ACEID2018


ACEID2018 Conference Photograph outside the Art Centre Kobe

“Surviving and Thriving: Education in Times of Change”

March 26–28, 2018 | Art Center Kobe, Kobe, Japan

In 2017, IAFOR education conferences in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America have brought together delegates from around the world to consider the theme of “Educating for Change” from a variety of different perspectives and approaches, taking full advantage of the international make-up of the attendees and the huge diversity of experiences. A recurring theme throughout the conferences was the reference to the future, be it immediate or longer term, as being uncertain; the natural resilience and optimism was counterbalanced by both apprehension; with hope also came fear.

In this period of great global political and economic instability, rising inequality and social unrest, the role of education within society has never been more important, but never more vulnerable. This brings us to our conference theme for 2018, which references these inherent vulnerabilities in both educational systems and the individual students and teachers, as well as the necessary resilience needed to not only survive, but also thrive.

How do we teachers, administrators and policymakers adopt and adapt to change outside our control? How do we nurture and encourage positive change, through the excitement of the imagination, innovation and creativity? How can technologies be better used to help us teach, and to help students learn? How do we sustain and manage change? How can we react positively to negative change? How can we, our institutions and our students survive and thrive in these times of change?

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ACEID2018 Conference Photographs

Human interaction is at the root of all knowledge creation, and hence the great importance of the conference in introducing, testing and spreading ideas through challenging, rigorous and thought provoking discussion and debate. But beyond that, a conference is also a great chance to meet people from around the world, and to extend and grow ones’s professional network, and above all, to make friends.

It may be impossible to tell the story of the conference, or rather the many hundreds of interlocking stories that go to make up the conference, but the documentary photography in this slideshow aims to give a taster of the more serious academic side of the event, as well as the lighter side…

[envira-album slug="aceid2018-conference-photographs"]

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Programme

  • The Quest for World-class University Status: The Role of Liberal Arts University Nurturing Leaders for Uncertain Futures
    The Quest for World-class University Status: The Role of Liberal Arts University Nurturing Leaders for Uncertain Futures
    Keynote Presentation: Ka Ho Mok
  • The Challenge to Survive and Thrive in the 21st Global Learning Space/Community: Technology and Ethics
    The Challenge to Survive and Thrive in the 21st Global Learning Space/Community: Technology and Ethics
    Featured Presentation: Curtis Ho and Xu Di
  • Embodiment and Learning
    Embodiment and Learning
    Featured Symposium: Rachel Lam (Session Chair), Dragan Trninic, Hillary Swanson & Jimmy Menkhaus
  • IAFOR Silk Road Initiative Information Session
    IAFOR Silk Road Initiative Information Session
  • IAFOR Documentary Photography Award 2017 | Award Winners Screening
    IAFOR Documentary Photography Award 2017 | Award Winners Screening

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Speakers

  • Xu Di
    Xu Di
    University of Hawai’i at Manoa, USA
  • Curtis Ho
    Curtis Ho
    University of Hawai’i at Manoa, USA
  • Rachel Lam
    Rachel Lam
    ETH Zurich, Switzerland
  • Joshua Mok
    Joshua Mok
    Lingnan University, Hong Kong

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Organising Committee

The Conference Programme Committee is composed of distinguished academics who are experts in their fields. Conference Programme Committee members may also be members of IAFOR's International Academic Board. The Organising Committee is responsible for nominating and vetting Keynote and Featured Speakers; developing the conference programme, including special workshops, panels, targeted sessions, and so forth; event outreach and promotion; recommending and attracting future Conference Programme Committee members; working with IAFOR to select PhD students and early career academics for IAFOR-funded grants and scholarships; and overseeing the reviewing of abstracts submitted to the conference.

  • Steve Cornwell
    Steve Cornwell
    The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) & Osaka Jogakuin University, Japan
  • Joseph Haldane
    Joseph Haldane
    The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
  • Rachel Lam
    Rachel Lam
    ETH Zurich, Switzerland
  • Barbara Lockee
    Barbara Lockee
    Virginia Tech., USA
  • Ted O’Neill
    Ted O’Neill
    Gakushuin University, Japan
  • Haruko Satoh
    Haruko Satoh
    Osaka University, Japan

