In March 2021, Otemon Gakuin University announced that the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's "University / Technical College Education Advancement Plan Utilizing Digital" * 3 (Efforts (2019) * XNUMX) was "Learn-oriented by building an integrated platform and introducing AI-teaching assistants." Realization of Education-Advancement of Education by OIDAI WIL Plus MATCH- "was selected.It was the only medium-sized private university in the Kansai region to be adopted, and it can be seen that its achievements and advancedness were highly evaluated. What is OIDAI WIL Plus MATCH? We asked President Masahiro Shindo about the opening of the Ibaraki Sochiji Campus in XNUMX, recent educational reforms, the development of educational DX, and future prospects.

New campus opened and BYOD

　OIDAI WIL is a new educational style at the university that breaks away from the classroom-centered educational method of "WIL (Work-Is-Learning)" of our school.In addition, OIDAI MATCH (Maximized TeaCHing) is an educational concept that aims to maximize the educational effect by utilizing ICT etc. and using the optimum method that matches the educational content.Through these efforts, we will strive to realize scholar-oriented education and improve the quality of learning, and develop "human resources who will continue to learn for a lifetime."This can be rephrased as a mechanism for realizing personalized learning for students through Education DX and aiming for quality assurance of learning.

In April 2019, the university opened a long-sought new campus near JR Soujiji Station in Ibaraki City, Osaka Prefecture.The five-story university building in the shape of an inverted triangular pyramid named Academic Ark has a unique appearance.The interior is also a colonnade structure, and the library is located in the center, and the classrooms are lined up so as to surround it.The walls are all whiteboards, and the desks and chairs are all movable.In addition, we introduced BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) at the time of opening, and created a mechanism to encourage students to learn independently.

Ibaraki Sochiji Campus

　Students keep their own PCs that they are accustomed to, and use them to do the necessary work at home as well as when they go to school and extracurricular activities.Unlike using a university PC, you also have to manage the data yourself.After becoming a member of society, I will adapt to the ICT environment immediately and become accustomed to managing data.I decided to go here because I thought that it was the minimum necessary for a lifelong learner-centered study.

　Unexpectedly, these efforts have enabled a smooth transition to online lessons that were forced by the Corona disaster.As many universities delay the start of classes in the spring semester of 2020, we were able to start online classes on April 4th ​​as usual.

　Educational background has long been a tendency to neglect the exit record at the age of 18, with the evaluation of the 22-year-old college admission stage being the highest priority, but nowadays, more practical power at the time of graduation is being questioned. It is becoming more important than ever to not stop learning after entering university.By studying hard for four years at university, the difference in admission stages can be reduced and reversed.Moreover, in the future society, which is said to be the age of 4 years of life, it is even more important for people to acquire the attitude of continuing to learn even after graduation.

　Our slogan "Do not stop learning" at the beginning of 2020 has such a feeling, and that is why we are very pleased to be able to start classes without delay for a day at Corona. It was.Students also commented, "Students from other universities started a month late, but we were able to start learning immediately, so we were confident in our academic ability."In addition, we were able to confirm unexpected results in unexpected situations, such as seniors holding online consultation meetings for new students as soon as possible.

　The teachers' lesson preparation, which is said to be an issue on the software side of going online, was done without delay.This is because we have already introduced an LMS (Learning Management System) to reduce the distribution of materials.Outside of class, we had a system for electronic approval, remote work, and online meetings.The Standing Board is now online.We have also communicated through FD (Faculty Development) that the use of ICT not only improves the quality of education but also reduces the burden on teachers.On-demand lessons not only save the trouble of printing materials, but also have the advantage that the accumulation of lecture materials can be utilized in the next year's lessons.Office work has become more efficient, and now there is a system that allows university staff to concentrate on new initiatives and original work, such as chatbots (automatic conversation programs that utilize artificial intelligence) answering standard student questions. It is progressing.

Accelerate student-centered learning

　Although each student has different interests and strengths, he has not yet created a personalized curriculum.However, the introduction of ICT and education DX in education should be a major step toward the realization of personalized learning.

　From 2018, we will start the operation of "Otemon e-NAVI", commonly known as Oinavi, which centrally manages not only student grades but also qualifications to aim for, study abroad and fieldwork experiences, volunteer participation and club / circle activities. bottom.This helps students to deepen their understanding of their own growth by recording their daily studies and extracurricular activities as data and visualizing their achievements.In addition, by making it widely accessible to faculty and staff, it will be useful for discovering strengths and weaknesses that students themselves did not notice, unexpected areas of strength and interests.Each faculty member and student can objectively improve the quality of education and learning without relying on subjective analysis.

　The academic advisor system supports this.In universities, seminar faculty members can generally follow up with a small number of people in the 3rd and 4th grades, but it tends to be too thin for the 1st and 2nd grades.Therefore, this system was introduced, in which one faculty member is assigned to every 20 students.Academic advisors can use "Otemon e-NAVI" together with staff to provide more detailed guidance.

　We are currently working on further improvements to the system, but with the latest technology, for example, the number and quantity of individual student remarks in group discussions during class, the influence on the entire group, etc. can be measured. increase.In this way, in addition to the degree of satisfaction of the person, the degree of objective participation and contribution can be measured.I hope that if data is accumulated in the future, it will eventually become possible to provide advice by AI and realize AI-teaching assistants.I also expect that this will be a great force for our university, which is centered on humanities and has few graduate students who can take charge of TA.

　At first, there were opinions about the security of personal information management regarding "Otemon Gakuin e-NAVI", but we explained that it was absolutely necessary to "watch over each student" and realized it.The learning style "OIDAI WIL", which is the other pillar of educational reform in recent years, registers or certifies classes and various activities carried out inside and outside the university as WIL programs, and encourages students to become aware of independent learning. ..Currently, 44 subjects and 325 classes are offered.The focus is on classes where students work together and send out jointly, group work, internships, and fieldwork.There are many collaborations with companies, and there are also things like inviting employees to listen to the announcement.However, due to the current corona disaster, there are restrictions on off-campus activities and face-to-face work, and it will take some time to fully operate.

1. 1
2. 2