Case Study: Introduction and Operation Support for "Public University Faculty Training System" by Moodle

Overview of The Japan Association of Public Universities

・Establishment: October 22, 1949 (incorporated on December 1, 2011)

・Business Contents：

　1. Conduct research and investigation on the trends of national and local government higher education policies, and provide information to the wider society and members.

　2. Consider the role and future of public universities while looking at the policies of countries and local governments.

　3. Support for promoting education, research, and contributions to the local community and society at public universities.

　4. Conduct research on management issues at public universities.

　5. Speak to society on behalf of public universities.

　6. Conduct business related or incidental to the businesses listed in the preceding items.

Services

・Moodle Implementation Support Service

・Moodle Cloud Package e-CoreLea

・Moodle Operation Service

- Please tell us about the activities of the National Association of Public Universities and Mr. Ebara's duties.

Mr. Ebara: Our association was established with the aim of promoting public universities and contributing to the improvement and balanced development of higher education and academic research in Japan. This year, we have 99 member public universities and are conducting various activities and seminars to support their operations and promote their projects by providing them with relevant information.

I am in charge of seminar planning and operation as a member of the secretariat.

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

Mr. Ebihara: Our association has been working to enhance our training programs through face-to-face and group seminars before 2020. However, due to the spread of the new coronavirus from 2020, we have started conducting online training using platforms such as Zoom. By implementing online training and distributing video data on YouTube, we believe that we have improved our training services to be accessible "anytime, anywhere" for our member schools. In addition, we have built a platform to store and utilize video data, and we thought that the systematic training program created by the Public University Association could be utilized for the development of faculty members at our member schools.

Initially, in order to efficiently manage browsing and membership, we established the "Working Group on Training Systems for Public University Faculty and Staff" in December 2020 with the aim of introducing an e-learning platform.

- Was Moodle already decided upon when you first contacted us in November 2021?

Mr. Ebara: We received an introduction of case studies from a professor in our committee, and have started considering Moodle as one of our options for use in our university.

The working committee has been considering other LMS options as well.

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

・Can be quickly set up within budget and in line with the release schedule

・Since it is open source, even if you outsource the construction and operation support, you will not be dependent on specific vendors.

・Since it is SCORM compliant, which is the standard for e-learning, the content can be reused even if the LMS is changed in the future

We have decided to adopt Moodle based on its reputation.

Afterwards, we were introduced to Human Science Co., Ltd. through a teacher at our member school, and we made an inquiry.

I also spoke to other companies that provide Moodle services, but Human Science Co., Ltd. had significantly better support, technical expertise, experience, and pricing.

- We provided support for the construction and trial operation of the verification environment from January to March 2022, and for the operation in the production environment from April. How was Human Science's response during the project?

Mr. Ehara: The main method of communication was through email, but I felt that it was difficult to understand each other's intentions through written communication alone. It may have been beneficial to have regular face-to-face meetings. Since this was our first time building an e-learning platform, there were many things we were unsure about, so being able to discuss and confirm through verbal communication or web conferences gave us a sense of reassurance.

――It has been approximately 3 months since the start of operations in April 2022. How has the response been? (Interview date: June 20, 2022)

Mr. Ebihara: Currently, the "Public University Faculty Training System" offers 4 categories and a total of about 30 courses. We will start sending out information to our member schools from April 2022, and currently, the number of registered users has reached nearly 400, and it is widely used by various teachers and staff members.

From our teachers and staff, we have received positive feedback such as "It's great to have no time or location constraints" and "It's great to be able to learn at my own pace."

It seems that it is also being used as training material for newly hired employees.

For university staff, it can be difficult to provide orientation for new employees due to the implementation of remote work. Even in situations where they are not familiar with the practical aspects, they can watch instructional videos on the basics of public universities and how to carry out their duties, and receive feedback such as "It is helpful to have a grasp of the overall structure of public universities and the trends in national higher education policies."

- How do you plan to utilize it in the future?

Mr. Ebara: We are currently promoting the use of the "Public University Faculty Training System" to a wider audience through our online seminars.

In the future, we would like to actively provide information to help you understand the "Public University Faculty Training System" and promote its use. We also plan to consider utilizing badges and other methods to grant them to specific course participants.

Related Services

Moodle Implementation Support and Operation Services