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Review Committee

  • Dr Aaron Tan, Singapore Institute of Management Global Education, Singapore
  • Dr Abdul Aziz, UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang, Indonesia
  • Dr Adelfa Silor, Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, The Philippines
  • Dr Andri Zainal, Universitas Negeri Medan, Indonesia
  • Dr Bethe Schoenfeld, Western Galilee College, Israel
  • Dr Bonimar Tominez, Nueva Vizcaya State University, Philippines
  • Dr Chalermchai Wongrak, Ubon Ratchathani University, Thailand
  • Dr Deborah Javier, University of the East, Manila, The Philippines
  • Dr Diobein Flores, Department of Education, The Philippines
  • Dr Doris McEwen Harris, McEwen Education Consulting & Curriculum Auditing, United States
  • Dr Elena Mishieva, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russian Federation
  • Dr Greg Misiaszek, Beijing Normal University, China
  • Dr Helen M. Llenaresas, Bicol University, The Philippines
  • Dr Irina Madeyeva, Autonomous Educational Organization ”Nazarbayev Intellectual schools”, Kazakhstan
  • Professor Jayson Lannu, De La Salle - College of Saint Benilde, The Philippines
  • Dr Lauren Misiaszek, Beijing Normal University, China
  • Dr Martiallou Organiza, University of the Visayas, The Philippines
  • Dr Nenita Delos Santos, Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation, United Arab Emirates
  • Dr Rennie Saranza, Philippine Normal University (PNU)-Mindanao, The Philippines
  • Dr Tanju Deveci, The Petroleum Institute, United Arab Emirates
  • Professor Tatiana Ille, Gulf Medical University, United Arab Emirates

IAFOR's peer review process, which involves both reciprocal review and the use of Review Committees, is overseen by conference Organising Committee members under the guidance of the Academic Governing Board. Review Committee members are established academics who hold PhDs or other terminal degrees in their fields and who have previous peer review experience.

If you would like to apply to serve on the ACEID2019 Review Committee, please visit our application page.

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ACEID2018 Grant & Scholarship Recipients

Our warmest congratulations go to Jenise Boland, Ngoc Nguyen, May Anne Joy de Lara-Romanes and Hillary Swanson, who have been selected by the conference Organising Committee to receive grants and scholarships to present their research at The Asian Conference on Education & International Development 2018.

IAFOR’s grants and scholarships programme provides financial support to PhD students and early career academics, with the aim of helping them pursue research excellence and achieve their academic goals through interdisciplinary study and interaction. Awards are based on the appropriateness of the educational opportunity in relation to the applicant’s field of study, financial need, and contributions to their community and to IAFOR’s mission of interdisciplinarity. Scholarships are awarded based on availability of funds from IAFOR and vary with each conference.

The Organising Committee of the relevant IAFOR conference awards scholarships to eligible applicants who have submitted exceptional abstracts that have passed the blind peer review process and have been accepted for presentation at the conference.


Jenise Boland

Stuart D. B. Picken Grant & Scholarship Recipient

Jenise Boland earned her Master of Education at Churchill College, Cambridge University, and is currently a doctoral student of Education, Curriculum Theory and Implementation at Simon Fraser University. Born in rural Canada, she graduated with a BA, English, from the University of British Columbia before embarking on an academic career focussed on global education. As a member of the International Teachers Education Module in Oaxaca, Mexico, she graduated with a BEd at Simon Fraser University, followed by three years as a classroom practitioner in Essex, England, UK. Miss Boland is a contributing author to numerous textbooks, journals and teacher guides on the subjects of Aboriginal Peoples, Canadian History, and Social Studies. Concurrent with her PhD studies, she teaches History, Law, and Global Studies at West Point Grey Academy and is affiliated with the Connected North program as a facilitator-instructor for Inuit students in the remote Arctic regions of Canada.

Global Education for All (But the Teachers): Considering the Role of the Traditional Teacher in New Global Education Curriculum
Jenise Boland, Simon Fraser University, Canada

In the 1960s, R.S. Peters outlined the qualities of “The Educated Man” in his paper by the same name. In 1981, Jane Roland Martin argued that this definition was no longer viable, opting instead for the “Educated Person.” Today in the 21st century, the ideal has shifted again towards global citizen – defined as an educated student who is technologically savvy, media literate, and globally competent. This shift raises questions as to the limits of the traditionally trained teacher in the education of the new global citizen. This paper simultaneously argues in favour of global competency education, with supporting examples of international curricula, whilst contrasting its tenets against the current lack of diversity still present in both post-secondary teacher training programs and the profession as a whole. This means that learners identified as ‘other’, such as students of color, low socioeconomic background, and/or non-heteronormative gender, rarely see themselves reflected in their educators, and often do not consider teaching as a viable career option. This in turn perpetuates the dominance of a teaching population that is ideologically, culturally, and physically heterogeneous with minimal exposure themselves to global competency education. The paper addresses the disconnect between what is being taught and by whom it is taught, and concludes with the call for additional research to be done in the area global competency education within national teacher training programs.


