2023 Oxford Day Online - Riding the new wave of transformative technologies with Oxford

“AI is not just a tool or platform, but a transformative meta-technology!”

(Suleyman, The Coming Wave and co-founder of DeepMind) .

In Education, AI mania is the topic of the year at school or home, from concern of children’s screen time to teachers being replaced by robots. AI is disrupting not just how we learn but changing the skills we need for the future.

Here at Oxford University Press, it is our mission to further Oxford University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Our new digitalized content, platforms, assessment and services in English Language Teaching and Learning are utilizing the power of technology, streamlining administrative tasks, providing fresh learner insight for teachers and personalizing learning experiences for our students.

But let’s not forget the skills we as humans, have and need, that AI can not replace. How the teacher utilizes content and technology to deliver lessons is central to the success and fulfilment of every learner’s journey. Join us at this year’s Oxford Day Online, to explore these new tools with our authors and experts. Share the training with your school, teachers (and parents) and help us in our mission to advance our knowledge and learning, empowering learners into the future.

Save the date now!

* The webinar takes place in the East Asia timezone but we invite teachers from anywhere on the globe who are interested in the talks to sign up and watch the live talk or the recording!

---------------------------------------
(09:30-09:35 CST) - Opening
by Katherine Mackay (Head of Marketing Asia)

---------------------------------------
(09:35-10:15 CST) - Positive Technology in Language Learning & Teaching
by Hayo Reinders

What stays the same when everything changes? Technological developments, in particular in AI, present us with challenging and urgent questions. However, these are often prompted by the technology, rather than by us. As a result, we may end up looking for answers to questions that are not relevant to us. In this presentation I want to bring the conversation back to where it belongs: with us teachers and our learners.
For this, I introduce the concept of Positive Technology (Reinders, forthcoming), or a values-based-approach to the use of technology that aims to enhance learner and teacher wellbeing and thriving. This is a humanistic perspective that places personal growth at the heart of our conversations about technology and that fosters educational sustainability.
At a practical level, I present ways in which teachers can (help their learners to) take a more constructive and agentic approach to technology. I give examples of ways in which technology has served the educational needs and goals of communities, not the other way around. I show everyday strategies that can help us develop digital wellbeing and demonstrate how teachers can exert leadership to maintain control over their professional identity and aspirations. The aim of the presentation is to imagine new, human-centred opportunities for the role of technology in education.

---------------------------------------
(10:20-11:00 CST) - Songs Are A Teacher’s Best Friend
by Setsuko Toyama (featuring SPECIAL GUEST)

Young children learn new language by using and enjoying it. They will absorb dialogs, vocabulary and grammar presented as songs. As I wrote the grammar songs for Beehive/Buzz Starter, I had a wonderful time playing with the rhythm, stress and intonation of the target language and finding the right melody to carry it. Creating your own songs for your own students is not a difficult task but an enjoyable adventure. Today I will share easy and fun ways to use songs in your classroom.

---------------------------------------
(11:05-11:45 CST) - Putting Teachers at the Heart of the Digital ELT Process
by Scott Roy Douglas

With rapid and changing advancements in educational technology, teachers can be left wondering what role will be left for them to play in a digital future. This session squarely places teachers at the heart of digitally supported English language teaching and learning through an examination of key theory and research related to how students develop their skills in an additional language. It then explores practical teaching methods that complement digital teaching tools, with guided inquiry, compelling content, motivational design, and meaningful interactions as powerful driving forces behind new learning. These teaching methods are considered within a process approach to working through digital activities and assignments in which the focus on is on the progressive development of English language skills. Key to this process are the concepts of assessment for learning and assessment as learning. Examples of how teachers can place themselves at the centre of digital English language teaching and learning along with useful instructional strategies and teaching tips are shared throughout. Q Skills Digital Flow (Oxford University Press) is used to illustrate the points covered in this session.

---------------------------------------
(11:50-12:30 CST) - New Developments in Language Learning, Teaching and Testing
by John H. A. L. de Jong

In my presentation I want to talk to you about two major issues in language learning, teaching and testing.
One of the most important means to improve language education is to provide students with incentives to enjoy learning and to experience that their learning enables them to communicate effectively with the minimal elements of the new language that they have at their disposal. These language elements must be closely linked to their everyday communication needs and it must be clear to them that they can use these element to communicate their feelings and views. In my presentation I will share results of research into selecting the most basic elements that will allow students to communicate.
A second principle is the importance of mediation which has been elaborated  in the newly published Companion Volume of the Common European Framework o Reference for Languages: Mediation Skills. I would discuss the central importance of these skills for effective communication and share examples how these can be taught and tested.