Himeji City Educational Committee

April, 2013
Himeji, Japan

Installation Details

Guaranteed visibility and energy savings

Building the high-quality educational environment of Himeji City, utilizing the ICT System.
In 2008, the Himeji City Educational Committee established the "Creative Educational Program for Attractive Himeji," promoting original and unique educational innovation as represented by its integrated elementary and junior high school curriculum. As part of the program, it was decided to equip the ordinary classrooms in all 35 junior high schools in the city with ICT Systems in 2013. Panasonic 65-inch multi-touch screen displays were selected for use as electronic whiteboards.

A sample lesson using the ICT System, which combines an electronic whiteboard with a document camera and PC. The junior high school uses a 65-inch display as an extension of the blackboard.

Reasons for Deciding to Install These Displays

High evaluation for the ICT System in elementary schools

The system is a highly effective addition to school education for a variety of reasons, including the following.

By utilizing the features of conventional blackboards, which enable written information to remain on the board, and the ICT System, which allows you to jot down information into enlarged teaching materials, it becomes possible to give "more understandable lessons."
Because it is easy to enlarge and display materials such as textbooks, the time required to create teaching materials is reduced. In addition to lessening the burden on teachers, it makes it possible to spend more time interacting with the students.
Enabling students to experience presentations based on a large-screen display improves expressive abilities.

Installing the system in junior high schools enabled an effective, integrated elementary and junior high school curriculum.

In order to provide a seamless start for the integrated elementary and junior high school curriculum that began in 2011, it was necessary for the members of the Educational Committee to develop a framework to share information among the schools, and to maintain uniformity in the overall educational environment. To achieve this, the planning of an information promotion system was placed on the agenda for 2013 development operations.
In addition to installing ICT Systems based on electronic whiteboards in all of the ordinary classrooms of all the junior high schools in the city, it was decided to provide all elementary and junior high schools with tablet PCs to enable small-group (4-person) collaborative learning.

This resulted in the following:

A "PC classroom" to provide individual studying with one PC for each student.
Tablet PCs for use in group collaborative studies, opinion exchanges, and presentations.
Ordinary classrooms throughout the city's elementary and junior high schools for easy-to-understand group study based on large-screen electronic whiteboards and document cameras.

These facilities were also linked to establish a "Himeji Style School ICT Environment" for lesson use.

The use of multi-touch screen displays allows immediate use at any desired time

Key Points in Selecting Displays for the ICT System

Capable of use at any time
It's important that the display be capable of immediate use whenever a class requires it. Because of this, a minimal requirement is that the display be permanently installed and comfortably used even in brightly lit classroom. Also, positioning and other settings for touch panel systems can be inconvenient, so it is important to select equipment that can be used at any time.
Ability to use the existing blackboard
Every teacher prefers a certain way of teaching, based on a distinctive style and a vast accumulation of knowhow. For this reason, a display that doesn't block the view of the blackboard was selected, thus allowing the blackboard and the ICT System to be used together.
Durability
Because the display is permanently installed in the classroom, it must be durable enough to withstand impacts from small children without breaking.

As a result, Panasonic multi-touch screen displays passing all of these criteria were selected. For the displays to be used in junior high schools, 65-inch models were chosen so they could be used as a natural extension of the existing blackboards.

Using the Electronic Whiteboard separate from a blackboard allows both to be used in combination. For example, the teaching materials on the Electronic Whiteboard can be marked while terms can be explained by writing them on the blackboard.

In this presentation, English sentences are enlarged and displayed. Himeji City students experience this kind of presentation frequently from the age of elementary school students, so it increases their self-expression capabilities.

Example of Linking an Electronic Whiteboard and Document Camera

The document camera captures the teacher's brush strokes, and enlarges them for display on the electronic whiteboard. This makes it easy to learn the proper brush strokes.

Experiments are captured by the document camera and enlarged for display on the electronic whiteboard. It is possible to write directly onto the screen to emphasize important points.

Himeji Municipal Toko Junior High School

ICT System Effects Are Recognized by Parents and Guardians

Himeji Municipal Toko Junior High School was established in 1947. A Parents and Guardians Questionnaire conducted each year includes the question, "Are classes fun and easy for the students to understand?"
Replies of "Yes, they are" have increased from 53% (in 2012) prior to introducing the ICT System to 69% in 2014. This clearly shows the effect of introducing and using the ICT System.

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