Remote SALC Practices in a Pandemic

Remote SALC Practices in a Pandemic: One University's Initial Approachand Subsequent Revisions

Shari Yamamoto
Konan University
yamamoto-s@konan-u.ac.jp
Thomas Mach
Konan University
tmach@konan-u.ac.jp
Craig Mertens
Konan University
mertens@konan-u.ac.jp
Greg Sholdt
Konan University
gsholdt@konan-u.ac.jp
Thomas Stringer
Konan University
stringer@konan-u.ac.jp

Author Biographies
Shari Yamamoto is a lecturer at the Center for Education in General Studies at Konan
University. Her research interests are autonomy-supportive learning environments, selfaccess learning, and student development.
Thomas Mach is a professor at the Institute for Language and Culture at Konan University.
His research interests include intercultural communication and learner autonomy.
Craig Mertens is a lecturer at the Institute of Language and Culture at Konan University.
His research interests include critical thinking routines, online learning applications, andintercultural learning.

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Remote SALC Practices in a Pandemic

Greg Sholdt is a lecturer at the Institute of Language and Culture at Konan University. His
research interests include professional development for language teachers, classroom-based
research methods, and fluency development.
Thomas Stringer is a lecturer at the Institute for Language and Culture. His researchinterests include cognition in education, language teacher education, and self-access learning.

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Remote SALC Practices in a Pandemic
COVID-19’s initial rapid spread in early 2020 severely impacted a broad range ofinstitutions around the world, including universities and colleges. A global survey on higher
education conducted in March and April of 2020 by the International Association of
Universities reported that among 454 institutions, 89% had to close or partially close
campuses, and 67% had transitioned from in-person to online instruction at that time
(Marinoni et al., 2020). An estimated 220 million university students across 170 countries
were negatively affected (Bassett, 2020). Freshmen were particularly vulnerable todisruptions caused by the pandemic, including distressing levels of social isolation(International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2020).
Aiming to both mitigate COVID-19’s isolating effects and continue to provide a
student-centered space for English practice, the instructors and student staff at Language
LOFT, Konan University’s self-access learning center (SALC), quickly planned and thentransitioned to an online format. The process described herein, from initial implementation tosubsequent improvements, enabled a popular forum for English language learning
opportunities and meaningful social interactions, especially among freshmen students, to besustained.
Language LOFT
LOFT, in its non-virtual form, is housed within Konan’s Global Zone facility andcomprises roughly a quarter of the total floor space. The Global Zone also contains a study
area for international students, a multi-purpose lounge, and an outdoor terrace to facilitate
intermingling between Konan students and their international counterparts. From the outset,
LOFT was never envisioned as a stand-alone facility in either a physical or functional sense.
Instead, it has always been viewed as an integral part of the Global Zone and is invested in
the facility’s overall purpose: to increase intercultural interactions on campus.
This social context lends itself to prioritizing activities that promote communicationand collaboration over more solitary and self-directed SALC learning experiences. Therefore,
when the pandemic forced LOFT to relocate online, successfully retaining aspects of the
SALC that maximize interaction was deemed essential. Visits and Events, explained in detailbelow, were moved online. Tasks (our term for self-directed activities that students complete
alone) were temporarily cancelled. Such solo activities are typically a core feature of any
SALC as they epitomize student choice and autonomy. However, this category was sacrificed
in favor of the more communicative Visits and Events.

