BATJ-JF Spring Seminar – Exploring and Reflecting on Classes in an Online Setting: How can we cultivate ICT literacy for teachers of Japanese?

This Seminar will be organised by the Japan Foundation, London and the British Association for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language. Each year, we use these seminars as an opportunity to raise practical, every-day themes that apply to both younger and older learners at all types of educational institutions, and invite educators at the forefront of their fields, to provide a novel and exciting learning opportunity. It is our hope that through this year’s seminar we can once again contribute to the development of the community of educators of the Japanese language. We look forward to receiving applications from teachers from a wide variety of locations.

Event Outline

• Date/Time: 14^th March 2021 (Sunday), 10:30 to 12:30 GMT
• Theme: Exploring and Reflecting on Classes in an Online Setting: How can we cultivate ICT literacy for teachers of Japanese? (Keywords: online environments, active learning, ICT literacy)
• Speaker: Dr Tomohisa Yamada (Associate Professor at Hokkaido University)
• Target audience: Japanese language educators in the United Kingdom and Europe.   (We will also accept applications from those in other regions, depending on the number of applicants).  Post-graduate university students specialising in Japanese language education in the United Kingdom and Europe are also welcomed to join.
• Maximum number of participants: 150
• Location: Online seminar using Zoom software
• Spoken language: Japanese
• Planned schedule: Following the seminar, there will be an optional social gathering from 12:30
• Cost of seminar/applications: This is posted on the BATJ website. 
• Organisers: The Japan Foundation, London and the British Association for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language.

To apply to attend this seminar, please visit the Seminar page on the BATJ website using the link below: 

Seminars & Workshops (batj.org.uk)

Speaker Profile: Dr. Tomohisa Yamada

Associate Professor at Hokkaido University (Institute for the Advancement of Higher Education/ Graduate School of International Media-Communication and Tourism Studies) 

Dr Yamada has an MA from the Institute of Education, University of London, and a doctorate (academic) from Hokkaido University. After working with the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies Language Centre and Saga University Exchange Student Centre, he assumed his present post in 2012. His area of research is educational technology and teacher education. As well as his research activities, he is actively involved in giving lectures and professional development programmes aimed at increasing ICT literacy for teachers of Japanese.　He was awarded the Hokkaido University Excellent Teachers award (2014 to 2019). Among his key publications are “Practical Use of ICT (Second Edition)” (sole author), “Active Learning for Teachers of Japanese” (co-author) and “Creating Online Classes for Japanese Language Educators ” (author and editor; scheduled to be published) (All published by Kuroshio Shuppan).

Message from Dr Yamada:

In the spring of 2020, the structure of the world was hugely altered due to Covid-19. Our social lives were restricted, and it was decided that educators and students in educational facilities would move their classes online for just a few weeks. Under these circumstance, information and questions began flying back and forth between educators: What actually are online classes? How can I organise group activities online? I’ve found this useful ICT tool! And so on. Even the teachers who were initially able to keep up with all of the information out there found themselves at some point confused by the huge quantity of all the information out there. At the very least, this was the situation I found myself in.

A year has passed since then. Looking at the world, it appears that online learning is becoming the de facto standard. What have we learnt over the past turbulent year? How should educators approach “classes” and “students” from now on?

In this lecture, I want us to work together to compare the advantages and disadvantages of online classes compared to face-to-face classes, and to try to think about what factors we should be mindful of in realizing interactive online classes. Furthermore, I would like to introduce some of the new insights/knowledge obtained from the Japan Foundation, London ICT Literacy Course that took place in the 2020 fiscal year, regarding what are the key important points to increase ICT literacy for educators.