News

The following is a brief summary of DAY 3 of the Real Session held on July 31st (Fri), 2026.

• ■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] (9:40–12:40)
• 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.

• [AP/TP Chart Creation] (13:30–17:00)
• Participants were divided into two groups according to their needs and respectively created a chart: an AP chart (Instructor: Kurita) or a TP chart (Instructor: Nabeta). 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] (17:00–17:10)
• Participants reflected on the entire session and individually organized what they had learned and their thoughts.

• [Award of Certificate of Completion] (17:10–17:30)
• The certificates of completion were awarded to participants.

• ■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 respondents (88.9%) rated “5” (the highest). Furthermore, again eight respondents (88.9%) 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?

“While I was already familiar with active learning techniques such as “Think-Pair-Share,” “Jigsaw Method,” “Poster Tour,” and “Peer Instruction” from the online lectures, the Real Session gave me numerous opportunities to experience them firsthand in a classroom setting. Experiencing their benefits and challenges directly allowed me to deepen my understanding in a truly meaningful way, while also providing a valuable opportunity to reflect on my own approach to course design. The microteaching practices were particularly valuable. After designing a 6-minute lesson in advance, I delivered it to a small group on the first day. Based on the specific feedback I received from the instructors and fellow participants, I refined the lesson and taught it again on the third day. It allowed me to directly see how much the teaching had improved. While online learning is convenient, the Real Session provided a plenty of practical insights and realizations that simply cannot be replicated online. Moreover, learning alongside participants from diverse professional backgrounds offered rich, multifaceted perspectives that made the experience exceptionally worthwhile.”

“(1) Instructional Skills and High-Quality Content Beyond Prof. Kurita’s masterfully paced delivery, rich content, and exceptional instructional skills, the smooth management by the administrative staff and the use of peer dialogue to deepen understanding made the entire workshop a fully realized “ideal educational model.” (2) The Impact of the “Collaborative Learning Design” ・Acquiring Practical Knowledge: The 6-minute microteaching by highly driven participants from across the country yielded countless adaptable ideas, ranging from analog techniques to DX tools. ・Peer Evaluation and Expanded Perspectives: Evaluating a diverse array of lessons built on participants’ unique backgrounds helped me identify areas for improvement for my teaching while developing a more objective, elevated viewpoint. ・Core Understanding of Methodologies: Experiencing active learning techniques firsthand as a student allowed me to feel their impact directly, cementing the key insight that “these techniques are a means to an end, not the goal itself” and learning an effective way of their application. (3) Holistic Structuring Through Self-Reflection: Creating the “Teaching Portfolio” visually organized my current status, challenges, teaching philosophy, and core beliefs. Furthermore, the flow of “individual work → pair work → review” clearly highlighted my current gaps and immediate priorities. (4) The Value of the Program Reflected in the Repeat Participant Rate: I was pleasantly surprised to learn that 4 out of the 12 participants were attending for their second or third consecutive time. As the participants commented, “It is worth continuing to learn rather than considering learning a one-time experience” and “It provides an opportunity to regularly review and make adjustments.”, the session is also an exceptionally high-quality setting for continuous learning.”

“Being able to gather and interact with others in person, and gain insights into ideas and perspectives that I would not have noticed on my own / Being able to have real experiences to maximize the effectiveness of education through the carefully designed curriculum / Being impressed by how comprehensive and well-organized the materials were / The excellent teamwork among Kurita-san, Park-san, Nabeta-san, and Kawakami-san, and the friendly atmosphere they created, which provided an environment where I felt psychologically safe”

 

●Other remarks and comments

“Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to participate in the Real Session. The online lectures were also very comprehensive, so I initially thought that “the online sessions might be sufficient on their own.” However, after actually participating in the in-person session, I was deeply impressed by how much learning and interaction can only take place face-to-face. It made me realize how enriching, enjoyable, and effective in-person learning can be. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Professor Kurita and all the other instructors who provided us with guidance and advice, as well as to all the staff members who worked so thoughtfully behind the scenes to create a safe and supportive learning environment. Beyond the classes themselves, you also thoughtfully prepared delicious lunches, shared snacks, and a social gathering, allowing us to learn in a warm and welcoming atmosphere throughout. The social gathering was also incredibly fun! I hope to apply what I learned from this experience to my teaching practice in the future. Thank you again very much.”

“As I mentioned in the section on what I found particularly valuable, it was an extremely meaningful and rewarding experience, and I learned a great deal. I was also deeply impressed by Professor Kurita and everyone’s attitude toward education, as well as by their warmth and character. In our day-to-day work, we rarely have opportunities to interact with people in different roles, learn from one another, or reflect on our work from multiple perspectives. I am truly grateful to have been given this opportunity, and I hope to share what I have learned with those around me as well. If possible, I would very much like to participate again next year. Thank you very much.”

“I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the four instructors for all their support and guidance throughout the three-day in-person session. I believe that receiving a certificate of completion should not be the end of the journey. Rather, receiving the certificate should mark a new starting point, and what matters most is what we can do with what we have learned afterward.”

“It was a truly wonderful seminar, and I was deeply impressed by the generosity of the University of Tokyo. I would highly recommend it to my colleagues at my company. Thank you very much for everything over the 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?
• It was the fifth time to hold the Real Session as an event of Coursera “Interactive Teaching.” The responses to our questionnaire show that many of the participants learned a lot from the Real Session. We were able to successfully complete the event thanks to the understanding and cooperation of all those who attended. We sincerely appreciate it. We were also delighted to welcome many returning participants this time, allowing the session to serve as an opportunity for continued learning as well. We are eager to develop/run events based on the feedback. We are going to organize various education-/FD-events, so we hope that many people will join our future events. Details are to be announced. We look forward to your participation.

• ■References
• Coursera “Interactive Teaching” https://www.coursera.org/learn/interactive-teaching
• UTokyo Channel “Teaching Development in Higher Education / UTokyo Future Faculty Program” https://ch.u-tokyo.ac.jp/series/?id=zzO4GfN9iDf6
• Coursera “Learn How to Teach by 6 Min. Micro Teaching” https://www.coursera.org/learn/6min-micro-teaching

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

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