“Interactive Teaching” is an online course run by the Center for Research and Development of Higher Education, The University of Tokyo. It is available for free on Coursera, one of the MOOC platforms.

*Click here for course registration and details.

Since its launch on Coursera in April 2021, “Interactive Teaching” has been taken by more than 2,600 learners from all over the world, producing a total of over 100 people who completed the program. The course has been highly appreciated with 4.8 out of 5 ratings.

The program is intended for existing and future faculty members including graduate students as well as everyone involved in teaching, such as elementary, junior high, and high school teachers and people in charge of human resources development at private corporations.

You can take the course at your own pace, but we also continually offer events such as “Real Session,” a 3-day intensive program held in a face-to-face format, and workshops where the participants can learn from each other. (The last “Real Session” was held in September. Please refer to the following links for reports of the event.)

[Report] Coursera “Interactive Teaching”: The 1st Real Session DAY 1
[Report] Coursera “Interactive Teaching”: The 1st Real Session DAY 2
[Report] Coursera “Interactive Teaching”: The 1st Real Session DAY 3

We hope these events will help your learning experience become more enjoyable through interaction with the instructors, staff, and other learners.

Let’s think about teaching by learning interactively with people coming from diverse universities and academic fields. We look forward to your participation.

 

[Course Outline]

• ■Goal: To acquire teaching knowledge, skills, and techniques necessary for promoting interactive learning where students take an active role in their learning.
• ■Language: Provided in both Japanese and English
• ■Instructors: Kayoko Kurita (The University of Tokyo) and more
• ■Fee: Free of charge (An additional fee is necessary if you would like a certificate to be issued.)
• ■Structure: The course is designed to be completed in eight weeks, each consisting of three sessions: Knowledge Session, Skill Session, and Story Session. The topic for each week is as follows:
• 　Week 1 Learning about Active Learning
• 　Week 2 Active Learning Techniques
• 　Week 3 The Science of Learning
• 　Week 4 Designing a 90-minute Class
• 　Week 5 Designing a More User-Friendly Syllabus
• 　Week 6 Evaluations That Promote Learning
• 　Week 7 Thinking about Career Paths (1): What Being a Professor Means
• 　Week 8 Thinking about Career Paths (2): The Use of Portfolio

 

[Inquiries]

• Center for Research and Development of Higher Education, The University of Tokyo
• Airi Kawakami
• E-mail: utokyo_fd@he.u-tokyo.ac.jp

The following is a brief summary of DAY 3 of the Real Session held on September 19th (Mon/*Holiday), 2022.

• ■Objectives for DAY 3
• ●Be able to apply what you learned when conducting a lecture for microteaching sessions.
• ●Be able to envision your career path and organize your daily activities and future prospects.

 

■DAY 3 Schedule

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• [Microteaching Session: Final] (9:15–12:00)
• Participants conducted refined lectures for the microteaching session. They delivered lectures one by one, just like the first trial on DAY 1, but this time the lectures were given to the whole participants instead of groups.
• STEP 1: A participant conducts a lecture as a lecturer. (6 min)
• STEP 2: The lecturer-participant receives feedback from the instructors while the other participants fill in the feedback sheets.
• STEP 3: Whole participants exchange feedback.

 

• [Reflection] (13:00–16:35)
• Participants were divided into two groups according to their needs and respectively created a chart: a TP chart (Instructor: Dr. Kurita) or a SAP chart (Instructor: Dr. Park). The objectives of this activity were to reflect on their teaching/research activities and to make use of such reflection in improving their future classes and clarifying their career paths.

 

• [Reflection on the Entire Session] (16:35–16:45)
• Participants reflected on the entire session and individually organized what they had learned and their thoughts.

 

• [Award of Certificate of Completion] (16:45–17:00)
• Participants handed certificates of completion to each other.

 

• ■Participants’ Reactions
• Nine participants answered our questionnaire after the session. Regarding the question on the satisfaction of the whole event (i.e., a five-point scale question with “5: Extremely satisfied” and “1: Extremely dissatisfied”), eight people (88.9%) rated “5” (the highest), and one (11.1%) rated “4.” Furthermore, all nine participants (100%) rated “5” (the highest) to the question asking whether participation in the event would be useful to their future (“5: Strongly agree” and “1: Strongly disagree”).