Ngoc Nguyen

IAFOR Scholarship Recipient

Ngoc Bao Nguyen is currently a Master student in Educational Leadership and Management Development, National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan. After obtaining her Bachelor degree in Business Administration, Hanoi University, Vietnam, Ngoc Bao Nguyen joined LCMS, an American NGO working in community development, as a Program Assistant. Her work has relentlessly embraced the asset-based or pride-based approach in working with marginalised communities, along with the strong focus on education as the transformation catalyst to sustainable and inclusive development.

Perception of Ethnic Hmong University Students Regarding Their Community Development
Ngoc Nguyen, National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan

As one of the most popular but vulnerable ethnic groups in the mountainous area in Vietnam, Hmong communities have experienced intensive discourse of inferiority regarding their socio-economic development. A number of studies reveals how these discourses have been adversely influencing the vision for ethnic minority development, typically the pressure to ‘civilise’ their practices in all walks of life. While the development path will be significantly tailored by the youth generation, they have not been taken into account in these studies. Drawing specifically on Hmong youth generation, those who made their way to universities in the capital city of Vietnam and overtime experience certain acculturation along with the education system provided by the dominant group in the country, this study will seek to explore their perceptions regarding the development picture in their hometown and how their education experience could factor in better future for their communities. The mixed method is utilised through in-depth interviews, talk show video record, and continuous Facebook observance of members of Hmong youth-led activist group called Action for Hmong Development, combined with online survey conducted to 20 other Hmong university students studying in the capital city of Vietnam. Putting different perspectives of Hmong youth into a picture might render practical suggestions to education pursuit of Hmong students in relation with the destiny of their communities.


May Anne Joy de Lara-Romanes

IAFOR Scholarship Recipient

May Anne Joy de Lara-Romanes is currently working as a teacher in the Department of Education, Philippines. She studied in Cavite State University for her Bachelors degree, with the distinction of Magna cum Laude. At present, she is studying Master of Education major in Educational Administration at the University of the Philippines, Diliman. Aside from teaching, she is a consistent winner in various district and division contests. She is also into conducting researches about educational administration and public school system.

Differences Among Generational Groups of Teachers in a Public School District in Their Practice of 21st Century Teaching-Learning Skills
May Anne Joy de Lara-Romanes, University of the Philippines/Department of Education, The Philippines
Sofia Veniegas, University of the Philippines/Einstein School for Kids, The Philippines

This study explores the differences in the 21st century teaching and learning skills practices among generational groups of teachers in the District of Indang, Cavite. It was conducted to find out if there is any significant difference in the perceptions between and among generational groups of teachers in terms of their overall application of 21st century teaching and learning skills. Included in this study are eight key components commonly referred to by experts and practitioners in the field, namely: critical thinking, collaboration, communication, creativity and innovation, self-direction, global connections, local connections, and the use of technology. Results revealed significant differences between the Boomers (1946-1964) and the Generation Y (1981-1995) teacher-respondents in terms of their overall 21st century teaching and learning skills, particularly in their 1) critical thinking skills, 2) creativity and innovation skills, and in 3) establishing global connections. Based on the results, Boomers used the 21st century teaching and learning skills more profoundly than the younger teachers. Findings also showed that Boomers perceived their practice of 21st century teaching skills to a very great extent. No significant differences among the generational groups of teachers were found among the rest of the skills under study, namely: 1) collaboration, 2) communication, 3) self-direction, 4) local connections, and 5) the use of technology.


Hillary Swanson

IAFOR Scholarship Recipient

Hillary Swanson is a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy. She conducts research in collaboration with both the Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling (CCL) and the Tangible Interaction Design and Learning (TIDAL) Lab. Her research explores the productive role of prior knowledge in learning and how instruction can be designed to leverage students’ everyday knowledge. Her current research focuses on the joint development of scientific knowledge and computational thinking through engagement in a computationally-rich science curriculum.

Embodied Learning and Physics
Hillary Swanson, Northwestern University, USA

Einstein (1936) once said, “The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking.” Learning scientists have argued similarly, positing that the seeds of scientific reasoning lie in learners’ intuitive sense of mechanism (Hammer, 1997). Numerous intuitions for explaining physical phenomena have been documented, for example, “more effort begets more result,” and “force as a mover,” and it is posited that these are drawn from learners’ physical experience of the world (diSessa, 1993). This study extends this work by suggesting that there exist intuitions useful for explaining physical phenomena that are grounded in learners’ social and emotional experience of the world. I present evidence from a classroom discussion during which 8th grade students work on a theoretical explanation for why cold liquid warms quickly at first, and then more slowly as it approaches room temperature. The students draw on intuitions grounded in not only physical but also social and emotional experience to make sense of the phenomenon. Under the guidance of the teacher, they refine their intuitions over the course of the discussion and ultimately produce a conceptual version of Newton’s law of warming.

