NHK学園 CAI学習講座 スペーススクール (SPACE SCHOOL) on Famicom is probably the earliest and the most ambitious digital learning network example I could find in my research in digital learning. Not many information available online since it existed way before the internet age. It is essentially a system of digital learning games made for Famicom with an elaborated assessment service that involved mailing the game save module (Q’da) back to NHK for a performance report. The first time I found the physical copies of them was in a secured class shelf in Nakano Broadway. Every time when I visit Tokyo, I make sure to pay them a visit.
A complete set, 6 learning games + 2 saving modules, of grade 4, 5 and 6 went on Yahoo Auction last week with a 45K buyout. The auction just ended and fetched an impressive 7300 dollars, I hope whoever bought them makes ROMs out of them and shares them with me.
[Update] I think the auction didn’t pass the minimum price. The seller divided them into three auctions and put them on yahoo auction again. What a smart move, the three auctions ended up in around 5k each. That is twice as much as selling them together. It is a shame knowing this learning game example for more than 10 years now, one of the earliest, most ambitious, and coolest, still can’t afford to have them in my collection.
In an email I wrote to my mentor in 2008, I explained what Space School was. That was the farthest memory I had of the project.
I did a research on the yellow card and I found out something really interesting and it is actually related to IOP. I can’t believe Nintendo just did it again.
Remember I told you I couldn’t find anything on fly for “NHK Space School” printed on the yellow card? The curiosity drove me back for a second round. I have a Japanese student here helped me translate the words “Space School” to Japanese, then BINGO! I found one Japanese blog post with a few low-res pictures and the description adds up to the excitement!It turns out NHK (Japanese TV Channel ) has a school devision called NHK Gakuen (NHK young school) and they named their Famicom software “Space School”. It is a math learning game/app and comes with a “learning adapter” (cartridge converter) called Q’da developed by Konami. The software set includes two volumes and they are for 4th, 5th, and 6th grades. The software records Student’s everyday studies including a midterm and a final. (Here is the coolest part>>) If student sends the records back to NHK Gakuen. The records then will be analyzed by a computer. The result will store back to the software and sends back to the student.
This is amazing especially in the mailing part and the analyzation part. However, the post didn’t mention how details work, stuff like game-play, what is the records and results look like, and what are the parameters of computer’s analyzation. Many of this sort were produced (learning game/app) but this is the first one I heard about the analyzation part of it.
**we all know Famicom can’t store data, so I think this is why they need the “Learning Adapter” Q’da.
link to the original post in Japanese:
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/oroti/famicom/mab17.html
Enjoy it!
Kyle
Well, the website is no longer there. I can’t help to imagine what the assessment software looks like. It must be a space school shaped cartridge too that read the saves in Q’da and print the result out. Something like that.
