Vol.5

Q. What do you consider tobe a high-quality class?
A. The subjects that I am in charge ofKOJIMA
Shinji
Associate Professor

Subjects：Multiculturalism and Society, Social Stratiﬁcation
Transnational Sociology, Preliminary seminar

3TIPs

1 Ask eﬀective teacher-to-student questions
2 Propose topics that are related to the students’
own lives

3 Deliver knowledge from teacher to student,
student to teacher, and student to student

are mostly methodology classes,
specialization subjects for disciplines,and courses from undergraduate tograduate students spanning variouslevels, so it is dif�icult to think about
them as one. Also, my supervisor fromwhen I was a graduate student had said
that although they had been teachingfor over 20 years at the time,
undergraduate students were still amystery and they still hadn’ t found thecorrect answer on how to teach them.
High-quality classes were being held,

Based on this line of thinking, I now
think that the �irst condition for
high-quality classes is effective
teacher-to-student questions. “Theteacher's mission is to ignite interest in
the minds of the students,” as told to me
by my mentor, and I think it isimportant to ask effective questions sothat students can join the lectures withinterest. It is dif�icult to ask theseeffective questions, but recently I havecome to think that dealing withacademic and theoretical issues that I
am interested in leads to awakening thestudents’ own interests. Basically, wedeal with standard discussions and thebut they were taught as these worries
continued. I myself do not know whatthat correct answer is. In order toacquire hints into conducting
high-quality classes, I read texts
related to pedagogy, and revised myteaching plan through student
responses to each class and responses
in the class evaluation questionnaires.
During my sabbatical, I observed
classes of highly-rated teachers at theGerman University where I wasstaying and was able to reference
these classes. In my opinion, we shouldcontinue a trial and error method insearch of the correct answer.

latest disputes in academia, but rather
than providing these to students asthey are, I provide the theoreticallineage and multifaceted theoreticalinterpretation behind the topic in aneasy to understand manner for debate
to encourage students to think about it.
If it is an academic topic of personal
interest, I am able to proceed
enthusiastically with the lecture.
Precisely because we are dealing withclassic discussions and ongoing current
issues, the desire to hear as many
opinions as possible from the students
comes from within, so the classes
naturally become more interactive.

The second condition is to address
issues that are directly related to thestudents’ own lives as cases to beconsidered. Looking back on mystudent days, there were a lot of classes
where I thought, “What meaning does
this class hold for my life?” I could notunderstand the connection between thetextbook and my own life. In order toprevent students from feeling this way,
I have created a class structure which
provides students with an analyticalframework regarding what I would likestudents to think about before enteringsociety and what they should know,such as the present day social issues.

When I ask students “What makes agood class?” there is one student
among them that states: “Classes which
deal with ‘controversial topics’ areinteresting.” I try to have students think
about important social issues in thecontext of the �irst academic discussion.
I also invite people who are directlyinvolved in real social issues (such asMuslims in Japan or those working in
the labor movement in Oita) as guests
to discuss the issues arising with thoseinvolved and think signi�icantly about
these issues.

The third condition is how toeffectively deliver knowledge. When
discussing dif�icult contents of topicaldiscussions or disputes in academic
meetings, I try to speak clearly andslowly in a way which is easy tounderstand, as if I were layering
blocks. In the academic world in Japan,
there is a tendency to win the audienceby complicating things, but I think it
will only give birth to superstition
rather than fostering understanding(Stevie Wonder). Regarding methods
for the effective delivery of knowledge,
what I learned through the Minnesota
FD program was very useful. In order

to avoid information overload, slides
should have few characters andemphasis can be expressed throughchanging the font color or size.

I also try to use many images such as
photos and diagrams. I also have astructure in which I �irst set up small
group discussions, and afterwards
have the students share the group
discussion opinions with the rest of theclass.

