2025 Technology in Teaching / Professional Development Workshops

Saturday 9 Aug 2025, 08:00 → 18:20 Asia/Tokyo

Online

Luc Gougeon (Sojo University), Robert Remmerswaal (Prefectural University of Kummamoto), Wayne Malcolm (NPO JALT - Director of Conference)

Welcome

These workshops have always been in-person, but this year we are trying them as online only to provide a broader reach to our community. They will be run in two streams - Technology in Teaching and Professional Development.

Registration is now open. Click 'Registration' on the left side menu.

All sessions will be recorded and made available to attendees for 3 months from the time they are uploaded.

Technology in Teaching (TnT)

The current and future reality for language teachers is technology in and surrounding our community of practice. Now, this can be seen negatively or positively. Teachers, learners, and by extension all those connected to the language education field face the challenge of selecting appropriate tools and learning how to use them. The aim of these TnT Workshops is to help participants in attendance navigate their way through the exciting array of educational technologies available, select those that are appropriate for their context, and learn how to effectively make use of them in their educational environments. The TnT workshop leaders, are experts with the techniques and technologies they will demonstrate, will offer guidance on using specific technologies, and share ways to best integrate the technologies with language teaching and education practices. 

TnT Plenary 

Clare Kaneko



Title: Smart Materials, Smart Classrooms: Creating Language Learning Materials with AI
Abstract: As artificial intelligence transforms education, language teachers have unrealized opportunities to enhance their classrooms with tailored, high-quality materials. This workshop-style presentation will demonstrate two practical approaches for integrating AI and accessible IT tools into language teaching: creating engaging listening activities using AI and free video software, and developing personalized texts suited to your learners' unique needs. I will guide participants through clear, step-by-step processes, emphasizing how asking the right questions through prompting leads to effective and relevant materials. Whether you have advanced technical skills or are just beginning your digital journey, this session offers concrete strategies you can immediately implement to enrich your teaching practice.

Bio: Clare Kaneko has been interested in information technology (IT) since she was 12 years old. Since completing an undergraduate business degree with a major in Information Systems, Clare has been able to integrate technology into her teaching career both in administration and within the classroom. At the start of Covid-19 she was able to use her experience to give faculty development lessons in English and Japanese on the tools teachers were expected to use at a national university. She enjoys learning about new ways to further implement different IT technologies, including AI. And although it is not possible to stay in front of the IT curve, she is enjoying the ride on the wave.

 

Professional Development (PD)

The technology-based presentations are our digital offering, while the PD workshops are our more analog offering. At these workshops you can learn more about, for example, data analysis approaches for your research study, writing abstracts, developing ideas for research studies, how to enhance your resume, troubleshooting a thesis or dissertation proposal, career planning, etc. Technology may be a dominant feature in our lives as the global pandemic forced educators and learners alike to develop new cyber competencies. The times also pushed educators, learners, researchers, etc. to hone their other competencies. The PD workshops are JALTs way to provide additional support to our community of practice.

PD Plenary 

Jennie Roloff Rothman

Title: What PD is Best for Me? Identifying Best Practices and How to Take Action for Yourself

Abstract: Professional development (PD) means different things to different teachers and often draws mixed responses. It may be attending events in communities like JALT a chance to connect with like-minded educators. It could mean attending lengthy, mandatory lectures that feel like they must be endured rather than valuable learning experiences. It might be brief conversations in the hallway or over lunch with colleagues about how an activity went or to share ideas for modifying a final project. Or, it could be sitting down at the end of the day and writing thoughts down in a teaching journal. One's past experiences with PD will also, understandably, impact levels of receptiveness to alternative forms of PD. Therefore, it is important to understand and appreciate the variety of options available, rather than feeling overwhelmed. It need not be a major production; even smaller actions have value, so long as educators can recognize what works best for them. It is crucial that PD be contextually relevant (i.e., tailored to the needs of institutions, students, and teachers) and that it be engaged in regularly. This talk briefly introduces effective approaches to PD and provides examples of institutional, collaborative, and individual best practices. Attendees will have the opportunity to reflect and identify what might be most useful for them. It will also address topics such as teacher autonomy and agency, imposter syndrome, feelings of isolation, and academic gatekeeping.