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The Quest for World-class University Status: The Role of Liberal Arts University Nurturing Leaders for Uncertain Futures
Keynote Presentation: Ka Ho Mok

With a strong intention to rank higher in the global university leagues, governments in Asia have made serious efforts to concentrate resources to groom a few universities to become globally competitive. In addition, the massification of higher education in Asia has also created the growing concern of graduates confronting under and unemployment. This presentation sets out against the wider policy context outlined above to examine what major challenges face higher education in Asia, with particular reference to critically reflect upon the purpose of higher education. With a special focus on addressing a growing diversity of learning needs, this presentation critically examines the role of liberal arts education in Asia, especially exploring how important role differentiation and fit-for-purpose education for nurturing caring leaders with global vision for uncertain future.

Read presenter biographies.

The Challenge to Survive and Thrive in the 21st Global Learning Space/Community: Technology and Ethics
Featured Presentation: Curtis Ho and Xu Di

The challenges for education are paramount globally with the drastic educational development, diversity, and complexity, and they are systematic, interconnected, and intricate. In order to go beyond survival and truly thrive in a sustainable manner, this panel will examine seemingly unrelated fields of educational technology and philosophy to point out what is missing in our current system. It aims at seeking synergetic elements in education for profound, innovative, and effective teaching and learning globally. How has the learning space and community changed? What are the needs and importance to fully engage effective pedagogies and create new interrelated teaching and learning in education today? Why should humanity connect all space, community, fields, and purpose in this century? Both panelists are from graduate programs that face many of these challenges and they will share examples and practices they have experienced and observed.

Read presenter biographies.

Embodiment and Learning
Featured Symposium: Rachel Lam (Session Chair), Dragan Trninic, Hillary Swanson & Jimmy Menkhaus

Educating for change requires opportunities for learners to embody and experience the principles and concepts that help to make sense of the world around them. We propose a symposium from experts in various areas of educational research, each to present work showing the impact that learning-by-doing has on knowledge acquisition, understanding, and transfer. The collection of these works highlights the advantages of complementing traditional, typically lecture-based, forms of education with active and authentic learning driven by the student. Below we briefly describe the work from our experts, with expanded abstracts following.

We will first present these four works, and then provide a consolidation that integrates them under the theme of embodied learning towards positive action. In our consolidation, we will address how learning-by-doing can be channeled into learning-for-doing, for positive change we hope to see in the world. Afterwards, we will open up the floor for audience questions and discussion.


Presentation #1

Embodied Learning and Mathematics

Dragan Trninic, ETH Zurich University, Switzerland

A pedagogical orientation shared by all the presenters in this symposium is that ideas must be experientially felt rather than merely talked about in order for learning to occur. This orientation is supported by the embodied cognition framework, which argues that an organism’s cognition is grounded in its sensorimotor capacities (Kiefer & Barsalou, 2013). In this talk, I argue for why and how theories of embodied cognition can be leveraged in educational design. Specifically, I focus on the neuroanatomical argument that human cognitive processes utilize the same systems that support perception and action. This hypothesis is called neural reuse (Anderson, 2010) and explains, for instance, why thinking about a hammer activates the same neurons used when actually using a hammer (Martin, 2007). Furthermore, the cognitive processing of even abstract ideas, such as those in mathematics, contains elements of kinesthetic sensations, the “sensations and experiences that are associated with . . . movement” (Vygotsky, 1997, p. 161). Consequently, mathematics education may benefit from providing students with opportunities to ground abstract ideas in felt "sensations and experiences.” The overall argument is contextualized through a case of an educational design where students learn about the mathematical principle of proportion through initially engaging in overtly physical, bimanual movements.


Presentation #2

Embodied Learning and Sustainability

Rachel Lam, ETH Zurich University, Switzerland

“How would you convince your neighbor to recycle?” Singaporean children in the 4th year of primary school were posed this question during a lesson on the overproduction of waste in densely populated urban areas. After learning about low domestic recycling rates and being presented with various reasons why residents do not recycle, the students were then tasked to create the script for a YouTube show that would help encourage more people to recycle. Through peer collaboration and brainstorming, students “acted out” the YouTube show during the lesson, overall producing a wide variety of ideas in their scripts. Some children focused on practical solutions, for example, creating recycling chutes for all buildings, some addressed residents’ lack of environmental awareness, and others described punishments by law for not recycling. In the embodied experience of creating and acting out their YouTube shows, the students displayed several complex problem-solving behaviors, without being explicitly instructed how to collaborate or problem-solve. Our prior work has shown that students are capable of engaging in effective collaboration in complex problem-solving, generating innovative and creative solutions, and learning new concepts in environmental science after experiencing peer collaboration lessons (Lam & Low, 2016; Lam, Low, & Li, in press). In addition, a fieldtrip to a beach cleanup showed evidence of knowledge transfer as students engaged in positive actions around recycling.


