News

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）