On Saturday, November 21 at the JALT2020 conference, the TD and CUE SIGs held their tenth joint forum, “Forms and Functions of Community in Education”.

The forum was conducted online via Zoom, and the format was slightly different from past years. Five members from the SIGs spoke in turn about their experiences in creating community.

First, Mathew Porter of Fukuoka Jo Gakuin Nursing University described a community among nurse educators in a nursing department at a Japanese university. Wendy Gough of Bunkyo Gakuin University spoke about the importance of mentors, and how to find or become one. Peter Brereton of International Christian University shared his experience in establishing a group of reflective practitioners which helped to more deeply connect his university with its associated high school. Daniel Hooper of Kanda University of International Studies shared the importance of action logs in adjusting to a new community during his transition from a small eikaiwa to a private international university. Dawn Lucovich of Nagano JALT and The University of Nagano spoke about the principles necessary to create a community of practice and how they can be implemented at JALT.

After the presenters spoke, there was a brief moderated discussion in which participants discussed in breakout groups how they might implement the ideas expressed to foster community in their own teaching contexts, and then shared some final thoughts with the full group. Please look forward to more collaboration with the CUE SIG on future forums!