Thanks to everyone who joined the JASAL SAC Tour at Global Plaza at Meijo University Nagoya Dome-Mae Campus on Friday, Nov 25th, and a big thank you to our hosts, Andy Tweed, Atsumi Yamaguchi and Hiroki Yamamoto, who gave us a very detailed and informative presentation and tour.
14 people from 7 different universities and high schools, including administrators and students, joined the event. Participants had a range of experience of working/learning in self-access environments, from full-time staff in well-established centres, to those involved in the planning process for a new or reformed space, or others running recently opened centres looking for new ideas and the chance to discuss common issues.
Assistant Manager Hiroki gave a tour of the facilities that opened in April this year, explaining how students use the space and how it is staffed by both full-time learning advisors offering learning support and teachers who provide a conversation service. Layout and furniture considerations, materials and learning software were also discussed as participants explored the Global Plaza.
Atsumi and Andy gave a detailed presentation explaining the background to the Global Plaza and its part in the university’s internationalisation push. They gave useful details about their own roles at both this and the Tempaku Campus, where a bigger Global Plaza is situated, including Advising services, workshop provision and the day-to-day running of the centre.
The discussion focused on issues that will be familiar to SAC practitioners: how to record student user numbers accurately, the impact of layout on student usage and visibility of services, as well as how to encourage more usage and participation.
The JASAL Committee would like to thank all participants, and the staff at Meijo University who made the event possible. Otsukaresamadeshita!
If you are interested in holding a future SAC visit event at your own institution, please contact JASAL’s Events Coordinator, Andy Tweed at the JASAL email address: jasalorg@gmail.com
The Japan Association for Self-Access Learning 