FACULTY DEVELOPMENT REPORTAY 2022/2023

International University of Japan
Prepared by the Faculty Development Subcommittee
December 2023

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Members of the Faculty Development Sub Committee (FDSC) AY 2022/2023
Takeo Kikkawa, Professor, Graduate School of International Management (GSIM)
Lin, Ching-Yang, Associate Professor, Graduate School of International Relations (GSIR)
Chuang, Hong Wei, Associate Professor, Graduate School of International Management (GSIM)
Akihiro Takeuchi, Professor, Center for Language Education and Research (CLEAR)
Yoshio Abe, Manager, President’s Office (PO) until March 2023.
Toru Wada, Manager, President’s Office (PO) from April 2023.
We, the FDSC members, consciously implemented faculty development activities in AY 2022/2023
with the following priorities:(a) Develop, establish, and improve remote online teaching (including hybrid class)(b) Enhance language education(c) Promote deep human touch education

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Table of Contents
Section A. Faculty Development Activity in AY 2022/2023. ············································· P4(a) Develop, establish, and improve remote online teaching (including hybrid class)················································································································· P4(b) Enhance language education ................................................................................................. P6(c) Promote deep human touch education..................................................................................... P9(d) Other items .............................................................................................................................. P11
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... P15
Section B. IUJ’s Annual FD Plan for AY 2023/2024........................................................................ P17

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Section A. Faculty Development Activity in AY 2022/2023(a) Develop, establish, and improve remote online teaching (including hybrid class)
We continued to develop, establish, and improve remote online teaching (including hybrid class).
The results were as follows.
GSIR:
GSIR has conducted the following items:
1. Faculty members learned how to use modern applications, such as Miro, to enhance online teaching.
Notably, Professor Comai conducted a seminar to share his experiences in utilizing this application.
2. Faculty members exchanged insights on using interactive tools to augment classroom interactions
during online teaching. These methods include interactive presentation tools like Prezi and the useof breakout rooms in video conferencing platforms, enabling students to engage in smaller
discussion groups.
3. Experiences were shared on employing multiple cameras, tools like live switchers, and portablemicrophones to boost the quality of teaching.
GSIM:
To achieve this, GSIM introduced a multifaceted approach to faculty development. It began withcomprehensive training sessions and workshops, equipping faculty with the latest tools andtechnologies necessary for remote online teaching. Faculty members were encouraged to explore
various platforms and learning management systems to online and hybrid settings. To ensure thecontinuous improvement of remote online teaching, GSIM faculty members were encouraged to seek
student feedback and participate in self-assessment in order to reflect on their teaching methods. GSIM
aimed to not only meet the demands of the modern educational landscape but also to provide students
a high-quality learning experience that aligns with the IUJ’s commitment.
CLEAR:
1. ELPAt times when COVID outbreaks required the return to online classes (e.g. for short periods in IEP2023), the ELP continued to make use of the following tools:
Zoom for holding lessons, presenting language and material, holding group discussions in
breakout rooms, and recording/distributing the lessons

4Zoom report to check attendance
Google Classroom and Google Drive for managing and distributing course materials
Assignments tool on Google Classroom allowed us to monitor student writing in real time andhold open-book assessments in place of exams
Google Forms for holding quick quizzes and for providing immediate feedback
Hybrid classes.
2. JLPJLP conducted no online teaching this year.
Other items of note:
The FDSC held the following Online Class Seminar.
Online Class Seminar for Faculty Development
1. Date and Place:
13:00 PM-14:00 PM on Wednesday, October 12, 2022
At 202 classroom and by Zoom (own personal space).
2. Contents:
How to use Miro
3. Speaker:
Prof. Comai, Alessandro
4. Number of Participants:
7 participants (including staff members)

