building a platform to accumulate and utilize video data, we could create a systematic training program at the Public University Association that could be used for the development of faculty and staff at member schools.

Initially, in December 2020, we established a "Working Group on the Training System for Public University Faculty and Staff" with the aim of introducing an e-learning platform that would enable efficient management of browsing and member administration.

-- When you contacted us in November 2021, was it decided from the beginning that you would use Moodle?

Mr. Ebihara: I received a presentation on the use cases at the university from a member of the committee, and I have started to consider Moodle as one of the options.

The working group was considering other LMS as well.

・Equipped with the functions we wish to implement as an association

Environment setup can be done quickly within budget and in line with the release schedule.

・Since it is open source, even if you outsource the construction and operation support, you are not dependent on a specific vendor.

Since it is compatible with SCORM, the standard for e-learning, content can be reused even if the LMS is changed in the future.

We have decided to adopt Moodle for this reason.

After that, I was introduced to Human Science Co. through a teacher from a member school, and I made an inquiry.

I also spoke with other companies that provide Moodle services, but the support system, technical skills, experience, and pricing were significantly better at Human Science Co.

We supported the construction of the verification environment and trial operation from January to March 2022, and from April, we assisted with the operation in the production environment. How was the response from Human Sciences during the ongoing project?

Mr. Ebihara: The main method of hearing was via email, but I felt that communication was difficult with just written text, so it might have been better to have regular face-to-face meetings. Since this was our first time building e-learning, there were many things we didn't understand, so being able to align through verbal communication or web meetings would have increased our sense of security.

It has been about three months since the operation started in April 2022. How has the response been? (Interview date: June 20, 2022)

Mr. Ebihara: Currently, the "Public University Faculty and Staff Training System" offers 4 categories with a total of about 30 courses. We started notifying member schools in April 2022, and the number of registrations has now approached 400, widely utilized by various faculty and staff members.

We have received positive feedback from faculty and staff, such as, "It's great that there are no time or location constraints" and "It's nice to be able to learn at my own pace."

It seems that it can also be used as training materials for newly hired employees.

With the implementation of remote work, it has become challenging for university staff to provide onboarding education for new employees. Even in situations where practical knowledge is lacking, we have received feedback that it is helpful for them to watch video materials on the basics of public universities and how to carry out their duties, as it allows them to grasp fundamental aspects of national higher education policy trends and overall university operations.

-- What are your plans for future utilization?

Mr. Ebihara: We are currently providing information to encourage more people to utilize the "Public University Faculty and Staff Training System" among the seminars being held online.

In the future, we would like to actively provide information to help you understand the "Public University Faculty and Staff Training System" and promote its use. We also plan to explore the use of badges and other features, aiming to establish a system that allows us to grant badges to specific course participants.

Related Services

Moodle Implementation Support and Operation Services