(Report)

2023.12.11 Academic Affairs Committee Meeting(Proposed by: APU Division of Academic Affairs)

Self-Check / Evaluation of “APU Data Science Program (Basic)” in the AY 2023 Spring Semester
1． Background to the Self-Check / Evaluation
The government’s “AI Strategy 2019 ~ AI for all People / Industries / Regions / Government(Resolved 2019.06.11, Integrated Innovation Strategy Promotion Council) set as a major goal “basic
knowledge required for a digital society (reading, writing, and abacus) as well as knowledge and skills
related to mathematics, data science, and AI, basic skills necessary to design new ways of society andproducts and services for a sustainable society, and for human resources to play an active role in all
fields of society.”
In response to this, as part of our “APU Data Science Program (Basic),” we began offering ondemand courses: “Special Lecture (Liberal Arts Course)” in the AY 2022 fall semester, and“Information Literacy” in the AY 2023 fall semester. On August 25, 2023 this program was certified
by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology as a Mathematics, Data
Science, and AI Education Program (Literacy Level) (“Accreditation as a Mathematics, Data Science,and AI Education Program (Literacy Level)” 2023.09.20, APU Executives’ Meeting).
To ensure the quality of this educational program, and to make further improvements, we herein
report and analyze the results of the class evaluation surveys and course-original surveys for thesecourses, and carry out self-check and self-evaluation as shown below.
2． Self-Check / Self Evaluation of “APU Data Science Program (Basic)”(1) Course Overview
Subject Name

AY 2023 Spring Semester Classes
Information Literacy JA
Information Literacy JB
Information Literacy JC
Information Literacy EA

Field

Common Liberal Arts (Societal Needs / Fundamental Skills)

Grade Level

100 Level

Targets

All 1st Semester 2023 Curriculum students

CourseRegistration
MethodAutomatically registered by the university in the 1st semester. If students decide
they do not need to register the course, they can drop it themselves during
course registration period B or Course Correction period 1. Can also re-register
the course themselves after dropping it. Students in their 2nd semester or higher,
or transfer students in their 2nd year or above, cannot register the course.

Language

J/E

Class Size

245 students

Course Format

On Demand

Grading

P/F

SemesterSpring / Fall

CourseDescription(from syllabus)This course will discuss introductory topics of internet and data science in termsof basic concepts, data processing skills, entry level knowledge to data science,
and awareness on business applications and information ethics, in real-worldcontext.
(1) Internet, information and changes happening in society (2) collecting,reading, processing and utilizing data (3) technology trends in AI in data science(4) state of the art business trends in AI and data science applications andinformation ethics.
AY 2023 Spring Semester Instructors in Charge of Grading
NISHANTHA Giguruwa APS Professor (JA、EA)
DAHLAN Nariman EDLSC Associate Professor (JB)NGUYEN Chung Huu EDLSC Part Time Lecturer (JC)Instructor in
Charge ofGrading(2) No. of Students who Registered for and Passed the Course
Course Name

Registered

PassedPass Rate

Information Literacy JA

199

193

97.0%

Information Literacy JB

207

177

85.5%

Information Literacy JC

221

214

96.8%

Information Literacy EA

218

209

95.9%

(3) Class Evaluation Survey
・Information Literacy JA : Survey Respondents: 52, Response Rate: 25.9%

・Information Literacy JB : Survey Respondents: 103, Response Rate: 49.8%

・Information Literacy JC : Survey Respondents: 63, Response Rate: 28.5%

・Information Literacy EA : Survey Respondents: 37, Response Rate: 17.0%

・Comparison with AY 2022 Fall Semester “Special Lecture (Common Liberal Arts Subject)” (OnDemand)
2023 SP Information