5(b) Enhance language education
We promoted to enhance language education as follows.
GSIR:
1. Utilized online applications like Grammarly to support students in thesis writing.
2. Introduced tools like DeepL, Google Translators, and other AI-assisted applications, such as
Scispace to help students comprehend academic papers.
3. Faculty members organized study/discussion groups to provide students the opportunity to present
their research, enhancing their presentation and communication skills.
GSIM:
To achieve this, GSIM faculty participated in intensive training sessions, designed to equip them withthe latest teaching methodologies and materials tailored to the English language courses offered by
GSIM. These workshops also incorporated strategy for addressing the challenges of online and hybrid
language instruction. Faculty members were encouraged to exchange insights and share best practices
to enhance their teaching techniques.
CLEAR:
1. ELP
The ELP faculty continues to make strong efforts to include citation, referencing, paraphrasing, andsummarizing practices into all our courses in order to promote anti-plagiarism (for example, 1/3 of the
Academic English 1 course focuses on these practices and includes a test at the end of the course).
Although not conducted in 2023, the ELP has in place a program to deliver a ½ credit Paraphrasing
course in the Winter term in order to introduce paraphrasing, citation, and referencing techniques andstrategies to students who do not take our Academic English or English for Report / Thesis Writing
courses.
● Benefits of this approach: Students find this very helpful, and students show evidence in their ELP
course assignments and tests that they understand the academic culture behind these practices.
● Current / Ongoing issues: Paraphrasing and summarizing are extremely challenging, even for
proficient students. Feedback from some students suggests that they are interested in quick-fix
solutions, and so they often make use of sub-standard paraphrasing software without fully
understanding the academic culture surrounding citation practices. This leads to a significant use ofpoor citation and paraphrasing practices. There are still a large proportion of second year students
6who do not seem to have developed much proficiency in citation practices, and this could be due totheir reliance on paraphrasing software that only offers quick fixes.
As part of the Orientation program for in-coming students, the ELP faculty hold a plagiarism workshop.
However, it is not clear that all students attend this workshop. In 2022 it was conducted online, overZoom, and only 50% of incoming students were present. In addition, in the 2022 Orientation, students
were asked to answer questions about plagiarism using Google Forms. What was revealing wasstudents’ inability to recognize plagiarism in others’ work, indicative of the need for ongoing
instruction about plagiarism and its avoidance? Additionally, while the workshop is helpful, it is notclear that the timing of the workshop allows for a lasting effect when students start writing assignments.
We feel it may be helpful to expand offerings of plagiarism workshops if we were given the resources
and support to do so.
ELP members have been slowly developing materials that we eventually hope to host on the MLIC
library website. Time and staffing constraints have limited our progress with this endeavor, but wenonetheless intend to continue with this and make resources available for all students in the near future.
Minor cases of plagiarism are common in ELP courses, ranging from poor practice in citation andreferencing and misuse of copy and paste, with approximately 5 – 10 cases per year. A change inteaching strategy resulted in very few incidents of plagiarism in the 2022-2023 Fall Term courses,
indicating that our ongoing approaches are becoming more effective. As in Winter 2021, plagiarismin Academic English 2 was found to occur, most likely due to the fact that the students required to takethis class are amongst the least proficient users of English in first year courses. Such students are more
likely to resort to plagiarism in their writing. The ELP continues to stress the need to avoid plagiarismand strategies to overcome such a trap throughout both compulsory and elective courses.
The ELP faculty have also been involved in addressing the rising concern of Generative AI in students’
writing. Guidance, along lines established by other schools within IUJ, has been offered by the ELP
faculty to students about how Generative AI tools such as Chat GPT can be utilized at certain stagesof their writing process (e.g. the brainstorming of ideas for papers). However, students are also
informed that such tools should not be drawn upon for the written work they submit for assessment.

72. JLPJLP conducted as follows.
The course coordinators are rotated every three years to prevent instructors from staying with thesame course for too long. 2023 was a year in which this rotation occurred.
Along with the coordinator changes, JLP adjusted the number of sessions of classes to be repeatedbased on the past enrollments for each course.
We shared course materials, including content and material in instructor’s respective Google
Classrooms.
We offer Intensive Japanese Programs and Japanese for Zero Beginners every year.
We invited Japanese people from local areas and Japanese students enrolled in IUJ to Japaneseconversation classes. We created ample opportunities for international students to practice
speaking Japanese. Those classes deepened engagement between Japanese and international
students.
Other items of note:
The FDSC held the following FD Seminar for the strengthening students’ English language skills.
1. Date and Place:
13:00 PM-14:00 PM on Tuesday, October 18, 2022
At 203 classroom and by Zoom (own personal space).
2. Topic:
Strengthening Students’ English Language Skills
3. Speaker:
Prof. Parsons, Daniel
4. Number of Participants:
16 participants (including staff members)

