Digital technology is no longer just a tool in education—it is the catalyst re‑shaping how learners think, co‑create, and act.
Week 2 of the UMAP‑JIGE capacity‑building programme pushed that transformation further, moving from big‑picture theory to hands‑on strategies every educator can deploy tomorrow.
Participants—comprising university faculty members and educators from 10 countries : Canada, Colombia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam—gathered to explore how learner-centric approaches and technology-driven activities foster critical thinking and holistic development.
1. Icebreaker & Week 1 Recap
Program Breakdown:
- Facilitator: Dr Keiko Ikeda
- Duration: 15 minutes
- Tools: Textpad (sharing of Week 1 Assignment)
What Was Covered
As assignment from the previous session, Each participant brought one concrete, home‑campus example of Education 5.0 in action. Through collective knowledge, the participants discussed about the 25+ initiatives that together sketched a panoramic view of Education 5.0 innovation across the regions
- Smart‑Campus Infrastructure – Malaysia’s UiTM U‑Future platform, the Philippines’ SMART ISLA upgrade at Romblon State U, and TAU’s Digital Scholar project all showed how robust Wi‑Fi, device loans, and analytics‑ready LMSs widen access and personalise learning.
- Micro‑credentials & MOOCs – Thailand’s KMUTT blockchain‑verified badges, Universitas Airlangga’s open MOOC hub, and UiTM’s iCEPS micro‑credential suites illustrated stackable pathways for lifelong upskilling.
- AI‑Integrated Curricula – Mapúa University’s “Prompt Engineering with ChatGPT” modules and a draft AI‑Enhanced STEM course from Thailand foregrounded data‑driven personalisation and ethics side‑by‑side.
- Immersive / XR Learning – Panpacific University’s full‑mission bridge simulator, TAU’s AR‑based Arabic vocabulary app, and Kasetsart’s paddle‑boarding GIS field module blended tactile experience with digital overlays.
- Collaborative & Global Modes – UiTM’s seven‑model Collaborative Group Collaborative Teaching (CGCT), Airlangga’s hybrid COIL joint classes, and Douglas College’s game‑dev COIL stream demonstrated cross‑border co‑teaching at scale.
- Community & Sustainability Threads – SULAM service‑learning, DLSU‑D’s Green‑Metric leadership, and Tarlac’s smart‑agriculture internships embedded SDG goals and local impact into assessment.
Learner‑Centric Approach
- Peer‑sourced showcase: facilitators acted as knowledge brokers—not passive listeners nor lecturers
- Diversity of modalities: examples spanned AI, VR, fieldwork, and service learning—proving there is no single “correct” route to Education 5.0.
- Immediate transferability: every contribution came with a live link or toolkit, seeding ideas colleagues could adapt immediately.
2. Future Ready Skills and “Pedagogy of One” (Personalisation to the individual learner)
Program Breakdown
- Anchor Theme: Human‑centric Future-Ready Skils and personalised learning
- Duration: ≈40 minutes (five micro‑segments)
- Facilitator : Mr Gi
- Core Tools: Chat‑delayed poll, sticky notes, colour‑code annotation, shared textpad, AI search/summary
Introduction & Learning Outcomes
What Was Covered
- Future‑ready focus: session zeroed‑in on competencies for an AI economy.
- Dual objectives: (1) Identify future‑ready skills; (2) Apply them in participants’ domains.
- Learning Outcome 1 – Identify future‑ready skills. Understand the skills needed for the new economy
- Learning Outcome 2 – Apply Skills in Your domain. Implement Future-ready skills in your area of expertise
Learner-Centric Approach
- Expectation‑setting: crystal‑clear outcomes boosted intrinsic motivation.
- Relevance hook: framed workforce change as every educator’s day‑to‑day concern.
2.1 Activity 1 – Making participants aware of hidden biases, and preventing group think
What was covered
A game focused on unintended stereotyping forced participants to:
- Identify new opportunities and make connections
- Solve previously unsolved problems creatively
- Navigate unpredictable situations
- Debrief on why cognitive flexibility, curiosity and ethics top any Education 5.0 skill list.
