Reflections after PanSIG: Thank you from CUE SIG for embracing technology while nurturing human connection

Published as:
Tachino, T. (May, 2024). Reflections after PanSIG: Thank you from CUE SIG for embracing technology while nurturing human connection. CUE SIG Newsletter.

Back to Basics” was this year’s PanSIG conference theme in response to all the technological frenzy that has stormed the world in recent years. The theme did not stop many presenters from discussing technology, but compared to some other conferences (such as the JALTCALL conference just a week earlier), PanSIG had a diversity of topics ranging from curriculum design (e.g., Kuperman, Jurns, Green; Beaton & Lees), research collaboration (e.g., Terashima, Bordilovskaya, Dalziel), academic publishing (e.g., Carle), to my own presentation on academic writing for publication.

Our CUE SIG forum epitomized this balance between technology and fundamentals in university teaching. Tim Saito reminded us of the technological gains during the pandemic years (the gains that Robert Swier in another forum called “miraculous” in the context of Japanese higher education) and argued that we should not lose these technological skills. He suggested microcredentials as a tool for maintaining and further acquiring digital skills. Ellen Head explored the effect of various technological tools in terms of authenticity and authorship, and she argued that our writing should be grounded in speech. She argued that “literate talk” should serve as a scaffolding for our students when we teach academic writing and proposed a number of practical solutions to prevent technological tools from getting in the way of student learning. Marc Doyle focused on the importance of human relationships by proposing the pedagogy of vulnerability through art. He described his pedagogy to build trust and provide a safe environment where both the students and teacher feel comfortable disclosing and expressing their vulnerabilities through art. His assignments urged his students to care for others, enabling them to feel OK about their difficult pasts, reach out to strangers, and/or have difficult or intimate conversations with people they care about. This level of human engagement and connection requires in-person interaction, unmediated by technology.

In one sense, this kind of human connection is what a conference is all about. Some attendees expressed their feelings of loneliness at work where they are isolated and their work is not understood. For them, conferences like this are a social and professional oasis where they can connect with others who are doing similar work, where they feel understood, and where the value of their work is validated. I don’t think they can get the same affirmation by attending a virtual conference.For me, PanSIG marked exactly one year since I came to Japan, and I also started from the lonely place of not knowing anybody in the language teaching profession in Japan. Since my first conference in Japan (the CUE Conference in Toyama last September) I have come to know a number of people. This conference, for me, was an opportunity to appreciate these relationships, to thank those people who care for me and support my endeavors, and to give back by offering what I can to support other people. This, to me, is the basic, and it will continue to be the basic with or without technology.