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For IT-enhanced Teaching

How to develop the use of IT in your teachingSeven Suggestions from Professor Tips
For IT-enhanced Teaching

How to develop the use of IT in your teaching

Center for the Studies of Higher Education
Center for Information Media Studies
Nagoya University
Furo, Chikusa, Nagoya 464-8601, JapanPhone+81 52 789 5696
Fax
+81 52 789 5695
E-mailinfo@cshe.nagoya-u.ac.jp
URL
http://www.cshe.nagoya-u.ac.jp/

ISBN 978-4-86293-020-0
March 25th, 2008 (the first edition)
Printed in Japan
Copyright © 2008 by Center for the Studies of Higher Education, Nagoya University.
All rights reserved.

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PrefaceThis booklet was originally written in Japanese and compiled by the Centerfor the Studies of Higher Education (CSHE) at Nagoya University. This
English edition aims at showing the status of Japanese practices on higher
education to researchers, practitioners and trainers in the world, which would
facilitate further discussion.

Seven Suggestions from Professor Tips
The Seven Suggestions from Professor Tips is a series of booklets compiled by theCenter for the Studies of Higher Education (CSHE) at Nagoya University. The
series aim at improving the quality of teaching and learning at the university.
Quality of education would be stepped up with tiny improvements ofeveryday practice by stakeholders, such as students, faculty members,
academic and student affairs staff members, university executives, etc.
Therefore, each booklet offers each stakeholder suggestions for daily practice
categorized by purposes. Moreover, the quality would be much enrichedwhen efforts towards it by different stakeholders are integrated. Accordingly,
all the booklets use the same framework of purposes, that is, the sevensuggestions for better teaching and learning at university. We named theperson who gives the suggestions as Professor Tips, a fictitious character who
was first featured in the book, Learn with the Professor Tips: How to DevelopYour Course Design, authored by members of the CSHE.

For IT-enhanced Teaching- How to develop the use of IT in you teachingThis booklet offers suggestions and specific ideas for faculty members andteaching assistants to realize quality education by using new information andcommunications tools such as the Internet and e-mail. Thus, this booklet
contains ideas developed and improved from the existing booklet for faculty
members, from the viewpoint of IT use.
Technology has great impact on education. History proves this. Type printing
technology enabled the distribution of textbooks and reference literature to allstudents, while video equipment enabled the use of video images in class.
Similarly, modern ITs, such as the Internet and e-mail system, have great
potential to further develop the form of teaching.

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Many instructors in Japanese universities are already teaching with IT. But
teaching cannot be improved simply by introducing new technologies; it isimproved by making effective use of the characteristics of such technologies.
Suppose you planned a discussion to deepen your students’ understanding ofyour teaching. Often you do not have enough time for discussion during theclass period. In such a case, an electronic bulletin board that can be accessedfrom anywhere via the Internet would be an effective means of holding
discussions outside the class period. However, valuable discussions cannot berealized simply by preparing a bulletin board. Additional actions, such as
notifying users of the bulletin board rules in advance, encouraging students tocheck the bulletin board often, intervening in the discussion to clarify a point
so as to avoid confusion, and inviting external specialists may be needed toensure the success of discussions outside the class period.
In this booklet, sample cases gathered through various surveys conducted on
and off campus, which were compiled in a database and organized based on
the framework of the Seven Suggestions from Professor Tips, are summarized
and presented in simple expressions. The aim of this booklet is to identify thegood teaching practices and knowledge of each instructor, and offer aframework to promote the wide sharing of such knowledge. The IT-enhanced
teaching mentioned in this booklet refers to teaching using e-mail, bulletinboards, websites on the Internet, personal websites and WebCT, a teachingsupport system. This booklet contains many ideas that can be easily
introduced by instructors who have not yet used IT in their teaching.
The basic concept of this booklet comes from the Seven Principles for Good
Practice in Undergraduate Education, which was developed by the American
Association of Higher Education. Based on these principles, the Seven
Suggestions from Professor Tips was developed, employing advanced concepts,
for use in Japanese universities. Unlike the other booklets, this IT-enhanced
teaching booklet was developed jointly by the Center for the Studies ofHigher Education and the Center for Information Media Studies of Nagoya
University. The teaching practice samples accumulated by the WebCT User
Society, an organization consisting of faculty members implementing
IT-enhanced teaching in Japan, were highly useful materials for thedevelopment of this booklet. We believe that, with the addition of thisIT-enhanced teaching booklet, the Seven Suggestions from Professor Tips becamea highly original work.
We hope that this booklet will prove effective for good practice in academic
and student affairs, as well as for reflection on their practice by otherstakeholders.

