Research on the utilization of IT (Information Technology) for improving professional social welfare education

对社会福利的研究是一门“实践性学科”。培养社会福利专业人才是一门实践性较高的科学。因此，以田野工作为基础、充实内容的“田野学习”是必不可少的。广泛的实地考察和学院工作将有助于学生从实际情况中学习。这项研究的目的是论证远程教育、利用网络学习的各种技术和多媒体等信息技术应用的可能性和有效性。这将通过讲座、实地考察、专业研讨会和研究生课程来实现。京都Koka女子大学社会福利学系和人类关系学部的师生在这项研究中进行了合作。成员们在讲座中制作了电子教材，利用“Blackboard”(学习管理系统)和“MediaDEPO”(视频传输系统)试验了电子学习的方法，建立了一个名为“Fukushi.com”的网站作为支持，并通过远程会议系统操作了实地工作。成员们还参观了一些大学，了解信息技术在社会福利研究中的应用。在此基础上，对电子学习技术在课堂教学中的应用方向和问题进行了探讨，证实了电子学习技术在课堂教学中的有效性。这将有助于将专业社会福利教育提升到学术层面，并强调野外工作教育的重要性。此外，还掌握了支持野外工作方法的思路。这项研究还表明，作为一个非常现实的问题，个人的努力在获得显著结果方面是有限的，作为一个大学组织，系统的方法是必不可少的。

The study of social welfare is in a "practical discipline". Developing social welfare professionals is a higher practical science. Therefore, "the field learning" based on the field work with fulfilling content is essential. Extensive field work and college work will help the students learning from the real situation. Then, they can understand social welfare in a real sense and will foster their actual ability to practice in social welfare settings.The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the possibility and the effectiveness of the IT utilization, such as distance learning, various techniques making use of the e-learning, and multi-media. This will be achieved in lecture classes, field work, professional seminars and classes for the graduate researches.The teachers and the students in Department of Social Welfare and Department of Human Relations, Faculty of Human Relations in Kyoto Koka Women's University cooperated in this study. The members engaged in the followings : making electrical teaching materials in the lecture classes, experimenting the method of e-learning by using "Blackboard" (Learning Management System) and "MediaDEPO" (Video Delivery System), and constructing a web site named "Fukushi.com" for supporting, and operating the field work by the distance conference system.Moreover, the members visited some universities to learn about the usage of IT in social welfare studies. Then the directions and issues about this matter are examined.Consequently, the effectiveness of e-learning technique in the lecture classes was confirmed. It will contribute to improving the professional social welfare education to the academic level and emphasizing the importance of field work education. Also, the ideas about the methods for supporting field work is grasped. This study also indicated as very real problems that individual's effort has a limit in getting a significant results and systematic approach as a university organization altogether is essential.