International distance learning experiment using JGNII

This paper reports cooperative experiment undertaken by Hokkaido University in Japan and the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) in the United States. The experiment was conducted in January, 2005. A classroom in the IT Education Hall at Hokkaido University, Japan and the Discovery Laboratory of the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center at the University of Alaska, Fair-banks were connected via the Internet and a domestic next-generation Internet research and educational network infrastructure called JGN2 that was operated by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) in Japan. A high definition video conferencing system, a chat system, and a web-based voting system were used in the experiment to promote the establishment of an effective learning environment, particularly for cross-cultural learning.