Interview Articles on Practices toImprove Class Quality Volume 15

INTERVIEW WITH
PROFESSOR SHIN KIMIECHANGESAND GOALSIN APU’SFIRST YEAREDUCATION

PROFESSOR SHIN KIMIE
From the observations of Academic
Learning Resource Core Staff(ALCRS) Project Q-Team members,
the APU campus has witnessed asurge of excitement and enthusiasm in the AY 2023 Springsemester. Factors contributing tothis positive atmosphere include
the opening of our new College of
Sustainability and Tourism (ST)and the revision of our curriculum,
including courses under APU's evercrucial Education Development andLearning Support Center (EDLSC).
In this semester's Project Q articles,
we hope to help faculty members
navigate these new frontiers byinterviewing and analyzing theteaching methods of two celebrated
professors from the ST and EDLSC
departments.

VOL. 15

2023 SPRING Edition IIInterview Articles on Practices to Improve Class Quality

I. INTRODUCTION
1. PLEASE INTRODUCEYOURSELF, PROFESSOR
I currently specialize in Student Development Theory with a background insociolinguistics, cultural anthropology,and girei studies. Based on thisfoundation, I now support student leadership activities by instructing classes andtraining on the elements of leadershipdevelopment that students experience inboth class and extracurricular activities.

II. FIRST-YEAR EDUCATION AT APU
1. CAN YOU TELL US SOME OF THE CHARACTERISTICS AND UNIQUE
POINTS OF FIRST-YEAR EDUCATION AT APU COMPARED TO OTHER
UNIVERSITIES’ PROGRAMS?
The goal of first-year education is toprovide students with university-levelattitudes, skills, and approaches to learning. To achieve such goals, students must
transition from the passive learning stylein high school to the active, independentstyle required in university. This principle of first-year education has been
incorporated by universities nationwide.
At APU, however, we have the additional
challenge of preparing students to entera multicultural environment. Conducting
first-year education that motivates students
towards
intercultural
understanding is a feature of APU, andMulticulturalCooperative
Workshop(MCW), which is mandatory universitywide, provides this feature. Since 2011,
faculty members in charge of MCW
training have established a system inwhich APU faculty members traininternational and domestic student
leader teaching assistants (LTAs). TheLTAs in turn train international anddomestic student teaching assistants (TAs)for individual classes. Those TAs thenconductclassesfor
mixedgroupscomposed of Japanese-basis and Englishbasis students in the seminar classes. Thesystem we created in which senior peer
leaders guide exercises in all first-year
subjects is unique to our university
worldwide. APU’s first-year education is
the foundation for learning at APU in a
multicultural
campusenvironment.
Additionally, in line with APU’s 2030 vision
for cultivating individuals with the power toinfluence society, we are developing
opportunities for cooperative learning
through activities such as creating originaland socially significant “Creative SummerSchool” proposals in Japanese- and Englishbasis mixed groups in MCW and holding
workshop sessions in another first-year
subject Foundation for Global Leadership(FGL).

VOL. 152023 SPRING Edition II
2. FROM THE AY 2023 SPRING SEMESTER, THE EXISTING STUDY SKILLSAND ACADEMIC WRITING (SSAW) AND INTRODUCTION TO PEER LEADERTRAINING (PLT) COURSES HAVE BEEN CHANGED TO STUDENT SUCCESSWORKSHOP (SSW) AND FOUNDATION FOR GLOBAL LEADERSHIP (FGL).
PLEASE TELL US ABOUT THE DIFFERENCES FROM THE PREVIOUS
COURSES AND THE STRENGTHS OF THE NEW COURSES.
In the previous Introduction to PLT course,
SSW is a class in which students learn
we fostered proactive and independent
about university-style learning. The aim ofstudents by providing essential university
this course is to support newly enrolled
skills such as time management andstudents to realize success as students withdiscussion skills through collaborative
student success defined as the ability tolearning. Additionally, we introduced thelearn and ask questions independently.
concept of career design at an early stage
SSAW prior to SSW was a course thatso that students became aware of their own
focused on academic writing and enabling
four-year college journey throughout thestudents to write reports. We havecourse and incorporated guest lectures
redesigned the course as SSW to enable allfrom senior students, the Career Office, andstudents “to be capable of collaborative
alumni. For the newly offered FGL course,
learning together with their peers” and “tohowever, we place a greater emphasis on
become self-regulating learners increasing
leadership development to equip students
their metacognitive ability to analyze andwith the foundation necessary to becomechange makers in line with APU’s 2030
advance their own learning” while learning
Vision. We incorporate leadership theories
knowledge and skills for writing. In the first
into pre-reading assignments and in classsix and last three weeks, we also
we foster students who can analyze andincorporate approximately half of the classdiscuss leadership with their own expercontent from “Introduction to PLT”. SSW
iences as resources based on the reading
utilizes the flipped learning approach forassignments. We structured the course tolearning. This course structure involves
teachstudents
about
the
adaptive
experiential
learning
duringclass
leadership theory, which emphasizes theworkshops based on preparation such as
ability to transform oneself in order topreparatory notes and videos using theovercome challenges, as well as to show thefundamentals of university learning for thenecessity of leadership to not only solve
technical issues, but to approach accomtextbook.
panying adaptive challenges. At the end of
the course, Japanese-English class mixedgroup sessions are conducted to provide anopportunity for students to learn fromothers. For the final report, we ask students
to reflect on the relationship dynamics
within their mixed groups up until the lastsession and analyze how relationships among group members have progressed. In
other words, FGL emphasizes makingstudents aware of the process of group
Photo: Group-studying iceberg
connections.

