A former colleague from my time in the private sector came as a guest lecturer for the Student and Learning Support Research Meeting hosted by my center. The theme was “The Intersection of Learning in Universities and Corporations.”

There is a lot of talk in the world about “fundamental skills” or “bachelor’s degree competencies,” but to what extent are these actually required? I had various questions, such as whether these are just idealistic theories or if they are being overhyped. I wanted to hear from someone in the field—not a consultant or someone from HR—to get their perspective.

So, I invited my former colleague to hold this research meeting. It was very easy to understand, as it included terms that also appear in Educational Technology research. The talk covered topics ranging from reflection, self-growth, metacognition, and intentional/incidental learning, to a sense of mission, adaptability, the ability to survive in unreasonable environments (the idea that it is up to oneself whether or not to label a situation as “unreasonable”), and the observation that there are fewer young people who work “recklessly” on the tasks right in front of them.

Thinking that our students should also hear this, I asked them to speak at a research meeting for students at the Learning Commons open studio.

As for the style, it was a free discussion format where questions were accepted from the beginning. While some students were initially bewildered by this format, which we hadn’t used much before, students who had taken my classes broke the ice, and it became quite lively. My colleague has changed jobs twice, and there were many topics discussed, including the reasons behind those career changes, the differences between humanities and sciences in job hunting, and simple questions like, “Why do companies that specialize in human resource development exist when there is already an HR department?” I believe it was stimulating for the students and provided them with various takeaways, such as how to spend their future student life, points to be aware of during job hunting, and for those graduating this year, how to think about their careers after graduation.

At the research meeting for faculty and staff, one participating professor commented, “It is important to have opportunities to talk with people in the field like this to think about and reflect on university education.” I am thinking of inviting two people from the field next year to speak. It is difficult because people in the field are very busy, but I would like to find a way to create these opportunities. And I want the students to hear from them as well.

Recently, I feel that human resource development theories are being discussed using beautiful words, citing examples of predecessors that rarely occur. Also, while communication and collaboration are extremely important, I feel that an increasing number of students seek them without knowing that they can also become difficult barriers and sources of stress for themselves. In the field, there are many things that are nerve-wracking, unglamorous, and don’t go as planned. I want students to have hope, but they also need to know the reality of what the field is like.

I definitely want to do this again next year.
It is already the end of the year. There is only about a week left this year, isn’t there? This year felt both long and short… It’s been tough with various chaotic meetings coming up at the end of the year. Classes have finished safely for the year.