Participants will join a roundtable exploring how teachers at a university in Japan transformed their in-person English communication courses into on-demand lessons. Topics include the techniques used to create content, how the techniques evolved over time, how the content was distributed to students, and how communication was encouraged in an on-demand environment. Participants will be encouraged to consider how the techniques and content created for the course could be integrated with future in-person classes.

This presentation will describe an exploratory study conducted in Japan and Nepal of lower secondary school students and their teachers who engage in PBL projects they create collaboratively through a learning server that also includes channels for learner autonomy and professional development. Specifically, we will share strategies for empowering teachers through cross-cultural professional development and collaboration. We believe such strategies will strongly enhance students’ language learning for their empowerment.