In June this summer I attended a summer course in fish physiology in Japan. The course was arranged by ExcelAQUA with its Japanese collaborators. You can read more about the IntPART project ExcelAQUA here.
As a fish physiology student I found this course most valuable, with lab projects, field excursions and interesting lectures. Even though traditional lectures are a great way of communicating knowledge, my experience as a student and as a student involved in bioCEED, is that it is not necessarily great for learning. This highlighted the benefits of studying at BIO in Bergen, an institute with a dedicated community working with evolving the teaching styles to enhance the learning outcome of the students.
In one of his lectures during the course prof. Tom Ole Nilsen from UiB demonstrated interactive teaching which involved the students in re-telling for the crowd what he had lectured earlier. Although this was not a thing the Japanese students was used to, they gladly participated without hesitation. The idea of interactive teaching also spread to the Japanese professors, of which some did great attempts of activating the students in their following lectures.
In the end I would like to thank the Japanese hosts for a wonderful course and hope that the (bio)CEED of better bio education is able to grow in Japan as it does in Bergen.
-Endre
Me reflecting on how to best balance traditional lectures with student interactions to get the best learning outcomes, while walking on traditional Japanese stilts.