LEC to Introduce New iPod® -based Courses
iPod® technology allows quality correspondence study anytime, anywhere.

LEC Tokyo Legal Mind provides a variety of training programs for professional and language certification, from law and accounting exams (such as the shihoshoshi and accountancy exams) to language exams like TOEIC® . Since September 2004, LEC has been beta-testing iPod® -based lectures for some of its distance learning courses, earning very positive feedback from students. We decided to find out why the iPod® is LEC’s medium of choice, and discuss their current projects and prospects for the future.

One hand-held, compact iPod replaces an entire box of traditional study materials.

LEC Tokyo Legal Mind K.K. now offers iPod® -based lectures for seven of its correspondence courses, including the shihoshoshi and CFP Exam Prep Courses. In such courses, iPod® -based lectures are distributed to students instead of cassettes. Mr. Kazuo Shiokawa from LEC’s Web Division talked to us about why they are using the iPod® music player as an instructional medium.

”Typically, for license acquisition courses like the shihoshoshi, it takes about 280 ninety-minute cassettes to cover 15 months of lectures. As a result, students have to manage a big cardboard box full of tapes, as well as the associated costs. It can be quite difficult to keep things organized, or to find the cassette you need when you want to review a previous lecture. But the iPod® ’s generous hard disk capacity allows us to store a lot of course content, and thus bypass all that bulk.”

The iPod® Helps LEC Meet its Requirements For Convenience and Cost

Capacity was not the only factor that led to iPod® being LEC’s instructional medium of choice. “Besides the ample storage capacity, we noticed that the interface is very easy to navigate with just one hand,” says Shiokawa. “Two-handed operation would have interfered with handwriting. So the iPod® ’s jog-wheel control is really ideal for our users’ needs.” After extensively comparing several makers’ portable music players, Shiokawa says the iPod® was the only music player that could amply satisfy their two key technical requirements: memory capacity, and usability.

Reduced production costs were another factor. Even using professional equipment it still takes around 6 minutes to dub a cassette, which means approximately 28 hours for 280 cassettes. However, using an iPod® , installing all of the data takes only about 30 minutes. Hence it is possible to avoid the various tape-duplication issues – such as swapping cassettes during dubbing, or the steady deterioration of the master tapes – thus leading to reduced costs. “In addition to our current materials, we have also converted archived lectures into iPod® format. Anyone with a computer can easily install course content - no professional equipment is needed. Lower initial investment and distribution costs were another primary reason why the iPod® was an easy choice for our lectures.” Shiokawa adds.

Video Lectures Now in the Works

The iPod® has allowed the realization of mobile lectures, enabling students to study easily not only at home but also while commuting. For example, in LEC’s TOEIC® courses, questions and answers are displayed on the LCD screen through the iPod® ’s Note Reader text function. Also students can hear the correct pronunciation and emphasis for a given expression by simply clicking on the embedded audio links.

“The most common feedback we’ve received from students is that they now feel they can unselfconsciously devote themselves to their studies anywhere. People are often self-conscious about studying in public, but thanks to the iPod® , they simply appear to be listening to music like anybody else.” says Shiokawa.

LEC has also begun adding audiovisual course content, utlitizing the iPod® ’s video playback capabilities. The high demand for video lessons is understandable given the large quantities of information they offer, not to mention their portability – something that home-viewed videotapes and DVDs simply cannot provide. For improved learning efficiency compared to audio tapes or textbooks, LEC is now implementing iPod® video lectures for the entire shihoshoshi course – the core of their correspondence lineup – with beta-testing to continue through April 2006. There are also plans to use the video format for various lectures that incorporate visual elements like diagrams and graphs.

The Next Step: Podcasting

LEC Tokyo Legal Mind is now beta-testing podcast lectures to supplement courses that are updated to reflect legal revisions. While present conditions – such as copyright issues and internet access – inhibit the complete podcast transmission of many courses, Shiokawa is quick to add that podcasting remains a viable prospect for the future.

Now in its third year of implementation, LEC Tokyo Legal Mind’s iPod® series has grown significantly, with over 1000 students having used them so far. LEC plans to continue expanding itsiPod® lineup by adding new services such as video lectures. “Cassettes and video tapes will likely remain viable teaching materials for some time yet,” says Shiokawa, “but the iPod® option offers the lowest initial cost. We want to further develop iPod® courses in order to expand the educational parameters, and to address the specific preferences and usability needs of our students.”