Dialogbook2: An improvement of e-portfolio system for international communication learning

Abstract

In recent years, an educational revolution has been progressing toward the globalization of Japanese society by teaching English in elementary academic courses. However, traditional English education overweighs reading and writing and tends to disregard fostering skills in hearing and speaking, which are required to have smooth English conversations. Real globalization is one in which a globalized person can participate in borderless communications in any context. Essential aspects are to understand different cultures and achieve more in-depth communication while respecting others. Therefore, to improve the global sense of high-school students, we started the Students Meet Internationally through Language Education (SMILE) project during the fiscal year of 2020. The characteristics of the project include giving the participants with opportunities to communicate with international students and providing systematic procedures as a general educational program package. Furthermore, we support the efficient learning of students by offering a simple and easy-to-use e-portfolio system called Dialogbook. This paper presents an overview of the first SMILE project, problems, and requirements acquired from the use of the first version of Dialogbook. The article then outlines a novel redesigned system.