Academic Skills (ACASKI)

アカデミックスキルズ

In higher education, you are required to think, conduct research, and debate independently. This is the starting point of academic activities. It is also the foundation for acquiring the “liberal arts” essential for the intellectual agility needed in the future. Over the course of the year, enrolled students will learn how to write academic papers. In order to develop intellectual strength throughout the year, you will learn to focus on a theme, identify specific problems in the theme, and to acquire the resolution skills needed for various academic and intellectual work.
Furthermore, as classes are supervised by faculty from various departments and fields, they serve as a setting for faculty development (FD) for instructors in which teaching methods are mutually shared. Those cultivated expertise and techniques in the classes will be applied to other classes taught by faculty members.

Related books

Aims

At university, you will be required to think, investigate and debate independently.
This is the starting point of academic activities. It is also the foundation for acquiring the “liberal arts” essential for the intellectual agility needed in the future. In order to develop this intellectual strength, this course leads you to focus on a theme, identify specific problems in the theme, and to acquire the resolution skills needed for various academic and intellectual work.

Content

“Academic Skills” consists of small seminar format classes.
Supervised by teaching staff drawn from a variety of fields, these classes are being implemented to invigorate students’ academic interests, while respecting their independence. Presently, four classes have been established for Academic Skills I and II. Approximately 80 students from seven departments attend them. At the conclusion of class, the members of each class participate in an essay and presentation competition held in the end of academic year.

History

Academic Skills began in 2003 under the title “Study Skills.” It became a formal class in 2004, and was renamed “Academic Skills” in 2005. In 2008, in addition to the past “Academic Skills I and II” classes, the application and development classes III and IV were established.
Experiments incorporating a variety of methods have been conducted, including classes coordinated with lecture subjects (“The Liberal Arts of Life” and “Body/Sense and Culture”), classes with considerable reading and writing practice, and classes that incorporate lectures, reading, note-taking, presentations, and debates. Academic skills: Introduction to the Intellectual Skills for University Students (Keio University Press, Inc., 2005) is a textbook derived from these experimental classes, and has been used by various universities throughout Japan. In addition, “Academic Skills” is a part of Kyokuto Securities-Sponsored Course.

 

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