Presentation #3

Embodied Learning and Physics

Hillary Swanson, Northwestern University, USA

Einstein (1936) once said, “The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking.” Learning scientists have argued similarly, positing that the seeds of scientific reasoning lie in learners’ intuitive sense of mechanism (Hammer, 1997). Numerous intuitions for explaining physical phenomena have been documented, for example, “more effort begets more result,” and “force as a mover,” and it is posited that these are drawn from learners’ physical experience of the world (diSessa, 1993). This study extends this work by suggesting that there exist intuitions useful for explaining physical phenomena that are grounded in learners’ social and emotional experience of the world. I present evidence from a classroom discussion during which 8th grade students work on a theoretical explanation for why cold liquid warms quickly at first, and then more slowly as it approaches room temperature. The students draw on intuitions grounded in not only physical but also social and emotional experience to make sense of the phenomenon. Under the guidance of the teacher, they refine their intuitions over the course of the discussion and ultimately produce a conceptual version of Newton’s law of warming.


Presentation #4

Embodied Learning and Suffering

Jimmy Menkhaus, Gannon University, USA

The former Jesuit Superior General Fr. Pedro Arrupe, S. J. and Pope Francis both centralize the importance of encountering the poor as a form of education. Such encounters exemplify the application of embodiment towards learning concepts in theology. For a student to understand concepts such as “human dignity” and "suffering,” it is imperative that the students not merely hear about them, but genuinely encounter the experiences of them in the world. One way that students can engage in these experiences is through service learning and immersion trips. In this presentation, I share how students from a Catholic university in Pennsylvania, USA, travelled to Immakalee, Florida, and engaged with migrant farm workers in order to better understand how they live and how they suffer. These workers are denied basic dignity and human rights in their daily lives. As opposed to reading about migrant workers from a textbook, the encounters that the students experienced helped them to realize the interlinked notions of poverty and justice. They were able to reach new conclusions about the concept of suffering in ways that inspired further thought and consideration around taking action towards positive change for suffering peoples.

Read presenter biographies.

IAFOR Silk Road Initiative Information Session

As an organization, IAFOR’s mission is to promote international exchange, facilitate intercultural awareness, encourage interdisciplinary discussion, and generate and share new knowledge. In 2018, we are excited to launch a major new and ambitious international, intercultural and interdisciplinary research initiative which uses the silk road trade routes as a lens through which to study some of the world’s largest historical and contemporary geopolitical trends, shifts and exchanges.

IAFOR is headquartered in Japan, and the 2018 inauguration of this project aligns with the 150th Anniversary of the Meiji Restoration of 1868, when Japan opened its doors to the trade and ideas that would precipitate its rapid modernisation and its emergence as a global power. At a time when global trends can seem unpredictable, and futures fearful, the IAFOR Silk Road Initiative gives the opportunity to revisit the question of the impact of international relations from a long-term perspective.

This ambitious initiative will encourage individuals and institutions working across the world to support and undertake research centring on the contact between countries and regions in Europe and Asia – from Gibraltar to Japan – and the maritime routes that went beyond, into the South-East Continent and the Philippines, and later out into the Pacific Islands and the United States. The IAFOR Silk Road Initiative will be concerned with all aspects of this contact, and will examine both material and intellectual traces, as well as consequences.

For more information about the IAFOR Silk Road Initiative, click here.

IAFOR Documentary Photography Award 2017 | Award Winners Screening

The IAFOR Documentary Photography Award was launched by The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) in 2015 as an international photography award that seeks to promote and assist in the professional development of emerging documentary photographers and photojournalists. The award has benefitted since the outset from the expertise of an outstanding panel of internationally renowned photographers, including Dr Paul Lowe as the Founding Judge, and Ed Kashi, Monica Allende, Simon Roberts, Jocelyn Bain Hogg, Simon Norfolk and Emma Bowkett as Guest Judges. Now in its third year, the award has already been widely recognised by those in the industry and has been supported by World Press Photo, Metro Imaging, MediaStorm, Think Tank Photo, University of the Arts London, RMIT University, British Journal of Photography, The Centre for Documentary Practice, and the Medill School of Journalism.

