Establishing Copyright Free Audio-Visual Library
Funding Proposal to the 1999 Summer Mellon Technology Fellowships for Establishing Audio-Visual Library for Teachers of Japanese in the United States (Three-Year Project)
Ken'ichi Ujie
Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures
Washington & Lee University, Lexington, VA 24450
Request: |
$2,500.00 |
Project Dates: |
June - August, 1999 and 2000 |
Location: |
8 weeks in Lexington, Virginia and 3 weeks in Tokyo, Japan |
Names of those involved in the project: |
Ken'ichi Ujie |
Project Schedule
First Year (1998-already funded by The Glenn Grant):
Phase I: Filming videos for teaching certain grammatical patterns in Lexington and Japan.
Phase II: Taking still pictures for teaching Japanese society and culture in Japan.
Phase III: Sorting out all the materials by categories.
Second Year (1999):
Phase I: Filming videos for teaching certain grammatical patterns in Lexington and Japan.
Phase II: Taking still pictures for teaching Japanese society and culture in Japan.
Phase III: Making audio-visual bank for whoever wants to use them.
Third Year (2000):
Phase I: Filming videos for teaching certain grammatical patterns in Lexington.
Phase II: Taking still pictures for teaching Japanese society and culture in Japan.
Phase III: Completing audio-visual bank for whoever wants to use them.
Phase IV: Upgrading videos to multi-media teaching materials (possibly in CD-ROM format).
Project Description:
Audio-visual teaching materials that are on the market are rather expensive and very few of them are of high quality. Most institutions that offer a Japanese language program have a tight budget and cannot purchase many audio-visual teaching materials. Consequently, many institutions have made full use of the Japan Foundation's Japanese Language Teaching Material Donation Program, which donates all sorts of teaching materials. Until a few years ago, each institution was able to receive materials worth $2,500.00, but because of bad Japanese economy the amount each institution can receive has drastically decreased and is now less than $1,000.00. For example, Washington and Lee University had received materials worth $2,000.00 - $2,500.00 until 1993 but last year the amount was only $340.00. It is vital to create copyright-free teaching materials not only for Washington and Lee University, but also for all the institutions that offer a Japanese language program in the United States. I will be able to create these materials based on the fifteen videos that I have produced with Tokyo Shoseki Co. Ltd. since all the ideas that are in the videos are mine. Washington and Lee University is going to provide me with funding for this summer.
Audio-visual teaching materials, especially videos and still pictures, play an extremely important role in the classroom. What I am planning to create is a copyright free audio-visual library, which consists of videos and still pictures for teachers of Japanese in the United States. I have already placed approximately 120 still pictures on my home page (http://www.wlu.edu/~kujie/slide.html). Some teachers find those pictures extremely useful. I am planning to put the still picture library on my home page. Whoever wants to use these still pictures can download them free of charge from my home page for use in class. On the other hand, the video library will be stored at our department because space restrictions keep videos from being installed in the Web page. Those who want to use videos can contact me and I will make a video copy upon request. They will provide me with blank tapes and postage in order to obtain videos.
How users can benefit from this audio-visual library:
Videos and still pictures can be used at all levels of the learning process, whether it is a beginning level or the most advanced level. Videos are generally in one of the two categories: One for teaching basic grammar and the other for teaching students how Japanese people live their daily lives.
Still pictures can be used when teaching typical Japanese society and life styles, such as what Japanese houses look like, what kinds of foods Japanese people eat, what big cities and rural areas look like, etc. Teachers can not only use these images in class but they can also develop computer programs, using these images and authoring tool such as AuthorWare or XMediaEngine.
Other possible funding sources:
Because the estimated costs are beyond the $2,500 limit, I am going to submit this same proposal to Glenn Grant (Washington and Lee's summer research fund), Middlebury's Project 2001, and The Japan Foundation's Japanese Language Education Fellowship Program.
Estimated costs for 2nd year project:
Purchase of digital video camera: $1,000.00
Necessary software such as Media Cleaner Pro and Author Ware: $1,000.00
Blank videotapes for VCR (50): $150.00
Blank digital videotapes (20): $400.00
Films (50) and developing: $750.00
Amateur actors $5 X 40 hrs (in US): $200.00
$8 X 40 hrs (in Japan): $320.00
Airplane ticket to Japan: $1,500.00
Japan Rail Pass: $600.00
Lodging ($70 X 20): $1,400.00
Food ($60 X 20): $1,200.00
Total: $8,520.00
Ken Ijikevich Ujie
Japanese Language Instructor
Washington & Lee University
540-463-8901(tel.)
540-463-8478(fax.)
http://www.wlu.edu/~kujie (home page)