| Index for September | Back Issues Index | TLT Main Page | Logout |
The Language Teacher
September 2004
JALTCALL 2004: Conference Report
Gordon Bateson
Kanazawa Gakuin University
JALT CALL SIG Co-Webmaster
Perspectives
. . . with Joyce Cunningham & Mariko Miyao perspectives@jalt-publications.org
This year's JALT CALL SIG conference, JALTCALL 2004, was held at Tokiwa University, which is about an hour north of Tokyo, in Mito City, Ibaraki prefecture. As in previous years, it was a 3-day event, with workshops on Friday afternoon, a welcome dinner that evening, and the main conference of 60 presentations and 10 commercial exhibitions being held on Saturday and Sunday.
Many of the successful elements which have been developed at past JALT CALL SIG conferences were incorporated into this year's event. In the pre-conference organization phase, these included collecting presentation submissions online, allowing delegates and exhibitors to register online, and publicizing the event via the web. The publicity and website were greatly improved due to a dedicated team of talented linguists who worked hard to make all publicity materials available in both Japanese and English. This meant that not only were more Japanese speakers encouraged to attend the event, but also that those working at Japanese educational institutions were better able to get the understanding and backing of their employers.
The conference itself also retained the successful characteristics of previous years. As in the past, the 45–90 minute presentations were held in simultaneous sessions, usually three or four going on at any one time. Another familiar facet of the conference was the display area for the commercial exhibitors. This was much more centrally located than ever before, right in the middle of the hall off which the presentation rooms led. What's more, it was next to the free coffee, so delegates had plenty of opportunity to come and browse the stands featuring the latest CALL products. Also back by popular demand was the Saturday night Networking Reception which featured a splendid buffet-style feast. Of course, there is no way that 200 teachers who meet once a year can say all they want to say in 2 hours of partying, so although Saturday officially came to a close at 8 p.m., groups of merry delegates could be seen continuing their earnest discussions about the past, present, and future of CALL in various locations around Mito until the early hours of Sunday morning.
Among the many enhancements to the JALT CALL SIG conference organization, two stand out as particularly effective. Firstly, the vetting system for the presentations was refined this year to allow the vetting panel to offer feedback to presenters so they could polish up their submission to a higher standard. The end result was a generally acknowledged increase in the quality of presentations. Secondly, the online forums gave a vehicle for presenters to communicate online with delegates before the conference. This allowed delegates to pose detailed questions on the content of presentations, while presenters could get a feel for what points where uppermost in delegates' minds.
Where past conferences have centered on the creation and use of individual webpages, the emphasis at this year's conference seemed to be more in combining such static pages with server scripts to produce interactive websites. In particular, online course management systems (CMS) were a popular topic among presenters. As well as presentations highlighting state-of-the-art commercial products, there were several presentations about a popular, open-source CMS called Moodle. There were appraisals of Moodle, comparisons of Moodle to other CMS packages, add-ons to Moodle, and workshops on using Moodle. There was even a Moodle breakfast. Whether Moodle will ever achieve the flexibility and robustness of the commercial products remains to be seen. Nevertheless, CMS will continue to be a hot topic for some time yet.
Another trend among presentations was from email to blogs, which are sort of web-based diaries. The blogs can be used to share writings and feedback between participants in a class. There were also a number of workshops, reflecting the growing need for teachers to brush up their technical skills as the rate of change in the IT revolution continues to gather speed.
Such an action-packed weekend would never have got off the ground without the enthusiasm, expertise, and effort of a great many people, so I would like to finish with a very large thank you to all the conference team, the presenters, the exhibitors, the staff, and the wonderful delegates for coming together at Tokiwa University in Mito with one goal: better education.
Information about joining the JALT CALL SIG is available from: jaltcall.org/membership.html.
Reported by Gordon Bateson
Kanazawa Gakuin University
JALT CALL SIG Co-Webmaster
All materials on this site are copyright ©2004 by JALT and their respective authors.
For more information on JALT, visit the JALT National Website
| Index for September |
| JALT Publications
| TLT
| JALT Journal
| Other Publications |
| Contact Webmaster |