As an organisation, IAFOR’s mission is to promote international exchange, facilitate intercultural awareness, encourage interdisciplinary discussion, and generate and share new knowledge. In keeping with this mission, in appreciation of the great value of photography as a medium that can be shared across borders of language, culture and nation, and to influence and inform our academic work and programmes, the IAFOR Documentary Photography Award was launched as a competition that would help underline the importance of the organisation’s aims, and would promote and recognise best practice and excellence.

Winners of the IAFOR Documentary Photography Award 2017 were announced at The European Conference on Media, Communication & Film 2017 (EuroMedia2017) in Brighton, UK. The award follows the theme of the EuroMedia conference, with 2017’s theme being “History, Story, Narrative”. In support of up-and-coming talent, the IAFOR Documentary Photography Award is free to enter.

Access to the Award Winners Screening is included in the conference registration fee. For more information about the award, click here.

Image | From the project Single Mothers of Afghanistan by IAFOR Documentary Photography Award 2017 Grand Prize Winner, Kiana Hayeri.

Xu Di
University of Hawai’i at Manoa, USA

Biography

Xu Di (许笛) is a professor in the department of Education Foundations, College of Education, University of Hawai’i-Mānoa. She is a member of the board of examiners for the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE, now Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation [CAEP]), which has provided national accreditation for teacher education programs in the United States since 2007. Her recent publications focus on bridging Eastern and Western philosophy for educational practices and include Chinese Philosophy on Teaching & Learning: Xueji《学记》 in the Twenty-First Century (2016), The Wisdom from the East: A Holistic Theory and Practice of Health and Wellness (2013), Spiritual Heritage and Education Today (2013), Taoism: Origin, Essence, and Practice (2013), and A Reading of Lao Zi for Educational Philosophers Today (2012). In addition, she published A Comparison of the Educational Ideas and Practices of John Dewey and Mao Zedong in China (1992) and various chapters and articles on teacher education, educational foundations, multicultural education, international education, and ESL education. She worked as an international consultant in teacher education and educational reforms in Central Asia and Africa for the World Bank in 2002 and 2001. She served on the Hawai’i Teacher Standard Board (2005–2008) and as the president of the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE) Hawai’i Chapter as well as Hawai’i state representative (2006–2008). She was a visiting scholar and research associate at the Philosophy of Educational Research Center at Harvard University (1999–2000), a visiting professor in Peking University (2015, 2011, 2009, and 1997) and in Renmin University (2012, 2014, and 2016), and an exchange professor at National Kaohsiung University in Taiwan (1998). She served as manuscript editor as well as editorial board member for Harvard Educational Review during 1988–1990. She was honored in Who’s Who among American Teachers in 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, and 2008.

Featured Presentation (2018) | The Challenge to Survive and Thrive in the 21st Global Learning Space/Community: Technology and Ethics
Curtis Ho
University of Hawai’i at Manoa, USA

Biography

Curtis Ho is Professor, Department Chair and Graduate Chair of the Learning Design and Technology department at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. He has been a UH faculty member for over 30 years, teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in educational media research, interactive multimedia, web-based instruction, distance education, video technology, and computer-based education. He has taught courses in American and Western Samoa and Saipan, and was the first to offer a course statewide over the Hawai’i Interactive Television System.

Curtis Ho received his PhD in Educational Technology from Arizona State University where he served as instructional designer. He has consulted for public and private schools, financial institutions, and higher education. For several years he directed the Office of Faculty Development and Academic Support for the University of Hawaii’s Manoa campus. He has presented extensively at national and international conferences at locations including Beijing, Copenhagen, Eskisehir, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Lugano, Rome, Kumamoto, Kyoto, Melbourne, Montreal, Osaka, Panang, Taipei, Takamatsu, Tokyo, Toronto, and Vancouver.

Professor Ho was a Principal Investigator, Co-Principal Investigator and Project Director for three US Department of Education grants totalling over 9.8 million US dollars. He is a co-organiser of TCC Worldwide Online Conference, an executive committee member of E-Learn, Association for the Advancement of Computers in Education, and is also past-President of the Pan Pacific Distance Learning Association, a chapter of the United States Distance Learning Association and of the Pacific Association for Communications and Technology, a chapter of the national Association for Educational Communications and Technology.

Featured Presentation (2018) | The Challenge to Survive and Thrive in the 21st Global Learning Space/Community: Technology and Ethics
Rachel Lam
ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Biography

Dr Rachel Lam is currently a Senior Scientist in the Department of Learning Sciences and Higher Education at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. She earned a PhD in Educational Psychology with an emphasis in Learning and Cognition at Arizona State University in the United States. Dr Lam has conducted research in educational settings in a variety of subject areas (psychology, environmental education, physical sciences) that has focused on designing peer collaboration activities to support conceptual understanding and deep learning. She uses pre-posttest measures, discourse from student dialogues, and other student artifacts to assess student content knowledge, application of knowledge to real-world problems, and transfer to novel contexts. Dr Lam has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses on a variety of topics in educational psychology, learning theories and child development. Prior to an academic career, she worked in community and educational settings including libraries, preschools and parent support organisations.

