In recent years, virtual platforms have emerged as powerful tools for immersive communication, education, and collaborative design. Among them, Spatial offers a widely accessible 3D environment that can be experienced not only through VR goggles but also on standard desktop systems. This paper explores the feasibility of using Spatial in a desktop 2D environment without VR goggles to visualize and evaluate 3D CAD models. We describe a practical workflow in which 3D models are uploaded into Spatial and viewed via a Mac desktop interface. Despite the limitations in immersion, we show that desktop interaction with Spatial still offers meaningful spatial understanding and interface operability, providing a low-barrier entry into virtual prototyping. We discuss implications for design education and outline future directions for integrating VR when available.

This paper describes the development and implementation of Active Textbook System (A-txt) and Contents Maker (C-mkr), two augmented reality (AR)-based educational applications for smart devices. A-txt enables markerless AR interactions with printed text and images, turning traditional paper-based materials into interactive digital content. C-mkr serves as an authoring tool that allows users to freely create and manage AR content linked to printed media. The system supports both cloud and local operation and has been extended to run on Windows and Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs), enhancing its accessibility across platforms. The system was applied in two college-level courses, where students used it to annotate instructional materials and view AR-enhanced content. Questionnaire surveys revealed generally positive responses in usability, engagement, and perceived learning effectiveness. Students also provided constructive feedback regarding technical issues such as system stability and UI design. Open-ended responses highlighted the novelty and flexibility of the system and suggested its potential value across diverse educational settings.

This study explores the integration of generative AI (large language models) into the AR-based educational support application “A-txt” to develop a next-generation personalized learning support system utilizing learners’ behavioral and question histories. A-txt recognizes charts and texts on printed educational materials as AR markers and displays associated digital content. In this paper, we present a prototype system in which generative AI provides real-time hints and explanations based on user interactions and natural language queries. Through experiments involving image recognition and learning support responses, we verify the effectiveness of the system. We also discuss future developments, including automatic content recommendations, visualization of weak areas, and feedback functions for educators based on learner behavior logs. This research provides a foundational step toward building a context-responsive and self-regulated learning support environment by integrating AR and generative AI technologies.

This study analyzes students’ impressions of deep-sea 3D video experiences delivered through a head-mounted display. Four female students watched an undersea expedition video and answered seven structured questions, followed by an open-ended prompt. Their responses revealed that 3D imagery significantly enhanced immersion, visual appeal, and educational engagement compared to traditional 2D images. Participants consistently rated the questions highly, citing immersive qualities, sustained attention, and increased understanding as notable benefits. A co-occurrence network analysis of the open-ended responses identified "immersive," "realistic," and "engaging" as central themes, reflecting how students felt deeply involved in the depicted scenes. "Educational" and "understanding" emerged as interconnected concepts, indicating students perceived that 3D visuals improved their comprehension of complex subjects. Terms like "fun" and "enjoyable" linked closely with "3D viewing," emphasizing the technology’s motivational value. Overall, this study confirms that 3D imagery offers substantial educational benefits by promoting focus, understanding, and enjoyment, suggesting potential applications in fields requiring spatial comprehension. However, due to the small sample size, results cannot be fully generalized.

This paper presents one project on integrating digital innovation in faculty development by creating academic portfolios. Academic portfolios document the multifaceted achievements of faculty members and help them in their professional progress and self-evaluation. This initiative adopted a systematic approach following the TU guidelines, incorporating lectures, mentoring, and collaborative sessions, and guiding educators to create portfolios that integrate teaching, research, and service activities. The project’s use of digital tools enabled time efficiency, accessibility, and iterative improvement and improved the transparency and scope of faculty performance. The digital platform also facilitated real-time feedback and integration of the portfolio with a wider digital repository, which aligns with environmentally sustainable practices. Participant feedback highlighted increased motivation and a deeper understanding of the interaction between teaching and research. The project demonstrated that the digital portfolio powerfully aligned teachers’ activities with their professional ethos and promoted continuous development and personal growth goals. This approach suggests the potential for transforming faculty development in the academic community.

