We are very happy to announce that our project has been selected for Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) International Cooperative Research Fund B. We would like to express our gratitude to all the professors who reviewed our proposal. Thank you very much. I thought the notification would be in December, but it was actually in October… When I was contacted by the administrative staff of the Graduate School of Core Ethics and Frontier Sciences, I thought it was still a while away, and when I looked at the application list, I was like, “Oh, wow! Our project has been selected!”.

To be honest, I can’t believe I made this. I hadn’t had that much confidence. It was late for me to notice the open call for this Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, but I thought it would become a good opportunity for me, considering my sabbatical this time. So I did my best to write the application. However, this Grant-in-Aid requires the cooperation of an overseas professor who will conduct joint research with me. I had to ask that professor to fill in the form mainly about what he or she is going to do for this project.

I know it is rude, but I asked Dr. Stephanie, who has been accepting me for a sabbatical, to do it. She quickly worked out the details and gave her consent for me to submit the grant for joint research. I am very grateful to Dr. Stephanie.

The topic of this project is improving a learning analytics dashboard which has been developed and published at both Kyushu University and the University of Michigan. More precisely, we are analyzing data from multiple perspectives and examining designs which lead to its effectiveness. (The word “effectiveness” is quite a delicate word though…).

The other day, Dr. Stephanie made time in her very busy schedule to discuss this with me, and it is a very difficult topic. It is not simply a matter of saying, “The user interface is good, the understanding is improved, and it’s great”. Because I could have a deep discussion about it with Dr. Stephanie, I am already getting excited for the joint research.

The four members in charge of this project are Dr. Goda (Kumamoto University), who has been helping us with JST AIP Accelerated Research, etc., Dr. Okubo, a former assistant professor at the Graduate School of Core Ethics and Frontier Sciences who has returned as an associate professor at the Graduate School of Systems Information Sciences, and Dr. Nehal of Hosei University. I hope that this joint research with the University of Michigan will also lead to the development of young researchers. Though, I feel I am not quite there yet… I am a little sad that I am no longer young researcher in terms of age. However, I would like to do good research to be competitive with the energy of researchers who are defined as “young”.

I would like to make my research results and develop them so that they can be used to make effective classes. Thank you for your continuous support.