How much can GenAI change teaching?

A look at technology for language teaching over the decades

Join our Technology-Enhanced Language Learning (TELL) Interest Group! Each month, we explore the latest technologies that are reshaping the way we teach.

This month, we’re excited to welcome Dr. Deborah Healy and Jeff Magoto for a conversation on a brief TELL history, the “hype cycle,” and what it reveals about GenAI tools and AI agents. We’ll explore the unique affordances of tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and PlayLab in problem-solving and tutorial contexts. To wrap up, we’ll take a forward look at what’s next in the AI era, especially in light of sustainability concerns and the possibility of an AI bubble.

Presenters

Deborah Healey, Ph.D., is a consultant, teacher trainer, as well as an Academic Specialist for the U.S. Department of State for 29 years, primarily related to technology use. As an Emerita faculty at the University of Oregon, for 29 years she has worn many hats as a professor in the Linguistics department and instructor and Director of English Language Institute. Dr. Healey was the 2019-2020 President of TESOL International Association. She has written and presented extensively in the US and internationally. Her recent areas of research include gamification, massive open online courses, and online teaching approaches. Her doctorate is in Computers in Education.

Jeff Magoto has more than 40 years’ experience in language teaching and teacher training. He started his career as an EFL teacher in Morocco in the Peace Corps, followed by 3 years in Lisbon, Portugal. He worked as both a teacher and language center director at the University of Oregon from 1992-2021, where he participated in many successful and some not-so-successful implementations of technology enhanced language learning. ANVILL, for example, was a national 15-year OER project to make human speech tools available to teachers and learners for practice; a space that is now abundantly occupied by GenAI.