8(c) Promote deep human touch education
We promoted the following faculty development activities as deep human touch education.
GSIR:
GSIR has conducted the following items:
1. Faculty members increased face-to-face meetings with supervisees.
2. Shared experiences and techniques on conducting in-class discussions.
3. Faculty members established groups on platforms like Discord or MS Teams to provide support forsupervisees and facilitate communication between supervisees and supervisors.
GSIM:
The achieve this, GSIM emphasized mentorship and regular one-to-one meeting between faculty andstudents, fostering a supportive and nurturing learning environment. This approach can enrich theeducational journey and enhance student engagement and overall well-being. By prioritizing deep
human touch education, GSIM is going to install a sense of belonging and lasting impact in students’
lives.
CLEAR:
1. ELP
ELP faculty members have continued to implement the following systems:●

Employing Teaching Assistants (TAs) to support students whose English is a little weaker.
This practice continues to receive positive feedback from both TAs and tutees alike. This hashelped ELP members get a better understanding of weaker students’ needs and the processes thatweak students go through in improving their written English.

●

Staff English Support. ELP members continued - but to a lesser extent than in the previous year
- this staff English support. As it was found that most support was requested in the form of theediting and proofreading of university documents, this assistance became more commonplace than
did the ‘mini-lessons’ offered in the previous year.

●

Revision of exemption test.

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The new exemption test was revised once again in order to best identify in-coming students withthe greatest need of English support. The efficacy of the revised test has resulted in a far more
precise and less cumbersome identification process.
9oIn the run-up to the late September 2023 test, analyses of previous tests were conducted andquestions were refined. In particular, the listening and writing portion of the test was overhauled
completely with the expectation that it would produce a more accurate indication of student
proficiency.

Even though COVID has become far less of an issue in the past year, online learning technology
continues to be utilized substantially (Google Classroom, Google Forms etc.) to streamline courses.
English classes that focus on writing have often taken place in computer classrooms. When classes are
conducted in regular classrooms, students are encouraged to bring notebook computers and/or tablets
to complete work online. This writing can be more easily shared with others in class and which canalso be checked and assessed more easily.
The ELP faculty also continued with the following activities:●

Sharing materials between teachers, particularly on courses in which there is more than one teacher.

●

Course surveys: these are in addition to the end of course evaluations and provide useful feedback
to faculty.

●

Attending conferences (in-person and online) and workshops and writing papers to present our
research.

●

Holding non-degree programs, such as the Niigata Prefecture Programs, Niigata Minami HighSchool IEP, and the Development Bank of Japan NDP.

●

Ongoing CASEN meetings have allowed the ELP faculty to liaise with representatives of GSIR
and GSIM in order to better assess the English language learning needs of IUJ students and make
improvements in our courses in order to meet these needs.

2. JLPJLP conducted as follows.
●

JLP faculty members had tutorial sessions and consultations with students as frequently as wasnecessary.

●

JLP faculty members talked to students in Japanese outside classroom hours.

10(d) Other items
Meetings
1-1. Holding FDSC meetings
In AY 2022/2023, four FDSC meetings were held to carry out the Faculty Development Seminar andcompose the 2021/2022 Faculty Development Activity Report and 2023/2024 Faculty Development
Annual Plan.
<1st IUJ Faculty Development Sub Committee Meeting Academic Year 2022/2023>
Date: Thursday September 15, 2022
Report1) 2022/2023 Faculty Development Seminar
Agenda1) 2021 Faculty Development Activity Report<2nd IUJ Faculty Development Sub Committee Meeting Academic Year 2022/2023>
Date: Thursday November 24, 2022
Report1) 2022/2023 Faculty Development Seminar
Agenda1) Making a Faculty Development Activity Report 2021/2022
2) 2022/2023 Faculty Development Activity Plan by each graduate school and center<3rd IUJ Faculty Development Sub Committee Meeting Academic Year 2022/2023>
Date: Thursday January 19, 2023
Agenda1) Making a Faculty Development Activity Report 2021/2022
2) 2022/2023 Faculty Development Activity Plan by each graduate school and center<4th IUJ Faculty Development Sub Committee Meeting Academic Year 2022/2023>
Date: Thursday April 13, 2023
Agenda1) 2022/2023 Faculty Development Activity Plan by each graduate school and center2) 2023/2024 Faculty Development Activity Plan (Next Academic Year)11