Here are some of the feedback we received in the comment section (*Please note that we partly extracted the feedback to anonymize the respondents.):

 

●What did you find good about this event?

“That I could learn in person from Kurita-san and other educators. That I could feel the passion of every participant which inspired me. That I could learn with people of different fields. That I received thorough feedback on my 6-min lecture. I think the event was filled with the essence of face-to-face format which could not be achieved online.”

“That I could learn with people with diverse backgrounds, such as those who have teaching experiences, teachers at different types of school from elementary school to university, and graduate students. Every participant was able to make use of their wisdom based on experience in giving feedback on lectures during the microteaching sessions and activities during the classes.”

“That the face-to-face Real Session allowed us to learn, ask questions, and speak in a tense but relaxed atmosphere. That I could experience specific activities that helped me deepen my understanding of ‘Interactive Teaching’ and apply it to practice.”

●Other remarks and comments

“It gave me an opportunity to realize what I’d like to try and learn next. I’ll be sure to apply my precious learning experience here to my own classes so that I can return the fruits to learners and society. I deeply appreciate it that the event was open to those who are not affiliated with university.”

“It was such a rich and fulfiling event that I wonder if it was really a free event. I’ll keep learning, and taking the possibility of becoming an instructor of a course into consideration, I’ll keep refining my lectures and syllabuses, too. I’d like to recommend the Coursera course to my close friends and instructors so that the next Real Session venue will be full of participants.”

“Reflecting on what I learned in Interactive Teaching remotivated me to connect the knowledge to practice. There were a lot of things that can ‘only be done here’ in the Real Session. The event, including the experience of failure and comments to that, has become an unforgettable memory.”

“Thank you for the three-day session. I put my brain into full gear over the last three days.”

We are pleased that we received high ratings from all the respondents in various aspects. They also provided us with a lot of comments on the points that need improvement and requests for topics to be focused on in the future. We are eager to develop new events based on the opinions we received. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the people who provided us with feedback.

 

• ■What’s Next?
• The event was the first Real Session to be held after the release of the Coursera course “Interactive Teaching.” The responses to our questionnaire show that many of the participants learned a lot from the Real Session. On the other hand, there were also many comments on the points that need improvement and requests for topics to be focused on in the future. We are eager to develop/run events based on the feedback. We are planning to hold similar events irregularly and are also considering the development of events conducted in English to expand the participant base. Details are to be announced. We look forward to your participation.

 

• ■References
• Coursera “Interactive Teaching” https://www.coursera.org/learn/interactive-teaching
• UTokyo OCW “Teaching Development in Higher Education” (The University of Tokyo Future Faculty Program) https://ocw.u-tokyo.ac.jp/course_11441/

 

• Click here for the details of DAY 1.
• Click here for the details of DAY 2.

 

Airi Kawakami (Project Academic Specialist in charge of “Interactive Teaching”)

 

The following is a brief summary of DAY 2 of the Real Session held on September 18th (Sun), 2022.

■Objectives for DAY 2

• ●Experience active learning strategies and be able to use them.
• ●Be able to describe a course that lets students learn actively in the form of a syllabus.
• ●Be able to design an evaluation based on essential knowledge.
• ●Be able to apply what you learned when conducting a lecture for microteaching sessions.

 

■DAY 2 Schedule

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

■Summary

• [Active Learning] (9:10–10:35)
• Dr. Kurita gave a lecture on active learning. Participants experienced one of the active learning strategies, “Peer Instruction.”

 

• [Evaluation] (10:50–12:40)
• The lecture on rubrics was followed by a group activity on creating rubrics. Participants also discussed the advantages and disadvantages of rubrics in groups and organized them on a large sheet.

 

• [Syllabus] (13:40–16:40)
• Participants listened to a lecture on syllabuses and worked on an activity. They created graphic syllabuses and shared them in pairs. They also revised their text syllabuses by referring to the tips on creating them.

 

• [Reflection] (16:40–16:55)
• Participants reflected on the goals and objectives of DAY 2 and individually organized what they had learned and their thoughts.

