On 8 January I gave a presentation at the Centre for Instructional Technology’s (NUS) annual BuzzEd event.

I spoke about incorporating peer review in a class, as well as tools that Turnitin provides for managing the process. I don’t believe technology is the tool to fix all pedagogical needs. In fact, the most rewarding aspect of how I do peer review comes in the small group workshop phase of the exercise. However, Turnitin helps me clarify assignment expectations, distribute papers, and gather feedback on each paper.

Here is my abstract, as well as the documents I supplied to participants.

Abstract: Peer review is the standard for scholarly production. However, too few lecturers incorporate peer review into student writing, despite growing evidence of its benefits for students. In this presentation, I outline some of these benefits before showing how to manage the peer review process with the online plagiarism prevention tool Turnitin.com. I demonstrate the functionality of Turnitin beyond spotting plagiarism by showing past student work, including peer reviews and before-and-after essays. I also share student feedback on the exercise. Overall, I hope to encourage listeners to incorporate peer review into the student writing process, and I show how the potential chaos of this complex exercise can be effectively managed with Turnitin.

I was proud to present with a former student, Michelle Tan, which made this presentation a particularly great experience.

As in years past, the Field Studies in Japan module culminated in a public event at the Japan Creative Centre, in which I provided a framework for the program and students shared their experiences. With the exception of my introduction, the student presentations were all conducted in an adapted PechaKucha format. Each pair had 30 slides to tell their story, with each slide only being visible for 20 seconds. 10 minutes for each pair.

This was the program of events:

1. “Creative Revitalization: An Introduction”
by Chris McMorran

2. “Revitalisation: The Population Effect”
by Francesca Chua and Kasper Koh

3. “The Search for Furusato”
by Alvin Lee and Germaine Tan

– Break –

4. “Farmstays, Furusato and Craft-making”
by Janice Chen and Craig Tan

5. “Nature Tourism: Hiking, Rafting and Mt Aso”
Evelyn Tan and Lee Tingfeng

6. “The Past in Our Hands”
by Oh Pei Qi and Tan Jing Ting

(Master of ceremonies: Adeline Chua)

Finally, this was the official announcement that I authored and the Japan Creative Centre posted:

CREATIVE REVITALIZATION: IDEAS FROM KYUSHU
PRESENTATIONS BY PARTICIPANTS OF THE 2013 NUS FIELD STUDY TRIP TO JAPAN

Throughout Japan today there is talk of regional revitalization, or chiiki saisei. Efforts to rebuild communities in Tohoku affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown are but the most recent and noteworthy examples. In fact, a range of top-down and bottom-up programs have been devised over the past few decades to help areas throughout the country overcome problems like depopulation, aging, economic decline, and industrial disaster.

Although at present much attention is rightly aimed at northeastern Japan, it is worthwhile examining revitalization in general. In doing so we can analyze what factors are essential for revitalization (youthful population? innovative industries? well-maintained infrastructure? healthy tourism sector? bountiful nature?) and what lessons from elsewhere might apply to revitalization efforts in Tohoku.

In May 2013, the Department of Japanese Studies at the National University of Singapore (NUS) held its third annual Field Studies in Japan program. For 10 days Dr. Chris McMorran led 10 NUS students around a handful of communities in Kyushu whose creative revitalization efforts past or present have been noteworthy.

At this special Japan Creative Centre event, students will present their findings and reflect on the potential prospects for revitalization elsewhere in Japan.

At the farmstay, Nakabaru, Minami-Oguni, Kumamoto

Walking tour with members of the Seinenbu, Kurokawa Onsen, Minami-Oguni, Kumamoto

Chatting with a local resident during a field exercise, Tsuetate Onsen, Oguni, Kumamoto

This year marks the third session of the annual Field Studies in Japan course. Because of changes in technology and a greater focus on student work, I have chosen not to compose summaries of the various field exercises through this blog (despite my previous post). Instead, I will post several reports about student projects, and I will link readers to Facebook photo albums created by each student.

I hope that this combination of images, links, and news will help summarize the course and preserve memories of the course for years to come.

