News

Here is a brief report of our latest event and a preview of our next event.

“Interactive Teaching” Academy: Part 5 “Microteaching Clinic”

Date/Time: August 5th (Sun), 2018, 09:00–17:00
Venue: 93B, Faculty of Engineering Building 2, Hongo Campus, The University of Tokyo
Participants: 26 people (Six of them conducted microteaching sessions.)
Instructors: Kayoko Kurita (Center for Research and Development of Higher Education, The University of Tokyo)
Lui Yoshida (College of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo)
Nagafumi Nakamura (Center for Research and Development of Higher Education, The University of Tokyo)

1. Topic and Goal
This time, the topic was “Microteaching.” Based on the goal, “Be able to conduct classes that promote student learning,” we set specific learning objectives as follows:
① Understand and be able to utilize “Learning Sciences” (e.g., motivation) in class design. (Preparation)
② Be able to explain the perspectives that you should be careful of when conducting classes through refining others’ microteaching sessions. (Session)
③ Be able to utilize the refinement of your microteaching session in your future practice. (Session) *③ was an objective for those who conducted microteaching sessions.

2. Summary
This program was conducted in a flipped-classroom manner, and participants worked on pre-class assignments beforehand. They conducted and examined microteaching sessions based on their preparation.
(1) Preparation
All participants were asked to learn about “Learning Sciences” by watching the videos for WEEK 3 of “Interactive Teaching” and reading Chapter 3 of the book “Interactive Teaching” (Kawai Publishing, 2017). This was because it is important to understand theories related to enhancing motivation when you conduct classes that promote learning. Also, those who were in charge of conducting microteaching sessions were asked to submit class design sheets and handouts beforehand.

(2) Session
[1] Introduction (09:00–09:15)
Participants listened to the explanation of the goals, structure, and rules of the program before introducing themselves to others. They consisted of six lecturers of microteaching sessions and 20 observers who took their lectures.

[2] Microteaching Session & Examination 1 (09:15–12:10)
Participants first reviewed the significance of conducting and examining microteaching sessions. Then, they were divided into two groups and moved to separate classrooms. Three lecturers conducted lectures per room. Following their 6-min lectures, the participants exchanged their ideas on what was good about the lectures, what points needed improvement, and how they could be improved in groups and the whole classroom in 40 minutes. Finally, the whole participants gathered and organized the points the lecturers/observers should be careful of when conducting/taking lectures for the second time in the afternoon.

 

[3] Refining Microteaching Sessions (Lecturers) / What You Can Learn from Microteaching Sessions (Observers) (13:10–14:10)
Participants worked on activities in two separate classrooms.
Those who conducted microteaching sessions worked on improving their lectures based on the feedback they had received from observers in the first trial.
Meanwhile, observers first shared in groups what they had learned from the first trial of microteaching sessions and then examined and organized what kind of perspectives they should use in class observation so that they can give the lecturers effective feedback.

[4] Microteaching Session and Examination 2 (14:20–16:30)
All six lecturers conducted their second-time lectures, which were improved based on the feedback they had received on the first trial, in the same classroom this time. Each 6-min lecture was followed by a 10-min discussion, where they exchanged their ideas on what was excellent about the lecture, what points were improved, what points still needed improvement, and how they could be improved. The observers were able to examine the lecture from various perspectives since they consisted of both who took the lecture for the first time and the second time.

[5] Wrap-up (16:30–17:00)
Lastly, participants organized what they learned, what kind of questions they had, and what they wanted to bring back to their own work through group activities and Q&A sessions.

3. Participants’ Reactions
The affiliation of 26 participants was as follows: 11 faculty or staff members of the university or technical college, 6 graduate students or postdocs, three teachers or staff members of junior/senior high school, two teachers or staff members of elementary school, two teachers or staff members of vocational school, and two company employees. According to the five-point scale question asking the degree of satisfaction (Extremely satisfied; Very satisfied; Satisfied; Not so satisfied; Dissatisfied), 56 percent of the respondents were “extremely satisfied,” 40 percent were “very satisfied,” and 4 percent were “satisfied.” According to another five-point scale question asking whether participation in the workshop would affect your future practice (Yes (very much); Yes; No (not so much); No (not at all); Unsure), 35 percent of the respondents answered “Yes (very much),” 61 percent answered “Yes,” and 4 percent answered, “No (not so much).”
Here are some of the feedback we received in the comment section:

• “I was able to gain new perspectives through receiving feedback from people with various backgrounds.” (Lecturer of the microteaching sessions)
• “It was great that we had a chance to actually refine our lectures for the second trial on the same day, not just examining the first ones.” (Lecturer of the microteaching sessions)
• “The program became a good opportunity for me to organize the viewpoints to examine classes.” (Observer of the microteaching sessions)

4. Preview of the Next Program
We are planning to hold a one-day seminar on syllabuses on Sunday, November 11th. Details are to be announced. We look forward to your participation.

References
Videos “Interactive Teaching” JREC-IN website UTokyo FD website
Book “Interactive Teaching” (Kawai Publishing, 2017)
https://www.kawai-publishing.jp/book/?isbn=978-4-7772-1794-6 (Kawai Publishing website)

Nagafumi Nakamura (Project Researcher in charge of “Interactive Teaching” / Main Moderator of this event)