Freshman Seminar I : An Introduction to Education for Teamwork -A Reflection on Six Year Experience-

Education in upper secondary school nowadays is called ‘inactive’ and teachers are taking an initiative and developing various methods. Compared with this, education at university level requires students should be active and they must learn voluntarily and independently, rather than just listening to lectures without thinking. However, combined with the problem of recent declining of academic standards, it is often said that such differences between upper secondary schools and universities have expanded year by year and created many students who will be unable to accomplish university education 1) . In response to such tendencies, Freshman Seminar I was offered of consideration at preparatory meeting since the establishment of the university with the primary objective to help students to enjoy their college life. Establishment of the Committee for Educational Development will also help faculty and students regarding the course arrangement. The General Instructional Objective (GIO): GIO of Freshman Seminar is‘to acquire the basic ability of interpersonal exchange and a consciousness regarding health and safety, 2) in accordance with basic knowledge and technique to study’. Specifi c Behavioral Objectives (SBOs) in response to this are shown in Table 1. Basic knowledge and technique needed for study are mentioned 1) . Under SBO-1. objectives are expected to be promoted by students’ vigorous activities, such as tackling the theme decided under the consultation between teachers in charge and students in classroom. In the same way, ability of basic interpersonal exchange is supposed to be fostered by human rapport in such learning activities or in a social event for students and teachers, conducted as a part of Freshman Seminar. Since interpersonal skill is considered to be fostered as a foundation of collaborative education that stresses a great importance to teamwork, the goal must be focused in connection with Freshman Seminar II, which follows the Freshman Seminar I. International exchange is required to develop consciousness regarding to health and safety, especially smoking, drinking and infectious diseases, and all of these are expected to be a content of Freshman Seminar I as much as possible. In order to achieve such SBOs, in general, one teacher is assigned from a department for eight to ten students from the same department to act as person in charge of managing . The class is offered simultaneously in the third hour of every Wednesday. Although the syllabus shows the course plan of fourteen lessons, the teacher in charge conducts actual lectures at their discretion within the framework of the basic contents that are suitable for the fi eld of each department, rather than conducting the same program simultaneously for all departments. Although the offi ces of teachers in charge or a seminar room is generally asigned as classroom, a general gathering of each department and the ‘gathering Freshman Seminar I : An Introduction to Education for Teamwork –A Refl ection on Six Year Experience–