February 2012
1 post
iUniv Insider's Diary: February 10, 2012
Hello from Inside! Many regions including Japan is suffering from cold winter with lots of snow. Hope you have been well. It’s so cold that Insider has excuses to stay Inside! Sorry for not saying hello for weeks.
In the meantime, we were featuring “Reproduction Medicine” on the iUniv home page. The theme was inspired from a TV documentary about a Japanese diet member and...
January 2012
2 posts
iUniv Insider's Diary: January 17, 2012
Hello from Inside!
First of all, let Insider mention that today, January 17, marks the 17th anniversary of the Great Hanshin Earthquake. Being the first Hanshin anniversary since the Great East Japan Earthquake, many people, including Insider, spent the day with a different mind-setting from the previous anniversaries. Once again, Insider’s heart goes out to the ones who tragically lost...
iUniv Insider's Diary: January 11, 2012
Hello from Inside! And Happy belated New Year! Best wishes for your fruitful iUniv learning experience in 2012.
So finally the struggling 2011 is over and we kicked off 2012 with a record-high trade price of tuna at the Tsukiji Fish Market the other day. So Insider thought it would be nice to start a new year by focusing on fishery, with these videos:
Ohio State University WOSU Public Media...
December 2011
2 posts
iUniv now compatible with social logins and...
Dear iUniv users: We have some new features on iUniv:
Learn! Connect! - iUniv now compatible with social logins
We have integrated iUniv accounts with “Castalia IDs”, and iUniv is now compatible with social logins. You can now use your Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn, and mixi accounts. By using your existing social network ID upon creating a Castalia ID or signing into iUniv, you won’t be...
iUniv Insider's Diary: December 8, 2011
Hello from Inside!
Insider used to write a diary after watching or listening to all four contents featured on the iUniv top page. However, Insider realized (finally!!) that it may not be useful, as the top page features change right after the new diary is posted. So Insider decided to do the diary at the beginning or in the middle of watching and listening to the contents.
So this time, we...
November 2011
3 posts
iUniv Insider's Diary: November 17, 2011
Hello from Inside!
As you can see, we featured videos/audio about “obesity” on our home page recently. For Insider who has been Inside all the time, the o-word is something fast approaching… at this time Insider is in the ‘normal’ zone ‘medical wise’ but almost on the verge of being considered having a metabolic syndrome. :-( So in order to avoid...
November 15, 2011: iUniv service suspension notice
Dear iUniv/Schooly users:
To provide a more comfortable environment for our users, iUniv/Schooly will go into server maintenance later this week.
Due to the maintenance, the iUniv and Schooly services will be suspended during the timeframe stated below. We apologize for the inconvenience it may cause you, and appreciate your kind understanding.
[Server maintenance schedule] From:Wednesday,...
iUniv Insider's Diary: November 8, 2011
Hello from Inside!
First of all, Insider has good news for you… iUniv has recently been upgraded and the version we’re using now is Ver1.0.1. With this new version, the modification on the YouTube playlist is immediately reflected on iUniv, which means that we can deliver newly found wonderful contents as soon as we find them. We hope this enhances your iUniv experience! :-)
On...
October 2011
2 posts
iUniv Insider's Diary: Dedicated in memory of...
Thanks, Steve Jobs,
We all love Apple. And we all love Steve Jobs.
We work on Macs, communicate on iPhones, and make presentations and demonstrations on iPads. Today Apple has become the most successful company that everyone knows. When Steve Jobs made a comeback to Apple, who in the world imagined the company the way it is now? Maybe Mr. Jobs was the only one.
Without Mr. Jobs, we would...
iUniv Insider's Diary: October 5, 2011
Hello from Inside! Hope all has been well with you.
The latest pickups, themed on Europe, was inspired by the recent various issues in Europe, such as weak euro, new taxes that would be implemented in some countries (‘fat tax’ in Denmark & Hungary…) and so on. Almost 20 years after the effectuation of the Maastricht Treaty, perhaps the entire continent is reaching another...
September 2011
1 post
iUniv Insider's Diary: September 2, 2011
Hello from Inside!
I realized that this blog is mostly not weekly… So I’ve changed the title. (Now, this is not an excuse to not posting blogs periodically…)
The videos featured on iUniv recently were picked in the wake of the recent media frenzy in Japan, when a famous TV personality announced his sudden retirement. He used to be pretty much involved in the ‘variety...
