Distance Education at the Secondary Level in Québec Présentation à la réunion annuelle de la P/TDEA Victoria, B.C. Robert Saucier 29 septembre 2004

PowerPoint Is Evil Power Corrupts. PowerPoint Corrupts Absolutely. The standard PowerPoint presentation elevates format over content, betraying an attitude of commercialism that turns everything into a sales pitch. Edward Tufte, Wired, Issue 11.09, September

Content A SOFAD description A brief history of DE at the secondary level in Québec Major recent development and issues Conclusion

A SOFAD description Adults Self-paced Materials In DE or in adult education centres Online and in print French and English

A brief history of DE at the secondary level in Québec One administrative unit at the Ministry for fifty years 1946 Lack of materials for vocational education Lack of technical schools Correspondance school 1972 General education Télé-Université 80’s Popular education and cegep level courses Business minded organisation Registrations peaked

A brief history of DE at the secondary level in Québec Early 90’s A DE institution dedicated to the cegep level is created: CCFD First courses offered in English The «planned» decline of DE at the secondary level takes place 1994 A liaison committee is created: CLIFAD with SOFAD, CCFD and Télé-université E nd of the single unit for DE at the Ministry

A brief history of DE at the secondary level in Québec A new system with two subsets 1995, all services direct to the student population are transferred to the school boards. 1996, SOFAD, a central body, outside the Ministry, administered by the school boards, to develop, produce or coproduce learning materials for general education, either in DE or in adult education centres. SOFAD’s mandate also includes: to promote DE to carry out studies and research to foster the use of new technologies to encourage partnerships

SOFAD A detailed description Produces for both French and English speaking communities. DE is only for the adult population, 16 years and over. More than 200 courses are offered: All academic courses for Secondary 1 to 5, in French and in English Vocational courses in Secretarial Studies and Accounting (in French only) A few professional training and popular education courses (in French only)

SOFAD A detailed description SOFAD specializes in Technogical and instructional design Project management Quality control 28 people Project Coordinators New technologies consultant Advisors in R & D, Institutional R & Communication Digital rights negotiator Technical support, Integrator Client services Support staff

SOFAD A detailed description SOFAD outsources for 2/3 of production costs Subject matter specialists Researchers Authors System analysts and programmers Illustrators, Recording studios, actors Graphic designers and interface designers Content reviewers, linguistic reviewers Proofreaders and technical reliability testers Webmasters

Major Recent Development and Issues Course Registrations A continuous growth in DE course registrations course registrations ( in adult education centres) An unequal growth of the registrations in DE over the territory

Major Recent Development and Issues Government Commitment An Agreement about DE and e-learning in Québec School boards was signed in december 2003 by all parties concerned: The Ministry of Education The FCSQ (Federation of Québec School boards) The ACSAQ (Québec English School Boards Association) SOFAD

Major Recent Development and Issues Government Commitment SOFAD’s mandate is confirmed and expanded SOFAD is identified as the privileged partner Measures are considered about the organisation of DE –Consortia –Harmonization –Financing –Out of Québec students –Youth sector

Major Recent Development and Issues Government Commitment SOFAD’s mandate Learning materials Promotion Research Teacher’s continuing education Online preparation to the GED

Major Recent Development and Issues Customized Services A new sector New staff: 6 people One big project. An agreement with the Environment Ministry makes SOFAD: the producer of distance courses and the organization responsible for training more than workers using or selling pesticides in Québec. Francisation (French for immigrants), a project in collaboration with the Ministère des Relations avec les citoyens et de l’Immigration

Major Recent Development and Issues Online Learning Some operational principles All credit courses will be developed online and in print. Online and printed versions are available at about the same price for the student. Courses are designed for DE students as well as in-class students. Courses are also available to independant students.

Major Recent Development and Issues Online Learning These courses will be: complete elearning environments providing all learners need to learn, and all teachers/tutors need to support learning in an integrated fashion self paced learning, and when appropriate collaborative learning within present school board/SOFAD structure

Major Recent Development and Issues Online Learning eduSOFAD.com SOFAD’s portal of online courses has three sections: Students Teachers Administrators

Major Recent Development and Issues Online Learning

The challenge of development as a triangle Time frameQuality $ A balanced triangle Technical specifications Standards Templates Instructional design process CMS Production of interactive content

Major Recent Development and Issues Online Learning The challenge of educational communication as a triangle School BoardsStudents SOFAD A balanced triangle

Major Recent Development and Issues Various projects up and coming The need for new materials because of the reform of the curriculum A portal for teacher training in the context of the reform of the curriculum A sub-comittee with the Ministry (+SB, Cégeps) Online training about PLAR practices and services E-portfolio for life-long learning DE for the youth sector A research project about student support in DE

Conclusion Beware of PowerPoints! Including this One!

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