VOL. 15

2023 SPRING Edition II

III. MOTIVATING STUDENTS’
INDEPENDENT LEARNING
1. CAN YOU SHARE YOUR METHODSFOR ENCOURAGING YOUR STUDENTS
TO LEARN INDEPENDENTLY?
I clearly communicate the importance ofpreparation so that students understand its
significance. It is also crucial to design asystem that incorporates preparation intoclass so that students can feel that thepreparation advanced their understanding in
the next class and that the work wasenjoyable. As a teacher, I believe I have a
responsibility to ensure that what wasprepared is used in the next class andconnects to the students’ learning, because asense of satisfaction and accomplishment inclass is very important.
2. HOW DO YOU MANAGE CLASSESAND GROUPS TO PROMOTE STUDENT
PEER LEARNING SUCH AS GROUP DISCUSSIONS?
In FGL, we use white threads to “visualize”
the discussion. In this activity, each speakerholds a ball of thread and passes it to the next
speaker when they finish speaking. At the endof the activity, the group can look at the shapeof their thread net which contains thick andthin sections, allowing them to analyze who
spoke the most, who frequently talked to thesame people, and who hardly talked at all.
This exercise helps students to develop
metacognitive skills to view their own activity.
I also make sure to communicate to studentsthat even if one person is absent from a group
work session and they think that they are only
one person who is absent, the ideas of one
person are lost as each person has ideas that
only they themselves think up for the group.
This is the basic approach of collaborative
learning in which your own learning becomesothers’ learning and others’ learning becomes
your own learning.
VOL. 15

Photo: The White
String Method

3. WHAT METHODS DO YOU
TAKE TO FACILITATE INTERCULTURALCOMMUNICATIONAMONG STUDENTS AS THE
BACKGROUNDSOFINTERNATIONAL STUDENTS BECOME
INCREASINGLY DIVERSE?
Paradoxically, we at APU understandthat there is “value in experiencing thedifficultyofinterculturalcommunication”. Of course, we teachstudents the intercultural communication theories regarding how theyshould act as individuals within a team.
However, in actual groups and teams
with multicultural members, unexpected problems inevitably arise.
What should students do when others
cannot do the things they can do? Howshould they overcome differences inopinion? How should they include andencourage members who do notparticipate in meetings? The reallearning comes when students start
having these issues. First-year education is a place to provide care andsupport so that students will navigate
university life smoothly, and my TAs,
as peer leaders, provide maximum
support to ensure that students whoare struggling to do things will work
hard without giving up.

2023 SPRING Edition II
4. HOW DO YOU USE LEARNINGTOOLS AND MODELS TO PROMOTELEARNING?
I conduct my classes based on Kolb’s
Experiential Learning Cycle. I introduce thismodel to all students in SSW, as it can beapplied throughout life. As for tools, Iintroduce learning methods such as the KJ
Method and mind maps to help students
visualize their thoughts and ideas. During thetime we transitioned to online classes, I used
an online tool called “Miro” which allowed
students to visualize discussions andbrainstorm ideas, and which I still use foracademic advising at present. Since
returning to in-person classes, however, I use
movable whiteboards and flipcharts set up in
the classroom. When ideas come up, students
write them down on post-it notes,

then group them together by content
and connect them with circles andarrows to improve the quality of thediscussion. I have also made sure toconnect students who need help in mySSW class with the Writing Center.