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Remote SALC Practices in a Pandemic
Before COVID-19, LOFT averaged roughly 10,000 instances of student usage
annually. While total university enrollment hovers around 9,000, the vast majority of LOFT
users are freshmen. Stamp cards tie LOFT usage to one of the required freshmen English
courses, and a completed card comprises 10% of that course’s grade. While not compulsory
since a passing grade is still possible without it, this system incentivizes use of the SALC.
The goal is to familiarize freshmen enough with LOFT that a significant number willcontinue using it even after the grade-based incentive no longer applies.
Beyond the need to adjust activities to online formats and devise a virtual replacement
for the LOFT stamp card, student staffing was also a major hurdle. On campus, LOFT isstaffed by both international students (LOFT Tutors, or LTs) and Konan students (LOFT
Assistants, or LAs). Unfortunately, we could no longer employ LTs once the pandemic forced
international students to return to their home countries, so greater use had to be made of LAs
than ever before.
Bringing Language LOFT Online
In transitioning to an online format, the primary focus was to create a learner-friendly
virtual environment that would support language learning objectives and enhance social
interaction. Maintaining essential aspects of learner autonomy (Holec, 1981) and preserving
connections between students were guiding principles. Pathways to activities (Visits andEvents) were modified accordingly. Available resources were identified and utilized in themost efficient and practical ways possible, enabling teachers and student staff to facilitate 14
activities each week.
The content and structure of activities were revised to work on Zoom, the popular
video communications technology. Various Zoom features, particularly the breakout rooms
and chat tools, were incorporated to enhance spontaneous, interactive learning experiences
for students. Other revisions included activity length and adjustments to teacher and LA
roles. Once the modified activities were underway, procedures designed to ensure easy
student access to them and reliable recording of student attendance were also utilized. (Thenext section discusses these activities and their implementation in detail.)
Another vital part of developing the online program was providing adequate training
to the team of LAs. As in-person orientation was no longer possible, there were limitations totraining LAs remotely in such a short time. As such, a significant part of student staff
development was actually on-the-job training, gained through working with teachers and

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Remote SALC Practices in a Pandemic
other staff members as a team. However, alternative training sessions were provided througha combination of asynchronous pre-recorded videos and synchronous Zoom sessions. The
university’s learning management system was used to house video resources and materials
created to monitor LAs’ readiness and progress, and also to identify potential problems suchas network connectivity or computer availability issues. Reliance on LINE, a popular SNS
application, enabled timely and ongoing communication between student staff and thescheduling coordinator.
Online Activities
In the 10 weeks that LOFT was online during the truncated spring semester, teachersand student staff facilitated a total of 140 activities, attended 1,754 times by students. Nearly
all participants (98%) were first-year students, and most of them (71%) were enrolled in the
freshmen English course linked to LOFT usage. A post-session feedback form asked
participants whether the activity, either an Event or a Visit, that they had joined positively
influenced them, and close to 70% “strongly agreed” while another 30% “agreed.” Caution ininterpreting this sort of self-reporting on a non-anonymous survey is advisable, but theseresults at least suggest that nearly all students were generally satisfied with their experiencesof LOFT online activities. 1
Activity Type 1: Events
One of the two types of activity offered, Events, used a PowerPoint presentation
format. Each Event lasted 30 minutes and was led by a single LA, supported by two otherLAs and a teacher. At least one LA was a veteran, and the same group of LAs and teacher
worked together throughout the semester. Presentations were prepared by the LAs themselveson thematic weekly topics such as English language learning tips, study abroad experiences,and other issues of personal interest to LAs. The Events started with a brief teacher-led
icebreaker, and then the presentation commenced. The non-presenting LAs supported thepresenter by assisting with modelling, while the teacher played a facilitative role.
Presentations lasted around 20 minutes. Opportunities for audience interaction, usuallyinteractive quizzes, language games, or discussion questions on the topic, were interspersed
throughout, lasting a few minutes each.
There were a few notable differences with pre-pandemic Events beyond the moveonline. The face-to-face Events were talks followed by Q&A sessions with limited to no
student participation during the talks, and teachers’ only involvement was to check and give

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advice about student presentation ideas during the planning stage. For the online Events,
teachers were active during the welcoming stage and managed Zoom-related logistical issues,
which allowed LAs to focus solely on giving their presentations. Other aspects of format,
theme, and LA roles remained unchanged.
Ninety Events were held during the spring semester’s 10-week period. Attendance
ranged from one to 56 students, averaging roughly 16 attendees per Event. Attendance
peaked after a few weeks, declining gradually towards the end of the semester. A consistentworkflow was adopted: The team assembled online for a preparation session, lasting 20
minutes, the Event was then held, and finally there was a 10-minute reflection session afterparticipants left. As LAs learned to better anticipate fluctuating attendance, their presentationstyles evolved. For example, when more interaction was needed, more discussion questions
were included.
Teachers observed that the approach taken had several advantages. LAs spoke onfamiliar topics or adapted their existing presentations to the new format, thereby reducing
their preparatory burden. They also benefited from the opportunity to watch, participate in,and engage in directed reflection on presentations. In addition, consistent group membershipallowed teamwork to become progressively streamlined. Members gradually became familiar
with each other, the format, and how best to use the various Zoom functions. Nevertheless,there were ongoing problems with holding some attendees’ attention throughout thepresentations and with occasional connectivity issues.
Activity Type 2: Visits
The main goal of the second type of activity offered, Visits, was to provide students
with an opportunity to engage in casual English conversations with peers. Each Visit lasted
30 minutes and was run by a teacher, who served as the host, and three LAs, who led tworounds of conversations in separate breakout rooms with small groups of student attendees.
Each week there was a general theme, such as music or food, and then a more specific set ofquestions to get the chats started. At the beginning of each Visit, the teacher and the team of
LAs modeled one of the questions in a round-robin style Q&A. The teacher then put students
into breakout rooms with at least one LA in each. After six or seven minutes, they werebrought back into the main room to share some interesting answers before returning to thesame breakout rooms to continue the chat with other pre-established questions as starting
points.

