Learning English On the Net (LEON): Live Blog of ACE 2011 - Asian Conference on Education

The challenges of upheaval in japanese higher education crisis or opportunity ace2011

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Biography

I retired from full-time employment as university professor of English as a foreign language in March 2019, continuing to work as a part-time teacher for one year longer (March 2020). So I have lived and worked in the Tokyo area since 1979, making it 44 years since I immigrated to Japan, my wife's mother country. When I left teaching, it was also just a month before the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic hit the world in Feb/March 2020. During that last year as an university employee, I was in transition from a full-time professorship to Adjunct Professor status (part-time teacher), which began in April, 2019, but ended abruptly in March 2020 with the onset of the COVID pandemic and subsequent shut-down of most societies work activities -- at least at the university. Nowadays, there are several activities that now occupy my abundant free-time: 1) I'm in the process of re-examining and expanding the scope and business objectives for my Japanese corporation, Edvantix, Inc. (K. K. Japan).

During my final years (April 2018 - March 2020) as a full-time faculty member at Kitasato University, I have been attempting to expand the workload and status of my own company, Edvantix, Inc. (K.K. Japan), 2) I was also interested in starting a new company (corporation, LLC, or sole proprietorship - as yet undecided), whose business enterprise revolves around: A) edutrekking (organizing and leading educational field trips / learning expeditions), B) Substitute Teacher Service, C) Overseas Study Programs Advice & Arrangements, D) Intercultural training and workshops for individuals, education, and company groups. While Edvantix, Inc. will be expanding its activities, both in terms of employees, and its clients, both in Japan and abroad, at least I was once considering establishing my new sole proprietorship to be based in Waimea, Hawaii (Big Island). I would (or should) be setting up shop by April 2024 and begin operating initially in Tokyo, California, Spain, and on he Big Island of Hawaii, although there are still some big hurdles and questions that need to be answered first.

Incidentally, I also travel extensively for business and leisure. As a long term resident of Japan who has raised a bilingual family, I've spent more than 30 years investing time and effort into internationalizing Japan's educational system. I have had a lot of both wonderful and frustrating experiences - and it appears there will be a lot more along the way. My free time and vacations are spent exploring my interests: traveling, learning about new cultures and languages - first hand, respecting our planet's living eco-systems, and developing and actualizing my own evolution and personal growth, discovering new forms of artistic expression -particularly in world music. My hobbies are - along with scuba diving, interacting with Web communities, learning new technologies (e.g. Twitter, iPhone, etc), hiking & camping, and cooking.

I love photography and travel and culture, particularly the intricacies of cross-cultural communication and intercultural differences, so, of course, I dabble in taking photos, collecting and playing various musical instruments, and do scuba diving. I also try to do underwater digital photography when I get the chance.

To read more and see my photographs, visit my Flickr profile at:
http://www.flickr.com/people/dbrooks_tokyo/

P.S. Flickr will be limiting free accounts to 1000 uploaded photos, but all of my 15,000 photographs will still be available on Flickr, which has been a quiet hobby of mine since 1999 or so.

Rehearse of ScribbleLive and WizIQ used simultaneously on Sept 6 for EuroCALL session

5:53 AM: d.brooks Rehearsing for EuroCALL using Scribblelive Join the rehearsal at www.scribblelive.com
6:00 AM: d.brooks Is anybody here yet?
6:06 AM: d.brooks
6:13 AM: shizukob
6:13 AM: d.brooks Shizuko, are you there?
6:13 AM: d.brooks Shizuko, are you there?
6:20 AM: shizukob Hi, this is not such a great rehearsal, but at least we know it works. The good things it the video footage from the Macbook isight cams can be accessed simultaneously from both Scribblelive (multi-user blog) and WizIQ (virtual classroom) - only 14 second-long vids can be recorded (must SAVE) in ScribbleLive and a total of only 3 vids per user.

Learning English On the Net (LEON)

Sunday, May 02, 2010

Live Blog of ACE 2011 - Asian Conference on Education - in Osaka, Japan, Oct 27-30, 2011

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