2022 FA Special Lecture (OnLiteracy Average

Demand) Average

Learning

3.40

4.26

Engagement

3.34

4.08

Organization

3.59

4.23

Active Learning

2.60

3.25

Depth and Breadth

3.66

4.23

Assignments

3.34

4.10

Overall

3.15

4.01

Type of Question

・Self-Check / Self Evaluation
This time, the survey results were lower for all areas compared to the on-demand subject "Special
Lecture (Common Liberal Arts Subject)" offered in the fall semester of 2022. The course content andclass recordings themselves were not changed, except for some minor corrections, so it is thought thatthe reason for the drop in the survey results is the change in the registration method and target students.
Last time the course was an elective course with a class size of 65, and students had to register for thecourse themselves. This year, the class size was set to 245, and it was automatically registered for all
1st semester students only. Students had the option of dropping the course during the course registration
period, but it seems that there were still a number of students who did not take the course willingly. Inthe free response section of the survey, some students expressed doubts about the relevance of thecourse and the fact that it had been automatically registered for them, so we reviewed the information
about this course that the course instructor shared with students at new student orientation. Goingforward we would like to share additional information about the course including the content andimportance of the course, how to register (drop) the course, and how to take the course.
In addition, even for on-demand courses we still need to ensure students have a way of discussing
topics with other students and asking the course instructor questions, so we made use of the LMS
discussion function for this purpose, but the Active Learning scores were still comparatively lower
this time. Due to the nature of on-demand courses, it is natural that the active learning scores will belower than those of in-person classes, but we will continue to make improvements so that students do
not feel disappointed with the course. One of the possible reasons for the lower Active Learning scores
this time is that we were unable to respond to students’ questions in a timely manner compared to the
AY 2022 fall semester course. In the AY 2022 fall semester the class size was set to 65, but in the AY
2023 fall semester each class had 245 1st semester students, so we saw a significant increase in thenumber of questions for instructors and TAs. In order to be able to properly respond to student
questions and inquiries, we will propose that TAs be assigned to this course under the AY 2024 TA
allocation policy, and ask that from AY 2024 onwards the instructor and TAs work together to respondto students in a timely manner.
Depth and Breadth received higher scores than the other areas, indicating that students were able
to grasp the data processing and data science concepts and theories through the course. In the classevaluation survey some students commented that the content was difficult, but many others said they
were glad they could learn about AI and information science.
(4) Original Survey of “Special Lecture (Common Liberal Arts)”
Since this course is different from other regular courses, in addition to the regular class evaluation
survey we held an additional survey with questions just for the On-Demand course.
・Survey respondents: 334
Q1: Please tell us the main times when you watched this course.
177

①空きコマ
②6:00～9：00③9:00～12:00④12:00～15:00⑤15:00～18:00⑥18:00～21:00⑦21:00～24:00⑧24:00～6:00

2
5
13
12
28
80
17
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

Q2: Please tell us the number of times you watched the classes.
①全授業1回のみ

168②授業によっては2回以上

149③全授業2回以上

17
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

Q3: Where did you mainly watch the classes?
①開放教室

6

②図書館

19

③学内その他

19

④自宅

284

⑤その他（自由記述）

6
0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Q4: Did you pause, fast forward, or rewind the videos?
312

①あった
②なかった

22
0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Q5: What device did you use to watch the classes?
①PC

324

②タブレット7③スマートフォン2④その他（自由記述）

1
0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Q6: Please tell us the good points of on-demand courses. (Multiple answers accepted)①好きな時間に授業を受けられる

280②好きな場所で授業を受けられる

183③何度も見直せる

168④速度調整や一時停止が可能

193

⑤特にない

18
0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Q7: Please tell us any negative points about your on-demand classes. (Free response) (Copied as-is,
excerpted from student responses)
・ I think it was a great experience overall but the rewind and forwarding functions on moodle aren't
very good. It only rewinds or forwards many minutes at a time which isn't ideal if we just want tolisten to a certain sentence again
・ I do know it's on demand, so I sometimes forget I had this class.
・ It's little boring, and I forget taking classes sometimes.
・ Cannot ask what I need to know immediately.
・ I think I prefer this course to be on campus one. I think on-demand courses is not suitable forunorganized people like me. The content of the course is interesting. If we have the chance tostudy on campus, I think I will have more motivation to study more seriously. Studying on-campus
also offers a chance to speak and communicate with other people so that I may understand thelecture from more than one perspective.
・ Can't see previous answer of the quiz・ I don’t have any specific bad experiences
・ 他の受講生と意見を交わすことができない
・ クイズの回答で、どこがあっていて、どこが間違えているのかがわからず、自分がどこを理解していて、どこを理解していないのかがわからなかった。
・ クイズの回答が見れないこと
・ よく意味が分からないことをそのままにしがちなこと
・ いつでも見れて時間が決まってないぶんやる気が起きないと取り掛からなかった
・ 好きな時間に授業を受けられる反面、一回受けなかったらどんどん授業が溜まっていくのが悪かった。
・ 目が疲れる。
・ すぐにわからなかったことが解決できない。
・ モチベーション維持が大変
・ リマインドがないため忘れてしまうことが多かった
・ 評定が正しく反映されているのか不安になる。わかりにくい。
・ 自由だからこそスケジュール管理が難しい
・ ネット環境がある場所でしかできないこと
Q8: Did you have any difficulties with your on-demand classes? (Free response) (Copied as-is,
excerpted from student responses)
・ Questions part was quite complicated. I think it is better the lecture and the questions in two portals.
・ Time management
・ nothing in particular
・ ためてしまうと追いつくのに大変だった
・ クイズが難しい期限があること
・ 特にありません。
・ PC で１時間半くらいの視聴はきつかったし、クイズの時には忘れてしまっている。