Photo: Mind Map
on PaperPhoto: KJ
Methodvia Miro

Photo: KJ
MethodSpatialArrangement
Diagram onPaper

Photo:Whiteboard
Mind Map

IV. LOOKING TO 2030
1. THE SIX ACTION PLANS OF THE APU 2030 VISION CONTAIN THE GOAL OF
APU BECOMING “AN ENVIRONMENT THAT IS NOT ONLY DIVERSE IN TERMS OFNATIONS AND REGIONS REPRESENTED ON CAMPUS, BUT ONE OF DIVERSITY
AND INCLUSION, EMBRACING A RICH ARRAY OF CULTURES, RELIGIONS, AND
GENDERS”. I THINK THIS GOAL IS LARGELY RELATED TO CLASSES SUCH AS
MCW AND FGL IN WHICH DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
COLLABORATE AND LEARN TOGETHER. HAVE YOU MADE ANY CHANGES TO
CLASS CONTENT TO ALIGN WITH THIS VISION?
From the 2023 curriculum, the new FGL course (Foundation for Global Leadership) has beendeveloped from the former “Introduction to Peer Leader Training” to focus more on developing
students’ global leadership skills. In this course, students study various leadership theories
through reading assignments and then come to learn about them by discussing and experiencing
the content during class. FGL places the most emphasis on the importance of relational
leadership and aims to make students cognizant of:VOL. 15

2023 SPRING Edition II(1) sharing goals, (2) inclusivity, (3)empowerment, (4) ethics and morality, and (5)reflection on processes. In addition, students
are taught not only to solve “technicalproblems” but to become aware of “adaptivechallenges”, an important approach toadaptive leadership. In the same course I
design and conduct relationship-buildingsessions organized with mixed groups ofstudents from Japanese and English classes toprovide an opportunity for students to learn withothers. By preparing an environment in which
multicultural group members must work together
towards the implementation of these sessions, thesystem is designed to have students overcome
difficulties through personal experience. The
experiences students gain from these projects
become the foundation for moving to the next levelcourses Global Leadership IIA & IIB. I would like tohave students acquire the fundamental knowledge,
attitudes, and skills required to become thechangemakers in APU’s 2030 Vision.

2. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROMAPU STUDENTS AFTER FINISHING
SSW, MCW, AND FGL?

Photo: Map of “Global Leadership” required of global citizens
in a multicultural society

I hope that my students take a step
towards what they can do in any situation
and work with those around them to makecontributions to the world in the spirit of“What should I do then?!” when facing
issues.

3. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THE TEACHERS YOU WORK WITH
GOING FORWARD?
First-year subjects are a shared effort supported by students, TAs, faculty members,and office staff. Even with the same content, experiences vary as the group memberschange and student learning is also diverse. Therefore, I hope each teacher cancontribute their unique experiences so that we can develop first-year education into arich and rewarding educational opportunity unique to APU. I also believe that weshould recognize student TAs and staff members as the collaborators with whom we
conduct education, and that we should more consciously build a learning community
through students, TAs, faculty members, and staff members.
4. ARE THERE ANY NEW PROGRAMS THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO
PROVIDE IN THE FUTURE?
As a next step for FGL, we plan to offer a new Global Leadership IIB course in the2024 Fall Semester. Global Leadership IIB is a course in which students can learn
about leadership for social impact. I think it was wonderful that many of our students
are currently actual running projects such as the former President Deguchi School
and Student Project B, managing cafes as individuals or in groups, or working onactivities such as food waste programs. However, not having opportunities to reflect
after business experiences and project implementation is a great pity. Therefore, I
hope to have students who have participated in startups and projects actively take thisnew course. Based on David Stroh’s theory of systems thinking, I would like to guidestudents to reflect on and analyze their experiences, and then apply what they learn tofuture activities from the perspective of measuring the social impact of their own
activities.
VOL. 15

INTERVIEWER’S IMPRESSIONSINTERVIEWER & AUTHOR
Name: Kando Miu
College: APM
Country: Japan
Impression: Through this interview, I again truly
realized the importance of first-year education, as theknowledge and skills learned in first-year courses
become the foundation for university life going forward.
I also discovered that each class is actually created through the collaboration of many
people, including faculty members and TAs, more than I had imagined before theinterview.

WHATISQ?
[Q]uality[Q]uestions[Q]ueue

At APU there are many professors who
put together wonderful classes, and if wecould get to know how these classes areplanned, it would contribute to theimprovement of other professors’ classes.
For that purpose, the Project Q Teamholds interviews and publishes articles toshare these good practices. Thesearticles have been entitled [Q],comprising a variety of meanings such as:increasing the [Q]uality of classes,
answering [Q]uestions to increase
quality, and forming a [Q]ueue, or line, ofclass improvements. We would be very
happy if these articles could contribute to
the [Q]uest of APU professors’ classquality improvement.
Project Q consists of student members fromthe Academic & Learning Resource Core
Staff (ALRCS) under the support of theAcademic Office Faculty Development Team.
For more information, please visit theALRCS booth based in the APU Library.

TRANSLATED BY PHAM TRAN DUC ANH