As you know, the situation in the world today calls for hard thinking on how best universities in Asia adapt themselves to the changes that have been going on around us. New ways of teaching and learning, as well as new ways of performing the duties of a university are springing up due to advances in information technology. Many universities in the region are searching for how best to utilize this technology, which promises to be a wonderful tool, to advance the traditional missions of the university—that of educating the younger generations to become effective and productive members of the society. Not only that, but the tasks of universities in producing new knowledge, in conducting research, as well as in various areas of administration, also stand to be affected a great deal by the use of the technology.
So we are gathering here to ponder on the question: As things are moving fast around us in Asian universities, what should we do? Since the Faculty Senate is chartered by the Chulalongkorn University Act to serve as an advising body to the university, this task of thinking naturally falls to the Senate. We are also pleased to have the opportunity to collaborate with the Asian CALL Association, and the conference is actually a joint product of this collaboration of the two organizations. The conference is partly sponsored by the Ministry of University Affairs. I would also like to thank the Chula Alumni Foundation, the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Routledge, the Banpu Company, and the Center of Academic Resources, Chulalongkorn University for their support. Lastly, on behalf of the Faculty Senate, I would like to thank Dr. Larry Chong, chair of CALL Asia, for his tireless help, without which this conference would not have been possible.
Soraj Hongladarom, Ph. D.
On
behalf of the Asian Association of Computer Assisted Language Learning,
I wish the warmest welcome to all the participants to ITUA 2002