RESEARCH AND SUPPORT CENTER ON HIGHER EDUCATION FOR THE HEARING AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED
Recently the number of hearing and/or visually impaired students enrolled in post-secondary education has been increasing. To educate the hearing and/or visually impaired, special educational media are needed. To provide sufficient higher education and foster professionals with culture and technological expertise, research and development of special materials and devices to compensate for impairments are promoted. It is also necessary to offer guidance for communication development, guarantee of information and career development.
The Center has two divisions, Division for General Education for the Hearing and Visually Impaired and Division of Research on Support for the Hearing and Visually Impaired. In the Center the improvement of lessons in general education and the development of materials and devices for supporting the disabilities are investigated, and lessons for the development of communication skills and employment guidance are also provided.
Support for hearing and/or visually impaired students studying in other universities and colleges is offered, and a national network for this support is being planned.
Division for General Education for the Hearing and Visually Impaired
This division has two sections; Section for Curriculum Development in Higher Education for the Hearing and Visually Impaired, and General Education Practice Section for the Hearing and Visually Impaired. In the Division, improvement of the contents and the curriculum of general education subjects and teaching methods are studied in cooperation with the Division of Research on Support and related departments. The aim of the Division is to enrich students with global views, comprehensive ability to make decisions and to broaden their human perspectives.
Section for Curriculum Development in Higher Education for the Hearing and Visually Impaired
The mission of this section is the improvement of higher education specifically for hearing and visually impaired students.
General Education Practice Section for the Hearing and Visually Impaired
The main work of this section is teaching general education subjects. The main subjects are as follows:
- Freshman Seminar
- Studies on the Hearing Impaired
- Studies on the Visually Impaired
- English
- Japanese
- Psychology
- Mathematics
- Physics
- Information Literacy
- Health and Sports
Division of Research on Support for the Hearing and Visually Impaired
This division has three sections, Research and Development Section for Assistive Technology for the Hearing and Visually Impaired, Research Section on Ability Development of the Hearing and Visually Impaired, and Office of Support Coordination Services. In the Division, on the basis of the remarkable newly-developed technologies in the field of communication, new teaching methods and devices for the hearing and/or visually impaired are developed in cooperation with the Division for General Education and related departments to conquer learning difficulties based on their disabilities. Support is also offered for hearing and/or visually impaired students who study in other universities and colleges.
Research and Development Section for Assistive Technology for the Hearing and Visually Impaired
In this section the development of methods for the guarantee of information and teaching equipment is investigated, and the preparation of teaching materials is also carried out.
Research Section on Ability Development of the Hearing and Visually Impaired
In this section lessons on communication skills and employment guidance are performed, and an audiology service is also provided.
Office of Support Coordination Service
The main work of this section is the coordination of services for various kinds of support for hearing and/or visually impaired students studying in other universities and colleges.