ChatGPT employs a deep learning (DL) model constructed using artificial neural networks and designed to analyze input data and extract increasingly complex features (Hu and Buehler 2023). Its chatbot interface makes it easy to use, requiring just a prompt to generate a response from the model. It is capable of producing fluent text in multiple…

This paper is concerned with fair and valid testing. It reports on a long-term project aimed at creating visual accessibility resources in mathematics computer-administered test items in a large-scale assessment system. We discuss our experience designing and developing pop-up illustration glossaries (IGs) for second language learners (SLLs) --…

The English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Toolkit provides a wide range of online learning resources which are used in a mixture of self-study, blended, and classroom settings, primarily by students whose first language is not English. The Toolkit was developed by the eLanguages team at the University of Southampton and first licensed in 2004. This…

As a longtime instructional designer of online materials, the author has been concerned with issues of accessibility for many years. She dutifully tagged every image, wrote out every URL, avoiding "click here" links, and formatted material on the screen considering its layout and elegance. This article addresses the reasons why most of…

MIRELE is an interactive tabletop for situated domain learning that helps students learn names of the physical objects and their relationships by projecting the names, relationships, and additional information onto the real objects. It is built based on a camera-projector system and offers a domain-independent fast authoring system. Using the…

This paper presents a brief overview of LARA (Learning And Reading Assistant), an open source online tool that has been under development since summer 2018. LARA currently contains a corpus of about 25 texts in ten languages and a crowdsourcing model used to expand the corpus. The central goal is to provide support for improving second language…

This design case covers a graduate course in educational software design that focuses on semester-long projects in response to client requests. The course was intended to address the need for professionals across disciplines, such as instructional design, computer science, and human-computer interaction design, to usefully collaborate on…

As the disciplinary focus on learner agency and autonomy increases, a space for online writing labs (OWLs) is reemerging. OWL services represent an opportunity for writing centers to expand their reach both on and off campus, assisting student writers where they are at and in a way that allows them to take increased agency over their compositional…

In this paper, the development of a web application for self-access English vocabulary courses at a national university in Japan will be reported upon. Whilst the basic concepts are inherited from an old Flash-based online vocabulary learning system that had been long used at the university, the new HTML5-based app comes with several new features…

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) has been increasingly used to inform language policies and teaching practices in Japan. The Japanese Ministry of Education proposed in 2011 that objectives of English curricula at the secondary education level ought to be stated using the "Can do" schemata of the CEFR and…

Our cluster receives a number of referrals from schools requesting support with the implementation of assistive technology tools (particularly word prediction software) to support struggling reluctant writers. It is widely acknowledged that writing is pivotal for academic success, and when a learner has difficulty expressing their ideas they often…

Currently, there is an international change in education that includes the development of new learning programmes and policies, such as (a) bilingual education programmes, (b) the Bologna process, with an emphasis on a more autonomous way of learning, or (c) the systematic evaluation and assessment of students and educational results. These…

The design and development research, first proposed by Brown and Collins in the 1990s, is currently among the well-known methods in educational research to test theory and validate its practicality. The method is also known as developmental research, design research, design-based research, formative research and design-cased and possesses…

The readability of technical writing, and technical manuals in particular, especially for second language readers, can be noticeably improved by pairing Theme with Given and Rheme with New. This allows for faster processing of text and easier access to the "method of development" of the text. Typical Theme-Rheme patterns are described, and the…