Report on “Active Learning in the Classroom”

On July 26, we invited Ms. Mikako Nishikawa, an advisor to the Japan Eiken Association, as a lecturer and held “Active Learning in the Classroom,” an English skill improvement training program for teachers at member universities.
This training was held as part of the “English Skill Improvement Training for University Teachers” conducted by the University Consortium Kyoto since 2013, and was held for faculty members with a focus on “classes” and was attended by 11 people from five universities.

In the training, following the icebreaker, active learning (active learning is “active learning”, and it is not a lecture style in which the instructor transfers knowledge unilaterally, but subject research, PBL (project/problem based learning), discussions, presentations, etc. In addition to deepening their understanding of the class format that incorporates active learning, they also learned phrases that are often used in classes using English. There are various expressions such as demonstrative words used in classes and phrases that are useful when introducing active learning, and it was suggested that the participating teachers choose and use expressions that can be used more naturally in class.
Next, while experiencing group discussions and workshop methods, the students discussed strategies for designing effective discussions and effective feedback and evaluation methods in classes using active learning while sharing case studies, and made group presentations as a result.


In this training, he also spoke about issues such as how difficult it is to derive common effective measures due to the difference in daily class management due to differences in specialized fields and class sizes, and how to increase the motivation of Japan students, who have not been accustomed to giving presentations in front of others since childhood. However, despite the lengthy workshop, all participants were very active in the training, such as exchanging information on ideas in the classroom across disciplines and discussing specific ways to improve the classroom through discussions.
This was the first time that the University Consortium Kyoto conducted English skill improvement training for teachers only, but we will continue to provide training programs that are in high demand while taking into account the opinions and requests of participants.

University Consortium Kyoto International Collaboration Project
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