This study aims to identify the literacy skills of individuals whose highest level of education was in the field 'teacher training and educational sciences'. The study sample comprised 10,618 individuals in the field of teacher training and educational sciences, selected from 31 countries (participating in the International Adult Skills Assessment…

In e-learning environments, 'digital badges', often referred to as 'micro-credentials', are expected to function not only as valid indicators of learner's accomplishments but also as useful tools for motivational and reward purposes (Clayton, 2012). In this study, we investigated students' perceptions about the use of digital badges in an online…

In this paper, we focus on optimizing the assignment of students to courses. The target courses are conducted by different teachers using the same syllabus, course design, and lecture materials. More than 1,300 students are mechanically assigned to one of ten courses taught by different teachers. Therefore, mismatches often occur between students'…

The purpose of this study was to explore how a Digital StoryTelling (DST) assignment affected and changed students' motivations for learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in comparison with a StoryTelling (ST) assignment. A course entitled "Information English" was held for Japanese university students at a faculty of information…

Mobile (m)-learning is motivating to learners to improve foreign language skills, as it offers them a rich, informal, contextual, and ubiquitous learning environment. In this paper I report on the results of two empirical studies that focused on two projects, both of which incorporated e-learning and m-learning, to determine if a blended-learning…

This study sought to better understand the academic and social aspirations of undergraduate women in Guam and Japan. A survey question examined whether significant differences existed between Guamanian and Japanese undergraduate women in status aspirations and occupational ethics and in their life course selection. The questionnaire's five…

This study translated data reflecting life satisfaction from a large national Japanese survey into English. Perceptions of life satisfaction in Japan were compared to those in the United States. Data for U.S. subjects were taken from Gallup Polls in 1979, 1989, and 1990; Japanese data were based on personal interviews taken during the National…

This study used data from the 1991-93 Carnegie International Survey of the Academic Profession to examine the perceptions of college faculty in regard to the emphasis on research over teaching in advanced-industrialized higher education systems, the compatibility of research and teaching, and job satisfaction. It focused on data from 8 countries…

The timing and order of life events must be studied from both cross-cultural and cross-temporal approaches since timing and order of life events in the aging process vary with sociohistorical change in different societies. This study examined the timing of marriage from the life-course perspective. Subjects were 52 rural Japanese mothers between…

Although there has been much interest in the United States about Japanese education, few studies have examined the Japanese school system from the teachers' perspective. This study investigated 143 Japanese and 386 U.S. high school teachers' attitudes concerning their work conditions, roles and responsibilities, and work experiences. An…

This research describes sex roles and divisions of labor observed in families of origin by contemporary Japanese (n=1,000) and contemporary preferences for division or sharing of family tasks. It then compares these preferences to determine whether significant differences exist between men and women in contemporary Japan. For their present and…

This paper reports results of a series of intense post school follow-up interviews conducted during 1989-90 in southern Japan with mothers (and one father) of 12 young adults, who had been labeled severely or profoundly handicapped when in school. The interview process is described in some detail to underscore the importance of accommodating…

Using retrospective data of young people's work experience in Japan, a study found that initial labor market conditions (i.e., when workers first enter the labor market after permanently leaving school) have a significant lasting impact on the employment experiences of workers in their teens and twenties. An increase in the unemployment rate at…