KOTESOL Annual Conference, May 30: More on digital divides in Korea

As readers of this blog already know, I was invited to give a lecture on "Digital divide and disruption in Korea," earlier this year at Florida State University. That visit was the subject of a short post.  Consequently, I was pleasantly surprised to receive an invitation to speak on the same topic at the annual national conference of KOTESOL, scheduled for May 30, at Sookmyung Women's University in Seoul.  The theme for this year's conference is "Bridging the digital divide:  Examining online language teaching in Asia."  The theme allows me an opportunity to elaborate on the earlier lecture by including some thoughts about the role of natural language and education in relation to digital divides, both their creation and efforts to eliminate or "bridge" them.  This is an important topic and one of longstanding interest to me personally, having spent two years as a university TESOL instructor and American Peace Corps Volunteer at Kangwon National University in Chuncheon.  That was decades ago, before the digital network revolution, and what a difference Skype, Google hangouts and other internet video conferencing tools make!

The video accompanying this post (above) offers a brief sketch of my planned lecture, but to hear my latest thoughts on the subject, and to have a chance to question or challenge me, you'll have to attend the conference.  For that reason, I'm including the conference poster in this post. Serious suggestions and comments about issues or topics that I might address in my conference presentation are, of course, welcome.  If you don't choose to comment on this post, feel free to visit my personal website and use the "Contact Jim Larson" form.