Learner‑Centric Approach:
- Critical-thinking jolt : surfaced learner’s implicit bias, and need for ethical judgment.
- Avoiding Groupthink & Safe expression : Time‑delayed send ensured every learner’s voice surfaced independently.
2.2 Activity 2 - Mapping Future Ready Skills in your profession. Personalised learning via “Pedagogy of ONE”.
What was covered
Each person was asked to list 3 future-ready skills they deem critical. The concepts were not taught to the learners, but instead given guidance on how to learn such concepts.
The facilitator demonstrated different methods for researching the topic and learning the concepts - depending on whether the learners prefer “Reading” “Visual” “Auditory” or “Kinesthetics”. However, the facilitator does not lecture or push knowledge, but instead employs “Pedagogy of ONE,” allowing learners to learn future‑ready skill concepts in their own way, and optionally use AI to help them understand concepts more efficiently.
Learner‑Centric Approach:
- Pedagogy of ONE : multiple personalised research routes modelled self‑directed learning.
- Social Learning : Peer crowd sourcing of future-ready skills such as digital lteracy, adaptability, emotional intellegence etc.
2.3 Activity 3 - Future Ready Skills and You
What was covered
Visual heat‑map exposed collective strengths and gaps, giving facilitators an instant diagnostic. Green = “I already do this” . Red = “I need to grow here”
Learner‑Centric Approach:
- Peer‑powered inventory: collective canvas turns private insights into shared resource.
- Gap spotting: heat‑map guided where deeper coaching or resources were needed.
2.4 Activity 4 - Applying Future Ready Skills
Each learner narrated a real work scenario where a chosen skill mattered and sketched how AI could amplify it.
Examples included:
- Turning reflective journaling into an AI‑generated podcast for auditory learners.
- Using Gemini summaries to sift student feedback in seconds, freeing time for mentoring.
Take‑away: AI is an augmenter, not a replacement—key to Education 5.0’s “human‑plus‑tech” DNA.
Learner‑Centric Approach:
- Contextualised reflection: learning anchored in authentic stories.
- Human‑plus‑tech mindset: positions AI as enhancer, not replacement.
2.5 Activity 5 - Reflection & Call to Action
Reflection on the session, but nudging learners to distinguish between
- Knowledge : One thing you have learned
- Skill : One thing you can / will do with what you have learned
Metacognitive close‑out locked new knowledge into future behaviour and publicly committed every participant to next‑step experimentation.
Learner‑Centric Approach
- Ownership of learning: learners articulate take‑aways in their own words.
- Behavioural nudge: explicit next steps encourage real‑world transfer.
3. Small‑Group Breakouts – Designing with the “Pedagogy of One”
Program Breakdown:
- Activity: Team‑based course‑design sprint
- Duration: ≈30 minutes (breakouts)
- Focus: Apply Pedagogy of One to a chosen future‑ready skill
- Facilitator : Dr Don Bysouth
What Was Covered:
Facilitators demonstrated how the Pedagogy of One personalises learning pathways by offering the same concept in multiple modes—text, infographic, podcast, interactive video, or hands‑on micro‑course—then leveraging AI tools (Google’s NotebookLM, generative search overviews, text‑to‑speech) to generate those variants at scale.
Teams each selected one skill they felt least comfortable with (e.g., digital literacy, adaptive thinking) and storyboarded a micro‑module that would let learners pick the modality that suits them best.
Learner‑Centric Approach:
- Co‑creation: Group Breakouts ensured no group left with a one‑size‑fits‑all syllabus.
- Practical proof‑of‑concept: showed personalisation is attainable now, not in the distant future.
4. Capstone Assignment Brief - Action Plan Development
What was covered
3 step scaffold
- Understanding the context : Applying knowledge to learner’s own situation
- Analysing Education 5.0 principles : Ability to explain their relevance and potential value in learner’s own context
- Design the action plan
Learner-Centric Approach
- Bloom‑aligned scaffold: remember → analyse → create.
