The GSA program offers three paths — GSA Facilitator (GSA-F) and GSA Reviewer (GSA-R) through activities in the Institute for Liberal Arts (ILA), and GSA Developer (GSA-D) through activities in the Online Education Development Office (OEDO). Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL) confers a certificate upon completion of a GSA program.
- Through activities in ILA
- Through activities in OEDO
- Overview of Associated Courses and Activities
- Certification
Through activities in the Institute for Liberal Arts（ILA）
GSA Facilitator and GSA Reviewer
Students are certified as GSA-F or GSA-R through taking Core Liberal Arts Education courses, namely “Leadership Workshop”, “Peer Review Practicum” and “Advanced Leadership Workshop”
Through activities in the Online Education Development Office（OEDO）
GSA Developer
Students are certified as GSA-D through activities in the Online Education Development Office
The vest and name tag provide clear identification during participation in undergraduate classes
TAs, faculty and staff have meetings at OEDO
Overview of Associated Courses and Activities
- Tokyo Tech Visionary Project
- Liberal Arts Final Report
- Leadership Workshop
- Advanced Leadership Workshop
- Peer Review Practicum
- TA Activities at OEDO
Tokyo Tech Visionary Project
Hall lecture scene of Tokyo Tech Visionary Project
As the cornerstone of Tokyo Tech’s liberal arts education, Tokyo Tech Visionary Project constitutes the liberal arts entry course for all students and starts immediately after admission. What does studying mean at the university? What do you want to accomplish in the future? Each student seeks to establish their vision. The course alternates between hall lectures presented by a slate of ardent guest lecturers (approximately 550 students in 2 sections) and small workshop classes (approximately 28 students in 40 sections) based on lecture content. Students registered in the Advanced Leadership Workshop attend the lectures, and then participate actively in the small classes as facilitators to encourage group discussion and handle portions of classroom instruction.
Liberal Arts Final Report
This course taken in the third year serves to complete the undergraduate liberal arts program. Tokyo Tech Visionary Project cohorts re-unite in a class size of approximately 60 students. Students consider the following theme: How can and how shall I contribute to a better world in conjunction with my field of specialization, liberal arts education and experience? What do I need to learn in the future to enable this? A peer review among co-members of their group and Peer Review Practicum graduate students runs in parallel to writing a theme paper between 5,000 and 10,000 characters in length.
Leadership Workshop
Classroom scene of Leadership Workshop
The basic course of the GSA program employs consensus-building games, brainstorming, KJ methods, jigsaw methods, etc., to study leadership by maximizing the abilities of co-members and steering a team toward its goals. Completion of certain requirements provides registration qualifications for the Advanced Leadership Workshop and Peer Review Practicum.
Advanced Leadership Workshop
Only students completing the Leadership Workshop with a successful grade are qualified to enroll in this practicum course of the GSA program. Registrants become GSA-F candidates, actively serve as facilitators in small group classes of the Tokyo Tech Visionary Project, the required undergraduate course held during the first quarter of the first year and encourage learning among undergraduate students. The practicum allows in-depth learning of facilitation techniques and presents an opportunity to perform as an immediate role model to freshly admitted undergraduate students. Completion of certain requirements leads to GSA-F certification.
Peer Review Practicum
Only students completing the Leadership Workshop with a successful grade are qualified to enroll in this practicum course of the GSA program. Registrants become GSA-R candidates, actively serve as peer reviewer in the Final Report Course, the required undergraduate course held during the third and fourth quarters of the third year and provide face-to-face or online support to undergraduate students who are writing their Final Reports. The practicum advances abilities to put down ideas better in writing and to appropriately revise texts of other people.
TA Activities at OEDO
OEDO video lecture recording
Active participation by TAs in Online Course development at OEDO (Online Education Development Office) involves the co-production of educational materials for online courses in collaboration with faculty and OEDO staff. As of March 2019, OEDO has completed the development and public release of seven edX MOOCs attracting over 60,000 enrollees from 190 nations around the world. TAs are involved in educational content creation, video production/editing, as well as develop skills related to project coordination and teamwork. Students who remain engaged in online course development in OEDO after receiving GSA-D certification, become TA leaders transferring their knowledge to junior TAs.
Certification
The Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning confers a certificate upon completion of the GSA program.
The certificate attests to completion of duties as a GSA in the learning community, and represents a token of expectations for the conferee, who will actively utilize their acquired abilities henceforth.
This program receives support from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and is based on plans fostered by Tokyo Institute of Technology to establish the Learning Community System for learning among faculty, staff, and students as well as mutual learning among students.