This study delves into the innovative initiative at Suzuka National College of Technology, where a creative workshop initially established onsite for entrepreneurial experimentation has been replicated in a virtual space to enhance the educational experience in startup education; by integrating real-time simulations with foundational business theories the virtual center not only provides a platform for testing business ideas through simulations that mimic market reactions and consumer behavior but also bridges the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application, which is crucial in practical engineering education where experiential learning is key. This dual-environment approach not only facilitates the development of practical skills but also enables students to gain insights into the realities of business management and innovation, preparing them effectively for the challenges of the entrepreneurial world; the future of this virtual center looks promising as it plans to incorporate tools for business planning, financial forecasting, and market analysis to provide a comprehensive preparation platform for students, ensuring they are well-equipped to conceive, plan, and execute their business ideas successfully.

This paper describes the cloud implementation of Active Textbook System (A-txt) and Contents Maker (C-mkr), which are educational applications for smart terminals that the authors have proposed. These apps use “marker less AR technology”, allowing anyone to easily add digital information to regular paper textbooks. By putting these servers in the cloud, users can now use them anytime and anywhere. In addition, this paper also states the development of classes using these apps. We aim to improve educational effectiveness by allowing students to use these apps to create original reference materials by attaching additional content to paper materials. We call this educational method self-decoration, or “Sel-Deco”, because the students decorate their textbooks themselves. This time, in classes where this Sel-Deco method was applied, good results were obtained in terms of student satisfaction and educational effectiveness, showing the effectiveness of the Sel-Deco style class.

The term "metaverse" has become a common word in recent years. This term, a virtual space on the Internet, is gaining importance in various fields in today's era of remarkable progress toward the fusion of virtual space and real space using digital science. The authors have been engaged in a project to develop educational applications using experiences in 3D virtual space with headset-type goggles. In this study, we investigated the physiological effects on the viewer by observing and analyzing the blink and discussed its applicability.

The corona crisis has promoted the spread of online classes at educational institutions around the world, but at the same time, its problems have become apparent. In particular, it is not easy for a teacher to get a response from students in a one-to-many video distribution format remote class compared to a face-to-face class, which makes it difficult to provide educational guidance. Therefore, we defined the information obtained from non-verbal communication in face-to-face classes as “Class Atmosphere” and analyzed the reason why it is lost in remote classes. In order to compensate for this, we have prototyped a cloud-based teaching assistance application that can visualize students’ willingness to participate in remote classes and their understanding status. This paper shows an overview and implementation configuration of the developed application that compensates for missing information, and also describes its utility and issues for future practical use.

In this study, we introduce a plan about the application of various realities for future educational purposes. To start, we provide an overview for three types of realities [Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR)] and clarify their relationships to each other. Then we classify VR tools into three types and focus on the integrated stand-alone type and prepare a plan for its educational application. Finally, we discuss important factors that could contribute to the examinees’ educational outcomes in the future.

The concept of a 3D experience using the Google Cardboard VR headset and cell phones is discussed in terms of its educational effect. As for the video component, content on YouTube as a 360°VR video is used. The following three topics are included in this project: skydiving, lunar exploration, and deep-sea exploration. In some organizations, groups of faculty and student members are asked to participate in such an activity to experience 3D using a cell phone and YouTube along with the VR headset. The authors plan to analyze the results using a 5-point scale. A similar experiment is already in progress. It involves the use of a different VR headset tool (Oculus Quest). Since the contents of both activities are similar, the purpose of this experiment is to compare and verify the advantages and disadvantages of using a VR cardboard headset and a cell phone, as well as to identify the advantages and disadvantages of using a cell phone.

The authors have proposed an active text system (A-txt), which is a next-generation electronic teaching material that can make general books digitally more extensible with a general-purpose mobile terminal using augmented reality (AR). A-txt content is created by software called Contents Maker (C-mkr). This paper discusses the development of C-mkr for mobile terminals and this development can realize new learning methods using it by students. A-txt is our original system that can easily add and show digital contents by using figures and sentences written on papers as augmented reality (AR) markers. Since Unity is used for the development of A-txt, users can use it regardless of the OS type of the mobile terminal. C-mkr used to need PCs exclusively so far, but now that we have developed an application for mobile terminals, it is possible to create contents on smartphones and tablet computers owned by every user. Along with that, A-txt itself has undergone various improvements. In fact, the A-txt system cannot be used by anyone at present because it is operated by an intra server, but we considered how to solve the problem by reconstructing the server using cloud type. With the above development, users can easily create and upload content anytime and anywhere. We are planning to use this system for students to make textbooks into reference books by themselves. This method is named "Self-decoration (Sel-Deco)", and its effectiveness will be verified in the future.

