[Sekido’s FFP Journal Vol 0] Introduction: What Is UTokyo FFP?

I am Sekido, a Project Researcher, coming from Sendai City to support “The University of Tokyo Future Faculty Program” (UTokyo FFP). I joined UTokyo FFP to learn about and share with everyone “Classes that students enjoy and truly learn from.”

UTokyo FFP is a course conducted by the instructor, Dr. Kayoko Kurita (Center for Research and Development of Higher Education, The University of Tokyo) for graduate students, postdocs, and young faculty members at The University of Tokyo. The goal of the course is to help them become “excellent researchers” and “excellent educators” at the same time by acquiring “skills in designing and conducting classes that allow active learning” and “attitudes and mindsets for improvement and inquiry in their teaching.”

The course is held for two consecutive periods every other week in the spring and autumn semesters. Twenty-five participants per class are carefully selected and work together as classmates to pursue what education is across their affiliations (i.e., regardless of which school they belong to or whether they are students or faculties). It is a “course to learn ‘how to teach at university'” consisting of eight sessions, where the participants learn about topics such as class design, syllabus, evaluation, microteaching, and a career path as a faculty member, through group activities in a practical and active manner.

I would like to share with you the atmosphere of the learning occurring in the classroom and what I realized through the classes.