Featured Symposium Presentation (2018) | Embodiment and Learning

Previous Presentations

Spotlight Presentation (2017) | Teaching Sustainability to Prepare Children for a Complex Future: Environmental Education in Primary School
Joshua Mok
Lingnan University, Hong Kong

Biography

Professor Joshua Mok Ka-ho is the Vice-President and concurrently Lam Man Tsan Chair Professor of Comparative Policy of Lingnan University, Hong Kong. Before joining Lingnan, he was the Vice President (Research and Development) and Chair Professor of Comparative Policy of The Hong Kong Institute of Education, and the Associate Dean and Professor of Social Policy, Faculty of Social Sciences of The University of Hong Kong. Prior to this, Professor Mok was appointed as the Founding Chair Professor in East Asian Studies and established the Centre for East Asian Studies at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom.

Professor Mok is no narrow disciplinary specialist but has worked creatively across the academic worlds of sociology, political science, and public and social policy while building up his wide knowledge of China and the region. Professor Mok completed his undergraduate studies in Public and Social Administration at the City University of Hong Kong in 1989, and received an MPhil and PhD in Sociology from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1991 and The London School of Economics and Political Science in 1994 respectively.

In addition, Professor Mok has published extensively in the fields of comparative education policy, comparative development and policy studies, and social development in contemporary China and East Asia. In particular, he has contributed to the field of social change and education policy in a variety of ways, not the least of which has been his leadership and entrepreneurial approach to the organisation of the field. His recent published works have focused on comparative social development and social policy responses in the Greater China region and East Asia. He is also the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Asian Public Policy (London: Routledge) and Asian Education and Development Studies (Emerald) as well as a Book Series Editor for Routledge and Springer.

Keynote Presentation (2018) | The Quest for World-class University Status: The Role of Liberal Arts University Nurturing Leaders for Uncertain Futures
Steve Cornwell
The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) & Osaka Jogakuin University, Japan

Biography

Steve Cornwell is the President of IAFOR, and President of the Academic Governing Board. He coordinates and oversees the International Academic Advisory Board, and also serves on the organization's Board of Directors.

Dr Cornwell is Professor of English and Interdisciplinary Studies at Osaka Jogakuin University, and also teaches in the online portion of the MA TESOL Programme for the New School in New York. He helped write and design several of the New School courses and has been involved with the programme since its inception.

He has also been involved with the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT), (an affiliate of IAFOR) serving on its National Board of Directors as Director of Programme from 2012-2016; where his duties involved working with a volunteer team of 50+ to put on JALT’s annual, international conference each autumn.

Most recently, since 2012, he has been the Committee Chair of Osaka Jogakuin University’s Lifelong Learning Committee and is responsible for their evening extension Programme geared towards alumni and community members. He is also the Vice-Chair of Osaka Jogakuin University’s English Education Committee which is responsible for suggesting policy regarding English Education and also responsible for developing material for the integrated curriculum.

Joseph Haldane
The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan

Biography

Joseph Haldane is the Chairman and CEO of IAFOR. He is responsible for devising strategy, setting policies, forging institutional partnerships, implementing projects, and overseeing the organisation’s business and academic operations, including research, publications and events.

Dr Haldane holds a PhD from the University of London in 19th-century French Studies, and has had full-time faculty positions at the University of Paris XII Paris-Est Créteil (France), Sciences Po Paris (France), and Nagoya University of Commerce and Business (Japan), as well as visiting positions at the French Press Institute in the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas (France), The School of Journalism at Sciences Po Paris (France), and the School of Journalism at Moscow State University (Russia).

Dr Haldane’s current research concentrates on post-war and contemporary politics and international affairs, and since 2015 he has been a Guest Professor at The Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University, where he teaches on the postgraduate Global Governance Course, and Co-Director of the OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre, an interdisciplinary think tank situated within Osaka University.

A Member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network for Global Governance, Dr Haldane is also a Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Philology at the University of Belgrade (Serbia), a Visiting Professor at the School of Business at Doshisha University (Japan), and a Member of the International Advisory Council of the Department of Educational Foundations at the College of Education of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (USA).

From 2012 to 2014, Dr Haldane served as Treasurer of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (Chubu Region) and he is currently a Trustee of the HOPE International Development Agency (Japan). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society in 2012, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2015.

