What is Mirai Seminar?
“Mirai Seminar,” where we can
freely design our own learning space,
is now open!
Can you relate to the following?
In these times, in which self-restraint is expected regarding going out and meeting people in person, you gather information using your smartphone and computer.
With the addition of web-based classes, we are literally in a “society that is constantly connected to the internet.”
Even though you gather information via the internet, you are unable to share your “frustrations” about certain issues with others, and doesn’t this only make these feelings grow?
How about learning about issues causing these “frustrations” or concerns in a two-month term?
You can design a learning experience together, with people you have not even met yet.
You can find learning companions such as graduate students, faculty members, working adults, etc., who share the same “frustrations” as you about a certain issue.
We hope that this experience will help you design your university studies, your future, as well as all our futures.
I’m curious about the social issues that come up on my Twitter feed.
I want to learn something about them…
I want to think more deeply about what I learned in class.
But my class ends in half a semester…
It’s hard learning alone.
I want to learn with others.
It would be nice to have a senior student or an adult I could talk to.
I want to test out my awareness of certain issues while writing my graduation thesis.
But who can I trade opinions with?
I want to hear this professor’s opinion!
But I would have to pay them for that…
I want to read this book.
But I think I could get more out of it if I read it with someone else...
For those of you who have these types of “frustrations,” the Liberal Arts Center at Ritsumeikan University is supporting the creation of “Future Co-Development Liberal Arts Seminars” (known as “Mirai Seminars”), where you can freely design your own place to learn!
What is a “Future Co-Development Liberal Arts Seminar” (known as “Mirai Seminar”)?
A “Future Co-Development Liberal Arts Seminar” (below, “Mirai Seminar”), is a type of student-proposed seminar in which students continue to learn about interests that have grown from their studies in regular courses. As in liberal arts courses, the seminar is run in a cycle based on quarters (about eight weeks), with members from different colleges, year levels, and campuses learning together. *This is a non-credit program and as such, no credits are awarded.
Topics You Want to Learn About Can be Found Within Your “Frustrations.”
Students think of the seminar topics. You can learn from each other in a seminar format about things that are currently on your mind or that you would like to think about in more depth after encountering them in your classes. It is fine to just read one book in your seminar. We will also help you look for seminar members.
Students Take Center Stage with Support Provided by Mentors.
Students decide the number of seminar sessions and term that seminars take place. Seminar groups are mainly made up of undergraduate students, but can also include graduate students, students from Ritsumeikan affiliated schools, working adults (Ritsumeikan alumni, etc.), and faculty and staff.
Support Inviting Guest Speakers and Conducting Fieldwork
Guest speakers who seminar members want to hear from can be invited to speak. In these cases, we will provide financial support for honorarium payments and transportation expenses. We also provide other support for travel and transportation expenses for conducting fieldwork and for disseminating seminar activity results throughout society.
At Ritsumeikan University, approximately 100,000 students take liberal arts courses each year. The unique characteristic of liberal arts courses is that students can learn together with other students from different colleges and year levels.
Through Mirai Seminar, expand the circle of like-minded individuals to envision and design a better society of the future and explore the language that will open the next generation through a combination of face-to-face and online communicative forums.