The Trend of Education in Japan: “One Device per Student”

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) launched the “Learning Innovation” project in 2018 to demonstrate a new way of learning using edtech in Japan. The project led to the policy of “One Device per Student” in primary and secondary education and the new learning infrastructure is nearing completion. This has led to a dramatic increase in the use of edtech in public education, expanding options in the educational field.

Two keywords of particular importance here are “individually-optimized learning” and “STEAM-based learning.”

“Individually-optimized learning” allows each child to learn autonomously at their own pace, with content optimized for each child, without necessarily being limited by location, age, time, or other factors. While “STEAM-based learning” is a cyclical learning process between acquirement of interdisciplinary knowledge and expertise and PBL (Project Based Learning) to discover unknown issues, their solutions, and new perspectives starting from a child’s spark of curiosity.

At SXSW EDU 2022, three sessions were held on the respective themes of “Education Policy in Japan,” “individually-optimized learning,” and “STEAM-based learning.”

Learn more about the “Learning Innovation” project on their Facebook page and website, and about edtech Japanese case studies on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Photo provided by Association of Innovative Education