As a school selected for the FY 2018 Inter-University Exchange Project of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan, Osaka City University (OCU) is implementing a Program to Develop Collaborative Social Innovators that uses Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL). As a part of this program, OCU conducts an intensive program called “SIGLOC” (Socially Innovative Global Classroom).

Since the spring of 2020, OCU implements an entirely online program entitled “Socially Innovative Global Classroom: Online” (SIGLOC-online) to provide international education unaffected by COVID-19.

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We are pleased to announce that the 9th SIGLOC-online has successfully completed its two-week period from September 13 to September 24, 2021.  Leaflet

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Orientation

Prior to the start of the program, an orientation was held online.
A total of 41 students from 16 universities in 9 countries/regions gathered.
All the students and teaching staff participated from home.

Orientation on September 6
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Opening Session

In the opening session, following the explanation of program activities, the participating students introduced themselves to get to know each other better.

Opening Session on September 13
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The theme of this program is “SDGs: Social Innovation in your Local Community toward Solving Global Issues”.
Before and after the opening session, the first task – asynchronous debate – was assigned to the students.

The objective of Session 1 is to discuss sustainability from an economic perspective.
The students read literature and describe a constructive opinion from their own standpoint, and then they proceed with the debate by refuting their opponents who have the exact opposite opinion.

Cultural Program

In the cultural program, the participating students were divided into teams and created an original team name – Sustainability Army, Trailblazers, Philipanesian, Danketsu, and Elite – and also a team logo.

Each team held team meetings using a variety of communication tools to discuss plans for a weekend party.

Each group gathered and discussed with adjusting to the time difference.

Cultural Program: team logos

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As cross-team activities, the students also enjoyed interacting with each other by giving quizzes and introducing photos on Slack.

Quiz session

Photo session

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Weekend Party

Participating students held weekend parties to take a break while being busy with daily tasks.

The students organized cultural events such as a movie night, game competitions, chat sessions, etc. and enjoyed socializing with each other across borders and time zones during the weekend.

Communications on Slack to organize the party, September 18-19.
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Working on tasks: Research, Data Analysis, and Discussion

In Sessions 2, 3 and 4, the students were divided into teams of 5 to 6 people each.
They worked together to find unique, solid, and practical proposals, from the various perspectives of the team members, to achieve the sustainability of the local communities, and ultimately improve the sustainability of the planet.

The students compiled a “Picture Book” of ideas to propose solutions to social issues and sustainability in their own country/region and refined their own ideas by giving comments to each other among the team members.

Eventually, they created a Social Innovation (SI) Report of what they have learned and discovered throughout the SIGLOC sessions.
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Summaries & Reports: Closing Session

The closing session was held on the final day with the participation of all students by adjusting the time zone in which all can participate together.

The students were divided into six rooms on Zoom, and each of them made a presentation to different team members using the Picture Book they had created.

Presentations at the closing session

In the closing session, students from Hyogo Prefectural Ikawadani High School participated as observers.
The high school students watched the participating students making presentations in English through Zoom.

Big smiles at the end of the Closing Session, September 24..
The students from Hyogo Prefectural Ikawadani High School are also in the upper right corner of the photo!

After the end of the entire SIGLOC period, 30 students who had completed all the assignments received a Certificate of Completion.

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Summary of Feedback Results and Pre & Post Self-Evaluation Results

NPS (Net Promoter Score)

NPS is an index that gauges the likelihood (rating 1-100) to recommend this activity/program to a friend or colleague.

The 9th SIGLOC-online： NPS 63.3

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We conducted a questionnaire with the students who participated in this SIGLOC-online.
Please see the summary of the questionnaire results below.

The 9th SIGLOC-online Feedback Questionnaire Result

The 9th SIGLOC-online Pre_Post Self-Evaluation Results

From the 9th SIGLOC, Osaka City University students are granted credits upon completion of the program.

Through the COIL-type of education by working collaboratively with overseas students on the same social issues, students can gain awareness and learning that are different from the program provided locally.

We, the COIL Promotion Office of Osaka City University, will continue and put more efforts to develop for even better educational programs.

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NEWS

A session “SIGLOC: Two Weeks to Discuss SDGs with Students from Around the World” is on YouTube!

COIL Promotion Office had a session entitled “SIGLOC: Two Weeks to Discuss SDGs with Students from Around the World” in the program hosted by Smart City Institute.

The session is now available on YouTube!

Please take a look. (Only in Japanese)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeOwe6GanaE