Bio: Jennie Roloff Rothman is an Associate Professor and Senior Coordinator of Teacher Professional Development in the English Language Institute at Kanda University of International Studies, the latter a position she has held for eight years. She holds a Master's degree in TESOL from Teachers College, Columbia University. She has been teaching in Japan since 2004, briefly in high schools, but predominantly at universities. Her main areas of research include EFL teacher professional development and reflective practice, but she has also researched and published work about critical thinking and global issues in the language classroom. She has been an active member of JALT since 2005 and currently serves as its SIG Representative Liaison.

Conference Team

Conference Chair - Wayne Malcolm

Conference Coordinators - Robert Remmerswaal and Luc Gougeon

10:30 → 18:05 Breakout Room 1

Convener: Robert Remmerswaal (Prefectural University of Kummamoto)

11:00 KEYNOTE: What PD is Best for Me? Identifying Best Practices and How to Take Action for Yourself

Professional development (PD) means different things to different teachers and often draws mixed responses. It may be attending events in communities like JALT, a chance to connect with like-minded educators. It could mean attending lengthy, mandatory lectures that feel like they must be endured rather than valuable learning experiences. It might be brief conversations in the hallway or over lunch with colleagues about how an activity went or to share ideas for modifying a final project. Or, it could be sitting down at the end of the day and writing thoughts down in a teaching journal. One's past experiences with PD will also, understandably, impact levels of receptiveness to alternative forms of PD. Therefore, it is important to understand and appreciate the variety of options available, rather than feeling overwhelmed. It need not be a major production; even smaller actions have value, so long as educators can recognize what works best for them. It is crucial that PD be contextually relevant (i.e., tailored to the needs of institutions, students, and teachers) and that it be engaged in regularly. This talk briefly introduces effective approaches to PD and provides examples of institutional, collaborative, and individual best practices. Attendees will have the opportunity to reflect and identify what might be most useful for them. It will also address topics such as teacher autonomy and agency, impostor syndrome, feelings of isolation, and academic gatekeeping.

Speaker: JENNIE ROLOFF ROTHMAN (Kanda University of International Studies)

12:30 Power Up Your Slides: Interactive Teaching with ClassPoint

Many EFL instructors struggle to keep students engaged—especially when dealing with mixed-level learners or limited tech. ClassPoint, a free PowerPoint add-in (Windows only), offers a simple yet powerful way to transform traditional slide decks into interactive lessons without switching platforms. This hands-on workshop introduces ClassPoint’s core features through guided demonstrations and active participation. In the first part, participants will explore tools like live quizzes, polls, word clouds, annotation functions, and gamified elements such as leaderboards. In the second part, attendees will follow a guide to create their own interactive lesson slide. The final part will offer classroom management tips, creative use cases, and troubleshooting support. By the end of the session, participants will walk away with a fully interactive slide they can use immediately, practical knowledge of ClassPoint’s functions, and new ideas to increase classroom participation, formative assessment, and student voice using PowerPoint on Windows.

Speaker: Marge Joseph Sardo

JALT TNT Workshop.pptx

JALT TNT Workshop Template.pptx

13:30 Reclaim AI: Running and Customizing Your Own LLMs with Ollama and Open-Source

This workshop provides a practical introduction to leveraging open-source Large Language Models (LLMs) with a focus on accessibility and customization. The first half will guide participants through the installation and setup of Ollama, a tool for running LLMs locally. We will then use the basic Ollama installation to explore pulling pre-trained models and customizing their behaviour to create useful activities for learners. We will cover how to utilize modelfiles to fine-tune model parameters, craft effective system prompts, and shape the model’s responses to specific tasks. The workshop will conclude with a discussion on envisioning practical educational deployments and applications of these customized LLMs, fostering ideas for innovative teaching and learning experiences. No prior experience with LLMs is required, though running your own LLM on your own hardware WILL require a tinkerer's heart and some troubleshooting skills (i.e. Googling, reading, thinking, trying to tweak the settings).