The first news report is about a sharing session we had with students of the Faculty of Law at Kyushu University on May 27, our last full day in Japan:

On Monday, May 27, students on the Field Studies in Japan module had an exchange session with students from Kyushu University in Fukuoka. At the event, Dr. Chris introduced the Field Studies module, and Prof. Mariko Igimi introduced Kyushu University’s Re-inventing Japan Project. Then students from both institutions shared their research and experiences in each other’s countries, including information about a visit in September 2013 by Kyushu University students to Singapore to study the topic of Heritage. The evening ended with informal discussion. We look forward to welcoming the Kyushu University students to NUS in September. (link to photos in Facebook post)

The third annual Field Studies in Japan module began yesterday (May 13, 2013). Ten outstanding students from NUS have begun the coursework for the module (10am-4pm for five days this week) and will leave for Japan on Sunday, May 19.

This week we are learning about regional revitalization (chiiki saisei) and tourism, as well as getting student-led primers on the three main regions of our upcoming 10-day visit to Kyushu: Oguni/Minami-Oguni Towns in the region of Mt. Aso, Minamata, and Nagasaki.

I will post regular updates about the field study as it progresses, and this year students will compose posts that will be published here and on Facebook after the trip is complete.

I am honored to receive the NUS Annual Teaching Excellence Award for AY2011-12.

The award is given by NUS to faculty members who have demonstrated a very high level of commitment to, and achievement of, good teaching. Selection is based on peer and student feedback, and information from teaching portfolios.

I was recognized for the award at a university-wide ceremony on Tuesday, 30 April.

With Professor Tan Eng Chye, Deputy President and Provost

I also received the Faculty Teaching Excellence Award from the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, as well as a unique “Innovation Award,” for “most innovative use of technology in and out of the classroom.”

Thanks to all of my students, past and present (and future!), and fellow JS staff for making teaching an exciting and constant learning experience.

I just learned I am a runner-up for the 2012 Wiley–Blackwell Publishers Area Prize for New Research in Geography, based on my publication, “Practising workplace geographies: embodied labour as method in human geography”. I will receive an honorable mention in the June issue of the journal. The paper describes my research in ryokan, or traditional Japanese inns. I discuss the methodological possibilities and limitations of working participant observation, and I challenge geographers who research work and workplaces to get their hands dirty.

According to the journal’s website, “The purpose of the Area Prize is to encourage submissions from new researchers and to reward excellent geographical research. To be eligible for consideration, at the time of submitting their paper, authors should be engaged in full or part-time postgraduate research, or be within three years of the completion of their PhD, or of equivalent professional standing.”

If you wish to read the paper:
– Access the abstract here and connect through your library: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-4762.2012.01101.x/abstract
– If you do not have library access, please contact me

I am happy to announce several upcoming talks I will present related to teaching:

“Leading Discussions and Seminars”
Teaching Assistants Programme (TAP) (NUS – Centre for Development of Teaching and Learning)
25 February, 2013

Abstract:

This session will introduce TAs to techniques proven to stimulate discussion in Arts and Social Science modules. Participants will practice a series of techniques for pair work, small group work, and large group discussion, then reflect on each technique through “meta-teaching,” which allows further reflection on classroom practice. Finally, this session will introduce participants to additional readings that provide further concrete ideas for leading discussions.

For more information on the talk, which is not open to the public, please contact me. To learn more about the Teaching Assistants Programme (TAP), please visit this site.

“Collaborative Learning using Google Docs & Maps”
Technology in Pedagogy Series (NUS – Centre for Development of Teaching and Learning)
6 March, 2013
12:30-1:30
CDTL Seminar Room 2

Abstract:

I don’t work for Google; I make Google work for me. In this presentation I highlight two Google tools that can be used to encourage collaborative learning both inside and outside the classroom: Docs and Maps. I demonstrate how these tools allow students to work together and build shared sets of knowledge. I feature three activities: collaborative translations, shared timelines, and group maps. I conclude by leading discussion about the possibilities and limitations of these tools for flipping the classroom.

To learn more about the talk or to register, please visit this site.