During the COVID 19 pandemic, the importance of global academia-industrial alliances has increased. It is hoped that the alliances will help us to solve the current problems caused by the pandemic. In this paper, we introduce the application of IT tools and communication skills utilized in a special educational project for an academia-industrial collaboration. Some concrete examples from 2020 are provided from the viewpoint of the national alliance project in Japan. A discussion is included that describes the plans available to increase and strengthen the national project in the future.

In this paper, we propose an OCR system that recognizes the contents of manual writing in handouts. Since the target handouts contain a mixture of Japanese and mathematical formulas, we thought that one type of OCR systems alone would not provide sufficient accuracy. Therefore, in this proposed system, we will consider combining two types of OCR systems. The OCRs to be combined are Tesseract and Mathpix, which are good at recognizing Japanese and mathematical formulas, respectively. When the two OCRs are combined, the final plausible result must be selected, but we wondered if the OCR score could be used as an indicator of selection. The OCR score is a self-evaluation value that is output together with the recognition result. However, there is no guarantee that the OCR score and the actual recognition result show the same tendency. Therefore, in this paper, after classifying the written contents into three categories, words, sentences, and mathematical formulas, we verified whether the recognition results of each OCR can be appropriately selected based on the OCR score. At this point, the result is that further improvement is needed to make the selection based on the OCR score alone. However, if it becomes possible to classify handwritten contents with the proposal system by additional learning etc., it will be possible to analyze the handwritten contents efficiently, and it is expected that it will be possible to improve the handouts and provide feedback to the lesson plan.

This paper is described on the improvement of the Active Textbook System (A-txt) and the consideration for Copyright Law when the A-txt is used. The A-txt is a next-generation electronic educational material system proposed by the authors that can digitally expand the general paper books with general-purpose terminals. This system is the original system that allows you to easily attach additional digital content to any location by using figures and sentences on paper as augmented reality (AR) markers. Initially, A-txt, which was developed for each type of mobile OS, is provided on a unified platform by using Unity, and it has become possible to concentrate budgets and human resources. This time, we have added new functions to make usability better and improved the screen display by modifying the source code. In addition, as a measure to use figures in books as AR markers without infringing copyright, we experimentally have found the minimum necessary range in which A-txt can be used without inconvenience. In the process, we also have found a method to increase the recognition rate of markers.

For this study, instructors carried out active learning classes using tools to obtain biological information. Due to the constrained conditions for their use, students proposed their own projects and successfully carried them out on their own. The students belonged to two groups: one was for17 year old students and the other was for the students 19 years of age. Both groups displayed good creativity and engineering design capabilities. However, there was a clear difference between the two groups. The older students had more quantitative and application-related capabilities. We could confirm that the age demographic in KOSEN education was very sensitive for the improvement of creative engineering design capability.

In this paper, a novel teaching material for the subject in Electric Power Engineering is proposed. The content of the subject is a non-practical, because the really necessary equipment cannot be installed on campus. Therefore, while taking the subject, students can neither feel the atmosphere nor know the danger of it. As a result of various trial and error, the authors have developed innovative teaching materials for introducing the subject. This teaching material employs a board game simulation format, so students can learn with interest. By incorporating digital contents into the tutorial, the simulation can be more facilitated. In addition, by linking with the active text system (A-txt) that is a digital teaching material using AR technology, the additional information can be browsed by holding their own smart terminal over the game sheets. In this time, it was confirmed that by applying the gaming simulation to the KOSEN students. They have been able to understand the learning goals represented by the difficulty of achieving 3E and the different characteristics of each country’s situation. Consequently, it was shown that students could study global issues in environmental and energy problems beyond the learning targets using the proposed material.

