Medical education places emphasis on situational learning of real-life clinical contexts, while simultaneously focusing on human body three-dimensional (3D) visualization. However, classrooms and laboratories being the main learning environment in early years of medical education, there is limited exposure to real clinical environments to adequately meet such objectives. This study proposes that augmented reality (AR) applications can provide both affordances. Such applications fulfill many of the criteria for smart learning environments (SLE). A systematic review aiming to identify the affordances of AR applications, their design architectures, and impact evaluations was conducted. This review evaluated 25 studies and, with model case studies, analyzed how the different AR applications provided situational learning and visualization in medical education and how their design architecture provided such affordances toward contextualized, interactive, and personalized SLEs. It was found that AR affords facilitation of situational learning and visualization individually. Their integrated educational impact, however, needs to be evaluated further.

Toward Smart Learning Environments: Affordances and Design Architecture of Augmented Reality (AR) Applications in Medical Education

Adaptive Content Delivery in E-Learning Systems using Mobile Agents

Summary We propose an online method WFE for editing any Web page by realizing a proxy agent. The main strength of WFE is that the method can provide users with a way to edit any web page regardless of its original author. When a user access a web page via the proxy agent, the proxy agent augments the web page with client-side scripting via JavaScript that provides the user with the editing functions. By utilizing the XHTML DOM, the script included by the proxy agent allows the user to simply select any portion of text on the page and then directly edit the underlying HTML even if the selected text appears in many different places in the document. WFE identifies the specific instance of the selected text to be found. We also describe the system called WPM to show how effectively the method WFE can be used. WPM provides marking and anchoring functions on ordinary web browsers. The users can mark words and phrases on web pages by using their browsers without any extra plug-ins like similar systems. The result shows that the method WFE is effective in developing Web applications such as the system WPM.

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An Online Method for Editing Any Web Page Using Proxy Agents

This paper is to examine interactive integrative learning support system for elementary school students. Our Web-based system enables a group of some 5 students and teachers to learn interactively by collaboratively creating outcome (i.e. Web pages) through a shared Web site. Three main functions of the system are followings;(1)To build a shared Web site directly from Web browser in order to support students and teachers who are inexperienced in composing HTML. (2) To modify and edit a shared Web site directly from portable terminals to support students at on-site training in real time. (3) An agent function that supports plan modifications and rerouting in case of students choose a wrong route. We have applied our system to research training and on-site training of elementary school students who are studying in a group as a part of integrative learning curriculum.

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An Interactive Learning System in Elementary Schools

An Implementation of Web-based Interactive Integrative Learning Supporting System.

In this paper, we introduce a case study of digital textbook-based education in professional school to educate nursing and care. Digital textbook is utilized on digital textbook viewer software installed on the table computer. In professional education, using digital textbook is one of promising field to enhance its quality since the detailed description can be easily understood. Further, instructors can know students' condition of learning viewing recorded log of their learning and users history. The latter half of this paper discusses our challenges of use of digital textbook in actual professional education. In nursing education, digital textbook-based instruction and study is not familiar with instructor and students. However, we achieve a measure of our goal of instruction using digital textbook in nursing school.

Effects of Digital Textbook-Based Nursing Education in Professional School

Most of nutrition education course in colleges and universities provides a license of nutrition specialist in Japan. Even such course, students must to get credits on practice of operations of information equipment including personal computer, presentation device and several other machines, because educational issue in Japan’s law sets as complementary lectures for students to graduate and to get the license. After graduation, students sometimes advise nutritional issues for people as a specialist using information devices. Generally, in university, student learns the way how he/she can effectively present with group discussion. However, the weak point of group study includes that some students do not have any motivations of allocated roles. The problem is often pointed out by staffs in job office, including food factory, restaurant in school and medical centers. To solve the problem, we propose a new teaching method by using information devices and a method to make students enhance their motivation to study.

Masaaki Tanaka

Papers

An Interactive Learning System in Elementary Schools

An Implementation of Web-based Interactive Integrative Learning Supporting System.

Effects of Digital Textbook-Based Nursing Education in Professional School

An Improvement of Instructional Methods for Nutrition Education

Intelligent Work-Study Support Based on Interactive Web Guide