As part of our university's METIS program, we are conducting international collaborative education using online active learning. On Tuesday, January 27, 2026, we invited experts from Japan and Northern Europe to hold a hybrid mini-symposium for related faculty and staff on teaching methods and quality assurance.

METIS is a Japan-Nordic collaborative international education program for the development of highly specialized engineers who will shape the future of the ocean, which was adopted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's "Reinforcing University Global Reach Project - Supporting the Formation of Inter-University Exchanges with EU Countries and Other Countries" in 2024. As METIS students take part in approximately one week of online active learning international collaborative education implemented in collaboration with seven universities, this symposium was held for the second time following last year with the aim of improving the quality of the program by improving the teaching methods of the relevant faculty members.
　Furthermore, in our university's Vision 2040 Action Plan, Education Area II (3), we aim to "strive to strengthen the teaching abilities of our faculty members and actively introduce highly effective teaching methods, such as expanding active learning and implementing team teaching by multiple faculty members," and this is also positioned as part of our university's faculty development training.

After an opening address by Director and Vice President Kiyokazu Minami, the event moved on to individual lectures, moderated by Associate Professor Hiroko Makita of the Department of Marine Environmental Science.

First, Associate Professor Kazumasa Oguri of the University of Southern Denmark gave a lecture introducing the teacher training program being implemented at his university, as well as examples of its use in classes and teaching using generative AI. Next, Professor Yuko Onosaka of the Stavanger University Business School in Norway spoke about active learning methods and examples actually being adopted in business schools, as well as organizational-level initiatives. Finally, Project Professor Akiko Nakazawa of the Institute for Advanced Education, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and College of Liberal Arts, The University of Tokyo, gave a lecture featuring concrete examples of practical methods for incorporating active learning into online classes.

Finally, Vice Dean of the Graduate School of Marine Science and Technology, Etsuro Shimizu, thanked the speakers and gave a closing address, bringing the symposium to a successful close.

Through online voting and questioning, participants had a valuable opportunity to learn about the latest examples presented by each speaker and gain suggestions for improving their classes in the future.

We plan to release a video of this lecture in the future so that the many faculty members who were unable to attend can make use of it. We hope that this will deepen understanding of effective teaching methods, including active learning, and lead to improvements in the quality of education at our university.

The speakers and their topics are as follows:

Speaker 1: Associate Professor Kazumasa Oguri, University of Southern Denmark
"Introduction to learner-centered teaching training at the University of Southern Denmark, practical examples in the classroom, and the use of generative AI"

Speaker 2: Professor Yuko Onozaka, University of Stavanger Business School
"Active Learning Initiatives at Stavanger University Business School"

Speaker 3: Akiko Nakazawa, Project Associate Professor, Institute for Advanced Liberal Arts Education, College of Liberal Arts, Institute for Advanced Liberal Arts, The University of Tokyo
"To make online classes more active"

Opening remarks by Director and Vice President Kiyokazu Minami of our university

Lecture by Associate Professor Kazumasa Oguri of the University of Southern Denmark

Lecture by Professor Yuko Onozaka of the University of Stavanger Business School

A lecture by Akiko Nakazawa, Project Associate Professor, Institute for Advanced Liberal Arts Education, College of Liberal Arts, Institute for Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo

Closing remarks by Professor Etsuro Shimizu, Vice Dean of the Graduate School of Marine Science and Technology