This article describes how instructors designed and carry out the course "Practice of Basic Informatics." This course teaches the usage of information and communication technology (ICT) from the perspective that ICT is essential for intellectual production activities on campus. That's why it does not simply teach technology. It also instructs students on how to organize information with readers and audiences in mind and how to ensure that writing or compilations are logically consistent.

Associate Professor Sakai, Program-Specific Senior Lecturer Okamoto, and Professor Kita teach the Practice of Basic Informatics. They were interviewed about the concepts behind the course and what schemes they use to provide twice-weekly feedback to roughly 200 students.

The interview was conducted in February 2020 before the spread of COVID-19. The current situation of the course is briefly reported in the rounded-corner box at the bottom of this article.

Notes:
In response to the version-up of PandA and mksummary, we updated the image of how to download the assignment data on PandA and the demo video of how to use mksummary (June 7, 2021).

Yes, they are. Different students require different amounts of time to complete the exercises due to the nature of the course content, which depends on the student's current knowledge and skills. For example, it depends on how familiar they are with personal computer operations; whether they have experience using Office applications, such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint; and whether they are good at typing or not. Accordingly, we ask those who have completed their exercises faster than others to support other students nearby.

The textbook is written primarily for Windows users and contains operations not always applicable to Mac machines. For Mac users, we made a separate Mac user-specific instruction manual. We give this to Mac user students and ask them to replace our explanations when appropriate.
We made the English textbook available here.

In every class, we give the students two assignments. They work on one during the class and do the other as homework for the day. The students submit these assignments using the assignment tool on PandA. We mark them and calculate the sum, after adjusting the weight of each assignment.

The tool mksummary creates a list of answers submitted via the assignment tool on PandA. Using it, you can mark submitted answers successively.

Otherwise, when grading with the PandA assignment tool, you need to open one page for each individual student. The drawback of this system is that each time you finish grading one student, you need to open another page, which takes some work. In the case of reviewing quite a few students, you can be lost in tracking whom you have already marked and whom you have not; and it is not easy to review already input scores and comments.

As a solution to these drawbacks, mksummary was developed. It can be regarded as an auxiliary tool on PandA.

Yes, you can. Attachments are displayed as links. By clicking the link, you can view the linked file stored on your PC.

It is also possible to deduct points for late submissions uniformly. For actual grading, we first set a due date and the number of points for uniform deduction. After applying these settings, we mark the submission of each student in accordance with the grading criteria.

Yes, they are. When giving assignments, we also indicate the grading criteria. If a submitted assignment is unsatisfactory, we return the assignment, indicating which points are unsatisfactory in the comment field.
Although you can use PandA to provide comments, mksummary is convenient. Using it, you can view a list of assignments, which is useful for providing responses. You can consult your previous comments or copy and paste prepared text to respond to frequent errors. You can also check for any inconsistent application of the grading criteria.

So, we need to proceed as efficiently as possible. In this regard, mksummary is truly useful.
The browser displays a bar to indicate your progress. Although it is a plain looking bar (laughs), we are grateful for it, as it helps the grader stay motivated by visualizing how many assignments have been graded and how many remain.

We use placecomments to reflect the marks and comments in the assignment data on PandA.

Lastly, on the assignment page on PandA, press the "Release Grades" to allow students to view their grades and comments. (* For detailed operations, view this video created by Professor Kita.)

Although at first it may seem complex, it actually is not, and its substantial advantages become clear when you get used to the procedure. Moreover, you can consult the instruction manual【for KU members only】 and view an explanatory video (both of them are in Japanese).

Yes, the Classwork Assist Box. Professor Kita introduced this to me as well, and we've since been using it. It is a special attachment to Fuji Xerox multifunction machines. When a purpose-designed sheet of paper with a QR code is scanned, the Classwork Assist Box processes the student ID through optical character recognition (OCR: a function of recognizing text on paper and converting it to digital text). Furthermore, it automatically uploads data to PandA. On PandA, data from scanned sheets are uploaded in accordance with individual student IDs and look as if the assignments were submitted by each student.

There are few multifunction machines with a Classwork Assist Box function in Yoshida Campus. We use one installed on the first floor of the building where we deliver our classes (south building, Academic Center for Computing and Media Studies).

Scanned sheets are returned to the students with comments after the compilation of assessments for each group by a program written in Python. We give students some time during the class hour to read assessments of their presentations. They read them enthusiastically. Comments are largely sympathetic, probably because we tell them in advance that they will read comments in the classroom. You can see them smile while reading.

Sakai: The question seems most clearly answered by Professor Kita who took part in reorganizing and starting up the course. Could you answer this question, Professor Kita?

Along with the unification of the course title and the number of credits, the other question was what course content should be covered. We formed a working group within the Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences and designed the subject matter through group discussions. At that point, we set three goals for the students: to acquire ICT skills essential for academic activities, to become independent ICT users, and to develop self-learning abilities to acquire ICT skills voluntarily and continuously. From this, we decided to write a common textbook.

Kita: Yes. With individual topics, the number of Level A (a goal of this course) increased substantially before and after lectures.

Thank you. As Associate Professor Sakai relayed, the main objective of this course is to teach the intellectual production skills essential for studying at a university. I hope that students learn the methods required to produce logically sound writing and to report data using standard style and wording.
I hope that they acquire the skill of devoting their energies to contemplating content, allowing the machine to do the tasks that the machine can do, such as assigning section numbers and inserting cross-references.

Such abilities will be essential throughout their campus life and after their graduation too. For this reason, we design and implement the course to allow students to receive proper training early.

Indeed, there are students who chose this course because their seniors told them that the course was good. These remarks are certainly encouraging.

Kita: Additionally, the number of videos that offer benefits for students are increasing. It is probably good that the course includes topics relating to video creation methods. We have also created videos as teaching materials, capturing us explaining how to use some of these tools. It is probably good to foster literacy in creating videos, not just for fanciness but because some things are more easily understood visually.

That said, the primary objective is surely to train students to be able to write properly.

Interviewers：Mana Taguchi and Takeo Suzuki
Article composition: Takeo Suzuki
Photography: Wataru Kono
Date of Interview：February 20, 2020

Published online: September 2, 2021 (Original article)
Updated: June 7, 2021, April 6, 2022
Published online: June 14, 2021 (English article)