Past talks:

“Releasing the reins: Technologies that put students in charge”
BuzzEd 2013 (NUS Centre for Instructional Technology)
10 January, 2013

Abstract:

A challenge faculty members face is knowing when to stop preparing content and start giving students more responsibility over what they learn. In this presentation, I first outline a range of technologies I have used at NUS to increase student involvement in classes with enrollments that range from five to 450. Then I focus on two technologies I have incorporated to not only allow students to demonstrate their understanding of course content, but also put students in charge of deciding what and how they will learn. Specifically, I highlight Google Maps and the NUS Wiki as learner-centered tools. I show how the technologies work, share student work and student feedback about the tools, and discuss several challenges to their use. This presentation aims to inspire others to release some control over course content in order to help students develop skills, gain knowledge, and demonstrate abilities through readily accessible tools.

You may view the webcast here

Click here for more information on BuzzEd 2013

As more consumers express concerns about environmental sustainability, companies work harder to either develop sustainable practices or develop greenwashing campaigns to make their practices appear sustainable.

As Christopher Schuetze recently (September 17, 2012) writes in the International Herald Tribune, problems are emerging with the certification of sustainability claims: “What’s in a Label? Not Necessarily Sustainability”

This article offers food for thought for students, faculty, and consumers who think about what sustainability means in their everyday lives.

Sometimes I struggle to say something new about Kurokawa. I have been visiting regularly since 1996, and I lived and worked there for a year in 2006-07. I’ve led students on field study tours twice now, and I fear my stories may be stale. To combat this, I do two things: first, I make students write about their visit to Kurokawa, and I hope to see it again through their eyes. Second, I purposefully emphasize the standard narrative about Kurokawa, received from print and video, as well as from many individuals there. Then I contrast this narrative with small bits of information that undermine it. Far from reinforcing what we think we know about the place, I hope this gets students thinking that there may be hundreds of little stories that comprise the resort, thus creating a thoroughly incoherent narrative of place. Such a disjointed narrative more closely resembles our daily experiences of place, which are not constructed by an overarching storyline. If I can get students to question Kurokawa’s narrative (and my repeated stories about it) through their writing, I believe I’ve helped them achieve a higher level of learning; the ever-elusive critical thinking.

Many students emphasized the opulence of our accommodations and service; some were impressed, others disgusted. Especially since we visited immediately after walking around Tsuetate, the contrast could not be missed. This timing was intentional, of course. I thought it would be effective to visit one place, then the other. Even without my interpretation, I think the students would have picked up on the differences. Unfortunately, the realities of the tour logistics preclude us from visiting each place without any guidance – just giving them one or two hours to walk on their own in both places, then compare notes. This sounds like a great idea, but then we would have to return to each to point out things that needed clarification or were missed. And we cannot afford such a lesson – both in time and money.

Touring Kurokawa

After checking into our inn, I led a one-hour walking tour, pointing out facilities of interest (some mentioned in my various papers on Kurokawa), explaining changes, and providing orientation so that they could navigate the resort later on their own.

Tourists dressed in yukata

As if on cue, we saw tourists in yukata exploring the narrow streets, eating sweets, and taking photos between baths. The weather was outstanding, and we saw the best side of Kurokawa: a weekday in May – between Golden Week and rainy season.

Group photo in the heart of Kurokawa

Later, we met for dinner and to talk about the different baths we had tried. This is, after all, what Kurokawa is all about.

Used bath passes (nyūto tegata), one (well-reported) secret to Kurokawa's success

Date of visit and photos: May 22, 2012

Yesterday was the concluding event of the 2012 Field Studies in Japan module.

On Friday afternoon, the Japan Creative Centre hosted “Sustainable Places: Tourism and the Environment in Japan”, in which I and all 13 student participants shared our experiences in Kyushu.

Hiroyuki Yamamoto, Director of the Japan Creative Centre, provided the opening remarks. Then I provided an overview of the field studies module, explaining how excited I was to introduce “my Japan” to NUS students.

Hiroyuki Yamamoto, Director, Japan Creative Centre

Here are the presentation titles:

After the JCC event (2012 Field Studies to Japan module participants, from left to right: Jiin-Shiuan Thai, James Goh, Eddie Ong, Maimunah Nokman, Perlyn Long, Lynn Yeo, Adeline Chua, Pei Jun Neo, Jia Qi Tian, Charlyn Ang, Titus Teo, Michelle Tan, Sakinah Mohd Khalid, and Chris McMorran. Not pictured: graduate assistant Huijun Yao)