จุลสารนวัตกรรม ฉบับที่ 59 – ประสบการณ์ต่างแดน

        It was a marvellous experience to attend the 8th International Conference on Learning Technologies and Learning Environments (LTLE2019) in Toyama, Japan, last year. The journey was begun with a bunch of procedures and requirements, related to the paper quality, visa application, and support funding, I would have to say that it was worth it fighting for. Moreover, going to Japan was my childhood dream. The conference itself was exactly what I expected. There, I could see prodigious innovations and ideas from brilliant people. Also, there were a lot of inspirational presentations from many participants that I could learn from.

        The committee was very friendly and helpful. Indeed, it was my first time attending sucha huge conference as a participant. I frankly broke out in a cold sweat during the early time, imagining what would happen on the stage. However, they helped me overcome the situation with their assistance and warm smiles. I was in the last group of presentations and the third turn in the group. Right before me was a person who was awarded with the outstanding paper award. I was not only overwhelmed with his project but also his performance on the stage. It, therefore, became an additional pressure for me not to look stupid on my turn. Gratefully, I could manage myself during the presentation although I had a little anxiety to answer some critical questions from the participants. Their enthusiasms to know my product – an educational game to learn searching algorithm concepts – brought me to joy. I tried my best to explain any information that they needed to know about my game and my research. My study, titling “Proposing an online peer-feedback digital-game from a semi-puzzle game-based learning perspective”, discussed an idea about developing a digital-game that was embedded with formative-assessments in order to help students reflect their outcomes from playing the game. I showed them the earlier version of the game that had been studied in a pilot study in that occasion. After the section, I came to some participants that I was interested in their projects. We shared a little more about our ideas and exchanged contacts so we could keep in touch in the future.

        Sadly, I had to enjoy Tokyo and Toyama City alone outside the event. Despite the tight schedule of the conference, I still could manage to have a little entertainment. I mostly walked but, sometimes, I used trains and trams to visit some spots. I also tasted campus style Japanese cuisines in Toyama University which were very student friendly. It took nine-hour night bus journey for me going from Tokyo to Toyama and only took two-hour rapid shinkansen to go back to Tokyo. Thanks to the support funding from Institute for Innovative Learning, Mahidol University, so that I could afford most of the accommodation.

        If you are interested in my study, titled above, you could access it via Google Scholar, IEEE Xplore, and Semantic Scholar.