- Transparent peer review: Keeping feedback visible and asynchronous.
- Authentic output: action plan transfers theory into institutional change.
Conclusion
Week 2 proved that theory sticks when learners make it their own. Assumption‑busting riddles, colour‑coded self‑audits, AI‑generated multimodal resources, and rapid‑fire design sprints turned abstract Education 5.0 ideals into workable strategies.
Participants now carry:
- A diagnosed map of their strengths and skill gaps.
- A toolkit of AI enhancers to personalise learning at scale.
- A peer‑reviewed action‑plan template to drive Education 5.0 in their home institutions.
As the cohort moves toward Week 3’s action‑plan submissions—and further on‑site immersion—the stage is set for a ripple effect: tech‑empowered, human‑centred change that reaches every learner, one personalised pathway at a time.
More about this program
The Japan Hub for Innovative Global Education (JIGE) is a forward-thinking collaboration between Kansai University, Tohoku University, and Chiba University, launched in 2023 with the backing of Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). As part of the Inter-University Exchange Project, JIGE aims to modernize higher education by integrating digital transformation, blended mobility, and future-ready skills into learning systems across Asia and beyond.
Complementing JIGE’s efforts, the University Mobility in Asia and the Pacific (UMAP) is a consortium of higher education institutions that fosters regional exchange and collaborative learning. UMAP brings together 25 member economies spanning Central, South, East, and Southeast Asia, as well as the Pacific Rim, North, Central, and South America. Its programs include a mix of in-person and virtual short- and long-term exchanges, including Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL).
The session was conducted on ClassDo.com , a platform that allows all learner-centric activities to happen in a single integrated environment. This frictionless experience empowered facilitators to stay focused on their learners, resulting in operational effectiveness, higher learner engagement and improved critical thinking outcomes
Digital technology is no longer just a tool in education—it is the catalyst re‑shaping how learners think, co‑create, and act.
Week 2 of the UMAP‑JIGE capacity‑building programme pushed that transformation further, moving from big‑picture theory to hands‑on strategies every educator can deploy tomorrow.
Participants—comprising university faculty members and educators from 10 countries : Canada, Colombia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam—gathered to explore how learner-centric approaches and technology-driven activities foster critical thinking and creative problem solving.
1. Icebreaker & Week 1 Recap
Program Breakdown:
- Facilitator: Dr Keiko Ikeda
- Duration: 15 minutes
- Tools: Textpad (sharing of Week 1 Assignment)
What Was Covered
As assignment from the previous session, each participant brought one concrete, home‑campus example of Education 5.0 in action. Through collective knowledge, the participants discussed about the 25+ initiatives that together sketched a panoramic view of Education 5.0 innovation across the regions.
- Smart‑Campus Infrastructure – Malaysia’s UiTM U‑Future platform, the Philippines’ SMART ISLA upgrade at Romblon State U, and TAU’s Digital Scholar project all showed how robust Wi‑Fi, device loans, and analytics‑ready LMSs broaden access and personalize learning.
- Micro‑credentials & MOOCs – Thailand’s KMUTT blockchain‑verified badges, Universitas Airlangga’s open MOOC hub, and UiTM’s iCEPS micro‑credential suites illustrated stackable pathways for lifelong upskilling.
- AI‑Integrated Curricula – Mapúa University’s “Prompt Engineering with ChatGPT” modules and a draft AI‑Enhanced STEM course from Thailand foregrounded data‑driven personalization and ethics side‑by‑side.
- Immersive / XR Learning – Panpacific University’s full‑mission bridge simulator, TAU’s AR‑based Arabic vocabulary app, and Kasetsart’s paddle‑boarding GIS field module blended tactile experience with digital overlays.
- Collaborative & Global Modes – UiTM’s seven‑model Collaborative Group Collaborative Teaching (CGCT), Airlangga’s hybrid COIL joint classes, and Douglas College’s game‑dev COIL stream demonstrated cross‑border co‑teaching at scale.
