CITL-TokyoTech

The Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL) was established in April 2015 as part of education reform at Tokyo Institute of Technology. The purpose of the CITL is to further train faculty members with high-level teaching abilities who are deeply dedicated to education, and to foster ambitious students of great academic potential and people skills. Since its establishment, first CITL Director Akira Matsuzawa and his successor Jun-ichi Imura and devoted and enthusiastic staff members have striven to promote activities in the following four main areas:
(i)educational assessment systems
(ii)support for faculty development and improvement
(iii)improvement of the learning environment and support for education
(iv)the development and dissemination of teaching methods

From 2020, while building a foundation of stable operations, we were urged to establish a system for remote lectures and take other actions necessary in response to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. While facing these challenges, we have gained knowledge and experience for a post-COVID-19 era in utilizing audio and video materials and facilitating remote lectures. This is a result of our unique activities, such as surveys asking faculty and students about remote lectures, discussion sessions as part of Institute-wide faculty development (FD) events, and symposia where examples of good practice in teaching were shared among participants.

It is now time for us to move on to the next stage by applying what we have learned during the pandemic. In addition to the above four main areas of focus, we will work on the following two points.

1. By utilizing accumulated expertise related to remote and on-demand lectures in the pandemic era, and being in line with the promotion of digital transformation (DX) at Tokyo Tech, the CITL will further develop both hardware and software that enable effective and wide use of educational assets and resources, and thus contribute to improving the quality of education at Tokyo Tech.

2. Coordination with faculty and staff members is indispensable to improving the quality of education. The CITL will further strengthen coordination with Schools and Institute-Wide Education Centers by means of DX tools, FD activities, and symposia. Also, together with faculty and staff members, CITL is going to build an education quality improvement cycle unique to Tokyo Tech.