Dear all members of JACET ESP Kanto,

I would like to provide you with more details of the panel of our July meeting, the Panel on the Challenges of Remote Teaching, as follows. You are cordially invited to join this panel on ZOOM and provide other members with your valuable knowhow in remote teaching.
The program consists of four short presentations of 15 minutes each followed by a half-an-hour Q&A session. We hope that the topics of this panel will interest you and that you will help our chapter circulate this meeting among your colleagues and friends.

We look forward to meeting you at the meeting:

Time: Jul 11, 2020 03:00 PM – 05:00 PM

The Zoom link and password for this session can be found in the JACET ESP Kanto Sig Facebook group and in the latest group email.

Panel: The Challenges of Remote Teaching

Program

Presentation 1:
Title: Peer Review in Online Writing Classes
Patrick Foss, Tokyo Medical and Dental University

Abstract: Conducting peer review activities in the traditional classroom is simple enough, but doing them online can be a logistical challenge. The presenter will discuss how to use Zoom’s shared screen and annotation tools for peer review involving short assignments and how to incorporate WebClass for review activities involving longer pieces of writing.

Bio: Patrick Foss is an associate professor of English in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Tokyo Medical and Dental University. His research interests include vocabulary use and development and curriculum development.

Presentation 2:
Title: Zooming with Students
Tito Akindele, University of Tokyo
Abstract: Effective teaching is best evaluated by productive learning, which in turn is most fruitful when students take ownership of their studies. For students to take ownership of their studies, a teacher has to be competent and more importantly, approachable. Unfortunately, the absence of face to face communication in remote teaching hampers the teacher’s efforts. This presentation will focus on the strategies that were employed while remotely teaching Active Learning of Science for Science Students and Fluency-oriented Workshop, to first-year students at The University of Tokyo. Undoubtedly, the use of Zoom has changed theway education will be delivered for years to come.
Bio: Tito was born in London but grew up in Nigeria. Following undergraduate studies at the University of Leicester and the State University of New York at Buffalo, he obtained a Ph.D. degree in chemistry from the University of Leeds. He is currently an assistant professor at The University of Tokyo and an adjunct lecturer at the Graduate School of the University of Electro-Communications.

Presentation 3:
Title: Difficulties in Remote Teaching
Johnny Chu, University of Electro-Communications
Abstract: Teaching remotely has been an important topic for many teachers these past several months. It has caught many teachers by surprise because some teachers do not have a lot of knowledge about LMS and using video conferencing software to teach. Remote teaching is especially challenging for part-time teachers because they have to deal with many different university standards and LMS. The presenter will discuss some of the challenges they encountered while teaching remotely during the coronavirus pandemic.
Bio: Johnny Chu is a part-time university instructor at multiple universities in Japan. At the moment, he is teaching at UEC Tokyo, Ferris University, and Tokai University. He is originally from San Jose, California and has a BA in Linguistics and a MA in TESOL.

Presentation 4:
Title: Enhancing Teacher-Student Resonance in Remote Teaching and Learning
SHI Jie, University of Electro-Communications
Abstract: Language teaching in the context of remote or online education needs to be especially carefully calibrated in order to achieve the desired learning objectives. A remote classroom is sometimes considered to be undesirable for language learning and inferior to face-to-face context. This paper, however, presents the pedagogical techniques derived from technological manipulations and curricular adjustments that enhance student experiencing and participation in and outside of the class.
Bio: SHI Jie is currently a professor of TESOL at the University of Electro-Communications and devotes most of her research on ESP (EAP) in the domain of English for Science and Technology at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Her other research interests include Cognitive Learning and AI-Assisted Translation.

Thank you very much.

SHI Jie
Chair, JACET ESP Kanto