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How to use the Seven Suggestions from Professor Tips
The following are the possible uses of this booklet:
1. The seven suggestions are written in simple and easy-to-remember
sentences. You can use them as a framework to organize and systemize what
you usually keep in mind and try to do.
2. The 49 ideas presented may include ideas that you have never tried. If you
are interested in any of these ideas, why not you try them in your teaching?
Particularly, ideas that appear high on the list can be easily implemented,
even by the instructors who have not used IT much in their teaching.
3. The Seven Suggestions from Professor Tips series contains other booklets.
You are encouraged to read the booklets for faculty members, students, staff,
and the executives. These booklets are closely related, suggesting what each of
the entities - faculty, students, staff, and the executives - should do to achieve
the same goal. Especially, the booklet for faulty members, which comprises
general teaching ideas, would be very useful. If you hand out copies of thebooklet for students in class, the effectiveness of your teaching improvement
approach will be enhanced.
4. You may have better ideas than those contained in this booklet. Please let us
know at the Center for the Studies of Higher Education about what you thinkis important or what you find effective in your teaching. Your ideas will be
helpful for future revisions.

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Suggestion 1

Increase opportunities to contact students

A big advantage of using IT is that it increases your contact withstudents beyond the classroom space. You can receive students’questions or give advice on their learning without limitations oftime and space. In addition to teaching in classrooms, why not
introduce e-mail, electronic bulletin boards and other means thatenable contact with students outside the classroom, thereby
enhancing student participation in class and increasing learning
effect?
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Call your students by their individual names in e-mails.
Tell your e-mail address to your students to accept questions
via e-mail.
Via e-mail, quickly recommend newspaper articles or TV programs that are relevant to the course subject.
Introduce websites that provide information about the instructor’s research achievements.
Post an invitation message from the instructor on the bulletinboard, to make students feel easier about posting their opinions.
Send a welcome e-mail to each student immediately after the
beginning of a course to show your expectations.
Transmit relevant information on a regular basis using theclass website.

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Suggestion 2

Encourage cooperation among students inlearning
It is not easy for students to get together to study outside the classperiod. By using IT, however, students are able to study incooperation with others through the Internet, without meeting. But
cooperative learning cannot easily occur spontaneously. It istherefore encouraged to facilitate an atmosphere or system thatencourages cooperative learning.

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Have students introduce themselves on the bulletin board after
the first class.
Feedback on questions received via e-mail should be madeavailable to everyone, using a bulletin board or mailing list.
Prepare mailing lists or bulletin boards that can be used by
students’ groups.
Disclose the group’s learning achievements on the Internet.
Tell students to have preliminary discussions, using a bulletinboard, prior to classroom discussion.
Appreciate the courage of the student who speaks first in a
discussion on the bulletin board.
Offer opportunities for students to mutually comment or evaluate their learning achievements.

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Suggestion 3

Encourage students’ active learning

Even if IT is introduced for teaching, high learning effects cannot
be expected from passive learning. You are encouraged to employ
IT as a tool to support students’ active learning. Use of IT will
enable students to write, store or transmit on the Internet what
they have learned or what they think.

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Have students write their study plans on the bulletin board toenhance their motivation for learning.
Have students write reviews on reference literature and post
them on the bulletin board.
Introduce useful websites or mailing lists for students’ learning.
Take in good teaching materials available on the Internet foryour teaching activities.
Give assignments that are combined with fieldwork or otheractivities, so that students can’t complete them simply via
computers.
Post on the website sample tests and exercises that are notused for exams.
Prepare some tests that students can take repeatedly, using theonline test system, until they pass.

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Suggestion 4

Encourage students to review their progress oflearning
For students, confirming how far they have progressed toward thegoal of the course provides them with important information
regarding their subsequent progress. It also gives instructors agood opportunity to check their teaching pace. The use of IT alsoenables instructors to give frequent and individual feedback, so as
to help students review their learning.

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Respond to students’ questions, sent via e-mail, within twodays or as soon as possible.
Contact by e-mail students who cannot keep up with the classor are often absent.
After a regular examination, post on the website interpretations of any problems that many students could not answer
correctly.
Introduce activities using e-mail that enable quick feedback
and revision of students’ reports.
Make available the recording or video files of the class, to be
used in preparation or review.
Have students set up a portfolio website to summarize theirlearning achievements.
Notify students of their learning conditions and grade distribution, to keep them aware of their positions in class.

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Suggestion 5

Emphasize time on task

While the importance of learning outside of class seems to be
widely understood, many instructors find it difficult to encourage
students to learn outside of the class period. Use of IT will enablefrequent asking and answering of questions, and will support
students’ learning outside of the class period by enabling instant
distribution to many students of teaching materials and exercisesfor preparation and review.

