While most courses at NUS include some form of student presentations, these presentations are rarely shared with the public. However, in many cases the public might be interested in the knowledge learned by students in the classroom, since these students will become future employees and leaders.
In this spirit, I asked students to give presentations about the field study to a public audience, providing a unique opportunity to share their experiences with the greater Singapore community. This was made possible by the Japan Creative Centre (JCC), Singapore (Facebook page). Part of the cultural arm of the Embassy of Japan, this center hosts creative events of all sorts, including film festivals and art installations. Because of the creative ecotourism efforts we witnessed in Japan, our aims suited the Centre, and they welcomed us.
On Monday June 6, 2011, seven of the ten students shared their experiences in an event called "Green Tourism in Japan: Creative Approaches."
I began the event by describing the origins of the field study, its academic foundations and goals, the itinerary, and the knowledge gained. I also introduced each participant, pointing out each one's unique traits.
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| Addressing the audience |
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| Describing the itinerary |
Then each the student shared her trip experience (all women), building on the theme of creativity in ecotourism. Each student combined personal experience with academic knowledge to create a unique presentation. We used the PechaKucha format of presentation. For those unfamiliar, PechaKucha limits presenters to twenty slides and twenty seconds per slide. This style encourages presenters to choose images carefully and maintain a steadily flowing presentation.
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| Student presentation |
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| An engaged audience |
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| Questions from the audience |
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| Student responding to a question |
Once the presentations were complete, audience members were encouraged to ask questions, to which the students responded. This made the entire experience, from the field study to the presentations, incredibly real for the students, since they learned that their perspectives on Japan could impact individuals outside the classroom and the university.
The event drew around 70 people, including representatives from the Embassy of Japan, JNTO (Japan National Tourism Organization), JTB (Japan Travel Bureau), JCCI (Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Singapore), and CLAIR (Council of Local Authorities for International Relations), as well as a number of educational institutions like NUS and NTU (Nanyang Technical University).
Overall, drawing 70 people to a first-time event consisting of student presentations (instead of a famous artist), can only be seen as a stunning success. I was especially proud of the students' role in showing the public the high quality of NUS students and programs. I hope that we can recreate this success in the future.
Incidentally, this is the event summary by the Japan Creative Centre as found on its Facebook page:
From the 17th to 26th May 2011, ten students from the Department of Japanese Studies, National University of Singapore (NUS), attended a field trip to the island of Kyushu with the purpose of researching the complex relationships between tourism and the environment. Visiting sites at the forefront of green tourism in two prefectures, namely Nagasaki and Kumamoto, the students learned from local entrepreneurs and officials who are addressing contemporary environmental concerns through tourism. Sharing with the audience their valuable findings garnered during this trip to Japan, it is hoped that the event will be informative and relevant, especially amid growing awareness to the relation between development and the preservation of the natural environment.
Representatives from JNTO, JCCI and Clair attended the event and contributed to give their thoughts on some of the questions raised providing much valuable information for future groups intending to visit Japan for travel and trips.
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