1-2. Holding FDC meetings<1st IUJ Faculty Development Committee Meeting for Academic Year 2022/2023>
Date: Wednesday January 25, 2023
Agenda1) 2021 Faculty Development Activity Report<2nd IUJ Faculty Development Committee Meeting for Academic Year 2022/2023>
Date: Wednesday May 24, 2023
Agenda1) 2023 2024 IUJ Faculty Development (FD) Annual Plan
Other FD activities by GSIR, GSIM, CLEAR
GSIR:
GSIR has conducted the following items:
1. Informal meetings and study groups were held among faculty members to share current research
progress and knowledge on the forefront of research techniques, including data sources,
programming methods, and new software.
2. Faculty members attended IRI's research seminars/workshops to gain insights from researchers in
different fields.
GSIM:
Through these concerted faculty development efforts, GSIM reaffirmed its commitments to offer
students a world-class education, equipping them with the needed skills to success in an interconnectedworld.
CLEAR:ELP:(1) The reduction of the ELP Faculty from four to three members since April 2023 has required theremaining staff to assume the responsibilities of the now absent fourth member. This has resulted in
the remaining faculty having to determine what courses can be offered to students.
Since the reduction in ELP faculty was decided, course offerings have needed to be overhauled so thatthe remaining faculty can best meet the needs of students arriving for the new academic year (i.e. 20232024). The three traditional ‘compulsory’ first year classes for students with low English proficiency

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(i.e. Academic English I, II, & III) will be changed, and Academic English III will be dropped in favorof a Spring iteration of the English for Research Writing course, a course that has up until this time betaught in Fall and (for the first time) taught in Winter 2023.
These changes to Academic English will result in a completely different pattern of streaming ofstudents in compulsory classes, something which should be able to be achieved with changes to theincoming student exemption test. The test will allow the ELP to separate students requiring English
into two streams - those with the greatest needs will be required to take Academic English I in Falland Academic English II in Winter. Those students identified to have less pressing needs will be
required to take only Academic English II in the Fall term.
In the previous compulsory / non-exempt Academic English pattern, students being required to takesubsequent Academic English classes based on performance (e.g. students who did not meet the goalsof AEI would be required to take AEII, and those who did not meet the goals of AEII would be required
to take AEIII.
Table 1: Current Format
Year / Term

1st / Fall

2nd / Winter

3rd / Spring

CourseAcademic English I Academic English II Academic English III

Table 2: Format for 2023-2024 onwards
Student English Proficiency

1st Year / Fall

1st Year / WinterVery low

Academic English I

Academic English II

Low

Academic English II-

The content of these compulsory classes will also shift slightly, with Academic English I focusing onaural / oral skills, skills (neglected in earlier iterations of Academic English) along with reading,writing, grammar, and vocabulary.

