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Goal
Statement
(position
paper of my candidacy material)
Background -
origin of my research interest
The motivation for my professional goal
comes from my unfulfilling educational experience. I was born and
grew up in a rural area of southern
Japan. Needless to quote Foucault's words, school was a
prison-like place to me. I just studied to get grades, satisfying
my self-esteem, and to enter a better school. I could not say that
my educational experience in school was rich or meaningful. My
immature and vulnerable mind wandered around looking for something
that satisfied my curiosity outside of school. It was a very
sterile life, one third of which was occupied with school. I was
just forced to be patient.
After
graduating from high school, I was not admitted to the college of
my choice. As a result, I left my hometown to enter a prep school
in
Tokyo, which would better prepare me for the college entrance
examinations. In a competitive learning environment, I learned how
to get higher scores on exams. I tried to get used to such a world
as Schank described (1999), “People who are good at ‘knowledge
games’ like Trivial Pursuit and Jeopardy are considered smart.”
Besides the school curriculum, I had valuable experiences with
friends and teachers and felt such experiences were more
meaningful to my life. However, it did not count toward entering a
college. I was busy studying, but what I learned had nothing to do
with the real world.
I felt I
was released from the “prisoner life” when I entered college. My
college life was a period of discovery. I met teachers who made me
realize that studying can be both enjoyable and meaningful. On the
other hand, I also met teachers who made studying tiresome and
frustrating. I realized that good teachers explain difficult
concepts simply, while not so talented teachers explain difficult
things as they are, or make them seem even more complicated. I
also discovered that we can learn outside of the classroom through
activities such as reading novels and comic books, watching TV
programs and movies, and playing computer games.
Even
after graduating from college, I could not escape vacuous
"school-like" education. I was employed at an educational company
in 1997, where I received some skill training in business manners,
team building, and Microsoft Word & Excel. These programs were
prepared by the human resource division of the company. Though
some were interesting at first, I could not tolerate the
school-like training which was just time consuming and had nothing
to do with my job. I often suggested to the manager in charge of
training to improve the program but he refused. I quit the job
before long. Though there were several reasons for it, part of the
reason was that my motivation decreased by the company's employee
training.
This kind
of perception of educational systems is common for Japanese people
and most adults have negative feelings toward formal education
systems to some degree. However, many people are just patient with
such educational systems and bear with it. I could not. I decided
to contribute to the innovation of educational systems to provide
a better educational experience for younger generations.
My professional
goal
“The ‘dumb’ child is the shame of the schools. The maxim ought to
be: ‘There are no dumb children; there are only poor schools.’ The
reason for there being ‘poor schools’ is not the stupidity or
incompetence of the teachers. It is the absence of the right tools
and of the right methods - Peter. F. Drucker (1969, pp.347).”
Drucker said the above in 1969. Now,
more than three decades have passed, but can we say we have the
right tools and methods to reduce the “poor schools”? According to
all of my educational and professional experiences, I would answer
"No". While educational tools and methods have been improving
thanks to the efforts of educators and researchers, I strongly
feel the necessity of further improvement in this field.
The education system in
Japan, my home country, faces unprecedented change. In 2001,
coursework in elementary and middle school curriculum was reduced
by thirty percent, and new interdisciplinary subjects were
introduced. Although such changes seem to improve Japanese
educational systems, the practitioners in the field of education
simply do not have enough tools and methods to launch them
successfully. School administrators, program directors, and
teachers have to grope their way through the darkness without a
torch or a map. There are not enough experts to guide them in the
proper direction. Some changes will end in failure, while others
may happen to find the proper way. The success of changes are too
dependant on the efforts, or lack thereof, of frontline
practitioners.
The shortage of educational specialists
is a critical problem of the educational systems in
Japan. Though some competent researchers have been contributing to
the educational reform, it has not generated enough power to start
a big movement and tends to remain a partial success. Providing
trained educational specialists is the crucial issue. I believe
that research outcomes in instructional systems will bring
powerful solutions to the field of education. Providing Japanese
educators with learning opportunities in instructional systems
will bring positive effects to the present problematic situation,
and will build a foundation based on innovation in educational
systems.
Keeping these perspectives in mind, I
set my professional goal as the following:
I will contribute to future educational reforms as an educational
specialist by:
Research
interest
During my first year at
Penn
State,
I saw many experts in instructional systems design contribute to
the improvement of education in several institutes throughout the
college, such as the Schreyer Institute, the World Campus,
Engineering Instructional Services, and the John A. Dutton
e-Education Institute. I realized how educational experts play an
important role in educational organizations. My primary task is to
realize such environments to improve education in Japanese
educational institutes.
In INSYS 527, I studied several
constructivist learning theories and methods which provided me
with new perspectives on learning. I found them to be a great
basis for innovation in school education. I would like to continue
to explore constructivist research and try to implement it in a
practical setting. At first, I would study each major
constructivist theory, such as Cognitive Flexibility theory,
Problem-Based Learning, Goal-Based Scenarios, and Microworld in
detail. Then I would develop a constructivist learning environment
as my research outcome. My original viewpoint or method of design
should be included in the outcome.
In INSYS
471 and 571, I studied educational systems design and realized
that system thinking is an inevitable tool for education reform.
Systems consist of interrelated components, and include inputs,
processes, outputs, and feedback functions. In a complicated
system, a single solution will not solve the problem. Strategic,
persistent, and laborious efforts are necessary for the system to
change.
My basic
concept of research is to develop an original learning environment
by synthesizing and practicing constructivist learning theories
and methods, and to find effective ways to diffuse it into the
field of education. Though my core research interest is creating
innovative instructional systems which will facilitate the
educational reform in
Japan,
I understand it is very difficult to introduce new ideas to a
system, even if they seem to bring significant improvement. Rogers
stated (1995) “Diffusion is a kind of social change, defined as
the process by which alteration occurs in the structure and
function of a social system (pp.6).” Social change can not be
realized by just one solution. I have to be attentive to the
change process as well as bringing solutions to the system.
Ilich
stated in his “Deschooling Society” (1973), “the inverse of school
is possible: that we can depend on self-motivated learning instead
of employing teachers to bribe or compel the student to find the
time and the will to learn; that we can provide the learner with
new links to the world instead of continuing to funnel all
educational programs through the teacher (pp.74).” Three decades
have passed, but we are still on the way to establishing better
educational systems. I would like to contribute to accelerating
the evolution of education throughout my entire professional
career.
References
Drucker, P.F. (1969). The age
of discontinuity.
New York,
NY: Harper & Row.
Illich,
I. (1973). Deschooling Society. New York, Harmondsworth:
Penguin.
Rogers,
Everett. (1995). Diffusion of innovations. Fourth edition.
New York,
NY:
The Free Press.
Schank, R. C., Berman, T. R., &
Macpherson, K. A. (1999). Learning by doing. In C. M.
Reigeluth (Ed.), Instructional-design theories and models (Vol.II)
(pp. 161-181). Mahwah: Erlbaum
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Goal
Statement (position paper of my
candidacy material)