Back to School 2023 - Osaka JALT's 13th annual spring conference
Sunday, April 23, 2023 - 9:30am to 6:00pm
Back to School 2023 is Osaka JALT’s 13th annual spring conference aiming to share ideas on a wide range of topics related to language teaching and learning to help everyone in the new academic year. This year's conference will be back in person at Osaka Jogakuin University for the first time since before the pandemic, and we're also making it partially hybrid so as to allow online participation for people throughout Japan and around the world, which we really enjoyed the past three years during the pandemic. It will also be an Open Campus day at Osaka Jogakuin, so we expect to have more students, parents, and high school teachers on campus and participating as well.
Please click here for a list of Presenters and Abstracts.
Please click here for the SCHEDULE for the day.
Please REGISTER here to get the Zoom link for the remote presentations and to give us an idea of how many to expect.
Our featured speakers this year are Tamara Swenson and Steve Porritt, presenting:
A Brave New Era: Educating With Generative AI
Technological change is altering education in ways we did not anticipate at the start of our careers. The introduction of generative AI tools is going to make as big of an impact on education as the introduction of the moveable type. Taking a Luddite position will not prevent students, whether they are studying English or any other subject, from employing the available tools to complete coursework. This presentation will define the problems with generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, give an overview of generative AI use for the types of writing and other activities that students typically undertake in L2-English classes at Japanese colleges and universities, and provide some solutions that might work within reading, writing, and discussion courses, as well as for grammar instruction. We are all entering a brave new world. Let’s explore it together.
Tamara Swenson (Ph. D. Communication) first used a computer in 1974 (remember punch cards?). Since then, she has updated her skills regularly to take advantage of technology in English and media studies education. She is currently a professor at Osaka Jogakuin University and an adjunct instructor for graduate-level classes at Temple University, Japan.
After decades wandering the desert as a copywriter/technical editor, Steve Porritt found his way to Temple University, Japan, and earned his MS (TESOL) at the age of 63. He thinks he can make up for the lost years by teaching nine writing and four discussion classes at Osaka Jogakuin, Kwansei Gakuin, Kobe, and Ritsumeikan Universities.
We have a record number of presentations this year and look forward to what is sure to be a great conference!
As in past years, and so as to accommodate as many presentations as possible, we are hoping for PechaKucha- or TED-Talk-length presentations, or poster presentations, but other lengths or formats are possible as well. We hope to again have a wide variety of presentations by diverse presenters on a full range of topics. Presentations can be made in any language, by language teachers, researchers, students, or anyone, and can be pre-recorded and viewed asynchronously or done live, either in person or remotely.
This event is again co-sponsored by Osaka Jogakuin University's Research Institute of International Collaboration and Coexistence Research on Language Learning (RIICC). OJU is a short walk up the hill from Tamatsukuri station on the JR Loop line or metro system. Doors will open at 9:30, with opening remarks starting at 10:00, immediately followed by the opening session.
More details will be posted as they develop, so please check back again periodically for updates.
Friday, March 3, 2023 at 1:42PM