August 2011
2 posts
Pick of the week: Week beginning August 15, 2011
Hello from Inside!
Last week Japan saw the dramatic finale of the annual national high school baseball tournament. (Congratulations to 日大三高：The Third Senior High School Of Nihon University!) So Insider chose the four videos featured on the iUniv top page.
Souzou Gakuen University workshop 加齢発達学 10 workshopⅠ加齢発達学(10-4 骨を考える④) http://iuniv.tv/top/episode/eid/69993/pid/4292
This is part of...
Pick of the week: Week ending August 12, 2011
Hello from Inside!
First of all, please be advised that iUniv is now usable in Japanese as well. If you want to use iUniv in Japanese, just click on the word 日本 on the top-right of the iUniv home page and you will see the instructions in Japanese.
Taking advantage of this additional feature, Insider will go bilingual from now on. You will see iuniv (Insider)’s posts in both English and...
July 2011
2 posts
Pick of the week: Week ending July 8, 2011
Hello from Inside!
This week Insider picked up some videos about the climate, inspired by the HOT & HUMID weather in the Tokyo region. (We are experiencing temperature in the 30s (Celsius) while the rainy season is not over yet.) Apparently the rising temperature is due to the global warming in recent years, and the videos were focusing on that.
MASSACHUSETTS SCHOOL OF LAW Global Warming...
June 2011
2 posts
Pick of late June 2011
Hello from Inside!
The picks of late June was inspired by the speech of novelist Haruki Murakami, who had received the Catalunya International Prize. His speech received both pros and cons but it was surely memorable for people of both opinions.
So Insider went for searching iUniv for other memorable speeches. What Insider finds interesting is that generally speaking, American speechmakers...
Pick of last week: week ending June 10, 2011
Hello from Inside!
First of all, apologies: You might have had difficulties watching or listening to the iTunes video/audio files linked in iUniv. Sorry for the inconvenience caused. Now the problem has been solved so please continue to enjoy thousands of videos and audios from iUniv! :-)
This past week we picked up two contents; both happened to be special lectures of the members of Yellow...
We were featured on Education-Portal.com! + Pick...
Hello from Inside!
First of all, iUniv is pleased to announced that Yasutaka Kageyama, Chief Creative Director at Castalia, was interviewed on Education-Portal.com recently. He had attended the 2011 OpenCourseWare Consortium conference where Castalia had made presentations of our two iconic platforms, iUniv and Schooly.
Please take a look at this interesting interview:...
May 2011
2 posts
Pick of last week: week ending May 13, 2011
Hello from Inside!
For the past two weeks we have been putting marriage-related contents on the iUniv top page. This was to commemorate the new royal couple in the UK :-)
So there are many forms of marriage around the world; in some countries it’s no longer a special thing, but in other countries it connects not only the individuals but also their families in more ways than one (money,...
We were featured on KQED!
Hello from Inside!
iUniv is pleased to inform you that we were featured on KQED, the NPR/PBS media in northern California, as one of the 10 must-know open education resources!
Their article is here: 10 Open Education Resources You May Not Know About (But Should) http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/05/10-open-education-resources-you-may-not-know-about-but-should/
In conjunction with the OCW (Open...
April 2011
1 post
Pick of last week: Week ending April 23, 2011
Hello from Inside! Sorry for being ‘outside’ for a long time.
In the wake of the earthquake, Japan is currently facing another crisis: the nuclear plant in Fukushima. As Insider type this post workers are still risking their lives to stop the equipment failures, which are still ongoing after 50 days.
For details of the Fukushima crisis, please refer to...
March 2011
4 posts
iUniv – Message from Japan
On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake – one of the largest in history - hit Japan’s northern and eastern regions. Our hearts go out to the ones who have been affected.
As for ourselves, two members from Castalia, the company that develop the iUniv/Schooly platforms, were visited by the earthquake in Tsukuba, the city near one of the epicenters, while making their presentations at an...
iUniv Updates: March 8, 2011
Hello from Inside!
During the past few weeks, our fellow iUniv users might have noticed some changes in the iUniv website. That’s right; eyeing the future enhancement of functions, iUniv has renewed the MyUniv page design, and modified and added some functions: 1) “Fusen” has been integrated with “History” to create the Recent Activities section. We have...
