Frances Shiobara
About
Frances Shiobara has been teaching in higher education in Japan since 1989. She is an Associate Professor at Kobe Shoin University, Japan. She was previously Director of the Foreign Language Education Center and Chair of the English Department. She is also one of the founders of an International School English program for elementary school students. She has a Master of Education in Applied Linguistics from Temple University, Japan and a Doctor of Education from The University of Liverpool, UK. Her main areas of interest are teaching English to young learners, gender equality in higher education and attitudes to technology in education.Sessions
Presentation Using AI to Enable Intercultural Communication Through Virtual Exchange Projects for Pre-Service Teachers more
Sun, Jul 20, 09:35-10:00 Asia/Tokyo
Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) has been promoted as a supplement or alternative to traditional study abroad programs. COIL can facilitate intercultural communication as well as enabling language exchange between multilingual language learners. In general COIL projects are set up pairing small groups or whole class exchanges. These projects work well with self-motivated students who are able to interact in English in real-time. Unfortunately, very few COIL projects are available for students without strong English language skills. This presentation will share data from a Virtual Exchange project between 16 pre-service kindergarten and elementary school teachers and eight in-service teachers from around the world. AI enabled students with lower English language skills to not only prepare for the exchange, but also to understand the exchange through transcriptions and automated summaries in real-time. The presentation will include a detailed explanation on how the project was set up and carried out using AI on Zoom. Ways in which this project attempted to overcome challenges often encountered by teachers conducting traditional COIL projects will also be shared with suggestions for improvement on future projects.