関東学院大学人間共生学部

Happy New Year Everyone!

I have been working with online learning for over 15 years now.  Did you know that Kanto Gakuin University was one of the first universities in Japan to use an online English proficiency test that measures all four skills through computer-based assessment?   When we were told last April that our courses would be online it was relatively easy for me to shift to that mode of learning since all of my classes were already ‘blended’.  Have you heard of the term ‘blended learning’? It simply means combining online learning with regular classroom learning in order to maximize learning and teaching.  For example, why use precious class time for learning that can easily be done online.  Class time in my view should maximize human interaction.   Anyway, I was invited in October to talk on a panel about how this current pandemic is changing education.  Well, my view is that while it may be speeding things  up a bit in the short term the major changes we are seeing in education thanks to the digital revolution have been going on for a long time.  We are very slowly moving from didactic pedagogy to a more reflexive one.  Most of us are familiar with the dimensions for a didactic pedagogy but for many of you the features of a reflexive pedagogy make take some time to get used to!   Have a look at the differences.