 

DAY 2 became another busy day where participants not just listened to lectures but also experienced active learning strategies and worked on various activities. It was designed to let them apply what they learned to the revision of their lectures and syllabuses.

• Click here for the details of DAY 3.
• (Click here for the details of DAY 1.)

 

Airi Kawakami (Project Academic Specialist in charge of “Interactive Teaching”)

• 【Overview of the Coursera “Interactive Teaching”: The 1st Real Session]
• ・Date/Time: September 17th (Sat), 2022, 9:00–16:40, 18th (Sun), 9:00–16:00, and 19th (Mon/*Holiday), 9:00–17:10
• ・Format: Face-to-face
• ・Venue: Faculty of Education Bldg., Hongo Campus, The University of Tokyo
• ・Instructors: Kayoko Kurita and Wonhwa Park (The University of Tokyo)
• ・Staff: Airi Kawakami and Osami Nabeta (The University of Tokyo)
• ・Intended for: Those who completed “Interactive Teaching” and are able to work on pre-assignments
• ・Language: Japanese
• ・Fee: Free of charge

 

“Coursera ‘Interactive Teaching’: The 1st Real Session” was held as a face-to-face event on September 17th, 18th, and 19th. The Real Session was intended for those who had completed the course “Interactive Teaching,” and 10 people with various occupations and affiliations gathered from across the country.

The following is a brief summary of DAY 1.

 

■Objectives of the Real Session

• 1. Be able to devise methods that help you induce/maintain/enhance students’ motivation.
• 2. Be able to design a class that lets students learn actively.
• 3. Experience active learning strategies and be able to use them.
• 4. Be able to describe a course that lets students learn actively in the form of a syllabus.
• 5. Be able to design an evaluation based on essential knowledge.
• 6. Be able to apply what you learned when conducting a lecture for microteaching sessions.
• 7. Be able to envision your career path and organize your daily activities and future prospects.

The objectives for DAY 1 were 1, 2, and 6 in the above list.

 

■DAY 1 Schedule

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

■Summary

• Preparation
• Participants worked on pre-assignments and prepared the following materials for the session: (1) a 6-min lecture for microteaching sessions, (2) class design, and (3) a text syllabus. Also, they posted a self-introduction in Google Classroom.

 

• DAY 1 (September 17th, 2022)
• [Introduction] (9:00–9:25)
• The session started at 9:00 by sharing goals and objectives, followed by a brief self-introduction of the instructors, staff, and participants.

 

• [Microteaching Session: The 1st Trial] (9:25–12:35)
• Each participant conducted a lecture for microteaching sessions in two groups. They were reminded of the basic principles (such as “3Ks”) and how to take part in role-playing before delivering a lecture one by one, just like the regular UTokyo FFP classes as described as follows:
• STEP 1: A participant conducts a lecture as a lecturer. (6 min)
• STEP 2: The lecturer-participant receives feedback from the instructor while the other participants fill in the feedback sheets.
• STEP 3: Participants exchange feedback in a group to improve the lecture.

 

• [Class Design] (13:35–15:05)
• Dr. Kurita gave a lecture on class design. Participants worked on an activity to revise the learning objectives of their lectures.

 

• [Break] (15:05–15:20)
• We asked participants beforehand if they could bring their local snacks. Thanks to all the participants, the snack area was filled with a variety of sweets. We offered coffee, tea, and some others for a drink.

 

• [Motivation] (15:20–16:45)
• Dr. Kurita gave a lecture on motivation. In the activity “Let’s give advice to a professor,” participants discussed in groups what kind of advice they should give to an instructor about his/her concern. Also, they worked on revising their lectures by applying what they had learned in the session in the activity “Refining lectures for microteaching sessions.”

 

• [Wrap-up] (16:45–17:00)
• Participants reflected on the goals and objectives of DAY 1 and individually organized what they had learned and their thoughts.

 

Participants had a busy schedule on DAY 1, starting with a microteaching session in the morning and lectures and activities in the afternoon, but they all stayed focused and eagerly worked on every task.

• Click here for the details of DAY 2.
• (Click here for the details of DAY 3.)

 

Airi Kawakami (Project Academic Specialist in charge of “Interactive Teaching”)