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Japan Center Academic Programs
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Academic Programs Global College students study in South Africa and Japan for a semester each during their junior year, taking into consideration where they plan to conduct their senior year Independent Study Semester. All students studying at the Japan Center are required to take Japanese language (4 credits), area studies (3 credits), writing workshop (3 credits), digital literacy (3 credits) and one more course for a total of 16 credits. Fall semester students do a Directed Independent Study (3 credits) and spring semester students take the Junior Seminar (3 credits), a prerequisite for the Independent Study Semester. Study abroad students from other US institutions take two required courses, Japanese language and area studies. In addition, these students choose from other available courses and Directed Independent Study for a total of 16 credits. The Japan Center offers syllabi for 2-4 credit pre-designed independent studies such as: Creative Writing, Teaching English as a Second Language, Japanese Cuisine, Japanese Literature, Introduction to Eastern Religious and Spiritual Philosophy. 
Courses (credits)
ADVISING Every student has one-on-one advising sessions with a faculty advisor. During the first week of the semester students meet their advisors and establish their advising schedule for the semester. Once students have decided what they want to study, in consultation with their faculty advisor, they meet on a bi-weekly basis to discuss their learning progress and make the necessary contacts and arrangements for projects and other study opportunities. LEARNING PLAN At the beginning of each semester, every student prepares a learning plan to outline the course of study he or she intends to pursue. Preliminary planning for the semester is essential to the educational process. As students determine their own courses of study in conjunction with their faculty advisors, it is essential to prepare a plan, which outlines not only a course of study but also goals and learning objectives for the semester. Learning plans help students to conceptualize, define, organize, plan, carry out, analyze and document their learning experiences. In addition to helping the student plan the semester, the learning plan also functions as a sort of contract between the student and his or her advisor. The credits and evaluations the student receives at the end of the semester are based upon how well the student has carried out the agreed upon learning activities. PRESENTATIONS As Global College students pursue many of their studies independently, there is obviously a broad range of subjects being studied. Presentations of students’ work give the entire learning community the chance to benefit from the learning of all the students as well as the opportunity to learn how to organize material into a cogent, interesting format. Work is presented both mid-semester and at semester’s end, in an informal “ingathering” whereby students introduce their studies. Presentations can take the form of a short talk, a demonstration, a video that a student has made, a slide show or any form that the student feels can best demonstrate his or her learning. Students are usually allotted twenty minutes each for their presentations, plus a question and answer period. Early in the semester, a workshop will be held to give students the necessary background to prepare and make a presentation. Electronic Learning Portfolio Global College electronic learning portfolio (ELP) is a central, cumulative, creative document that contains a chronological mapping of the growing intellectual sophistication of the student over the four years of the program. The ELP is a searchable repository of a student’s work, including not only written text but images, sound files, video, presentations and hyperlinks that enable fast and flexible cross-referencing between sections of the portfolio. Interviews, poetry, accounts of failures as well as successes, fiction, and other imaginative and creative elements are encouraged. Not only is the ELP an effective means of managing and documenting individual learning, it is a social networking tool that puts students in “conversation” with experts, tutors and peers. As students from all centers share the fruits of their unique learning experiences with one another and reflect on the resulting conversations, they strengthen Global College's learning community, while acquiring sophisticated technological and communication skills that will be required of them in a wireless, global economy. These digital portfolios stay with students not only through their tenure with Global College, but also as they move into their careers or on to graduate school. Assessment Portfolio assessment is carried through weekly entries and a final portfolio evaluation. Content, format and the level of analysis is taken into account by the academic advisors. All students are expected to write a semester learning plan, to have advising sessions (at least one every other week), to bring journal entries to show evidence of progress, and to present an Electronic Learning Portfolio at the end of the semester. Documentation of advising sessions, the ELP (which includes a self-evaluation), and the feedback from faculty are used by advisors when they evaluate the students at the end of the semester. The semester evaluation becomes part of the student’s official transcript. It lists the coursework and credits earned, and it is accompanied by a narrative description of the student’s work. Self-Evaluations Students are asked to evaluate their learning at both mid- semester and at semester’s end. The purpose is to allow students a chance to step back and reflect on their own progress, both academic and personal. Self-evaluations are divided into two categories; a course- based evaluation and a more general and personal evaluation. The sole purpose of both of these evaluations is to give the student the opportunity to reflect upon and trace his or her progress during the semester. Final Evaluations Students are expected to submit and revise their work throughout the semester. At the culmination of each semester, students submit the final draft of the Portfolios of Learning to their academic advisors, who will evaluate the learning documented and assign credit. As the process of learning is as essential as the content of the learning, students who submit work to their advisors for the first time in the final Portfolio run a very serious risk of not being awarded full credit for their work. Grades will not be awarded to a student unless specifically requested by a Visiting Student in the Visiting Student Agreement form during the enrollment process, for credit at a visiting student’s home university; instead, students receive a detailed narrative evaluation. Global College Kyoto, Japan is 13 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time.
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| Long Island University | Global College |