Abstract:

This presentation discusses an English language and information and computer science course structured as a project-based collaborative project conducted with the local government. Students used the Design Thinking method to discover and address issues specific to the foreign-resident community. Throughout the course of this project, students learned not only the Design Thinking methodology, but also English communication and teamwork strategies, applying their knowledge of technology, deepening their relationship with the community in the progress.

Design Thinking provides innovative solutions to complex problems through direct involvement in the community. This method is human-centered, in contrast to product-centered methodologies, focusing on design that fits particular needs of a given community.

Students applied Design Thinking to address emergent needs of the foreign-resident community. They used English throughout the entire process, using it as a tool for finding and solving problems within the Design Thinking framework. What made this project unique was students’ direct engagement with the community to respond to problems at the grass-roots level. That is, the city didn’t assign tasks to students; rather students independently interviewed non-Japanese residents to discover their real needs. This allowed students to discern the necessities for life in a given community that they may have never considered, and improve the day-to-day life of its residents and city services. Students were able to apply what they learned in a classroom to actual usage, and to practice English communication skills.

We will provide an overview of the project and report the results, paying special attention to student perceptions of the activities, and the product that students created using artificial intelligence (AI) to solve the problem for the community.

Furthermore, we will share pedagogical implications of the results and the challenges that we encountered.

Keywords:

Project-Based Learning, Language Learning, information and computer science, artificial intelligence.