In the previous semester, we
conducted a questionnaire in order to
get to know the needs of students, andthere were some students who felt
strongly about being required to takecourses in real time for students living
in unstable network environments orin regions with a time difference toJapan. After I learned about thissituation, I stopped holding quizzes
during lectures and having the student
attendance record re�lected in theevaluation. Even if we are lenient withattendance or do not hold quizzes, theーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

Q. Were there any changes
or innovations to youronline lectures?

Guest Lecture from a Labor Union Member

A. The idea of "less is more" became

even stronger when we moved online.

students will stay focused if weconduct an interesting class. In orderto create an environment in which
students can learn when they want toand are able to, I make all lecturerecordings, slides, handouts, and othermaterials available online in order toincrease the �lexibility of learning.
In addition, I have reduced the lecture
time in which I speak one-sidedly. The
need to stay focused for a long periodof time makes students moreexhausted than necessary, so I've
decided to sift through the content
which I will talk about more thanbefore. On the other hand, I’ ve
endeavored to provide topics worth
discussing, to have time for students totalk with their peers as often as
possible, and to ease stress while
creating more interactive classes.

evaluation questionnaire fromstudents. I also make improvements
based on my own subjective feedback
and feedback that I receive directlyfrom students.
As I mentioned earlier, if I have theopportunity to spend some timeinteracting with professors from otheruniversities, I ask them about theirlecture designs or observe theirclasses.
In order to convey the latest
discussions and knowledge in theacademic community, I attend various
meetings in academic society, even if it
is not directly connected to my own

research �ield, and I try to constantly
update the trends of discussions in theacademic community at the globallevel.

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

Q. What steps do you taketo improve class content?
A. First of all, I leaves notes on thelecture slides as to where the students’reactions were good or poor, and use
those notes to make improvements.
One more thing I do is change thelecture content each year based on the“good points” and “points forimprovement” sections in the classーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

Q. What things are important
to you in teaching?
A. The most important thing for me isto maintain a balance between
education and research. Most ofwhat I teach to students comes fromthe mindset that I have cultivatedthrough my own research activities
and experiences. For example, I am

able to respond to the demands ofstudents because I am engaged inresearch activities, such as gathering
material on the coronavirus pandemicor trending discussions in academic
circles. In particular, I believe that theresults of my own research activities
will show up in the quality of myeducation, such as in my guidance ofstudents writing their graduate theses
or in my methodology classes. First ofall, I think it is important to not neglect
efforts to stand at the forefront ofresearch. APU has a history of being an
education-focused university which
comparatively neglects education, butfor the sake of competition going
forward, it is important to restore thebalance between education andchoose individual or group work forreports so as not to inhibit theirstrengths or individuality.

If anything, it would be nice if theyspoke out even more actively. Even if
the student doesn’ t know the answer,
they can return it with a question,
because anything is okay and giving a
response makes it easier for me tounderstand the reactions the students
have. The opinions of students from allover the world can be viewed as
valuable �irst-hand information which
can only be acquired through goingabroad, the foundation of the learning
environment that is APU’ s strength.
Even if you talk about your own
experiences a little, it will deepen
others’ studies, so I would like myーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

Q. What do you expect fromyour students?
A. I am generally satis�ied with thelearning attitudes of APU students. I
feel that APU students are full ofintellectual curiosity, and when I ask
them questions they are actively andprogressively willing to share theirdiverse opinions, which is interesting.
It is worth it to ask serious questions.

research, as it is impossible to have
one without the other.
The other important thing is to build a
grading system that respects APU’ sdiversity. Some students are good atautomated scoring tests consisting ofchoices, while others are good at doing
essays. Some students demonstrate
their abilities through individual work,
while others prefer group work. Eachstudent has a different �ield ofexpertise, so I use both formats ontests, and allow students to freely

students to speak out by all means.
I also want students to take the classevaluation questionnaire seriously. I
am creating classes for the next term
based on everyone’ s responses, so I
hope my students realize that thisquestionnaire is making a difference.

Interviewer's Impressions
Among the 3 points that Dr. Kojima has devised, I thoughtthat teaching “content related to life” would be the mosteﬀective way to draw students’ attention. I feel that this isbecause if students can exchange their opinions with theirown experiences and what actually happened around them, I
feel that opinions will be naturally and actively shared within
the lecture. In addition, I was convinced that through theevaluation methods and innovations in online lectures, andas a positive result of “utilizing the diversity” of APU
students, a favorable learning environment in which
diversity was respected and problems were addressed one
by one was created.

What is [Q]?
At APU there are many professors who put together wonderful classes,and if we could get to know how these classes are planned, it would
contribute to the improvement of other professors’ classes. For that
purpose, we have begun doing interviews in order to learn about classplanning. These articles have been entitled [Q], comprising a variety ofmeanings such as: increasing the [Q]uality of classes, answering[Q]uestions to increase quality, and forming a [Q]ueue, or line, of class
improvements. We would be very happy
if these articles could contribute to the[Q]uest of APU professors’ class quality
improvement.