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Remote SALC Practices in a Pandemic
Online Visits were significantly more structured compared to their face-to-facecounterparts. Previously, students walked into LOFT and could choose to participate in a
Visit if an LA was available at the time or take on a Task by independently following
instructions on a worksheet that guided them through a short listening or reading activity.
Students could join an ongoing Visit with an LA or start a new one if multiple students
arrived at the same time. LA’s initiated and guided free conversation or suggested activities
such as board games for the students to play together. Unlike online Visits, teachers were not
involved, no discussion themes were set ahead of time, and LA’s operated almost entirely
independently.
Over the 10-week spring period, LOFT hosted 50 total Visits. Typically, between 10
and 15 students would attend, but occasionally there were only three or four. In practice, theteacher mostly guided the activity and managed Zoom functions. The LAs focused on leading
the small-group chats while adjusting to the unique group of students in their breakout rooms.
There were minor changes to the procedures, particularly in the first few weeks, as teachersand LAs discovered what worked well and what did not. For example, if the number ofattendees was very small, everyone stayed in the main Zoom room rather than using breakout
rooms.
At the end of the semester, staff and teachers reflected on their experiences with
Visits through discussion and review of survey feedback. The planning stage was challenging
because there were a lot of unknowns; however, what was initially implemented only neededminor tweaks along the way. Incorporating a decent degree of flexibility with timings,
questions, and roles was critical to this success. The most significant issues centered on how
to flexibly adapt to each unique group of student attendees that showed up and how to raise
participant output during the activity.
Student Feedback on Online Activities
When comparing data on Events and Visits, they were both generally well received,with 68% of Event attendees and 78% of Visit attendees reporting strong agreement that theactivity had a positive impact (Yamamoto, 2020). Events were found to be enjoyable, had
improved learners’ attitudes towards English, or taught them useful study tips. Events also
attracted many more participants than Visits, comprising 82% of total LOFT attendance inthe spring semester. On the other hand, students generally liked the smaller groups andfamiliar themes that allowed more interaction with peers during Visits. LAs reported that
Events helped them to improve their skills in a variety of areas including language and

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communication, leadership, presentation, and problem-solving.
In a 2019 spring semester self-report survey prior to the pandemic, 643 LOFT users
were asked about which activity type they had enjoyed the most and had participated in mostfrequently. Visits were reported to be the most enjoyable (50%), followed by Events (21%)
and Tasks (19%). Those same 2019 users also reported that Tasks were the activity they
had participated in most often (47%), followed by Visits (28%), and finally Events (15%).
Direct comparisons are difficult to make since Tasks were not offered in the online
environment and the same "positive impact" question was not included in the 2019 data set.
However, an arguably similar question about satisfaction level was answered positively by
89% of the 2019 students, perhaps indicating that a general measure of student positivity
about the LOFT experience fell somewhat but remained respectably high with the transition
to online. What is clearer is that Events jumped far ahead of Visits in terms of relative usage
frequency when LOFT moved online. This latter result is most likely due to a simple
convenience factor: When offered on campus, Visits were available anytime while Events
only happened at scheduled times, but in the online environment both were only offered atscheduled times. In any case, it is interesting to note that Events so clearly outpaced Visits interms of usage frequency when the playing field was leveled in regard to scheduleconvenience, and analysis of what this might suggest for improvements when LOFT
eventually returns to offering full on-campus services is ongoing.
Reflections and Adjustments
During the summer break that followed, teachers and staff were able to look backover the process of transitioning this SALC to an online format. The goals of this reflective
process were to produce better online LOFT working conditions for staff and teachers and to
improve remote learning experiences for students in the fall semester, which continued to bealmost entirely online despite some small-scale attempts to safely restart on-campus
activities. In Zoom meetings and chat discussions, teachers identified three major areas thatneeded attention: how LAs prepared for Events and Visits, participant behavior, andattendance forms. Several adjustments were then implemented in each area for overall
improvement.
In the first area of focus, preparing for LOFT activities, LA presentation proposal
forms for Events were modified to ensure that the resulting presentations would be geared
more towards an online format than to in-person delivery. For instance, the new forms
prompted LAs to be more specific about how they planned to interact with students, andJASAL Journal Vol. 2, No. 1, June 2021

