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When we choose a learning environment, we consider whether to stay at home or go to public spaces like libraries, study rooms, or co-study centers. In fact, many people tend to study at home to save on commuting time and avoid the costs of study rooms. However, various distractions at home can hinder study efficiency.
This problem has received increasing attention, leading to the emergence of an innovative service in Japan in recent years: “video study rooms”. This service allows us to stay home while experiencing the focused atmosphere of a study room, simultaneously preventing laziness through mutual supervision, providing an excellent solution.
Recently, more and more fully-equipped study rooms have appeared across Japan.
These study rooms not only provide a quiet environment but also offer additional facilities such as free drinks, making them a favored place for many examinees.
Concerned about this trend, Japan’s TBS television station produced a special report on the wave of self-study rooms in its morning information program “THE TIME,” exploring the rapid rise of this learning environment.
The self-study room market has developed so quickly largely because the operational threshold is low, requiring only a usable space. Many companies and individuals have taken advantage of idle houses and vacant land to enter this market, thus self-study rooms have rapidly become a popular business project.
The strong demand for self-study rooms among students is also an important factor driving the prosperity of this market. Many students, like this senior preparing for the veterinary exam, choose self-study rooms as their place to study.
He candidly said: “When I study at home, the bed is too tempting, and it’s easy to feel sleepy.”
Many students have this feeling, lacking confidence in their self-discipline when studying at home, so they choose to go out to study rooms.
However, going out to study rooms also means spending extra time and money—on transportation to get there, as well as the fees for using the study room.
More importantly, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has made everyone vigilant about crowded places, and they are unwilling to go to places with many people. At this time, Japan developed an entirely new model to help students—“Online Study Room”.
A study method that became extremely popular during the pandemic, a high school senior who successfully enrolled in a prestigious private university prepared for exams using this new type of study room. His “study room” is actually located in his own room, learning together with other candidates through the “mingaku” platform.
This platform provides an online video space where students can turn on their cameras while studying, allowing them to showcase their learning environment to others. This way, they can immerse themselves in a collective effort atmosphere and supervise each other to prevent complacency.
The subscription service for “Video Study Room” starts from 1,000 yen, making the monthly cost relatively inexpensive.
The core design of this system lies in the ability for users to supervise each other through video calls, creating a virtual collective learning effect.
Just as that senior student described: “Whenever I feel bored with studying, seeing others still working hard motivates me to perk up and keep going.”
He further explained: “This is precisely the charm of the video self-study room, because everyone can see each other’s every move, which encourages greater self-discipline and eliminates casual video watching or browsing social media.”
This innovative learning method creates a virtual learning environment through technological means, allowing students to communicate and supervise each other, reducing distractions and feelings of loneliness when studying at home, and making it less likely for them to give up easily during their efforts.
In the context of education in Japan, a new learning model driven by technology is likely to be increasingly adopted and accepted in the future.
So the question arises: Can you also study at home with concentration, or would you choose to try a “video study room”?
