Throughout the study tour, I felt very fortunate to have the opportunity to visit Estonia.
Despite its small size Estonia has many perks not present in Japan. Because of that before and after the study tour, my way of thinking had changed.
During the study tour, I asked myself whether there were any aspects of IT education in Estonian primary education that could be applied to Japanese education, I also paid attention to Estonia's nature-oriented culture.
One of the things I learned was that IT is not just for education. It is intertwined with their everyday life. When I went to see a math class in a primary school, students used iPads to solve math equations, they had a digital leaderboard ranking people who had solved the most problems. Another example of their societies’ use of technology is the fact that more than half of all votes are voted online during elections. Thanks to this trip, I understood that to implement the same ideas of education in Japan, there needs to be a broader change in how we approach the potential of IT services in Japan.
On the other hand, there were also analog aspects, such as homework being done on paper and experiments being done on a computer but the results being written on paper. There are students from Ukraine who did not understand Estonian were left out of the lessons. Those situations were opportunities to broaden my horizons and gave me more perspectives to deepen my understanding including the social situation and other aspects of the country.
In a class, each student was using a tablet
Secondly, Estonian people feel very close to nature. There were always plants in the gym or classrooms. I heard from my friend that it is considered a good idea to go to the nature with your family on weekends. By staying at the lodge and being in nature all day, I felt that I got a sense of the reason why they value nature more on a daily basis. I was overwhelmed by the quietness that I rarely feel in Japan and the grandeur of nature that humans cannot control. Through this staying, I believe I was able to experience what it is like to be in the moment.
A view from the lodge that we stayed. We enjoyed silence and fresh air.
In conclusion, I felt that Estonia has a very fascinating cultural fusion of seemingly opposed things between high-tech and analog. I would like to deepen my understanding of what I didn't see during my short stay and it was an experience that makes me want to travel there again.