Happy New Year! It has already been two weeks. This is my first New Year’s Day abroad, and unlike in Japan, my daily life started early on the 3rd (since the 2nd was a Sunday).

I could not achieve good research results last year, so what should I do for this year’s goal…….. I have about 8 months left on the sabbatical, so my goal should be a dissertation. I would like to start the SSCI and work hard to achieve higher goals.

I also have two projects related to the Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research that were approved last year. As the informatization of education or GiGA schools in higher education becomes a matter of course, we will be able to gather a variety of education-related data. However, what people do with the data is still up to them, or more specifically, what stakeholders in learning, especially learners and teachers, do with the data. I think this is an area that cannot be discussed only in terms of systems. In the next fiscal year, we would like to advance research on the main stream of this issue and produce research results.

In addition, we will develop a learning dashboard and conduct international joint research. I will do my best for the next eight months.

Also, I have been appointed as Chair of Track 14 of IEEE ICALT 2022 with Dr. Maiga Chang (Athabasca University) and Dr. Mouna Denden (Polytechnic University of Hauts-de-France). The scope of Track is “ICT-based assessment in formal and informal learning”. It also covers assessment in seamless learning that links formal and informal learning. Please consider ICT-based evaluation of teaching and learning in a wide range of areas. I took it because I thought I was a PC member, but I didn’t realize I was a Chair… Some of you have already contributed to this project. Some of you have already helped us. I appreciate it very much. The venue is in Bucharest, Romania…But I don’t know if it is held under the circumstances, which the Omicron strain is spreading all over the world, and the virus is desperately trying to mutate and survive. They have a strong instinct. It is becoming the cat-and-mouse game between the virus and vaccination, but I hope that the new coronavirus will settle down and IEEE ICALT will be held in face to face.

Thank you in advance for your continuous support.