Event
HomeCreating A 4-skills E-learning Curriculum: Challenges and Accomplishments
Saturday, September 6th, 2025, 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Speaker: Shizuka Sakurai (Tohoku University) and Ryan Spring (Institute for Excellence in Higher Education)
Tohoku University began an e-learning course for its 2nd-year students in 2023. In 2024, we majorly overhauled the system, implementing speaking, listening, and AI-chat via EnglishCentral and handling reading and writing through our original website. The website helps students know when assignments are due, provides reading and writing, and has lots of other useful information for the course. This presentation will outline the course objectives, learning methods, and materials development, as well as the collaboration with EnglishCentral and an on-campus researcher. In 2024, we noted that students wanted more writing feedback, so we revamped our system. Positive points, challenges, and future directions are discussed.
Shizuka Sakurai is a professor at Tohoku University and Associate Director of the Center for Culture and Language Education. She earned her Ph.D. from Michigan State University and has taught Japanese at universities in the U.S., as well as English in Tokyo, Fukuoka, and Sendai. Her research focuses on academic listening, note-taking skills, and the development of EFL listening materials.
Ryan Spring received his PhD from Tohoku University where he is now a professor in the Institute for Excellence in Higher Education. His research interests include human-AI integration in linguistics and language education, objective measures of L2 production, phrasal verbs, visual media in EFL, and cognitive linguistics. He currently serves as Co-editor of TESL-EJ and President of ATEM.
In person Location:
Elgala (Daimaru East) Building, Tenjin (6 F, Kurume University Satellite Campus room; go in the back entrance shown on the map). From Hakata, take the Nanakuma Subway Line to Tenjin-Minami Station, exit 4. If you haven't been to this location before, please note that the entrance is NOT through the department store, it is around the back from the department store entrances, here: https://goo.gl/maps/hj8VXmpfjAykeXBV9.
Click here to watch a video showing the venue location.
Organization: Fukuoka Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (Fukuoka JALT)
Cost: JALT Members: free
Non-members: 1,000 yen
Venue: Elgala (Daimaru East), Tenjin (6F, Kurume University Satellite Campus), back door, map Near Tenjin-Minami Station (Nanakuma)
Location: Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan
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