19th International Conference on The First-Year Experience,
10:30-11:30am, July 26, 2006, Toronto, Ontario, CANADA.
Student Success of the first year
students in Nagasaki University
(First-Year Student Success at Nagasaki
University)
Masato FUJIMOTO
Division of Program Design for First Year Students
Research and Development Center for Higher
Education
Nagasaki University
1
Overview
1. To be national university corporation of
Nagasaki University in 2004, the First Year
Student Programs were established to
help students make a successful transition
from high school to university study.
2. This includes the transition to both
general education and to their area of
specialized study.
3. We will present case studies of our
programs to show how they help students
in this transition process.
2
Educational Reform
Backgrounds of National
University in Japan
• The Japanese society has been shifting to
a Knowledge-based Society.
• Universal access to university education
has become a reality in recent years.
• Japanese universities will be expected to
develop their distinctively educational and
research functions on the basis of their
management system.
3
The image of education in
Nagasaki University
Graduate School Education
Specialized Education
General
Education
First Year Experience
High school
4
Strategies to promote the First
Year Experience
• Providing the First Year Experience as the
starting point in order to train students in the
ability to reorganize various kinds of
information.
• Providing the First Year Experience which will
enable students without specific objectives
to develop the academic and social skills
• Instilling in students a spirit of Nagasaki
University by providing a unique learning
experience.
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Case Studies
Graduate School Education
Specialized Education
General
Education
First Year Experience
High school
Training Thinking style and Skills
for “learning”
First year Seminar
Preparing Knowledge
for “learning”
Remedial Education
6
Educational Improvement Model for
the First Year Experience: Educational
Management Cycle
②Decision making
for curriculum standard
Improvement
③Making syllabus
FD
First Year Experience
①Decision making
for improving classes
Remedial Education
FD
First Year Seminar
Assessment
Operate
④Give lessons ・ Assessment by students
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Case Study 1: First Year
seminar
The goals of lesson
Orientation to independent learning
Providing a
motivation
for
intellectual
work
1
Providing a
scientific
thinking
style and
an ability of
learning
design
2
Providing an
ability to
express
oneself by
doing
assignments
such as
papers and
3
Providing
opportunitie
s to
communicat
e with
teachers
and
students
4
8
Case Study 1: First Year
seminar
• There were 10 students in a class.
• We organized students into classes that
are a mix of teachers and students
from different faculties.
• A teacher organized the themes of
classes after consulting with students.
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Case Study 1: First Year
seminar
10
Case Study 1: First Year
seminar
②Decision making
for curriculum standard
Improvement
③Making syllabus
FD
First Year Experience
①Decision making
for improving classes
Assessment
FD
First Year Seminar
Operate
④Give lessons ・ Assessment by students
11
Case study 2: Remedial
education
Differential, integral
CalculusⅡ
Remedial education
Review the
(supplementary
fundamentals
Lessons)
Differential, integral
calculusⅠ
The second
semester
The first
semester
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Teaching Process: Remedial
Education
Surveying a learning object
feedback
Confirming an exercise and understanding a formula ①
Confirming an exercise and inspecting a formula①
feedback
Confirming an exercise and understanding a formula ②
Confirming an exercise and inspecting a formula ②
Achieving the goals through applying a formula
Gathering
Gathering information
information that
that students
students wrote
wrote to
to improve
improve
classes
feedback
Transmitting the goals that teacher intend students to learn
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Assessment
• We ask students to fill out PEQ’s (progr
am evaluation questionnaires) at the end
of the lessons of Remedial Education of th
e math in the First Year Student Program
s. We use the information from PEQ’s que
stionnaires to promote faculty developme
nt and to facilitate the redesign of classes.
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PEQ’s (program evaluation
questionnaires)
【 goals of lessons 】
【 goals of lessons 】
1
Could you understand what you should
accomplish at the beginning of the lesson?
□ I could understand well □ basically I could understand □ I don’t know
□ I couldn‘t understand well 2
□ I couldn't understand at all
Concretely speaking, what do you think that
you should have accomplished during today’s
lesson?
Intending to gather information about goals of the lesson 15
PEQ (program evaluation
【 methods of teaching 】
questionnaires)
3
How was today’s lesson ?
□ it was easy to understand □ it wasn't very easy to understand
□ basically I could understand □ it was a little difficult to understand
4
□ It was difficult to understand
Why did you think so? Please answer this
question with reasons and examples. please be
as particular as possible.
Intending to gather information about methods of teaching 16
PEQ (program evaluation
【 achievement of goals of lessons 】
questionnaires)
5
Could you understand today’s lesson?
□ I could understand □ basically I could understand □ I don’t know
□ I didn’t understand very much 6
□ I couldn’t understand at all
What were you not able to understand
concerning today’s lesson? Please answer this
question and be as particular as possible.
Intending to gather information about achievement of
goals of lessons
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Teaching Process: Remedial
Education
Surveying a learning object
feedback
Confirming an exercise and understanding a formula ①
Confirming an exercise and inspecting a formula①
feedback
Confirming an exercise and understanding a formula ②
Confirming an exercise and inspecting a formula ②
Achieving the goals through applying a formula
Gathering
Gathering information
information that
that students
students wrote
wrote to
to improve
improve
classes
feedback
Transmitting the goals that teacher intend students to learn
18
Case study 2: Remedial
education
②Decision making
for curriculum standard
Improvement
③Making syllabus
FD
First Year Experience
①Decision making
for improving classes
Assessment
FD
Remedial Education
Operate
④Give lessons ・ Assessment by students
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Case study 2: Remedial
education
stage
item
The average
Students who number of credits of
general education.
expired the
first year
The rate of credits
experiences of specialized
education.
The average
Students who number of credits of
general education.
expired the
second year The rate of credits
experiences of specialized
General
high
school
technic
al high
school.
39.2
39.9
71.0
77.9
40.8
41.6
60.6
60.0
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Conclusions
• In order to transit high school learning into
university learning smoothly, Nagasaki
University made subjects (Freshmen seminar,
Remedial education).
• We work on these subject systematically
based on the educational management cycle.
• We found that Nagasaki University could
make the transition from high school learning
to university learning (general education and
specialized education) smoothly.
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Presenter Contact
Information
Masato FUJIMOTO
Division of Program Design for First Year
Students
Research and Development Center for Hi
gher Education
Nagasaki University
[email protected]
22