2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Exploring the Impact of Unexpected Learning Outcomes Across Cultural and Architectural Differences: A Comparative Study of Japan and Ethiopia

Presented at International Division (INTL): Navigating Risks and Cross-Cultural Challenges

When students from diverse backgrounds collaborate, their learning outcomes can often include unexpected results. This research investigates the knowledge and skills that Japanese and Ethiopian students gained through Project-Based Learning Programs (PBLs) centered around the use of three-dimensional digital archiving (3DDA) via photogrammetry, an advanced technique for conserving architectural heritage. The PBLs adopt a two-way exchange model. The first phase is held in Japan, where students are introduced to 3DDA basics in Tokyo. The second phase takes place in Addis Ababa, where students apply 3DDA techniques to digitize Ethiopian cultural and historic structures, many of which are threatened by rapid commercialization and demolition.
Japan and Ethiopia differ significantly in geography, ethnicity, culture, history, communication styles, urbanization, and technology adoption. The students, with little prior knowledge of each other’s contexts, acquire not only technical skills but also valuable cross-cultural competencies.
This article addresses three research questions (RQs). RQ1 explores the learning outcomes from these bilateral PBLs, particularly the unexpected findings that broadened students' perspectives. RQ2 focuses on the initial motivations of both students to explore an unknown country. Japanese students typically belong to a conservative, homogeneous society, and tend to stay in their comfort zone. For Ethiopian students, well-known countries are mainly Europeans and China. Preliminary knowledge about Japan is quite limited. This question also examines the impact of the challenges they faced and how these experiences contribute to lifelong learning. RQ3 investigates the relationship between the use of 3DDA tools and the development of communication skills, a link frequently mentioned by participants in post-program surveys. This analysis will be framed within the context of the Washington Accord’s Graduate Attribute Profile, which includes non-engineering competencies.

Authors

Mr. Hiroyuki Ishizaki http://orcid.org/0009-0008-7482-2038 Shibaura Institute of Technology [biography]

Hiroyuki Ishizaki is a Visiting Professor at Shibaura Institute of Technology (SIT), a leading Japanese engineering school. His research interests include multidisciplinary teaching and learning, cross-cultural competence, collaborative online international (COIL), technopreneurship, and project/problem-based learning methods. As a Director of the Malaysia Office, he has been expatriated in Malaysia since 2014 and leading the internationalization of SIT and its partner universities throughout the Southeast Asian region. Under his initiatives, various short-term mobility programs and student exchanges have been started. He is also Chair of the Mobility Special Interest Group of Asia Technological University Network (ATU-Net) and initiated a COIL program called Virtual Asia Exploration (VAx) by orchestrating the collaboration of six Asian universities.
He is also an entrepreneur through his consulting company established in 2004, and has been rendering management consultation services to both small-medium size companies and multi-national enterprises such as global strategy planning, cross-border business entry, middle manager training, and partner development. These business achievements are reflected in his academic activities through the designing of lectures and mobility programs with practical implementation perspectives.
Ishizaki has been actively presenting and publishing his academic achievements at international conferences in the Asia Pacific region and North America such as APAIE, WERA, and NAFSA.
He earned a Master of Business Administration majoring in international business at the University of Southern California in the United States of America, and a Bachelor in Law at Hitotsubashi University in Japan.
Rumi Okazaki School of Architecture, Shibaura Institute of Technology
Prof. Ikuro SHIMIZU Shibaura Institute of Technology [biography]

Ikuo Shimizu is a professor at the School of Architecture and the Department of Architecture, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Shibaura Institute of Technology. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in architecture from Shibaura Institute of Technology. He then studied cultural anthropology and ethnography at the Graduate University for Advanced Studies in Japan, where he received his PhD in literature. His current field placement is developing methods for establishing eco-museums that utilize existing traditional residential culture, and methods for regenerating the landscapes of major river basins in Southeast Asia, and he is conducting these researches with a unique methodology that integrates anthropology and architecture.
Tadesse girmay Girmay http://orcid.org/0009-0002-4458-3669

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025

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