Syllabus. “The University of Tokyo
Global Future Faculty Development Program”
Course title
UTokyo Global Future Faculty Development Program

Common Graduate Course Title (credits)
Teaching Development in Higher Education in English (2cred.)

Teaching-learning environment
Hybrid: online (Zoom) & in-person (information in this page)

Lecturer

Contact & course’s website

Dr. Gabriel Hervas

utokyo_fd@he.u-tokyo.ac.jp
https://utokyofd.com/en/ffdp/about(Image with the logo of UTokyo Global FFDP in a circle)

Office hours & location•

Lecturer’s office: Hongo Campus. Administration Bureau Building 2 (3rd floor). Office 314.

•

Office hours: Monday & Tuesday (8am-5pm). You are welcome any other time if I am the office.

•Staff & office: Ms. Airi Kawakami. Office 304 (same building).

•

In-person classroom: Hongo Campus. Graduate School of Education. Classroom 357.

•

Accessibility: All in person classes take place at buildings with ramps and elevators. Please, do not hesitate to let us know
if we can be of aid to access. Accessibility map: http://ds.adm.u-tokyo.ac.jp/material/pdf/20190403133321.pdf

Course summary
The University of Tokyo Global Future Faculty Development Program (UTokyo Global FFDP) aims to contribute to theeducational development of future university teachers. Participants learn about teaching & learning methods andassessment strategies, how to enhance students’ active learning, how to design a syllabus and lessons with a learner-directed
approach, and how to engage into the teaching profession maintaining an inclusive stance.
The course emphasizes the development of a critical and scholarly approach to the teaching profession, inviting theparticipants to learn through reflection, discussion, and learning by doing. The course is based on flipped classroom;
participants watch short videos before the class and in class discuss, reflect, and practice with their peers.
On its first edition, participants came from 15 different countries and four continents, all from diverse disciplines. This
diversity enriches the participants’ learning experience and their chances to face the teaching practice inclusively, as it brings
to discussion disciplinary, contextual, and culturally diverse points-of-view on education.
If you want to know how the course looks like, please check this video: https://youtu.be/_XlmCsTAMPAEnrollment, registration, credits, and certificate
Enrollment criteria (participants and observers) & technological requirements
Participants can be graduate students, researchers, and faculty members of The University of Tokyo (up to 20). Selection
is made considering the expression of motivation to participate, experience in similar courses, a balance among disciplines,
and English skills. In addition, we welcome observers from ours and other institutions.
There are no technological requirements to participate in this course other than having access to Google Classroom andZoom (both are freely available to for UTokyo students and staff). If you are interested in participating and find any
difficulties in obtaining the necessary means, please reach the lecturer so we can find a find a way to support you.

Course registration, credits, and certificate of completion
UTokyo Global FFDP is also a Common Graduate Course. Graduate students can earn two credits (in UTAS, the course
appears under the title “Teaching Development in Higher Education in English”). To earn credits, once your enrollment has
been accepted, please register in the course following the procedures of your School.
A certificate of completion will be issued to those participants who successfully complete the course.

Main goals of the course
UTokyo Global FFDP seeks to contribute to the training of future faculty members. To do so, it aims to:Promote professional & educational reflection, discussion, and critical pedagogical thinking.

Contribute to the development of key educational & transversal competences to support learner-directed teachinglearning processes.



Nurture a scholarly, evidence-based, inclusive & ethical approach to teaching to educational research.

Provide learning by doing opportunities for a congruent educational development.

Support a cross-cultural & global approach to the academic profession and to teaching and learning.

Cultivate continuous development, lifelong learning, and community-building attitudes and opportunities.

Main intended learning outcomes
Upon successful completion of the course (at a fundamental level), participants should be able to:Provide and reason substantial insights on the significance, implications, and professional requirements of fulfilling
the role of educator when becoming a university teacher.



Maintain a scholarly, evidence-based, critical, & reflective pedagogical stance to their educational practice.

Design syllabi and design and deliver lessons considering an active learner-directed approach.

Design and develop teaching and learning schemes that align goals, strategies, and assessment.

Design syllabi and design/deliver lessons from an ethical, inclusive, and responsible perspective.

Critically assess and review their educational ideas, practices, and designs.



Determine their professional learning needs and articulate a continuous development plan to satisfy them.

Contents, structure, and schedule
The contents of the course involve knowledge and practical skills and attitudes necessary to teach at universities.
This table resumes these, pedagogical questions that we seek to answer, and the course’s structure and schedule (subject toupdates that would be notified with anticipation). The main assignments of the course and their deadlines are included in adifferent document available at the beginning of the course.
Session No.
(date)
DAY 0 (in-person)(May 16th)

Main contents (Overall description)

DAY 1 (online)(May 23rd)

The science of learning. How do students learn?

DAY 2 (online)(May 30th)

Teaching-learning methods, strategies, & techniques. How can we contribute to the students’ learning?

Briefing
We introduce ourselves, present the course, explore the learning environment, and solve doubts before beginning.
We explore and discuss what the science of learning tells us about how people learn and its practical implications over thedesign of our courses and lessons. Many of these ideas involve an inclusive approach to education.
We build on Day 1 to discuss active learning and learn and practice in relation with different methods, strategies and techniquesthat promote it. Among others, we address flipped classroom, peer-instruction, TBL, jigsaw, fishbowl, etc.

DAY 3 (online)(June 6th)

Assessment, feedback, and rubrics. How can we obtain information on how/what students learn?
We learn and practice in relation with the different purposes of assessment, when/how/who can be involved, and its
connections with formative feedback. Also, we practice the creation of questions for multiple-choice tests and rubrics.

DAY 4 (in-person)(June 20th)

Course and syllabus design. How can we design and improve our courses and syllabi?
We learn and practice in relation with course and syllabus design, exploring their different components (with special emphasis
on learning outcomes), and the integration of what we learnt on Day 2 and Day 3.

DAY 5 (in-person)(June 27th)

Class design. How can we design, deliver, and improve our classes?
Building on the previous sessions, we learn and practice in relation with how to structure a class and its components/sequence.
Participants design a brief class that they will teach in the following days.

DAY 6 (in-person)(July 11th)

Class design & instruction I. How can we design, deliver, and improve our classes?

DAY 7 (in-person)(July 18th)

Class design & instruction II. How can we design, deliver, and improve our classes?

DAY 8 (in-person)(July 25th)

Deconstructing knowledge & career paths. Is what we learnt unquestionable? Which is my path as a university teacher?

We teach the brief class designed during Day 5 and receive constructive feedback from our peers to improve it.
We teach the same class (modified after receiving feedback) and we receive feedback to continue improving it.
We problematize some contents addressed during the course, generating reflection and critical thinking. Also, we address our
career paths as academics in higher education and reflect about our future career paths.

The following is a visual representation of the contents of the course and their connections.

(Image with the graphic syllabus of UTokyo Global FFDP)

Teaching and learning methods
The following are the key features of this course in terms of its methods and format:
 Flipped classroom. Different sessions require to, beforehand, watch a video to fruitfully participate in class.
 Hybrid. The course combines online (Zoom platform) and in-person sessions (see schedule).
 Google Classroom as a learning management system (materials, communications, assignments, etc.).
 Learning by doing & experiential learning. Participants learn by creating teaching materials (rubrics, syllabi,
classes, etc.) and by going through learner-directed and active learning strategies that emphasize self-/peerreflection, discussion, and collaboration (jigsaw, poster tour, fishbowl, etc.).
 Active engagement. (Meaningful) active engagement and contributions of the participants are encouraged.
These are relevant for learning and permit to assess the fulfillment of diverse learning outcomes (note that thisdoes not mean that the participants are forced to talk even when they do not have anything meaningful to say).

Assessment and grading
Assessment in this course is a continuous process with two goals: (1) Offering qualitative feedback to guide learning, and(2) gathering information to adjust the course to the participants’ learning moment.
Grading involves a 100-point allotment system and includes two segments involving activities to demonstrate theachievement of the learning outcomes. To complete the course, participants need to pass both segments (assessment criteria
are shared at the beginning of the course):a)Engagement & contribution during the classes: 25 points. Quality and quantity of the participants’ contributions
during the classes/groupwork (to assess by the participants through peer-/self-assessment and by the lecturer).

b)

Assignments: 75 points. Mainly assessed by the lecturer with sporadic peer-assessment.
Syllabus design: 25 points

Class design & instruction: 25 points

Other class assignments: 25 points

Course “policies”
These are basic policies to follow the course satisfactorily. They are open to the participants’ insights, and we will make ourbest to accommodate personal circumstances, so please let us know when these emerge.


Attendance. The course relies on cooperation and each day builds on the prior. To complete the course, you should
not be absent for four or more periods (each day is two periods). In case of absence, please inform the lecturer on the
day before the class (points might be deducted for unjustified absence).
Exception. Days 5, 6, and 7 are essential for several intended learning outcomes and involve the participants in
peer-feedback. For this reason, participants can miss only one out of these three days.



Cameras. In principle, we request the use of cameras during the online sessions (to be discussed).

Plagiarism. When using information/excerpts/images from other sources, we expect the participants to cite themadequately. Also, if an Artificial Intelligence system (e.g., ChatGPT) is used for a task, this needs to be made explicit
and argued. This are key ethical policies and points will be deducted if they are not respected.