This paper introduces and describes a learning system for analyzing devices in a virtual world and points out its significance for current research collaboration. Now we are in Society 5.0, so daily problems should be solved by IoT (Internet of Things) with a mutual collaboration without borders. The authors need to collaborate with each other among remote organizations and different nations. For such situations, we need to establish the learning system for analyzing devices which would lead to an actual sharing system in the future. In this paper, the proposed concept for the learning system in metaverse is explained. The significance of the system is described, too.

An experimental trial was carried out with a problem-based learning (PBL) class for students. They were asked to come up with a plan for applying a glass sensor to determine concentration power. They held a discussion and agreed on a system and process, in which students would focus on memorizing English words. The process had three components. While studying English words, the students listened to music at the same time. As a second component, when the learning time was not long enough, students could concentrate on learning the words without any music. However, when the learning time was prolonged, the combination of learning and outcomes was higher for the case of memorizing 10 words. The students defined a coefficient that was based on the average of memorizing capability and concentration power. The results and the system are a unique case study. We believe the basic concept could be applied to the final trial for mutual non-verbal communication.

The authors have proposed the Active Textbook System (A-txt) as the next generation learning material system. A-txt is a system to enhance the textbook by adding digital content to the figures and formulas in a general book by using AR technology. Production of content and registration to the server can be done relatively easily using a general-purpose personal computer, and the content added to the book can be browed using the users’ own smart terminal. Therefore, the introduction cost can be reduced without the need for a dedicated machine. Also, once content is downloaded, it can be used offline. This point is the other advantage that other systems do not have. So far, A-txt was limited to iOS devices that hardware are standardized, but this time the system for Android devices, that have more users, have been developed. Although challenges remain for AR and 3D display, an application that meets practical requirements has been completed. Also, since the Android OS is free, there are a wide variety of terminals adopted. Therefore, recommended hardware specifications have been formulated by benchmark evaluation. Moreover, in order to solve some problems that became apparent in the development process, it was decided to change to an OS-independent system by using Unity.

In this paper, we describe a method to make active learning from class to self-study by two proposed methods. One of them is naming active note taking (A-note), which actively makes note taking at class. The other is a system called active textbook system (A-txt) which promotes students’ self-study by adding digital contents to a general paper textbook and browsing with a mobile smart device. A-note is aimed at making the head work for taking note itself. In this method, in order to reduce passive note taking as much as possible, let students actively write out the information by the students’ words and diagrams to handouts distributed in advance. In the class to which this method was applied, the results of the test improved and the introduction effect was confirmed. We also analyzed the materials written by students using image processing technology. When examining the correlation between the analyzing results and the test results, a certain correlation was observed. Therefore, quantitative effects by introducing A-note could be shown. As for A-txt, we expanded iOS application using augmented reality (AR) technology in order to be more easy and effective the conversion of general books into digital educational materials. In this time, we have developed a GUI system that makes it easy to produce the additional content to a textbook. In addition, we added functions that allow students to post questions about the textbook etc. to teachers. We also conducted an application survey cooperating testers and found a smart device specification that can use A-txt without problems. Therefore, by combining A-note and A-txt, we found a possibility that students actively learn from lecture to self-study.

We have proposed a novel educational system named the active textbook (hereafter A-txt) system. A-txt system consists of an ordinary paper-based textbook, a general portable electronic terminal with a camera like a smartphone and application software for the system. A normal textbook can be evolved into a digital one through the attachment of additional digital information and all kinds of digital contents such as movie, animation, 3D CG and so on will be available. The teachers who use the system can create contents for A-txt freely without expertise about information technology. The introduction cost is relatively low, because the mobile terminal for students may be their owned general-purpose type, not special-purpose type, and authored educational materials do not need particular software. For the reasons above, the system has a large possibility to spread in multiple educational fields and it can be easy for students to understand several subjects into which the system is introduced.

It's lacking the indexes of evaluation to the experiments which are the advantage of National Institute of Technology, Japan (in the following, NIT). The features of NIT will be appearing that we make it clearly attainment targets and the indexes of evaluation. Then we can expect the effects of the feeling of achievement and the will because of visualizing student's skill by the indexes of evaluation. Moreover, it will be able to improve the education of utilizing the Skill-Sheet. We proposed the introduction method of evaluation to the experiments.