IWANO Masako

The purpose of this paper is to present the concept of the curriculum design for the General Education Curriculum that started in 2022, and to present the concept of the instructional design for the “Project to Design the Future of Yamaguchi,” which is a comprehensive assessment subject. Up until now this university had designed its curriculum using the so-called “theme-based” method. However, in a new era of unpredictability, the nature of the qualities and abilities demanded of university education by society and university establishers is changing. Therefore, the decision was made to design the new General Education Curriculum using a competency-based method of backward design with the required qualities and abilities set as educational targets. While combining the diverse knowledge they acquired in the first semester, students for mixed teams from all departments in the second semester and based on the design thinking process, generated ideas oriented toward solving problems in the local community. A rubric-type evaluation forms was used to visualize the students’ academic achievements.

Based on a paper aimed to document the pioneering use of Blended Learning and Instructional Design published in March 2021, an attempt was made to improve one compulsory subject in the Postgraduate Schools of YPU. The goal of improving the class called ‘Quality of Life (QOL)’ was to show a model to be used at Postgraduate level for mostly adult learners so that they could access the class from their workplaces or homes. The construction of the whole class needed to be reviewed, instead of just utilizing an interactive online ICT tool. This paper also tries to present an idea for a certificate program based on the above QOL class. Yamaguchi Prefectural University promotes four educational principles, including “respect for human nature,” “emphasis on citizens’ perspectives,” “co-existence with the community,” and “response to globalization”. The focus on humanities is crystalized on the teaching subject, QOL, as mentioned above. ‘Quality of Life’ covers the examination of the quality of everyday life in today’s changing world to diverse life stages, and then into every type of lives in nature and around the globe. By placing the QOL class as the core and adding one or two classes, it is assumed that the certificate course could be started by connecting issues in local towns to innovative solutions in wider society.