2020 is finally coming to an end. Thank you for everything this year. As I am sure you all feel, time has passed by so quickly this year. From the global spread of COVID-19 early in 2020, the impact both domestically and internationally has been tremendous. It has been a year of hardship, with negative effects spreading throughout social life.

At universities as well, classes shifted to online instruction. At our university, classes were held online during the first semester, and some in-person classes were held in the second semester. The “Collaborative Learning” courses centered on group work, which are conducted by the Faculty of Arts and Science, are in principle held in person. However, there is a certain number of students who have circumstances that prevent them from attending in person, so we are conducting classes in a blended format with students participating online. There were many faculty members conducting online classes for the first time, as well as many students taking them for the first time, and I imagine that dealing with this was difficult at the beginning of the new academic year. While there are various opinions among educators regarding online classes, I believe that because the country has never before thought about and engaged with online classes so intensively, we should view this as an opportunity to consider “what makes a good class” and hope that online classes will expand as one option. There are various types of online classes. Whether it is fully online, live, on-demand, or blended, and even within blended learning, what systems and media to combine—there are various perspectives to consider. Educational Technology has been conducting research on this for a long time. I hope that the research findings of Educational Technology will spread further.

Now, looking back, although there were many things, my Research Achievements within 2020 included 3 co-authored papers (all in international journals, one of which is SSCI), 18 international conference presentations (one of which received a Best Paper Award), and 1 book chapter. As for achievements, I think we worked quite hard. My students worked very hard. As for research projects, we have been focusing on system design, development, and formative evaluation, centered on the JST AIP Acceleration Research and my own JSPS KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B). Although we could not travel abroad due to the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the characteristics of this year was that many online academic conferences were held both domestically and internationally. I think it is very significant that we were able to accumulate many research achievements because the participation fees were low and time could be used efficiently. My students are already working on manuscripts for international conferences with deadlines in January and February of next year. Regarding the AIP project, one system development has been completed, and I would like to proceed with formative evaluation from here on. Things will be moving along quickly right after the start of the new year.

Also, due to my involvement in online classes and the fact that our university is proactively advancing Learning Analytics research, I have given lectures on Learning Analytics at symposiums and Faculty Development (FD) sessions at other universities. At the “Cyber Symposium on Sharing the Status of Remote Classes at Universities, etc. from April” held by NII in April, I spoke about how course design and Learning Analytics are useful for grading in online classes (though I only had 10 minutes, so I couldn’t even say half of what I wanted to say… (crying)). Following this symposium, I was invited to speak at FD sessions at other universities and within our own university. I was also featured in an article in the Asahi Shimbun. I introduced findings from Learning Analytics and research findings that have been accumulated in Educational Technology. In this situation, the findings of Educational Technology should be particularly effective, so I would be happy if everyone would take an interest in them.

There was also a big event at the end of the year. One of my doctoral students reached the first hurdle of the doctoral thesis examination. Since the student has published two papers in international journals and received a Best Paper Award, I thought it was about time, so I consulted with Professor Kume, who is the co-supervisor, and he said, “Isn’t it sufficient?” In the department where I hold a concurrent position, Educational Technology is not the main focus, and it is viewed through the lens of pedagogy, so the “culture” is quite different. I explained the culture of the Educational Technology research field, the acceptance rates of the published papers (18% and 24%, which surprised me as they were lower than I thought… but they should be impeccable as journals), and the Best Paper Award. We reached an agreement to carefully examine the quality of the journals and to provide careful guidance and examination for the doctoral thesis, so we have taken a step forward for now. Comparing it to my own experience, the road ahead is long, and it is required to complete a high-quality doctoral thesis, so it is difficult. Both for the student and for me.

There are many events scheduled for next year, but I would like to overcome them one by one. I wonder what will happen with COVID-19 next year? New variants are emerging, and the number of COVID-19 patients is increasing rapidly. The tunnel seems to continue for a while, but I believe it is important for us to steadily proceed with what we can do.

I look forward to working with you again next year. Please have a happy New Year. I hope that the year-end and New Year holidays will be at least a peaceful time.