Community for Innovation of Education and learning through Computers and communication networks
CIEC is a general incorporated association, which aims at researching the use of computers and networks and disseminating this research.
What is CIEC?
CIEC stands for "Community for Innovation of Education and learning through Computers and communication networks", and is pronounced /SI:k/. CIEC is a general incorporated association, which aims at researching the use of computers and networks and disseminating this research. It was founded in July 1996, and incorporated in 2013. Then it was registered in the Science Council of Japan as one of its Cooperative Science and Research Bodies. For details, see About CIEC. (In the documents composed before renaming as CIEC, its former name Council for Improvement of Education through Computers is used.)
About CIEC
Members from various fields and of different viewpoints
CIEC is an organization where educators, researchers, students, and those who support education and research can learn cooperatively. Its objective is to enable everyone to make full use of computers as a tool to achieve his/her goal. CIEC widely calls for participation by university staff and faculty, post- / undergraduate students, teachers at elementary schools, junior / senior high schools, staff from cooperatives, enterprises, and also the public.
Broad perspective of education
CIEC oversees a wide range of educational fields throughout society, which are involved with the use of computers. Here, 'education' is not only defined as classes at schools, but also covers self-development, life-long education, training for various kinds of computational support for challenged people, etc. In short, CIEC understands education is a culture which helps people develop and enriches our society.
Productive activities
In CIEC members from various fields and different backgrounds meet for the improvements of computer-assisted education, and they expand their productive activities.
PC Conferences
CIEC has its origin in the PC Conference. After the foundation of CIEC, the PC Conference has been held jointly by CIEC and the National Federation of University Co-operative Associations, and has developed into an important annual meeting for CIEC's academic goals. As CIEC is a unique academic society, the PC Conference is also a unique setting for academic interaction unlike ordinary annual meetings of other societies. The PC Conference is a place for mutual learning across different disciplines, which has resulted in several collaborative projects, e.g., developing software for foreign language learning jointly promoted by language teachers and engineering teachers. In addition to the annual national conference held jointly with University CO-OP, regional PC Conferences are held in Hokkaido and Kyushu.
Specialty Committees, Divisions, Branches
The committees, divisions, and branches are all active in their research.
Four specialty committees
Committee for International Activities
Committee for Public & Web Information
Three research divisions
Research division for elementary, junior high, senior high schools
Research division for foreign language education
Research division for staff of cooperatives
Two branches
Hokkaido branch
Kyushu branch
The journal of CIEC Computer & Education is published twice a year, and distributed free to members. The table of contents and abstracts of papers are available on the website. Newsletters are available to both members and non-members. We believe our newsletters are a good source of information for non-members to learn about CIEC and its activities. The newsletter is published quarterly.
CIEC aims to research the use of computers in education and disseminate the research findings. To achieve its objectives, CIEC is involved in various activities. Further, it is prepared to offer financial assistance for projects that are in line with CIEC's goals.
Cooperation with Enterprises
CIEC enjoys participation from a number of individuals and organizations from enterprises and university co-operatives. Research meetings with guest lecturers / instructors and training courses in cooperation with university co-operatives are held frequently. Computer programs for education developed by member teams are also being promoted by university co-operatives.
Supplementary reading materials for new subjects
Research meetings in various fields are held both in Tokyo and other regional cities. Among them, a meeting with elementary, junior high, and senior high schools teachers as its main members has had active discussions involving university staff and faculty. Some reading materials supplementary to government approved textbooks of new subjects have appeared as a result of the members' research.
CIEC