Speakers: Mr Adam Jenkins (Shizuoka Institute of Science and Technology), Luc Gougeon (Sojo University)

Ollama Website

TnT PD Ollama App.pdf

Sample Modelfiles

• efl_teacher.modelfile
• Geoff.modelfile
• SIST-Story.modelfile
• TnT25Game.modelfile
• TOEIC-Pt5.modelfile

15:15 Generative AI for Custom Quiz Creation

Technological advancement has rapidly transformed language education, with online resources becoming increasingly accessible and adaptable for diverse users. While conventional textbooks offer notable benefits, their value diminishes when content becomes outdated or irrelevant.
In recent years, generative AI has emerged as a standard tool in higher education. Applications such as ChatGPT and Copilot hold significant potential to support educators by generating learning materials tailored to learners’ levels, interests, and target topics. This hands-on session introduces participants to the creation of customized quizzes for both face-to-face and online formats, including those suitable for upload to learning management systems (LMS). Attendees will explore effective prompting strategies to obtain desired outputs from generative AI tools. By the end of the session, participants will be equipped to design and implement personalized quizzes that meet the specific needs of their learners.

Speaker: Sarina Sugawara

2025_TNT_PD_Workshops_presentation.pdf

Automate tasks & transform to Google form quiz

Chat GPT Prompts to automatically create a quiz in PDF format using Google Colab.

16:15 KEYNOTE: Smart Materials, Smart Classrooms: Creating Language Learning Materials with AI

As artificial intelligence transforms education, language teachers have unrealized opportunities to enhance their classrooms with tailored, high-quality materials. This workshop-style presentation will demonstrate two practical approaches for integrating AI and accessible IT tools into language teaching: creating engaging listening activities using AI and free video software, and developing personalized texts suited to your learners' unique needs. I will guide participants through clear, step-by-step processes, emphasizing how asking the right questions through prompting leads to effective and relevant materials. Whether you have advanced technical skills or are just beginning your digital journey, this session offers concrete strategies you can immediately implement to enrich your teaching practice.

Speaker: Clare Kaneko (JALT President)

Signpost book journey (1).pdf

12:30 → 16:10 Breakout Room 2

Convener: Luc Gougeon (Sojo University)

15:15 How to Build an Online Language Exchange Program

Abstract: This workshop will explain how to set up and run an online language exchange program as part of a language curriculum. I will walk through the practical considerations of managing such a program, focusing on the technology and learner management systems needed for the program to run smoothly.
Two examples of an online language exchange program will be introduced; written correspondence and live video exchange programs. We will cover classroom equipment, the pros and cons of different communication platforms, and how to coordinate learners across international borders. We will look at various online communication activities that can be assigned, how monitoring learner participation and engagement works, and troubleshoot some common problems that can arise.
Participants will gain an understanding of the logistical requirements needed for running an online language exchange program tailored to their students, and an overview of the different applications and platforms available for them to use.

Speaker: Rosalind Shiraishi

15:15 → 16:15 Breakout Room 5

15:15 Empowering ESL Students with AI: Enhancing Academic Reading and Autonomy

Helping ESL students navigate academic texts can be challenging, especially when aiming to build autonomy and research literacy. This hands-on workshop introduces a student-centered approach using AI-powered tools such as Connected Papers, Consensus, Scholarcy, and SciSpace to enhance reading efficiency and independent learning. Participants will explore an eight-week intervention model through interactive demonstrations and guided activities. Instructors will learn how to design scaffolded tasks that support literature discovery, summarization, citation management, and critical analysis. The session includes practical walkthroughs of each tool, collaborative problem-solving exercises, and strategies for reflective learning. By the end of the workshop, attendees will gain firsthand experience with essential AI platforms, receive ready-to-use classroom ideas, and discover evidence-based methods to foster ESL learners’ academic reading skills and autonomy.

Speakers: Muhammad Nadeem Anwar (University of Management and Technology, Pakistan), Seemab Jamil Ghouri (university of management and technology sialkot)

abstract submission by seemab .pdf