Pick of last week (ending March 4, 2011)
Hello from Inside!
Last week Japan celebrated the Doll Festival Day (ひなまつりの日). Although March 3 is not a national holiday, many families with daughters celebrate the day by displaying a set of ornament dolls in their houses. (If you are interested in ひなまつり, take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinamatsuri for more information.)
So Insider decided to celebrate the girls’ day by...
February 2011
1 post
Pick of last week (ending February 25, 2011)
Hello from Inside! Last week I failed to post the blog. Sorry about that.
Recently there have been anti-government movements going on in countries that have been under dictatorship for a long time, such as Libya. So last week, iUniv picked up some video materials that have something to do with dictatorship and democracy.
Perhaps techno-savvy iUniv students are interested in these videos:
...
pick of the week: February 20, 2011
Hello from Inside! Long time no blogging. Sorry about that.
Winter has been very cold around the globe. A friend who lives in Finland wrote to Insider that she has been experiencing -25 Celsius these days. Another friend from Sweden blogged that at her house the thermometer marked -28 degrees. Japan has been cold but maybe we shouldn’t complain… although Insider caught cold. ...
January 2011
2 posts
iUniv application downloading problem solved /...
Hello from Inside!
Please be advised that the problem mentioned in my last blog has been solved (finally!). Thank you for being patient on this matter.
We will also solve the problem with the YouTube api and update the application shortly.
So what has been your New Year resolution? Many people must have decided to do something new. iUniv provides a variety of courses to browse, which may...
iUniv application downloading problem
Happy New Year from Inside!
May 2011 be another fruitful year for you, with lots of fun experiences with iUniv. :-)
Having said that, Insider has to inform you that there has been a problem downloading the iUniv application for iPhone. We are currently looking into the solution with Apple Store. We apologize for the inconvenience caused, and appreciate your kind patience for the time being.
...
December 2010
4 posts
Pick of last week: December 17, 2010
Hello from Inside! I was supposed to post this last Friday but somehow failed… Sorry about that. This past week, iUniv featured a couple of videos related to the Nobel Prize and the Ig Nobel Prize, in conjunction with two brilliant Japanese doctors winning the Nobel Prizes this year. Congratulations to doctors Suzuki and Negishi!
So here are the two videos Insider was especially...
Press Release: December 13, 2010
Hello from Inside!
Following is the press release from Castalia introducing Schooly, another groundbreaking social learning system…
Social Learning Service Schooly, announces its launch
http://www.castalia.co.jp/english/social_learning_service_school.html
Pick of the week: December 10, 2010
Hello from Inside!
Educating children about food and nutrition has been one of the big themes in both Japan and the rest of the world recently. In Japan, the word “食育” (shoku-iku, a coined term for “food education”) has become very popular in the past several years. For some decades, most public schools have provided the pupils with lunches with calculated nutrition. ...
Pick of last week: week of November 29, 2010
Hello from Inside! And sorry for posting this late… Last week, Insider was picking some jazz-oriented contents from the iUniv. Jazz, one of the greatest musical cultures born in the United States, has been loved by people of all kinds and has changed its shape throughout its history, incorporating all sorts of music from blues to so-called world music.
As mentioned in this audio...
November 2010
4 posts
Pick of the week: November 26, 2010
Hello from Inside!
This week, Insider featured translation/interpretation-related contents on iUniv’s top page. As iUniv serves people who wants to study IN English (NOT study English), Insider thought it would be something to attract the users.
Insider found out that Monterey Institute of International Studies is renowned for nurturing language specialists. 3 out of 4 featured contents...
Pick of the week: November 19, 2010
Hello from Inside!
Japan introduced the citizen judge system (裁判員制度) earlier this year. Recently, one of the first groups of judges helped deciding sentencing a defendant to death penalty. A few weeks before that, another group chose between indefinite prison time and death penalty, and settled with the former.
Insider was thinking of translating 裁判員制度 to ‘jury’ system, but it...
Pick of the week: November 12, 2010
Hello from Inside!
This week I have picked up four Russian-related contents on iUniv’s top feature page, to coincide with President Medvedev’s recent visit to the so-called “Northern Territories”. I thought that it would be a good opportunity to try to understand the country more, whether or not you support it.
One of the videos I enjoyed was
MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY IPS560...
