Category: Talk

  • Upcoming – February 23 – Teacher’s Research Workshop

    Event Speaker: Michael Stout
    Fee for non-JALT members: 1000 yen
    Contact or Queries: iwatejalt@hotmail.com
    Date and Time: Sunday, February 23, 2020 – 1:30pm to 4:30pm
    Location: AIINA 6th Floor Rm 602

    In this workshop, participants will learn how to do classroom research. The workshop leader will share first hand accounts of classroom research projects he has participated in, and share insights he has gained from doing classroom research. Throughout the workshop, participants will be led through a series of reflection tasks that will help them design their own classroom research projects.

    Bio

    Michael Stout is a lecturer at Hakuoh University in Tochigi. He has been teaching in Japan since 1997. He has published and presented in Japan and internationally on a wide variety of topics including: Narrow Reading, Reading Circles, teaching with Web 2.0 applications, and action research. His academia.edu profile can be viewed here: https://hakuoh.academia.edu/MichaelStout

  • Upcoming – Overcoming Barriers to Critical Thinking – February 2

    Event Speaker: Jim Smiley
    Fee for non-JALT members: 500 yen
    Contact or Queries: iwatejalt@hotmail.com
    Date and Time: Sunday, February 2, 2020 – 1:30pm to 4:30pm
    Location: Iwate University Student Center A Room G23

    Abstract
    Educators in the Japanese context face significant difficulties in developing critical thinking skills in students. Much of these difficulties are well-known, such as the competition for time resources when students have to spend most of their energies cramming for memorization based high-school and university entrance exams and national qualification exams while in university. This results in students being relatively unprepared for and unknowledgeable about critical thinking. However, two other key aspects that hinder critical thinking skills are relatively unknown: students’ epistemic cognition and their underlying knowledge structure. Epistemic cognition refers to how knowledge itself is understood. For example, if information given by an authority figure is automatically believed to be true, critically analysing that information is seen to be a waste of time by students. Furthermore, in the Japanese educational context, the institutional learning experience of students leads to a belief that most information is either a fact or is an opinion. This fact/opinion knowledge structure also presents significant barriers to developing critical thinking skills.
    In the first section, Smiley will interactively survey these barriers with attendees. While exploring these topics, attendees will develop insights into how their students’ epistemic cognition and knowledge structures may be better understood. This understanding leads to more focussed instruction that targets the problematic bases of critical thinking. The second section comprises a set of demonstrations of concrete examples of critical thinking practices and a workshop in which attendees’ own classroom readings are used as the basis for critical thinking activities. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own classroom readings for use in the session.

    Bio Data
    Jim Smiley is an Associate Professor at Iwate National University. He is the author of *Writing a Graduation Thesis *and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Higher Education with the University of Liverpool, focusing on epistemic cognition and academic reasoning in Japanese undergraduates.

  • Upcoming: Google Forms for Assessments and Classroom Surveys

    Event Speaker: Edo Forsythe
    Fee for JALT members: free
    Fee for non-JALT members: 1000 yen (500 yen for students)
    Contact or Queries: iwatejalt@hotmail.com
    Date and Time: Sunday, February 24, 2019 – 1:30pm to 4:30pm
    Location: AIINA in Morioka Rm 606-607

     

    Event is Co-Sponsored by JALT CALL SIG

    Note:  The speaker will be referencing Google Docs and Forms during their talk. Participants are encouraged to bring a smartphone, tablet or laptop, and to create a Google account if they do not already have one.

    発表中グーグルドックスとフォームズについて話しますので、スマートフォン、タブレットまたはノートパソコンをお持ちいただくことをおすすします。またグーグルのアカウントを作って頂ければ、もっと充実したセミナーとなります。

    Abstract:

    Technology can make tests and assessments easier to administer and grade. Following on January’s topic of using Google Education tools, the presenter will demonstrate how Google Docs and Forms can be used to create and administer a variety of types of quizzes, surveys, and assessments. Specific examples of tests for listening, reading, and writing courses, as well as surveys used to collect student opinions and feedback will be demonstrated. Attendees will create their own quiz and learn how to administer it to their students. Attendees can bring actual questions they want to add to their quiz or they can use sample questions provided by the presenter.

    テストを作成したり評定をつける時にテクノロジーを使うと評価しやすくなります。今回は1月に行われた岩手JALT会議でのグーグルの教育ツールの発表の続きとして、グーグルドックスとフォームズを使って様々なクイズや試験、アンケートの作り方を説明します。リスニング、リーディング、ライティングの試験や学生の意見やフィードバックをまとめるアンケートについて説明します。セミナー中参加者は自分のクイズとアンケートを作成することができます（実際にクイズに使いたい問題があれば、それを使うこともできますし、発表者が準備する質問の例を使うこと
    もできます）。

    Bio:

    Dr. Edo Forsythe is a long-time practitioner of CALL and has published and presented extensively on the use of technology in language learning. He is the Publications Chair for the CALL SIG, who are co-sponsors of today’s presentation. Edo is a Professor at Hirosaki Gakuin University in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture.