Author: 河上愛梨

The fifth session (DAY 5) of the 2nd edition of UTokyo Global FFDP was held in-person on Tuesday, June 27th, 2023. The topic of the session was “review & class design“. The following are some of the key moments (highlights) of the session.

 

HIGHLIGHTS OF DAY 5

First, we started the class reviewing the contents of the previous class with the participants’ ideas.

We spent the first part of the class practicing poster tour/gallery walk. The participants were divided in four groups that worked in creating four posters, each addressing the main contents of one of the previous four sessions of the course. This was not only a moment to recall and retrieve ideas, but also to develop a more profound understanding of the poster tour/gallery walk technique by experiencing it (what we call, experiential learning).

Following this, we explored different ideas regarding the design and improvement of a class and its instruction (key moments, events, etc.).

With this preparation, the participants (in groups) shared the design and structure of a class that they are preparing to teach in the following sessions of this course. While sharing their design sheets, they receive feedback from their peers to improve them. In the next two sessions of the course, the participants will deliver this brief class and receive feedback from their peers (two times in two different weeks).

Lastly, as always, we summarized the session and presented the structure of the following classes. Also, the participants filled in a small survey.

Stay tuned for new reports of UTokyo Global FFDP after DAY 6!

 

Dr. Gabriel Hervas (Lecturer. Project Associate Professor)

Ms. Airi Kawakami（Staff. Project Academic Specialist）

The fourth session (DAY 4) of the 2nd edition of UTokyo Global FFDP was held in-person on Tuesday, June 20th, 2023. The topic of the session was “course & syllabus design“. The following are some of the key moments (highlights) of the session.

 

HIGHLIGHTS OF DAY 4

First, we started the class reviewing the contents of the previous class with the participants’ ideas through an online resource to gather their responses in real-time.

After that, we made explicit for the participants part of the design of the course. In particular, we explained how we have been reviewing each day the learning of the previous classes.

For us, this was key for two reasons: (a) doing this makes visible for the participants part of the rationale of the learning experience they are going through, and (b) these are ideas that the participants can also implement in their own classes (hence, it is also a learning material).

During the class, we reviewed different ideas regarding course and syllabus design that appeared in the video that the participants watched before the class (backward design, constructive alignment, potential components of a syllabus, etc.).

Following this, we explored different educational notions (goals, objectives, intended learning outcomes), by examining how different universities define and use these terms.

In relation with this, we learnt about how to write learning outcomes, amongst others, considering Bloom’s taxonomy.

With this preparation, the main activity of the class involved the participants in reviewing their syllabi and in sharing ideas and feedback to continue improving them. We were glad to see that all the participants discussed very actively (even during the break)!

Lastly, we explained the following sessions (the participants will teach design a class and will teach it in front of their peers so they can receive feedback).

Stay tuned for new reports of UTokyo Global FFDP after DAY 5!

 

Dr. Gabriel Hervas (Lecturer. Project Associate Professor)

Ms. Airi Kawakami（Staff. Project Academic Specialist）

The third session (DAY 3) of the 2nd edition of UTokyo Global FFDP was held online on Tuesday, June 6th, 2023. The topic of the session was “assessment, evaluation and feedback“. The following are some of the key moments (highlights) of the session.

HIGHLIGHTS OF DAY 3

First, we paid explicit attention to the participants’ learning process and gains by:

• a) Comparing the responses to the same/similar questions on different moments of the course

• b) Reviewing their emerging learning on teaching and learning techniques and on the use of rubrics by making use of questions that the participants had created before the class

Also, during the class we discussed our feedback and ideas to create multiple-choice questions. Among others, we talked about the use of certainty-based marking/confidence assessment. The idea is that points are assigned for each response based on how confident the learner feels answering each question.

The images on the following slide belong to/are extracted from: Wu, Q., Vanerum, M., Agten, A., Christiansen, A., Vandenabeele, F., Rigo, J. M., & Janssen, R. (2021). Certainty-Based Marking on Multiple-Choice Items: Psychometrics Meets Decision Theory. Psychometrika, 86(2), 518-543.

Another highlight of the class is when the participants learnt about speed-dating as a teaching and learning strategy through experiential learning (they went through the experience of speed-dating). While doing this in an on-line setting can be challenging, we were glad to see smiles on their faces at the end!

 

During the class, we built on the emerging learning of the participants (after watching a couple of videos before the class). In groups, they discussed the creation of a rubric to assess groupwork and a created a table summarizing key ideas about the different natures and purposses of assessment.

Lastly, we discussed with the participants ideas on the features of quality feedback.

At the end of the class, we looked through the information about the next class and the tasks to fulfill before that.

Stay tuned for new reports of UTokyo Global FFDP after DAY 4! The next session will be held in-person!

 

Dr. Gabriel Hervas (Lecturer. Project Associate Professor)

Ms. Airi Kawakami（Staff. Project Academic Specialist）

The first session (DAY 1) of the 2nd edition of UTokyo Global FFDP was held online on Tuesday, May 16th, 2023. The topic of the session was “the science of learning”.

The following are what we call the “highlights of the day“, key moments of the session that we share with our participants as a reminder of the class and of their good work. In addition, we accompany these highlights with a follow-up/feedforward document addressing in more detail some ideas that emerged in class and/or other connected aspects that might be of interest.

HIGHLIGHTS OF DAY 1

The participants shared and discussed key aspects on the science of learning based on the content of a video that they had watched prior to the class (the course is, overall, based on flipped classroom).

In UTokyo Global FFDP, we conduct an “initial survey” before the course begins. Its purpose is to grasp the students’ prior ideas, interests and needs and to adjust the course accordingly. In class, we discussed their previous ideas about the science of learning and its practical implications using the results to that survey to make visible their emerging learning gain.

 

During the class, we discussed the idea of “scaffolding” and we shared ideas to keep in mind to design courses and classes that contribute to learning based on this idea.

Also, we discussed a potential utility of chatbots such as ChatGPT to “facilitate” teachers’ work, for instance, in summarizing students’ work (only in situations when there is no potential risk for the students’ and their learning and after a careful review by the teacher).

Lastly, another highlight of the session was when we discussed the range of options that we can find from a learner-centered to teacher-centered approach and discussed the idea of “direct instruction“.

Stay tuned for new reports of UTokyo Global FFDP after DAY 2!

 

Dr. Gabriel Hervas (Lecturer. Project Associate Professor)

Ms. Airi Kawakami（Staff. Project Academic Specialist）