- Community & Sustainability Threads – SULAM service‑learning, DLSU‑D’s Green‑Metric leadership, and Tarlac’s smart‑agriculture internships embedded SDG goals and local impact into assessment.
Learner‑Centric Approach
- Peer‑sourced showcase: facilitators acted as knowledge brokers—not passive listeners nor lecturers
- Diversity of modalities: examples spanned AI, VR, fieldwork, and service learning—proving there is no single “correct” route to Education 5.0.
- Immediate transferability: every contribution came with a live link or toolkit, seeding ideas colleagues could adapt immediately.
2. Future Ready Skills and “Pedagogy of One” (Personalisation to the individual learner)
Program Breakdown
- Anchor Theme: Human‑centric Future-Ready Skills and personalized learning
- Duration: ≈40 minutes (five micro‑segments)
- Facilitator : Mr Gi
- Core Tools: Chat‑delayed poll, sticky notes, colour‑code annotation, shared textpad, AI search/summary
Introduction & Learning Outcomes
What Was Covered
- Future‑ready focus: session zeroed‑in on competencies for an AI economy.
- Dual objectives: (1) Identify future‑ready skills; (2) Apply them in participants’ domains.
- Learning Outcome 1 – Identify future‑ready skills. Understand the skills needed for the new economy
- Learning Outcome 2 – Apply Skills in Your domain. Implement Future-ready skills in your area of expertise
Learner-Centric Approach
- Expectation‑setting: crystal‑clear knowledge-backed skills-based outcomes boosted intrinsic motivation.
- Relevance hook: framed workforce change as every educator’s day‑to‑day concern.
2.1 Activity 1 – Making participants aware of hidden biases, and preventing group think
What was covered
A game focused on unintended stereotyping forced participants to:
- Identify new opportunities and make connections
- Solve previously unsolved problems creatively
- Navigate unpredictable situations
- Debrief on why cognitive flexibility, curiosity and ethics top any Education 5.0 skills list.
Learner‑Centric Approach:
- Critical-thinking jolt : surfaced learners’ implicit biases, and need for ethical judgment.
- Avoiding groupthink & safe expression : Time‑delayed response submissions ensured every learner’s voice is surfaced independently.
2.2 Activity 2 - Mapping Future Ready Skills in your profession. Personalised learning via “Pedagogy of ONE”.
What was covered
Each person was asked to list 3 future-ready skills it deemed critical. The concepts were not explicitly taught to the learners, but they were instead given guidance on how to learn such concepts.
The facilitator demonstrated different methods for researching the topic and learning the concepts - depending on whether the learners prefer “Reading” “Visual” “Auditory” or “Kinesthetics”. However, the facilitator did not lecture or push knowledge, but instead employed “Pedagogy of ONE,” allowing learners to learn future‑ready skill concepts in their own preferred way, and optionally use AI to help them understand concepts more efficiently.
Learner‑Centric Approach:
- Pedagogy of ONE : multiple personalized research routes modelled self‑directed learning.
- Social Learning : Peer crowd sourcing of future-ready skills such as digital lteracy, adaptability, emotional intellegence, etc.
2.3 Activity 3 - Future Ready Skills and You
What was covered
Visual heat‑map exposed collective strengths and gaps, giving facilitators an instant diagnostic. Green = “I already do this” . Red = “I need to grow here”
Learner‑Centric Approach:
- Peer‑powered inventory: collective canvas turns private contributions into shared insights.
- Gap spotting: heat‑map guided where focus and deeper coaching or resources were needed.
2.4 Activity 4 - Applying Future Ready Skills
Each learner narrated a real work scenario where a chosen skill mattered and sketched how harnessing AI could augment and amplify its effectiveness.
Examples included:
- Turning reflective journaling into an AI‑generated podcast for auditory learners.
- Using AI-generated summaries to efficiently sift students’ feedback in seconds, allowing quick overview and freeing time for mentoring.
