[Educational DX] Tackling the Challenges of the Auto Maintenance Industry with 'AI Education'. Koyama Gakuen Introduces AI Teacher System for International Students
DOU Co., Ltd. has introduced an 'AI Teacher' and 'Career Passport' at Koyama Gakuen, an auto maintenance vocational school. The system aims to develop international students' practical Japanese skills and reduce teachers' burdens.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 7, 2026 at 02:00
- 🔍 Collected: April 6, 2026 at 17:30
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 21, 2026 at 00:14 (342h 43m after Collected)
DOU Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, CEO: Tatsuya Ishibe) announces that it has been decided to introduce an "AI Teacher (Teaching Assistant)" aimed at fostering "usable Japanese language skills in the field" for foreign international students, and a "Career Passport" that accumulates learning histories, at the educational corporation Koyama Gakuen.
This initiative aims to support the acquisition of Japanese language skills for smooth participation in specialized classes and to make international students job-ready in the field. It provides individually optimized Japanese instruction and practical conversation practice using AI. With a design that allows learning anytime from a smartphone, it makes it possible to deliver individually optimized learning opportunities to all students, even in automobile vocational schools where the number of international students is increasing.
■ Background: The Worsening Labor Shortage and the Issue of "Unusable" Japanese in the Field
A severe labor shortage continues in the automobile maintenance industry, and foreign international students are expected to be valuable future bearers of the industry. It has become an important mission for educational institutions to cultivate "high-quality human resources" who can safely and accurately execute tasks as job-ready personnel in the field after graduation, and send them out into the industry.
However, in actual educational settings and post-employment work environments, the following structural issues have come to light.
Issue 1: The Gap Between "Reading/Writing" and "Communication"
There were cases where even if they could read the Chinese characters (kanji) for technical terms like "mechanic," they did not understand the actual "meaning of the words," leading to the problem of being unable to understand on-site instructions and act appropriately. Being able to "read" and being able to "understand" are completely different abilities, and this gap directly led to post-hiring mismatches and accident risks on site.
Issue 2: Stagnation of Class Progress Due to Disparities in Proficiency
In an environment where one teacher instructs many students, if there is a group that cannot understand basic Japanese expressions (such as "look at the blackboard" or "clean up"), the class stops, hindering overall progress and lowering the motivation of upper-tier students.
Issue 3: Aging Teachers and Labor Shortages
Aging and labor shortages are progressing throughout the automobile maintenance industry, and even in educational settings, individualized instruction relying on traditional manpower has reached its limits.
■ Mechanism: Three Approaches Through AI Teacher x Career Passport
To solve these issues, we will introduce an "AI Teacher" equipped with two modes that can be studied anytime from smartphones, and a "Career Passport" that accumulates learning history. The core of this system is designed not simply to teach answers, but to "promote spontaneous understanding."
1. Vocabulary Practice Mode (Text-based Meaning Comprehension)
Regarding technical terms for auto maintenance like "replace parts" or "prevent accidents" and school life vocabulary (over 180 terms in total), it checks if they understand the correct meaning in a 3-choice quiz format. If they make a mistake, it does not give the answer directly but gives a hint to encourage active understanding. All kanji have furigana (reading guides), making it easy for even beginner-level international students to study alone.
2. Practical Conversation Mode (Voice Communication)
...
This initiative aims to support the acquisition of Japanese language skills for smooth participation in specialized classes and to make international students job-ready in the field. It provides individually optimized Japanese instruction and practical conversation practice using AI. With a design that allows learning anytime from a smartphone, it makes it possible to deliver individually optimized learning opportunities to all students, even in automobile vocational schools where the number of international students is increasing.
■ Background: The Worsening Labor Shortage and the Issue of "Unusable" Japanese in the Field
A severe labor shortage continues in the automobile maintenance industry, and foreign international students are expected to be valuable future bearers of the industry. It has become an important mission for educational institutions to cultivate "high-quality human resources" who can safely and accurately execute tasks as job-ready personnel in the field after graduation, and send them out into the industry.
However, in actual educational settings and post-employment work environments, the following structural issues have come to light.
Issue 1: The Gap Between "Reading/Writing" and "Communication"
There were cases where even if they could read the Chinese characters (kanji) for technical terms like "mechanic," they did not understand the actual "meaning of the words," leading to the problem of being unable to understand on-site instructions and act appropriately. Being able to "read" and being able to "understand" are completely different abilities, and this gap directly led to post-hiring mismatches and accident risks on site.
Issue 2: Stagnation of Class Progress Due to Disparities in Proficiency
In an environment where one teacher instructs many students, if there is a group that cannot understand basic Japanese expressions (such as "look at the blackboard" or "clean up"), the class stops, hindering overall progress and lowering the motivation of upper-tier students.
Issue 3: Aging Teachers and Labor Shortages
Aging and labor shortages are progressing throughout the automobile maintenance industry, and even in educational settings, individualized instruction relying on traditional manpower has reached its limits.
■ Mechanism: Three Approaches Through AI Teacher x Career Passport
To solve these issues, we will introduce an "AI Teacher" equipped with two modes that can be studied anytime from smartphones, and a "Career Passport" that accumulates learning history. The core of this system is designed not simply to teach answers, but to "promote spontaneous understanding."
1. Vocabulary Practice Mode (Text-based Meaning Comprehension)
Regarding technical terms for auto maintenance like "replace parts" or "prevent accidents" and school life vocabulary (over 180 terms in total), it checks if they understand the correct meaning in a 3-choice quiz format. If they make a mistake, it does not give the answer directly but gives a hint to encourage active understanding. All kanji have furigana (reading guides), making it easy for even beginner-level international students to study alone.
2. Practical Conversation Mode (Voice Communication)
...