On February 22, 2015, Soka University held an FD Forum in Room AE452 in the Global Square Building to celebrate that the university’s educational program that had been selected for the “Acceleration Program for University Education Rebuilding (AP)” of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. About 100 people, including students, faculty members, and guests, attended the forum.

During the morning session, President Yoshihisa Baba made an opening address, and Professor Shinji Fukushima from the Enrollment Management Department of Yamagata University delivered a keynote lecture. The lecture was entitled “Improving Enrollment Management and Visualization and Verbalization through IR: Practical Examples of EMIR.” IR stands for Institutional Research, which is research conducted within an institution of higher education to assist with operational efficiency and decision-making.

During the lecture, Professor Fukushima presented Yamagata University’s management efforts to create and maximize value for students, and introduced the Comprehensive Student Information Data Analysis System, which is designed for Enrollment Management and Institutional Research (EMIR). He stated that by fostering an institutional culture that values data-driven decision-making, a university can create a cycle of educational reform management that focuses on student satisfaction and educational achievement.

In the afternoon, Professor Kayo Matsushita from the Center for the Promotion of Excellence in Higher Education at Kyoto University delivered the lecture entitled “Assessing Essential Skills for College Students.” Professor Matsushita stated that there is a noticeable increase in the number of methods being used for assessing student learning outcomes, and then introduced the concept of “performance assessment.” Performance assessment measures student skills based on a performance task, a task that results in the creation of a tangible product that serves as evidence of learning. She provided several examples of rubrics that describe the criteria and gradations of quality, and stressed the importance of developing rubrics that can contribute to student learning.

Professor Keiji Kawashima, Head of the Department for Higher Education Research at the National Institute for Educational Policy Research, delivered the lecture entitled “Enhancing Active Learning and Challenges in Faculty Development.” Professor Kawashima cited a report by the Central Council for Education that suggests that sufficient learning hours provide the basis for establishing active learning. He stated that it is the responsibility of an instructor to plan and teach classes in a way that encourages students to spend more time learning. He also explained that this aligns with the goals of active learning.

Professor Kazuhiko Sekita, Head of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) at Soka University, provided a general overview of Soka’s efforts to carry out the AP. He stated that a good active learning course enables students to work towards the learning goals of the course, encourages them to dedicate at least one extra hour outside the class period, and ensures that they have a proper understanding of the course material. He also talked about faculty training and numerical targets for promoting active learning style instruction. Professor Kawashima made a closing comment to wrap up the forum.