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ITOKI CORPORATION (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President: Koji Minato; hereinafter referred to as "our company") conducted an internship program with Associate Professor Takafumi Nakanishi and Assistant Professor Ryutaro Okada of the Musashino University Faculty of Data Science (Location: Ariake, Koto-ku, Tokyo; President: Terumasa Nishimoto; hereinafter referred to as "the university") from Monday, September 4th to Friday, September 15th, 2023, and evaluated non-cognitive abilities that are difficult to measure quantitatively, such as discussion skills, presentation skills, and analytical skills, using a learning outcome certification system jointly developed with the university. In addition, a learning outcome certificate proving the evaluation was jointly issued by NFT on Thursday, December 14th. This allows students to prove to the outside world their objective non-cognitive abilities, which have been difficult for students to appeal, including "gakuchika," or "what they focused on during their student days," which is essential for job hunting and internship activities.

Industry-academia collaboration classes are held jointly with the same university as part of the university's internship program, and students can earn 1 credit for 45 hours of study. Additionally, this program was launched in 2021, and was held for the third time this year. Five third-year students participated mainly online and worked on service planning using design thinking with a focus on group work.

Specifically, with the theme of "educational DX" aimed at building next-generation learning evaluations, we are developing a natural language We considered additional implementation of generation AI functions and even worked on creating a proposal.

The evaluation of this internship utilized a learning outcome certification system jointly developed with the same university. With this system, it is possible to evaluate non-cognitive abilities using both qualitative and quantitative evaluations. Qualitative evaluation is calculated based on self-evaluation among students who are internship participants and administrator evaluation by the intern office, which is made up of instructors and our company members. Quantitative evaluation is based on students' speaking time and work during class. Calculated based on time. In addition, regarding the evaluation items, we will refer to Musashino University's unique learning cycle, "Soundology Spiral": 1. Ability to discover issues and set goals 2. Ability to discuss 3. Creative ability 4. Ability to present 5. Ability to evaluate and analyze We have set a total of five evaluation axes.

For the quantitative evaluation, we used a group work analysis system that we are developing with the same university to record and automatically tally the speaking time and work time during class. By analyzing recorded data during group work, this system can extract the amount of speech and changes in excitement. Furthermore, in the past, evaluation of non-cognitive abilities in group work has relied on the subjectivity of teachers and other graders, but by combining quantitative evaluation by the system, efficient and objective evaluation is possible. have become.

Of the five final evaluation items, items with high scores were issued as NFT learning achievement certificates to ensure the evaluated abilities. NFT is an abbreviation for Non-Fungible Token, and refers to a token that cannot be tampered with and can prove ownership using blockchain technology. One possible way to use this certificate is, for example, to submit this certificate when promoting one's non-cognitive abilities during job hunting. Additionally, since it is certified as an NFT, it is possible to secure unique value. The design of the NFT to be issued was designed based on the image of the colors of the four learning steps of the acoustic spiral.

A third-year data science student who received an NFT certificate said:
``Until now, I could only show that I had participated in an internship, but the ability to demonstrate to companies the abilities evaluated through internships using NFT is an advanced technology that proves the power of academia.'' I thought it was a useful method.”

Associate Professor Takafumi Nakanishi, head of the Department of Data Science, who co-developed the system, said the following:
"We regularly conduct joint research with ITOKI CORPORATION, and we are also researching a system for visualizing and reviewing group work based on our university's Kyogaku Spiral, as well as a system for authenticating students' skills and knowledge using NFT and making them public and appealing to the public. I am pleased that this internship activity has made progress toward putting these studies into practical use in the field. We hope to continue our joint research and internship activities, while at the same time creating an environment where students can gain practical skills."

*"Soundology Spiral" is Musashino University's unique learning method. A style of learning in which all kinds of people who gather here at Musashino University learn and grow together by repeating the four steps of echoing sensitivity, wisdom, and creative power to ask questions, think and act, give form, and reconsider.
Reference: https://risyuyouran.musashino-u.ac.jp/spiral/

*Permission to publish the photos of students in this press release has been obtained from the university and the students.