Standard Curriculum Activities & Extracurricular Activities (Ver.20071211)
This GP reflects upon the prevalent trend in today's graduate school education to separate standard curriculum activities and extracurricular activities. An aspect of this GP from this point forward is to further strengthen the movement to combine these two types of activities.
An example of this idea in context is found in the field of action research, which combines field work with theoretical research. As in the case of action research, there are cases in which the division between standard curriculum activities and extracurricular activities is already being overcome. Furthermore, there is the case of the instructor of a seminar who engages in actual practice in the community with the goal of solving a theoretical issue. The instructor then introduces this process in the standard curriculum activities of the class. Graduate students who help this process can be said to be already participating in a forum which fuses standard curriculum activities and extracurricular activities.
Therefore, it is actually quite difficult to define the distinction between standard curriculum activities and extracurricular activities. It can be said that a dichotomy does not always exist between standard curriculum activities and extracurricular activities. There are many activities which straddle the boundary between the two types of activities.
As a result, it is necessary to clearly define what the focus of support is when the fulfillment of extracurricular activities is discussed in this GP.
For this GP, we shall give standard curriculum activities the exclusive definition of "activities performed within class time which subject to the assigning of credits". Of course, there are activities performed outside of the regular class time that are still considered to be standard curriculum activities. Such activities include thesis guidance or experimental classes by guidance counselors who, by nature, have a flexible schedule. However, in the case of field work that has been added to the class but performed outside of class hours, the designation of a standard curriculum activity does not apply.
Therefore, as a general rule, the designation of extracurricular activity applies to all activities that have no relation with the assigning of credits in the standard curriculum. In truth, the reason an exclusive definition is not applied to extracurricular activities is that we cannot be certain as to what kind of situation or relationship will give birth to activities that contribute to the production of a human and community development mindset. It can be said that one of the hidden agendas of this GP is to clearly define the mechanism involved in the production of a human and community development mindset.
At this point, we would like to separate the structure of extracurricular activities into three major categories (actual practice, academic activity, and committee activity). The contents of each category are explained and specific examples are given below.
- A. Actual Practice
- Actual practice refers to social activities performed by a group both inside and outside of the university, with the purpose of solving a specific social issue or problem, or based upon a specific theory. For example, community activities or civil activities based mainly upon the efforts of volunteers fall under this category. Also, activities that contribute to society which have already been enacted at the university may also fall under the category of actual practice for extracurricular activities. In the case of action research led by an instructor, if a portion of that action research involves the cooperation and collaboration with a variety of organizations or individuals from outside the university, then that portion of research is also considered as actual practice. The best example of actual practice is when graduate students themselves form a group with the goal of undertaking social activity. The category of actual practice is an area which will be given great support during this GP.
- B. Academic Activity
- As goes without saying, academic activity is the general term for activities with the goal of inquiry into academic issues. Such activities include participation in scholastic councils and research groups, the organization of research teams, and the application of grants for research funds. It is not necessary to point out that such activities are already performed naturally. Therefore, as part of this GP, special support will be given to activities that are viewed as interdisciplinary, promote scholastic interaction, are international, and promote a spirit of cooperation. The types of activity recommended for this GP include academic activities spanning several specialized fields. The study of ESD and human genomes are representative of this kind of activity. Also included is regional research featuring links with individuals such as NPO staff, government workers, or corporate employees. We also expect academic activities on a global scale, such as international scholastic councils, and expect graduate students to participate in such event. One of the main features of this GP is the development of academic activities as extracurricular activities, and the support of participation by graduate students in such activities.
- C. Committee Activity
- Committee Activity is the general term for organizational activities related to the management of the university. Until now, this management has been the responsibility of only instructors and university staff. At the university, there are many management organizations composed of a few instructors, such as the Education Committee and Student Committee. This GP makes the assumption that self-governance, planning, and management abilities of graduate students can be improved by having graduate students contribute and participate in the management of the university. Of course, due to confidentiality and other factors, there is a limit to the educational and scholastic committees which are open for participation. However, there are a number of committees which serve to benefit from participation by graduate students. For example, graduate students can offer guidance to the undergraduate students who preside over the Student Committee, and they can assist in the reform of graduate student space being performed by the University Housing Research Committee. The participation of graduate students would also be invaluable to the Faculty Development Committee (reform of undergraduate schools and courses) and the Career Support Committee. We expect participation in the activities of committees to be of great meaning to both the empowerment of graduate students and educational reform at out university.
This concludes the definition of the three categories essential to the advancement of our university's GP. The issues contained in this GP are to reform the activities themselves so that they function as extracurricular activities for graduate students, and to create a system that makes it easy for graduate students to participate.
Updated: 2008/10/21 (Tue) 15:49