Course list

Courses that I co-ordinate are underpinned by my teaching philosopy. All my teaching is blended which means that face-to-face interaction in lectures or tutorials is supported by online materials. In each course, students can find digital copies of classroom materials in addition to additional readings, supplementary videos, interactive quizzes and other activities. I am a firm believer in open-access, open-source and open learning and share all materials - warts and all.

My teaching philosophy is eclectic and I draw on whatever method and means that will help my students achieve their goals and objectives in the most effective and efficient manner. Concepts that I regularly integrate into courses, include:

student-centred learning,
activity-based learning,
scaffolding through peer support,
autonomous learning,
blended learning and
flipped classrooms.

I am a strong believer in the scholarship of learning, and so seek out opportunities to share my experiences with peers. The open-access courses provided here are supplemented by assessments housed on the university learning management system, Moodle (starting April 2020).

The courses listed below are those that I have developed for delivery at the Univeristy of Aizu. Not all courses are offered each academic year, so please check the official university syllabus to find out what is available in the current academic year.

Computer science courses

EL331 Authorship analysis using Python

Authorship analysis using Python is a content-based course that aims to enable participants to create a prototype authorship analysis tool using Python. Participants are first introduced to similarity detection and authorship attribution. Texts are then analyzed linguistically by both genre type and author. Case studies involving solving crimes using forensic evidence are used. Participants then develop a natural language processing (NLP) pipeline to detect similarities and differences of language features among a dataset of texts. Detection will involve both rule-based parsing and machine learning. Participants will practice the four language skills required to function in an English language environment. The course culminates in a software demonstration.

ELXXX Expert systems with Python

Expert systems with Python is a content-based course that aims to enable participants to create a rule-based expert system. Participants study expert systems in general to understand the underpining theory and practical application. Working in self-managed teams, participants conduct a problem breakdown, design an expert system and then create a program that operationalizes their design.

Fields of computer science

Fields of computer science is a self-study course designed to help sophomore students make a more informed choice about the selection of their laboratory and the subdomain of compute science and engineering which they will study in more detail.

XXXXX Information ethics

Information ethics is an core course for in the computer science curriculum. This course is designed for students in the ICT Global All-English Program.

EL328 Logic and language

The Logic and language course is designed to help participants critically evaluate arguments. The course covers propositional logic, formal and informal fallacies, reasoning and cognitive biases. This course has its own dedicated open-access website. A mastery learning approach is adopted.

EL317 Patterns and language

Patterns and language is an elective course for third and fourth year computer science majors. In addition to learning how patterns permeate language, learners use rule-based and probabilistic parsing to match patterns. Learners get hands-on practise using egular expressions, JavaScript libraries and the Natural Language Tool Kit. Each year, the course aims to address a practical problem. Recent challenges have included: automatically annotating scripts for pronunciation features (2017), creating a pedagogic grammar check for hikikomori (2018) and identifying grammatical tenses (2019), and creating a natural language generation tool (2021)

Python for Natural Language Processing (NLP)

Python for NLP is a self-study course designed to help students of computer science, who have already studied different computers language, which in the case of students at the University of Aizu are C and Java. Python for natural language processing aimed at helping lab members use Python and the Natural Language Tool Kit to create natural language pipelines. The course is divided into three blocks: (1) Introduction to Python, (2) Inroduction to NLTK, and (3) applying the knowledge to create Intelligent Computer-assisted language learning (iCALL) apps.

EL236 Visualizing time and tense

Visualizing time and tense focuses on how the key scientific concepts of time and tense are used in natural language. Time can be measured objectively, but the twelve grammatical tenses are more subjective. The course helps participants visualize tense using natural language pipelines. The goal of the 2020 course is to create a framework that populates templated timelines with information extracted from submitted texts. The timelines will be categorized by grammatical tense and grammatical meaning in context.

Writing courses

Error-free research writing

The Error-free research writing course introduces participants to the five-filter approach to proofreading. This involves systematically checking drafts for five types of errors: accuracy, brevity, clarity, objectivity and formality.

Reader-friendly writing

The Reader-friendly writing course courses the core concepts of writing clearly, concisely, courteously, correctly and completely.

EN08 Thesis writing and presentations (Legacy)

The Thesis writing and presentations legacy course was designed with the remit to allow class tutors the flexibility to address the specific needs of their students. This course

Thesis writing

The Thesis writing course is the revised version of the legacy course. This course incorporates more online tools than the legacy course.

Writing scientific research abstracts

The Writing scientific research abstracts course is short self-contained courses designed to help students understand how to write research abstracts with a focus on scientific abstracts.

Other courses

Awareness and defense course

The Awareness and defense course will be uploaded incrementally. The first unit focusses on raising awareness, which is the most important concept covered in this course. This course was developed on request to arm students with the attitude, skills and plan to help them enjoy their time abroad and return to Japan safely.

Blitz speaking

The Blitz speaking course is designed to help learners of English develop fluency by focusing on asking and answering questions.

Interview practice course

The Interview practice course will be uploaded incrementally. The first unit focusses on general interview practice and is live now. Future units will cover specific aspects of interviews both for job seeking purposes and proving language proficiency examinations such as IELTS and TOEFL.

Profesional development course

The Professional development course will be uploaded incrementally over AY2020. The first unit focusses on developing grit and is live now. Future units will cover concepts, such as problem resolution, goal setting, and key performance indicators.

EL234 Research poster presentations

The Research poster presentations course was designed to help fourth-year computer science majors at the University of Aizu create a poster to showcase their graduation thesis process. This course is no longer offered as an elective, but when I have time, I am to release it as an open-access course.