Rachel Lam
ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Biography

Dr Rachel Lam is currently a Senior Scientist in the Department of Learning Sciences and Higher Education at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. She earned a PhD in Educational Psychology with an emphasis in Learning and Cognition at Arizona State University in the United States. Dr Lam has conducted research in educational settings in a variety of subject areas (psychology, environmental education, physical sciences) that has focused on designing peer collaboration activities to support conceptual understanding and deep learning. She uses pre-posttest measures, discourse from student dialogues, and other student artifacts to assess student content knowledge, application of knowledge to real-world problems, and transfer to novel contexts. Dr Lam has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses on a variety of topics in educational psychology, learning theories and child development. Prior to an academic career, she worked in community and educational settings including libraries, preschools and parent support organisations.

Featured Symposium Presentation (2018) | Embodiment and Learning

Previous Presentations

Spotlight Presentation (2017) | Teaching Sustainability to Prepare Children for a Complex Future: Environmental Education in Primary School
Barbara Lockee
Virginia Tech., USA

Biography

Dr Lockee is Professor of Instructional Design and Technology at Virginia Tech., USA, where she is also Associate Director of the School of Education and Associate Director of Educational Research and Outreach. She teaches courses in instructional design, message design, and distance education. Her research interests focus on instructional design issues related to technology-mediated learning. She has published more than 80 papers in academic journals, conferences and books, and has presented her scholarly work at over 90 national and international conferences.

Dr Lockee is Immediate Past President of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, an international professional organisation for educational technology researchers and practitioners. She earned her PhD in 1996 from Virginia Tech in Curriculum and Instruction (Instructional Technology), M.A. in 1991 from Appalachian State University in Curriculum and Instruction (Educational Media), and BA in 1986 from Appalachian State University in Communication Arts.

Ted O’Neill
Gakushuin University, Japan

Biography

Ted O’Neill is a professor at Gakushuin University, Tokyo. He recently held the position of Associate Professor of English in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Tokyo Medical and Dental University. Previously, he taught in the English Language Program at J. F. Oberlin University where he also served as Coordinator for the Foundation English Program. Ted was co-editor of The Language Teacher for the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT) and currently serves on the JALT National Board of Directors as Director of Public Relations. He received an MA in ESL and Bilingual Education from the University of Massachusetts/Boston, USA. Ted joined the Apple Distinguished Educator Program in 2011 and completed a postgraduate Certificate of Educational Technology and Information Literacy through the Graduate School of Education at the State University of New York in 2014.

Haruko Satoh
Osaka University, Japan

Biography

Haruko Satoh is Specially Appointed Professor at the Graduate School of Engineering Science in charge of CAREN (Osaka University Centre for the Advancement of Research and Education Exchange Networks in Asia) and also lecturer at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), where she ran the MEXT Reinventing Japan project on “Peace and Human Security in Asia (PAHSA)” with six Southeast Asian and four Japanese universities. She is also the President of the The Asian Political and International Studies Association (APISA).

In the past she has worked at the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA), Chatham House, and Gaiko Forum. Her interests are primarily in state theory, Japanese nationalism and identity politics. Recent publications include: “Rethinking Security in Japan: In Search of a Post-‘Postwar’ Narrative” in Jain & Lam (Eds), Japan’s Strategic Challenges in a Changing Regional Environment (World Scientific, 2012); “Through the Looking-glass: China’s Rise as Seen from Japan”, (co-authored with Toshiya Hoshino), Journal of Asian Public Policy, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 181–198 (July 2012); “Post-3.11 Japan: A Matter of Restoring Trust?”, ISPI Analysis No. 83 (December 2011); “Legitimacy Deficit in Japan: The Road to True Popular Sovereignty” in Kane, Loy & Patapan (Eds), Political Legitimacy in Asia: New Leadership Challenges (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), “Japan: Re-engaging with China Meaningfully” in Tang, Li & Acharya (Eds), Living with China: Regional States and China through Crises and Turning Points, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009).

Professor Haruko Satoh is a member of IAFOR’s Academic Governing Board. She is Chair of the Politics, Law & International Relations section of the International Academic Advisory Board.

Featured Discussion (2023) | IAFOR’s Collaborative Efforts: AAS and the IAFOR Research Centre

Previous Presentations

Panel Discussion (2023) | Higher Education Across the Globe: A Time of Transformative Change
Keynote Presentation (2019) | Between Aspiration and Reality: Cultural Conflict in a University Classroom
Keynote Panel Presentation (2019) | Education and Displaced People
Keynote Presentation (2017) | Preserving and Challenging Culture: The Right to Education