Motivating students to want to learn more
School of Engineering will launch the Learning Achievements Certification System as a means to evaluate and certify students’ ability to make comprehensive use of knowledge acquired through the academic credit system. Employing a methodology different to one that looks at averages of performance across individual courses as per a GPA (Great Point Average) system, this system seeks to gives students an evaluation bonus for their “learning gain” and provide the motivation that will lead to improving skills through not only university classroom learning but also a range of indicators. This achievements certification aims to make students want to learn more and give added value to education. Those who graduate or finish coursework based on the traditional credit system are still able to complete school of Engineering’s educational objectives and are guaranteed a quality education even if they do not participate in this achievements certification.
The achievements certification system establishes and evaluates students on level standards for five genres ((1) basic academic skills, (2) specialized academic skills, (3) problem solving and logical thinking skills, (4) language (English) skill, and (5) value creation skill) of skills required for developing a new value. This is done alongside the traditional classroom learning-oriented performance evaluations. The result is simply an indicator of individual skill. This system aims to help students in the process of working to improve their own skills as an individual within their university education, recognize their own strengths and weaknesses, take part in a variety of classes and self-instruction, and expand abilities through work experience.
Skills necessary to create value in society
Creating new value involves not only discovering the providence of nature and inventing machines; it also entails finding the value in things close to us. To deal with our world and its increasingly complex and intractable problems, we will need to develop new perspectives and values. The five categories of necessary skills were created for this purpose. (1) Basic academic skills and (2) specialized academic skills must be acquired in a way where they can be systematically understood and utilized. (3) Problem solving and logical thinking skills involve selecting necessary skills from among knowledge used to address issues ((1) and (2)), applying a logical approach to repeated trial and error, and seeing a task through with enthusiasm. (4) Language skill refers to one’s ability to understand all manner of people and communicate one’s own thoughts, while (5) value creation skill involves accurately selecting problems to be solved from among the many issues in society and creating new value in society by making full use of various tools of one’s own.
The skill to understand things broadly and deeply, then identify and address problems that must be solved (problem-solving/logical thinking skills, value creation skill)
The pile of problems that cannot be solved right away loom over us like mountains. There is a need to acquire the skill to “find and appropriately choose the value in mountains that must be climbed” (value creation skill) from among the many mountains (problems) that exist, as well as the “tools to climb higher mountains” (problem solving and logical thinking skills).
Checking one’s own level on radar charts every year
Every genre expresses learning gain using a seven-point scale. Students can check how much they have improved since the previous year. The radar charts help students to identify their strengths and weaknesses so that they can find a proper way to train themselves by the time they graduate.
