OE Global 2019

In this presentation, we will introduce an example of nuclear power OER and course development at Japanese universities. As a result of the tragic aftermath of the Tohoku earthquake, there has been more interest in nuclear power education in Japan. Thus, at the Hokkaido University Center for Open Education, we worked with the Hokkaido University Faculty of Engineering to produce OER capable of educating people about the basics of nuclear power. We helped the Faculty of Engineering to create educational videos which we then available on our OpenCourseWare website. These resources were later utilized for a MOOC on nuclear power. Later, eight faculty of engineering professors collaborated on a flipped-classroom course using these resources. This course was given on-campus at Hokkaido University.
Both science and humanities students participated in the flipped-classroom course. As such, it was necessary to make the course accessible even to students without a basic grasp of Physics. It was also necessary to create a classroom environment that could compensate for differences in prior knowledge about nuclear power between students.
Hence, we suggested that instructors 1) use the OER utilized for the initial MOOC because of their usefulness to all learners of all levels, and 2) that they use "Shin Godzilla" (which is about a monster borne from nuclear-radiation) as a course-theme. Unique, “Shin Godzilla” themed assignments were designed on the assumption that students had already studied using the OER before class. Concretely speaking, assignments included tasks such as identifying the Geiger counter in the movie and explain inaccuracies in its use (allowing students to learn how to correctly measure radiation). This course was given from 2016 to 2018. 23 and 28 students participated each year (including remote participants). As students show, we both used OER to help educate students and developed a more appealing course.