[Class Report] System Development (3rd Year), Week 56
~ Special Pre-Graduation Session: Thinking About “What Comes Next” as a Future Engineer ~
Week 56 was the final class in this curriculum.
Rather than a regular practical session, it was held as a special pre-graduation class,
focused on students who are about to enter society or continue on to higher education,
with the theme of how to think and learn as an engineer from here on out.
■ Teacher’s Opening: “This is not the end, but the start”
**Mr. Tanaka: “This class ends today,
but your learning in system development truly begins from here.
It’s not that you have simply ‘become capable.’
You have become people who are now able to keep learning.”**
■ Today’s Themes
- Growth from here as an engineer
- How to engage with technology
- How to learn in the age of AI
- Having your own personal axis
■ Talk 1: Technology changes, but ways of thinking do not
Looking back on what the students had learned so far, the teacher said this.
What changes
- Programming languages
- Frameworks
- Tools
- AI
What does not change
- The ability to break problems down
- The ability to design
- The ability to face errors
- The ability to think safely
Student A: “So it’s less about ‘what to learn’ and more about ‘how to learn.’”
■ Talk 2: Engineers in the age of AI
The class also touched on the mindset needed in an era where generative AI exists.
Important ideas
- Using AI is not the goal
- There is responsibility to verify AI output
- You must separate what should be delegated to AI and what should not
- Humans must make the final judgments
Teacher: “The stronger AI becomes,
the more important human design ability and responsibility become.”
■ Activity 1: A message to your future self
The students wrote messages to “themselves one year from now.”
What they wrote about
- What kind of engineer they want to become
- What they want to keep learning
- What they do not want to forget
Student B: “I wrote, ‘Value design.’”
■ Activity 2: What I want to build from here
A time for freely writing down ideas.
Ideas that came up
- AI-powered learning support
- A local information app
- A system that supports everyday life
- A large-scale team development project
Student C: “It feels like such a waste to let it end with the class.”
■ Activity 3: The final discussion
Theme:
“What is the single most important ability for engineers of the future?”
Opinions that came up:
- The ability to keep learning
- The ability to think through problems
- Communication
- A sense of responsibility
- Design ability
■ The teacher’s final words
“You are no longer people
who only learn from someone else.
From now on,
you are people who think, learn, build, and improve for yourselves.
And please never forget this:
Technology exists to serve people.
No matter how advanced a system is,
always stay aware that there are people who will use it.”
■ Final comments from students (selected)
- “I’m not afraid of errors anymore.”
- “Thinking about design became fun.”
- “I gained a perspective on how to use AI properly.”
- “Team development left the biggest impression on me.”
- “I want to keep building more.”
■ Closing the class
The class ended with applause from everyone.
The three-year course quietly came to a close.
■ Final summary
Week 56 was a class not about technology itself,
but about the attitude students should carry forward.
Through this curriculum, the students gained:
- The ability to build
- The ability to design
- The ability to keep thinking
And above all,
They became people who can keep learning.
That is the greatest achievement.
This class may be over,
but for these students, real system development starts now.