Dear readers,

Here is the interview that I prepared for our teams’ responsibles, let’s find out our they are dealing with their role and daily activities!

This chapter is dedicated to William, team leader of a4edu.

What did you expect from taking part in this project? What do you like about your present mission?  What do you dis-like and how would you like to make it better? 

At the start of this project I didn’t have a clear idea of how to organise the work we needed to do, so  it was a bit hard to get things going. However, as soon as I started meeting up with my fellow team  members, we set common goals and only then we got a first glimpse of the importance of the task  that had been assigned to us. A4edu is a wonderful project which will significantly help Italian students  learn Japanese faster than ever and, at the same time, will definitely come in handy for all Japanese  students coming to Italy. The part I like the most about this project is how our efforts directly help fellow students. For example, every new term added is immediately accessible and potentially helpful to many. Also the creation of specific tags to identify lists of words within the dictionary will  undoubtedly prove itself to be an extremely useful feature and a unique element of the dictionary app  that will soon be developed based on a4edu.  

An aspect of the Collaborative Creativity Project I think could improve is the way deadlines are set and  communicated to participants. In order to make this better, we should all put more effort to set  deadlines and tasks right from the start so that there will be little need for adjustment when everyone  is busy working at the project. 

How do you deal with your role? What perspectives are you offering to your team? And which steps  are you taking to pursue it? 

As a4edu’s team leader, I strongly believe that it is on the basis of both horizontal and vertical  communication within this project that each member is empowered and encouraged to act  autonomously toward common goals and to grow both personally and professionally. So one of our initial priorities was to create the means to communicate and share information efficiently both with  our project supervisors ad within our group. Firstly, once a week we held team meetings where  members could ask questions directly to the project supervisor/manager. In order to effectively  organise each member’s tasks, set common deadlines and to monitor our progress we also decided  to create a Gantt table on google sheets. As some of our team members are part-time students, it was  essential that every member could work at their own pace and in a way that suited their personal  schedule. For example, letting each member decide their own monthly goal (number of terms) kept  motivation high and gave them a strong sense of achievement. 

Do you think that the Collaborative Creativity Project will have an impact on Japanese language  courses at Ca’ Foscari University? If yes how? 

Yes, I think this project will have a significant impact on Japanese language learning at Ca’ Foscari  University. Firstly, because JaLea and a4edu are the result of constant effort to improve online  materials, truly allowing students to come into contact with up-to-date content in Japanese, which  makes them powerful language learning tools. Secondly, unlike traditional textbook-based language  learning, the JaLea platform will help to create an even more inclusive learning experience as it  supports many features designed to help students with learning disabilities. Lastly, online materials  are easily accessed using any device, both in and out of class, providing a consistent and uninterrupted  learning environment, especially considering the new problems that arise from online teaching.

Finally: what is your “final vision” of the e-learning platform you are contributing? How do you see  their very-near future (e-g- will they be ready for May exams?)? How will you use them to study (or  to teach) Japanese? 

My “final vision” on one hand encompasses the beauty of a project which has no end and will never  be complete; on the other hand, in the in near future, I foresee a great improvement of JaLea and  a4edu which will provide all students with the conceptual knowledge of the Japanese language and  the terminology needed to freely understand and express themselves in Japanese, leaving only one  thing left to do: to go out, get in contact with as many people as possible and practice, use the  language, overcoming all linguistic barriers and reaching one’s personal dreams and objectives. In  practical terms, I believe that implementing these tools as part of curricular material in Japanese  language courses will surely improve Japanese language teaching as a whole and allow students to  learn up-to-date Japanese in a more stimulating and barrier-free environment.

The next days will be dedicated to the other team leaders,

stay tuned to discover more!

Federica