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東京大学公共政策大学院 | GraSPP / Graduate School of Public Policy | The university of Tokyo

Online course experience amid the Covid-19 pandemic August 28, 2020

Education

GraSPP introduced online courses at the start of this academic year in April 2020, following the University of Tokyo’s policy to offer all the courses online in order to prioritize the safety of all the students amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Students enrolled in one of the case study courses provide candid feedback on their online learning experience.

Students’ comments listed in alphabetical order of their names in the western naming order

Very insightful class that helped me better apprehend the complexity and challenges of PPPs; there is no free lunch.” Baptiste Gosson-Brion

Online classes have been a success from both operational and learning experience perspectives. Most professors adapted quickly to the new environment and managed to offer highly interactive classes despite having to teach online. In addition, it allowed us to attend classes flexibly, irrespective of the campus they are taught at.” Bastien Guilleminot-Simon

This whole online class experience is definitely a first and a fun experience. Outside the confines of the typical classroom setup, the professor supported by the TA managed to continuously engage the whole class in our course by doing breakout sessions and by asking constant feedbacks from us on how to improve our learning experience.” Chris-John Capili

The online course provides flexibility for students to discuss certain learning materials through break-out sessions. It seems to be a new norm since these student-led discussions may be rare and difficult to do in traditional classroom.” Febtina Setia Retnani

Despite the online setting, the class was very interactive, fully utilizing the functions available on Zoom such as breakout sessions.” Hiromi Miyawaki

I still feel it’s a pity to have online courses. The performance could be better if it’s in a classroom setting.” Huiyan Yang

     

It was fascinating to conduct the class online, and breakout sessions made group work efficient and easy. I greatly enjoyed the opportunity to see the ways that different groups chose to present with the online medium.” Jeremy De Sheng Jee

I was doubtful about the effectiveness of classes as it was my first time. However, I appreciate the effort of the professors doing their best to make such virtual classes as lively and interactive as real classroom setting.” Kamal Bahadur Basnet

This online course is very convenientactually it reduced commuting time and encouraged those students who were shy to speak more in in-person classes because we were not physically face to face now.” Kuo Yu

Taking the PPP course was one of the best options I’ve made this semester. Although every activity was conducted online, we went through every processincluding comprehensive lectures, lively discussion based on our classmates’ experiences, thought-provoking opinion exchange with practitionersvery smoothly, and gained more insight on possibilities and challenges that the PPP has.” Luka Ishino

Although I dearly miss having in-person class interactions, I unexpectedly learned as much in online classes.” Natasha Talisca Adrianto

This is a quite great experience with an introduction of some innovative methodology and multiple options to engage and interact students . Online learning might become new normal.” Rakesh Kumar Chaurasia

The shift to online classes has been a challenge for me. I felt disconnected from the lectures, and it was hard to ask questions or participate during discussions, as it felt odd and a bit more embarrassing than if we were in a classroom setting. Although the professor did many things in an attempt to replicate classroom discussions (utilizing breakout sessions, paying attention to whether students had hands “raised”), it was still difficult to truly feel engaged with the materials. However, because classes were conducted online, I decided to take several period 6 classes that I would not have taken if they were not conducted online.” Sara O’Malley

A combination of teaching design and various functions of Zoom makes the online course experience interesting, informative and interactive.” Wanling Song

At first, it was difficult to adapt to the new medium and engage in discussions on Zoom without feeling awkward. However, both Professor and Qonita have put in hard work to make the class interactive and engaging, especially with interesting breakout group sessions, and I have thoroughly enjoyed and learnt a lot from this class (though I also eagerly await the return to in-person classes!).” Veronica Ern Hui Wee

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I have worked as a Teaching Assistant (TA) for two courses in the previous semester, with tasks and responsibilities varying from giving weekly review lectures to supporting administrative issues. However, COVID-19 has changed the shape of education in Japan, as the course is becoming online-based. Here, I am so fortunate to have a chance to be a TA in one of Professor Nishizawa’s classes during this pandemic situation. This course was extensive and full of fruitful discussion. He was always open-minded to take my opinion into consideration for class improvement. Despite the challenges in communication technology, new ideas emerged on how to run the class into more than just a lecture. I was given chances to manage breakout group discussions and presentation virtually, which eventually helped improve my time management and other soft skills. Therefore, I am so thankful for this opportunity.” Qonita Rahmah

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“GraSPP has been offering online courses since the start of this semester in early April. Although we missed opportunities to offer in-person classes with social closeness, our online courses helped ensure all students the chance of learning without risking their safety while encouraging faculty members to explore innovative teaching methods beyond physical and geographical distances. There remains, however, much room for improvementfor example, my instruction to students could have been much clearer and given well in advance to avoid student confusion, and regular student feedback should have been used for me to set the pace and to adjust student workload. I am grateful to students for their patience and active participation in discussion to give me an exciting learning opportunity and to Qonita, the course TA, for her dedication and support with a great attention to detail.” Toshiro Nishizawa