Using KISSEL as a new direction of education and research on Humanities studies

Abstract

Internet technologies are changing our lives and educational systems in many ways. The term e-Learning was widely used in the 1990's with the rapid developments in the use of the Internet. Although it has a relatively short history of about two decades, it is becoming an important issue in the learning environments such as universities, research organizations and high schools. An important characteristic of e-learning is its interactivity with the learners. Multimedia is an integral part of the educational environment through online distance learning. Interactive multimedia technologies are engrossing because it provides the opportunity for deep involvement, which captures and holds learner interest. However, e-Learning approaches of Asia-Pacific countries, still lag behind when compared with developed countries. The KISSEL project established by a research group of Ibaraki University, Japan, is a new approach for the improvement of e-Learning in these countries. The term KISSEL which stands for "Knowledge Integration Servers System for E-Learning" is a knowledge sharing system that is designed to cater to teachers’ communities in Asian Pacific countries. KISSEL is developed to provide resources, particularly in multimedia, and tools and techniques essential for student-teacher communication and self-learning. Recently, a new research category named "Studies on Humanities" was introduced to this system. The aim of this paper is to report how researchers in this field of research benefit and contribute to enhance research knowledge among the member countries.