Reuters

• The varsity offers all classes only on Web

Tokyo, Nov 29: Japanese use cellphones to shop, read novels, exchange e-mail, search for restaurants and take video clips. Now, they can take a university course. Cyber University, the nation’s only varsity to offer all classes only on the Internet, began offering a class on mobile phones from Wednesday on the mysteries of the pyramids.

The cellphone lectures version, which pops up as streaming video on the handset’s tiny screen, plays just Power Point images. In a demonstration at a hotel, an image of the pyramids popped up on the screen and changed to a text image as a professor’s voice played from the handset speakers.

Cyber University, which opened in April with government approval to give bachelor’s degrees, has 1,850 students.  The phone lectures may be expanded to other courses but for now will be for the pyramids course, according to Cyber University, which offers about 100 courses, including ancient Chinese culture, journalism and English literature.

Unlike the other classes, the one on cell phones will be available to the public for free, although viewers must pay phone fees. The catch is the lectures can only be seen on some Softbank phones. The service may be expanded to other carriers, officials said.

Sakuji Yoshimura, who heads Cyber University, said the university provides opportunities for people who find it hard to attend real-life universities, including those with jobs and those who are sick or have disabilities. “Our duty as educators is to respond to the needs of people who want to learn,” Yoshimura said.

He scoffed at those who question the value of cell-phone classes, noting attendance is relatively high at 86%. Whether students play the lecture downloads to the end can be checked by the university digitally, officials said. Although real-time exchange with professors and other students isn’t possible in Net classes, social networking and other cyber-discussions are flourishing.