Implementation and Experience of Learning Support Application for Students in Classes

ICT (Information and Communication Technology) is now widely used in the education area. Many teachers provide educational material as files of Word, PowerPoint, or especially pdf files in their classes. It is very convenient and useful for students to keep them on their own PCs. However, it is difficult for students to add some notes onto such files. On the other hand, many students hesitate to ask questions and to express their own opinions in classes in Japan. We know that some facilities like BBS (Bulletin Board System) encourage students to ask their questions and to express opinions in classes. In Kyushu University, all students are expected to have their own PCs according to the policy of "Bring Your Own PCs (BYOPCs)." We want to promote the paperless learning for classes. We implemented the new learning support application that provides the following facilities with the facility of SharePoint and Yammer in Microsoft Office 365: 1) To add the note to the educational material provided by teachers via SharePoint in classes. 2) To make it possible for students to share the questions, comments, and opinions via Yammer with their own PCs among the attendees in the class. We implemented the application software in Windows 8.1 to realize the above facilities. Then, Big Ban System Corporation and Microsoft Japan commercialize it as an application based on our original application. We report the design and experience of the learning support application to our university.