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which Zoom features they planned to use. It was also decided that LAs be required to send
their proposals and slides to their teacher several days before their presentation date. This
gave the teacher time to go over the presentation with the LA, and gave the LA time to makechanges in response to feedback. For Visits, an additional LA orientation session was held
before the fall semester with a focus on how to engage successfully with students who havevarying English level abilities.
The second area covered problematic issues with student participants. The mostcommon of these were participants joining a Zoom session late, weak internet connections,cameras being turned off so that only a cover photo or name was visible, poor use of the mutefunction when joining from a noisy environment, and an inadequate level of participation due
to disengagement from the activity or distraction. To address these issues, a brief andlighthearted video on Zoom etiquette along with a checklist highlighting each issue wereshown at the beginning of Events and Visits in the new term. 2
The third area of focus was the attendance form which, in addition to collecting
feedback, served as a critical replacement for the in-person stamp card. In the springsemester, every teacher used a shared online form to record LA attendance and another one
for student attendance. Unfortunately, participants made various errors when filling out these
forms. This led to LOFT administrative staff, sometimes unsuccessfully, trying to correct theissue. To prevent such errors, it was decided that a member of the administrative staff would
join each Zoom meeting at the beginning to confirm LA attendance, and individualized
attendance forms for each teacher’s English course were provided to students at the start ofthe semester.
The results from each area of adjustment have been mostly positive. The alteredprocedures for Event proposals and feedback produced better presentation performances. For
Visits, LAs were better prepared and more experienced, which led to higher quality
discussions. Meanwhile, there were fewer problems with student behavior, and attendance
reporting became simplified so that teachers could check data anytime. Amongst the teachers,
staff, and LAs, there was general agreement that the differences between the spring and fallterms were evident and welcome.
Looking Forward
The initial approach and subsequent revisions to remote LOFT practices at Konan
University preserved extracurricular learning opportunities and social interaction in English

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for students, especially freshmen, in spite of pandemic-related disruption. Most of the hurdles
faced by the team were overcome with relative success, even with limited resources and time.
Fostering good teamwork among teachers and LAs led to frank communication andreflection. Other key factors were keeping goals realistic and prioritizing communicative
activities to counter the isolating nature of the pandemic. With an eye to a brighter future, thelessons learned while scrambling to put together this remote program will continue to be
applied. For LOFT, what used to be an entirely on-campus SALC will likely continue to havea robust online presence long after this unprecedented crisis finally abates.
Notes
1

In its original Japanese, the survey statement was このアクティビティを通じて、自分にとって良い刺激になりました [Taking part in this activity had a positive
impact on me], and only eight of the 1,754 respondents (0.45%) chose to disagree (sevenstudents) or strongly disagree (one student) with it.
2Zoom etiquette video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnAhjdEo3kE
Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the collaborative efforts of Michael Griffiths,
Stephen McNamara, and Language LOFT staff for their invaluable support and contributions
to the development and implementation of the online activities.
References
Basset, R. M. (2020). Sustaining the values of tertiary education during the COVID-19 crisis.
International Higher Education, 102, 5–7. https://doi.org/10.36197/IHE.2020.102.02
Holec, H. (1981). Autonomy and foreign language learning. Pergamon Press.
International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean. (2020).
COVID-19 and higher education: Today and tomorrow.
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Marinoni, G., van’t Land, H., & Jensen, T. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on higher
education around the world: IAU Global Survey Report. International Association of
Universities. https://www.iau-aiu.net/IMG/pdf/iau_covid19_and_he_survey_report_
final_may_2020.pdf

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Yamamoto, S. (2020). Practices implemented at a Japanese university to sustain educational
opportunities for first-year students. Proceedings of the International Conference forMedia in Education 2020, Japan, 376–383. https://icome.education/wpcontent/uploads/2020/09/icome2020_programproceedings_final_v5.pdf

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