・ 一方的に話を聞くだけなので集中力を保つことが大変だった。
・ 何度でも聞けると思うと、怠けてしまう。
・ クイズでどこが正解でどこが不正解なのかが確認できない点
・ 自分の時間管理が難しかった。
・ Wi-Fi がつながらないときは困っていた・ 説明が windows 向けだった点。
・ quize はちょっと難しいと思う
Q9: Please choose your 3 favorite topics from the list of on-demand course class topics. (Multiple
answers accepted)
171①インターネット、情報、社会について②データの活用事例③データ可視化の基本（1）④データ可視化の基本（2）⑤データへの統計的アプローチについて⑥データとAIの活用技術⑦データ・AI活用の実例紹介⑧データサイエンスのサイクル⑨AIに利用されるデータと技術的限界について⑩機械学習（ML) の可視化
⑪AI/ML・データ解析における注意点⑫統計情報の応用事例⑬ビジネスにおけるインターネットの可能性⑭インターネットと情報倫理

95
91
60
58
108
73
36
53
41
24
50
81
49
0

20

40

60

80

100 120 140 160 180

Q10: Please choose your 3 least liked topics from the list of on-demand course class topics. (Multiple
answers accepted)
69①インターネット、情報、社会について②データの活用事例③データ可視化の基本（1）④データ可視化の基本⑤データへの統計的アプローチについて⑥データとAIの活用技術⑦データ・AI活用の実例紹介⑧データサイエンスのサイクル⑨AIに利用されるデータと技術的限界について⑩機械学習（ML) の可視化
⑪AI/ML・データ解析における注意点⑫統計情報の応用事例⑬ビジネスにおけるインターネットの可能性⑭インターネットと情報倫理

49
79
73
80
43
33
60
38
79
69
92
35
52
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90 100

Q11: Would you recommend this course to your juniors?
強くそう思うややそう思うどちらでもない
あまりそう思わない
全くそう思わない

42
121
108
43
20
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Q12: Do you have any suggestions for further promoting learning between the instructor, TAs, andother students? (Free response) (Copied as-is, excerpted from student responses)
・ I would like to recommend using Hybrid classes.
・ group discussion and revision sessions with TA・ 内容理解のためにグループに分ける・ 班を作成しオープンチャットで議論する・ 教室開放・ 勉強会など、集まってやる機会を設ける
・ 動画視聴は一人でするよりも、友達と何曜日の何限にやる、と決めて一緒にみると良い・ 定期的に集まる機会を作る
・ 特にありません。
・ 不具合が出たときに、教授からの素早い問題解決方法をメールで回答していただきたいです。
・ たまに対面で行う授業があってもいいのかなとおもった。
・ グループ活動を導入する。
・ 質問を気軽にしやすくしてほしいです。
・Self-Check / Self Evaluation
Looking at the times students viewed the videos in Question 1, a significant number of students
responded that they watched the classes during their free periods. In the previous survey, most students
tended to watch the videos late at night, but this since the course was made up of 1st semester students
with many courses likely caused students to watch during free periods. Even though many students
took the course in their free periods, from Questions 3 and 5 we can see that students were also taking
the course at home on their PCs. Few students watched their classes on-campus in the open classrooms.
About the number of times students viewed the recordings, the percentage of students who watched
the recordings once, twice for some classes, and two or more times for all classes was about the same
as before. From Question 4 we can see that most students paused or rewound the videos, so from
Questions 2 and 4 we can see that students took advantage of the strengths of on-demand courses intheir classes. From Question 6, almost all students responded that the strengths of on-demand classes
were that they could take classes whenever and wherever they wanted, and that they could pause or
rewind. Last time there was a concern that students were taking the classes late at night since they canbe accessed anytime, but that concern was resolved this time.
Questions 7 and 8 were about the bad or difficult aspects of on-demand courses. Many respondents
said there were no issues in particular, but a number of respondents also said that it was difficult tomaintain their motivation and manage their schedules. We will consider ways to help students maintaintheir motivation and manage their schedules, such as having instructors provide regular advice tostudents through Moodle. In addition, as in the previous course offering, many students mentioned the
difficulty of communicating with their instructors, TAs, and other students. To help promote
communication between these groups, we will consider the possibility of creating in-person classes
and incorporating group activities while referring to the responses to Question 12. In addition, from
AY 2024 we plan to propose a policy for assigning lecture TAs to the course so that one TA can be
assigned to each class regardless of the number of students in the class. A TA will be assigned to eachclass to help respond to questions from students in a timely manner.
-End-