The 10th University of Tokyo Future Faculty Program (UTokyo FFP) started on October 5th and 6th! The classes are conducted through Periods 3–4 every other week of the A Term, in principle. UTokyo FFP offers four courses a year, and two of them in the A Term are both held at Fukutake Hall, Hongo Campus. We are planning to deliver the courses (titled with odd numbers) on Komaba Campus in the S Term.
The first session is, as always, focused on creating a “collaborative learning environment.”
- ・Goals, objectives, and ground rules
- ・Icebreaker (Introducing others)
- ・Research presentation (1-min self-introduction) & peer review
- ・Present situation of higher education
- ・Summary of the UTokyo FFP
This time, again, more than 90% of participants met each other for the first time. As for Thursday and Friday Classes, two or three people answered that they had acquaintances. This is the usual case, so the classes start with a tense atmosphere.
We designed the class to ease the tension by starting with asking easy-to-answer questions, then gradually moving on to group activities. One of the participants indicated “To make students laugh” as an important point in conducting the first class, which is also useful to create a collaborative atmosphere.
The research presentation is positioned as part of a self-introduction in your class in the future, which is for conveying the value and charms of your research to your students within one minute. Feedback on the research presentation will be given from the following three viewpoints: (1) Feedback from other participants, (2) Direct feedback from the instructor (Kurita), and (3) Self-evaluation by checking the video. The assignment is to organize and hand in “What was good about the presentation, what points need improvement, and what you learned from others.” It must be a rare opportunity to receive such rich feedback, so I would like the participants to take it as a chance to reflect on themselves.
(Kurita)