Pick of the week: November 5, 2010
Hello from Inside!
Actually I picked this a few weeks ago, but here is this week’s feature…
Carnegie Mellon University Learning: Carnegie Kai-Fu Lee Lecture: Google in China http://iuniv.tv/top/episode/eid/2469/pid/214
Carnegie Mellon alumni, then-Google Greater China president Mr. Lee gives a one-hour-plus lecture about how GGC tackles the Chinese market, which is very unique from...
October 2010
2 posts
Pick of the week: October 16, 2010
Hello from Inside! This week’s pickup is:
Stefan Lessard of Dave Matthews Band
http://iuniv.tv/top/detailPlaylist/pid/4072
This is a newly uploaded program from Berklee College of Music. When you think of Berklee, you may imagine a school full of aspiring musicians. In fact, many famous musicians call Berklee their alma mater, such as Sadao Watanabe, Steve Vai, and Quincy Jones to name...
Pick of the week: October 9, 2010
Hello from Inside - Sorry that Insider has been out for a while.
iUniv has expanded its contents these days; please check back often and enjoy various courses from every genre.
We have recently added a very unique course from Chuo University:
知の回廊 (Corridor of Wisdom)
http://iuniv.tv/top/detailPlaylist/pid/4121
*Note: There is another playlist named 知の回廊 which is basically the same as this...
September 2010
1 post
Pick of the week: September 10, 2010
Hello from Inside! Sorry for not updating this blog for a while.
This week’s pick is:
Central Washington University
Your World: Chinese Cooking 2008
http://iuniv.tv/top/episode/eid/63353/pid/3725
This program is sponsored by the Office Of International Programs at Central Washington University (in Ellensburg, WA). In this 36-minute program, a Chinese woman who has lived in Ellensburg...
August 2010
3 posts
Pick of the week: August 20, 2010
Hello from Inside! This week’s pick is:
The U.S. Role in a Changing World - Group 1
http://iuniv.tv/top/detailPlaylist/pid/3945
This is a series of short Q&A footage. In each video, they pick up a very simple but not-easy-to-answer question such as “Why do other governments allow US military bases in their countries?” and the scholar answers it. Although those videos...
Pick of the week: August 14, 2010
Hello from Inside!
This week’s pick is from the entertainment field:
Armstrong Atlantic State University
Flava of Armstrong
http://iuniv.tv/top/detailPlaylist/pid/59
This is a parody of a VH1 reality show “Flavor of Love”, played by the drama major students at AASU. Insider has never seen the original program but this parody is hilarious :-) They are really good at...
Pick of the week: August 6, 2010
Hello from Inside!
This week’s pick is a series of mathematical puzzles presented by Warwick University in the UK.
http://iuniv.tv/top/detailPlaylist/pid/2625
Even if you are allergic to math (like me, the Insider!) the series is interesting and eye-catching. Each episode consists of two videos, one as a question and another as an answer. A good brain-warmer too :-)
By the way this...
July 2010
3 posts
Pick of the week: July 30, 2010
Hello from Inside! This week’s pickup is a set of Japanese contents:
ごみと循環型社会 - 北海道大学プロフェッサー・ビジット2008
(Garbage and Recycle-oriented Society)
http://iuniv.tv/top/detailPlaylist/pid/3618
A professor at Hokkaido University, one of the leading national universities in Japan, held a lecture in Okinawa. I have only seen the first two episodes this week, where he describes about how recycling...
Pick of the week: July 24, 2010
Hello from Inside! This week’s pickup is:
A Conversation with Asako Hayashi Takakura, Asian Languages, UCLA http://iuniv.tv/top/episode/eid/26414/pid/2084 http://iuniv.tv/top/episode/eid/26413/pid/2084 http://iuniv.tv/top/episode/eid/26412/pid/2084
Ms. Hayashi has a unique background of interpreting for rock stars on TV when she was in Japan. Then she made a major career change to become...
Pick of the week: July 16, 2010
Hello, I’m the iUniv Insider. When I say ‘insider’, I personify the iUniv system (so-called naka-no-hito in Japanese slang). ;-) Starting from this week, I randomly pick up the video/audio that I found interesting during the week.
So I’m starting off with this one:
You Look Terrible: How NOT to Dress for a Job Interview http://iuniv.tv/top/episode/eid/2532/pid/218
The...