For universities and colleges that:
Plan to appeal to prospective students by taking time and resources to meet in-person
Want to help students have a better idea about their area of study, environment, and faculty
Want to assess and provide feedback to nurture all six Deeper Learning competencies
Master academic content
Think critically and solve complex problems
Work collaboratively
Communicate effectively
Learn how to learn
Develop academic mindsets
Rationale for Use
This workshop process is for universities who would like to take time and effort to connect with their prospective students in an academic way. Not only will it cover academic content of the relevant field, applicants will learn to think critically, communicate effectively, and work collaboratively through interactions with faculty and potential classmates, which they can take back to their high schools to develop academic mindsets further and learn how to learn. This process works best if universities want to recruit local students, but if the university is extending the application to a wider population, the workshops can also be executed online.
Design
The workshop generally takes about 3 months in total, but the university has a lot of choice in designing the possible prompts, schedule, and connection between the workshop and the application processes to fit their mission and capacity.
Timeline
| College Admissions | Applicants |
First month | - Propose the research questions to applicants by text or video. - Send out information on events that follow (and selects applicants if the number of applications exceed the limit). | - Work on individual assignment and submits online. - Receive (acceptance and) guidance from the college admissions on subsequent procedures. |
Second month | - Host in-person or online lectures on the assignment with the professor. - Provide support to applicants on how they can make their work better. | - Attend in-person or online lectures on the assignment from the professor. - Work individually and/or in groups toward the presentation (in-person/online). |
Third month | - Organize a presentation event inviting professors and other professionals for feedback. - Follow-up on applicants to support them in applying for the university. | - Make a final presentation and receive feedback from the professors. - Receive a certificate of completion which could be used for holistic methods of college application. |
Possible Prompts
Measure and analyze the data of radiation ray that exists in the everyday nature.
Discover the unique traits of the specific city/town of your choice through field survey.
Create and test a beam using an A4-sized kent paper by understanding the internal structure of a building.
Brainstorm and present idea on an innovation which makes the future interesting, using a drone.
Evaluation Guide
Problem defining - Is the student able to identify the problem in the topic and make connections to something in the student's life?
Logical thinking - Is the student able to identify the problem, think of a hypothesis, take actions to test it out, and reflect on the findings in a logical manner?
Communication skills - Is the student able to communicate effectively with the faculty and other members to elicit build relationships and elicit necessary information?
Collaboration skills - Is the student able to recognize the strengths in self and others and bring out the best in every member of the team to give a strong presentation?
Presentation skills - Is the student confident in explaining about the problem and responding flexibly to the questions raised from the audience?
Academic persistence - Is the student truly passionate about this domain or topic to continue research for three months, and possibly further after entering the university?
Reflection - Is the student able to reflect upon what has worked well and what could be potential challenges, and connect this experience to future learning?
Examples
Tokyo City University (Tokyo, Japan) held a 3-months workshop "Open Mission" for high school students from June to August. Students were expected to select one topic from 17 scientific themes, submit an online individual work, and attend in-person lectures, group work, and final presentation. The final product from this workshop can be used for application portfolio if the student is applying in the same year.
FAQs
Is the workshop part of the application itself or does it support applicants build a portfolio relevant to the application?
Each university can decide to use this workshop as part of the application itself or a support for the portfolio depending on the applicant size and application rules in that country. If private universities have a manageable applicant size and the freedom to design the application process completely, the workshop can be incorporated as part of the application process itself. If there are any limitations in these two factors, running this workshop can help students prepare their portfolio, as well as learn about the people, culture, and the field of study in the university better.
Is there any way to make this workshop shorter?
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