Take‑away: AI is an augmenter, not a replacement—key to Education 5.0’s “human‑plus‑tech” DNA.
Learner‑Centric Approach:
- Contextualized reflection: learning anchored in authentic stories.
- Human‑plus‑tech mindset: positions AI as enhancer, not replacement.
2.5 Activity 5 - Reflection & Call to Action
Reflection on the session, but nudging learners to distinguish between
- Knowledge : One thing you have learned
- Skill : One thing you can / will do with what you have learned
Metacognitive close‑out locked new knowledge into future behavior and publicly committed every participant to next‑step experimentation and action.
Learner‑Centric Approach
- Ownership of learning: learners articulate take‑aways in their own words.
- Behavioural nudge: explicit call for action encourages real‑world transfer.
3. Small‑Group Breakouts – Designing with the “Pedagogy of One”
Program Breakdown:
- Activity: Team‑based course‑design sprint
- Duration: ≈30 minutes (breakouts)
- Focus: Apply Pedagogy of One to a chosen future‑ready skill
- Facilitator : Dr Don Bysouth
What Was Covered:
Facilitators demonstrated how the Pedagogy of One personalises learning pathways by offering the same concept in multiple modes—text, infographic, podcast, interactive video, or hands‑on micro‑course—then leveraging AI tools (Google’s NotebookLM’s and Gemini’s AI-powered search, summarization, text‑to‑speech, LLM interaction) to generate customized variants at scale.
Teams each selected one skill they felt least comfortable with (e.g. digital literacy, adaptive thinking) and storyboarded a micro‑module that would let learners pick the modality that suits them best.
Learner‑Centric Approach:
- Co‑creation: Group Breakouts ensured no group left with a one‑size‑fits‑all syllabus.
- Practical proof‑of‑concept: showed personalization is attainable now, not in the distant future.
4. Capstone Assignment Brief - Action Plan Development
What was covered
3-step scaffold
- Understanding the context : Applying knowledge to learner’s own situation
- Analyzing Education 5.0 principles : Ability to explain their relevance and potential value in learner’s own context
- Designing the action plan
Learner-Centric Approach
- Bloom‑aligned scaffold: remember → analyse → create.
- Transparent peer review: Keeping feedback visible and asynchronous.
- Authentic output: action plan transfers theory into institutional change.
Conclusion
Week 2 proved that theory sticks when learners make it their own. Assumption‑busting riddles, color‑coded self‑audits, AI‑generated multimodal resources, and rapid‑fire design sprints turned abstract Education 5.0 ideals into workable strategies.
Participants now carry:
- A diagnosed map of their strengths and skill gaps.
- A toolkit of AI enhancers to personalize learning at scale.
- A peer‑reviewed action‑plan template to drive Education 5.0 in their home institutions.
As the cohort moves toward Week 3’s action‑plan submissions—and further on‑site immersion—the stage is set for a ripple effect: tech‑empowered, human‑centered change that reaches every learner, one personalized pathway at a time.
More about this program
The Japan Hub for Innovative Global Education (JIGE) is a forward-thinking collaboration between Kansai University, Tohoku University, and Chiba University, launched in 2023 with the backing of Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). As part of the Inter-University Exchange Project, JIGE aims to modernize higher education by integrating digital transformation, blended mobility, and future-ready skills into learning systems across Asia and beyond.
Complementing JIGE’s efforts, the University Mobility in Asia and the Pacific (UMAP) is a consortium of higher education institutions that fosters regional exchange and collaborative learning. UMAP brings together 25 member economies spanning Central, South, East, and Southeast Asia, as well as the Pacific Rim, North, Central, and South America. Its programs include a mix of in-person and virtual short- and long-term exchanges, including Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL).
The session was conducted on ClassDo.com, a platform that allows all learner-centric activities to happen in a single integrated environment. This frictionless experience empowered facilitators to stay focused on their learners, resulting in operational effectiveness, higher learner engagement and improved critical thinking and creative problem solving outcomes