Kyoto JALT: Member Spotlight

13:00 ~ Kyoto JALT November Spotlight features
13:30 ~ Discussion about chapter outreach efforts

Speaker: Betsy Lavolette, PhD, Associate Professor of English, Kyoto University

Title: From emergency remote teaching to online learning: The role of professional development

Abstract
Most faculty have experienced emergency remote teaching (ERT) due to the ongoing pandemic. However, ERT should not be confused with online pedagogy designed using best practices (Gacs et al., 2020; Hodges et al., 2020). Regardless of whether teaching is online, face-to-face, or hybrid, we must be able to provide students high-quality learning experiences, incorporating what we have learned from ERT into current and future teaching. Professional development (PD) is one key to making the transition from ERT to effective online learning and beyond. In this talk, I present examples of my experiences with online teaching and learning as a teacher, course developer, and PD facilitator. I also present preliminary results of a survey investigating the PD experiences of language faculty at Japanese universities and invite the audience to share their experiences. I then make the case that moving from ERT to online learning requires PD driven by pedagogical needs. To that end, I advocate for and provide examples of PD activities organized by faculty members via communities of practice and describe how these activities fit the guiding standards for effective PD (Duguay, 2020; Duguay & Vdovina, 2019). This bottom-up, flexibly implemented PD will continue to serve faculty beyond ERT, through online learning, and post-pandemic.

Venue: Online; see the Kyoto JALT website or Facebook page for details : http://kyotojalt.org/

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This is a monthly event that features a Kyoto JALT member and afterward, everyone is welcome to just hang out and have a few drinks. This might be a fun way to get your presentation out AND keep up with your colleagues and friends. We are welcoming proposals at any time and will negotiate with the prospective speaker about a suitable month.
Submit your proposals here: forms.gle/eXaHigiUoeupoHSx9.