Inclusion, equity, & accessibility statement
It is our goal to create a learning experience that is as safe, inclusive, equitable, accessible, and welcoming. If you
anticipate (or through the course experience) any issues related to the design or instruction of the course, please do nothesitate to write us as soon as possible so we can work together in exploring any alternatives. This includes methods andassignments, but also participation, access to resources/materials, etc. We are committed to this, and we are happy toconsider any adjustments if they do not alter the purpose of the course; let us know your ideas and feedback at any moment
so we can make the course more accessible and inclusive, they are more than welcome.

Personal message to the participantsThis is Gabriel, lecturer of the course. If you read the whole syllabus to this point, congratulations and thank you! If not (…),
try to do it as it can solve some doubts that might emerge later.
UTokyo Global FFDP has been created with a lot of dedication and passion (trust me) by people who firmly believe that
education and teachers are key societal pillars and that university students also should learn with teachers who know about
the discipline and about “teaching the discipline”. If you are here, you probably share this idea. UTokyo Global FFDP ismeant for you and others with similar interests, but diverse backgrounds. You might be interested in this: the first edition
brought together participants from 15 countries (four continents) and disciplines.
The course aims to offer the opportunity to stop, reflect and discuss about topics that, once we begin to teach, we have lesstime to address. That is why we emphasize reflection and discussion with your peers, which become even more valuable if
we consider the possibility of teaching anywhere in the world.
Still, let me say this: it is not possible to learn all there is to learn and “master” a discipline (pedagogy) and a profession(teacher) in eight sessions. This means that, after the course, you will continue feeling the need of knowing more and ofdeveloping your skills. This is natural and nothing to worry about.
For this reason, within a safe and respectful learning environment, you will be invited to share your ideas, but also to reexplore them. The self-analysis of assumptions turns out to be key in the training of teachers and is a crucial competence
to develop to promote continuous learning. With teaching and learning we face an interesting situation. Even if you havenever taught, you have spent many years of your life participating in teaching and learning processes. This means that you
already have a lot of ideas about such processes; this is even truer if you have teaching experience but never received formal
educational training.
Nevertheless, experience, as a student or a teacher, is not enough and anyone with the responsibility (and joy) of teachingneeds to undergo his/her own learning process. This no different to what we expect from other professionals (medical
doctors, accountants, mechanics, architects, lawyers, chemists, etc.). But again, if you are here, you most likely share theseideas. Hence, all there is for me to say is: come in and welcome! We are looking forward to learning with you.

Useful references
This a list of relevant (non-compulsory) references. If you do not have access to them or need support to readthem, please reach the lecturer. A more comprehensive and diverse list will be shared each session.
Ambrose, S. A., Bridges, M. W., DiPietro, M., Lovett, M. C., & Norman, M. K. (2010). How learning works: Seven research-based
principles for smart teaching. John Wiley & Sons.



Bain, K. (2004). What the best college teachers do. Harvard University Press.

Barkley, E. F., & Major, C. H. (2015). Learning assessment techniques: A handbook for college faculty. Jossey-Bass.



Biggs, J. & Tang, C. (2011). Teaching for Quality Learning at University. Buckingham: Open University Press/McGraw Hill.



Carless, D., Bridges, S. M., Chan, C. K. Y., & Glofcheski, R. (Eds.). (2017). Scaling up assessment for learning in higher education.
Springer.



Gagné, R. M., Briggs, L. J., & Wager, W. W. (1992). Principles of instructional design (4th Ed.). H.B. Jovanovich College.



Griffin, P., & Care, E. (Eds.). (2014). Assessment and teaching of 21st century skills: Methods and approach. Springer.



Irons, A., & Elkington, S. (2021). Enhancing learning through formative assessment and feedback. Routledge.

Langley, G. J., et al. (2009). The improvement guide (2nd Ed.). Jossey-Bass.



Nilson, L. B. (2016). Teaching at its best: A research-based resource for college instructors. John Wiley & Sons.



Nilson, L. B., & Goodson, L. A. (2021). Online teaching at its best (2nd Ed.). Jossey-Bass.



Nisbet, J., & Shucksmith, J. (2017). Learning strategies. Routledge.

Orlich, D. C., Harder, R. J., Callahan, R. C., Trevisan, M. S., & Brown, A. H. (2012). Teaching strategies: A guide to effective instruction.
Cengage Learning.

Villa, R., & Thousand, J. (2016). The Inclusive Education Checklist: A Self-Assessment of Best Practices. Dude Publishing.



Oakley, B., Rogowsky, B., & Sejnowski, T. J. (2021). Uncommon sense teaching. TarcherPerigee.



Winstone, N., & Carless, D. (2020). Designing effective feedback processes in higher education: A learning-focused approach.
Routledge.