Empowered JAPAN Webinar Report

Empowered JAPAN Executive Steering Committee was established in 2018, “To realize a world where everyone canwork and learn, from anywhere, at anytime.” To promote the true value of workstyle innovation including telework, the committee
has been coordinating symposiums in both Tokyo and regional cities. And in collaboration with various local governments,
Microsoft, and partners, the committee has been serving as an advisor to provide telework training for both corporate andindividuals. In response to the spread of infection of corona virus (COVID-19) and the government announcement on February 25,2020, which included the request to citizens to telework, the steering committee made the decision to launch a series of freewebinars starting from March 17, 2020, to provide practical information for individuals and organizations across the nation, totelework and/or practice online education.

Online classes can be conducted

Category：Contents for government,even if not in real time

healthcare, and educational institutions
Date：April, 18, 2020
Speaker：Masaaki Maeta
Tsugaru city Ikusei elementary school
Microsoft Inovative Educator Expert
Level 3 Flipgrid certified Educator
Director of Learning designer organization

At elementary schools in Japan, learning programing became a required subject and the use of
ICT in educational fields is advancing. While many schools are closed due to the emergency
declaration, online learning is being explored for home schooling.
Ikusei Elementary School located in the center of Tsugaru Heiya (plain) has 32 students.
Multiple grades are combined into one class throughout the school. Mr. Maeta is a teacher and in
charge of 10 students in 5th and 6th grades. He has been studying the use of ICT in education
since the beginning of his career, and introduced Flipgrid in 2018 ahead of the rest of schools
nationwide.
"Flipgrid is a revolutionary tool. Questions are given in a video format, students answer in avideo format, and a response is given in a video format. It was the first time in many years that I
was excited so much with technology. I knew intuitively that the tool would be adopted by thestudents. I remember smirking when I found out that my expectation was right." (Mr. Maeta)

Graduated from Tokyo Gakugei university.
Works as a teacher of Tsugaru city Ikuseielementary school in Aomori.
From the beginning, became interested inIkusei Elementary School does not necessarily have an advance ICT environment.

Theirdesktop PCs are old, the specs of the tablets are low and there are only 10 of them. Nevertheless,
Flipgrid works with no problems, and Mr. Maeta asserted that even the first graders could use it.
"At first, we used Flipgrid for P.E. and arts & crafts with second graders. Now, we use it daily forthe utilization of ICT in education andall the subjects with fifth and sixth graders. The tool has become essential for both students andadvanced research. Been away from ICT forme."a while and made research object a thinking
tool, but resumed it as a result ofcompulsory programming education.
Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert.
Level 3 Flipgrid certified Educator.
Founder and executive director of Aomori
programming education research society.
Embot certified teacher.
Director of Learning designer organizationand developer of learning design sheet.
Head of Japan Partial photo association

According to Mr. Maeta, Flipgrid requires an ID or QR code for login, and students' privacy andsafety can easily be protected by hiding their faces using a mosaic or a sticker.

Empowered JAPAN Webinar Report
Specifically, how can Flipgrid be used in elementary school classes? Mr. Maeta gave us four examples.
The first was "review learning" which is emphasized in the guidelines for teaching. Mr. Maeta pointed out that Flipgrid is highly effective.
"Japanese literacy and math, which use paper notes, are easy to review, but I admit music, P.E., arts & crafts cannot be reviewed thoroughly.
However, I learned that using Flipgrid with videos helped the students review effectively. Even for the programming and English subject
which do not involve dictation, reviewing by using a computer is more effective compared to paper."The second was "presentation learning." Using Flipgrid makes it easy to create a presentation video just by adding comments while
recording the material, compared to creating a slide which takes a long time.
The third was presenting in handwriting using "Whiteboard Mode." For example, you can explain the fraction and area calculati on
methods by recording handwriting on whiteboard and vocal instruction. However, Mr. Maeta asserted that you do not need to keep
streaming a real-time video during the class hours.
"I do not know if elementary students can concentrate on a video for 45 minutes. Depending on the family, long use of the Int ernet may
incur an extra expense. Students need to go online only when they need to."For a foreign language learning activity, the non-real-time option can be surprisingly useful.
"Flipgrid is often used in educational fields overseas. If teachers connect around the world, students will have an opportunity tocommunicate internationally. Japanese students are usually too shy to speak English face to face. However, a face-to-face video meeting is
not doable because of a time difference between countries, which leaves the option to communicate with a pre-recorded video. With thisoption, students can understand the video message by reading subtitles, which are automatically generated, or using an app th atautomatically translates subtitles. Even a simple interaction puts a smile on a student's face." (Mr. Maeta)
Mr. Maeta felt that the education using Flipgrid since the closure of the schoolon March 2 was successful. Although he handed out a week's worth ofhomework, it was less than the amount usually handled, because he felt theurgent need to communicate with the students.
Mr. Maeta wrote a letter to each family and asked them to install the free app,Flipgrid. The students posted a video of themselves reviewing the day's study on
Flipgrid, which they are already familiar with. He commented on all videos andcontinued posting videos to all students.
"It seems the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to last longer. If that is the case, wemust develop an education style that is not limited to in-class. However,preparing online materials for all subjects alone is hard work. One of my ideas is that multiple schools can work together, share the subjects,
and I can teach one subject through an online class for students including other schools." (Mr. Maeta)

Mr. Maeta advised teachers who were considering online education to try experimenting outside the school and doing a rehearsal in theclassroom.
"Teachers can gain experience by joining an online drinking party, which has become popular since self -quarantine, or even hosting one.
Practice at an occasion where you can make mistakes. Students also need practice. Tell them to 'use Flipgrid as if you were a t home' and letthem practice in the classroom.
Ikusei Elementary School where Mr. Maeta teaches will be closed permanently next March due to the decreased number of students. He
hopes to teach the fun facts about ICT as much as he can before the students are transferred to three nearby elementary schoo ls.
"When the students are departing to a new school, I wish they will be proud of being a former student of Ikusei Elementary School wherecutting-edge ICT is taught." (Mr. Maeta)