Fumitoshi Kato, Dean, Graduate School of Media and Governance
Compared to the two undergraduate faculties, the Faculty of Policy Management and the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, the Graduate School of Media and Governance has far fewer students and courses. From the outset, graduate students are expected to autonomously engage in their research activities according to their own topics. As a Graduate School that encompasses a variety of research areas and approaches, the styles of guidance and ideal research environments are truly diverse. Even under these circumstances, there must have been many creative ideas for guiding graduate students. It might be better to compile these "good practices" in a separate format.
In my own experience this semester, master's research seminars, meetings with doctoral program students, and Academic Projects (AP) proceeded without significant issues even in an online environment. In fact, I feel I was able to listen more intently to progress reports and the exchange of comments than usual (being online). The combined use of tools like Slack was also helpful. As for the medium- to long-term guidance of graduate students, I cannot yet comment at this point.
The master's program interim reports, final reports (final examinations), and the doctoral program graduate seminars (dissertation hearings, final examinations, etc.) were also conducted online. For some time now, it has been possible to check the activities and progress of graduate students via the web. Particularly for the master's program, thanks to the "Master's Thesis System" that has been in operation for several years, I believe the process in the online environment did not feel overly stressful.
We are currently asking each program to compile their thoughts and suggestions for improvement regarding the interim and final reports. Needless to say, there are many things that can only be achieved face-to-face. While I believe there is much room for ingenuity in online guidance, I hope we can build on the experiences and achievements of this semester, such as the selection and combination of tools, for the next semester and beyond. Above all, to ensure the quality of research and education at the graduate school while flexibly responding to changing circumstances, it will be useful to collect and accumulate practical examples and utilize them as our assets.