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Tell students to check e-mails and bulleting boards at least
twice a week.
Indicate the expected number of opinions that a student
should post on a bulletin board.
At the beginning of a course, put the teaching schedule and alist of assignment deadlines on the website.
Send e-mails to notify students that an assignment deadline isapproaching.
Intervene in discussions by posting opinions on a bulletinboard that may be helpful in clarifying the point of discussion,
so as to avoid confusion.
Prepare materials on the website that can be used by students
for preparation or review to encourage their learning outsideof the class period.
Instruct students to print out materials to be used in class, so as
to save time in distributing materials to many students.

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Suggestion 6

Communicate high expectations for students

Use of IT will simplify the sharing of learning achievements. By
showing excellent learning achievements in a class, instructors can
not only praise the good students, but also stimulate otherstudents. Students are required to be aware of rules and manners
because IT enables access and information transmission to theworld beyond the classroom.

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Introduce the websites relating to the most advanced researchin the field relevant to the course.
Tell students that their learning achievements will be releasedon the Internet, to encourage them to write for wide range ofreaders.
Have good achievements shared in class, to show examples ofgood learning achievements.
Teach the importance of respecting the writings of others, andshow how to cite information from the Internet.
Ask outside specialists for comments on students’ learningachievements.
If you know the author of any literature used in class, collect
students’ comments and questions and send them to the author.
Prepare advanced learning resources on a website for motivated students.

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Suggestion 7

Respect student diversity

Vitality can be generated in a university by accepting the fact thatvarious students have different learning styles and characteristics.
By using IT, students can partake of various learning experiencethat meet diverse learning needs. Student diversity should beviewed as a means of broadening students’ views and enhancing
educational effects, not as a factor that hinders teaching.

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Teach students that the Internet is a tool that enables them to
get in touch with various ways of thinking, positions and experiences.
Check students’ environment for the use of computers andskills, and be careful not to create a digital divide in class.
Offer orientation for students who are not good at using computers.
Prepare a bulletin board that allow anonymous posting of opinions about the class.
Do not overlook any discriminatory or inappropriate expressions in class; use such occasions to increase students’ awareness.
Offer several types of materials or assignments for outside of
the class period, to offer students choices.
Promote collaboration with researchers or students in overseas
universities in teaching.

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Notes

The original Japanese edition had notes as shown below;

1. For those who are interested in using IT tools at Nagoya University, theCenter for Information Media Studies offers the following services:• WebCT (Teaching support system)
All the IT tools introduced in this booklet, including mailing list, bulletinboard and small tests creation services, are available with WebCT.
• Mailing list for class• Website for class
For further details, contact the Center for Information Media Studies
office.
E-mailoffice@media.nagoya-u.ac.jp

2. Your feedback regarding impressions of this booklet, suggestions for
improvements, or important ideas not included in this booklet, is always
welcome.
E-mailinfo@cshe.nagoya-u.ac.jp

3. A website (in Japanese) is available for those who are interested in ideasthat could not be included in this booklet and the contents of the otherbooklets.
URL

http://www.cshe.nagoya-u.ac.jp/seven/12

References

Center for the Studies of Higher Education, Nagoya University, 2005, “Development ofSeven Suggestions from Professor Tips (Tokushoku GP Serial Reports vol.3)”.
EMIT Japan, 2005, WebCT: e-learning community changes university, Tokyo Denki
University Press.
Ikeda, T., Todayama, K., Chikada, M., & Nakai, T., 2001, Learn with the Professor Tips :How to Develop Your Course Design, Tamagawa University Press.
Japan WebCT User Society, 2003-2005, “WebCT User Conference Abstracts”, annual
issues.
Japan WebCT User Society, 2003-2005, “WebCT Workshops Abstracts”,ٛ annual issues.
Nakai, T. & Nakajima, H., 2005, “Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate
Education”, Nagoya Journal of Higher Education, 5: 283-299.
Nakai, T., Yamazato, T., Nakajima, H., & Okada, H., 2003, e-Learning Handbook,
Manahouse.

Authors for Japanese edition (2006)
Center for the Studies of Higher Education, Nagoya University
Kazuhisa Todayama
Tatsuya Natsume
Masahiro Chikada
Toshiki Nakai
Tomoko Torii
Hidehiro Nakajima
Yoshiko SaitohCenter for Information Media Studies, Nagoya University
Takaya Yamazato
Hiraku Okada

Translation
Center for the Studies of Higher Education, Nagoya University
Toshiki Nakai
Yoshiko Saitoh

Illustration
Skhole Co., Ltd.
Printing
DAITEC Co., Ltd.

ISBN9784862930200Center for the Studies of Higher Educaon
Nagoya University