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(2) For the first time in the history of the Summer Intensive English Program (IEP), low-proficiency,
full-time, two-year students (who had completed their first year at IUJ) joined the program. A total ofthree.
(3) Such students volunteered to take part in the IEP and were involved in all classroom and other IEPrelated activities. These students were permitted to use part of their scholarship fees (e.g. amounts
which would be used for field trips) to fund their involvement in the IEP. These students’ ability to join
the IEP in 2023 was also feasible due to the relatively low enrolment in the IEP by traditional
participants (IMF-OP students studying English, IUJ-incoming students, and ‘Summer-only’ students).
All three of these students had positive feedback about their involvement in IEP 2023. In addition, thepresence of these students in the entire IEP meant that there was greater student diversity in the second
half of the program, Phase 2, when there are usually only Japanese students present in classes (IUJincoming and ‘Summer-only’ students). If feasible in 2024, this practice will likely continue.
JLP:
The following was done as in the previous year.
Right before the beginning of a new academic year, the course coordinators issued the syllabus
and the attainment target(s) for each of the courses for which they are responsible. The attainment
target(s) describe goals and the approach required to attain the goals for his/her course. For eachcourse, both the syllabus and attainment goal(s) were shared and discussed amongst JLP members.
At the end of each academic year, the course coordinator provides a summative report of the course,
including the performance of each student, the degree of the attainment of the target set at the preacademic-year meeting. These reports were shared and discussed amongst JLP members for
improvement in the next academic year.
In regular meetings during the term (held bi-weekly), information about students, such as theirperformance, attendance, and the placement of the students was shared. Issues such as curriculum,
relationships and connections between the courses, and the question of creating or abolishing new
courses were discussed as well.
In term-end grading meetings (held once per term), each coordinator presented the performanceof students in their respective course to be assessed and both students’ performance and themeans by which students’ performance were assessed (e.g. Conversation tests, quizzes) wereshared and discussed. The results of JLP course surveys were shared as well.

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Conclusion
In AY 2022/2023, the FDSC member thought that it was needed to continuously acquire andaccumulate information for online teaching technologies and faculty experience and skills because thelearning environment will never completely return to its pre-COVID-19 state. Therefore, the FDSC
organized a seminar on how to utilize the online whiteboard called MIRO from Prof. Comai. Thisseminar was a trigger for faculty members to explore and utilize the latest tools for online teaching in
GSIR, GSIM and CLEAR, and to use them to improve their own classes.
FDSC members discussed the student’s English skills and there was an opinion that many students haspoor academic writing skills and then faculty members need to help the students many times when thestudents write research report and thesis. Also, they do not have appropriate knowledge of academic
writing (how to make citation, how to insert tables and figures and so on). Therefore, the FDSC
organized a seminar by Prof. Parsons on Strengthening Students' English Language Skills, which wasattended by many faculty members as well as staffs.
As part of the Orientation program for in-coming students, the ELP faculty hold a plagiarism workshop
and the ELP faculty members continue to make strong efforts to include citation, referencing,paraphrasing, and summarizing practices into all our courses in order to promote anti-plagiarism.
In addition, ongoing CASEN meetings have allowed the ELP faculty to liaise with representatives of
GSIR and GSIM in order to better assess the English language learning needs of IUJ students andmake improvements in English language courses in order to meet these needs.
In terms of human touch education, one-to-one, face-to-face thesis (research report) guidance has been
resumed and, in GSIR, platforms such as Discord or MS Teams have been used to provide careful andclose thesis (research report) guidance, including a lot of communication between supervisors andsupervised students. FDSC members continue to discuss to promote human touch education.

When considering the contents of the FD seminar for the next academic year, there was an example ofactivities of supervising for students. In GSIM, midterm presentation of theses and reports will be heldin the future. GSIM students will do presentations for 10 minutes to faculty members and students andthe schedule being adjusted by each faculty member. It is good that the topic of next academic year’s
faculty development activity will be how to supervise students and how to teach language education.
The FD subcommittee will discuss improving teaching methods in next academic year.

15Section B. IUJ FD Annual Plan AY 2023/2024
The FDSC decided the following annual goals and FD activity priorities for AY 2023/2024.
1. Annual goals
The annual targets for FD in 2023 are as follows
・Faculty Development Committee will be held once or twice.
・Faculty Development Sub-Committee will be held once by each term at least.
・IUJ Faculty Development Seminar will be held twice at least.
・IUJ Faculty Development Sub-committee member will participate in outside Faculty Development
Seminar once or so.
・President office collects data, documents, reference for Faculty Development, and distribute it to all
IUJ faculty members.
2. FD activity priority policies
The priority policies for FD activities in 2023 are to(a) Improve teaching methods(A seminar to share tips on how highly evaluated faculty members do a class).
(b) Promote deep human touch education(A seminar to share tips on how highly evaluated faculty members conduct thesis guidance).

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