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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.
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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 2003 http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html
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 andcegep 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 • 1995-96 End 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
SOFADA 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)
SOFADA 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
SOFADA 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 IssuesCourse Registrations • A continuous growth in DE 1995-1996 • 10 000 + course registrations 2003-2004 • 25 000 + course registrations • (60 000 + in adult education centres) • An unequal growth of the registrations in DE over the territory
Major Recent Development and IssuesGovernment 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 IssuesGovernment 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 IssuesGovernment Commitment SOFAD’s mandate • Learning materials • Promotion • Research • Teacher’s continuing education • Online preparation to the GED
Major Recent Development and IssuesCustomized 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 25 000 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 IssuesOnline 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 IssuesOnline 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 IssuesOnline Learning eduSOFAD.com SOFAD’s portal of online courses has three sections: • Students • Teachers • Administrators
Instructionaldesign process Technical specifications Production of interactive content Templates Standards CMS Major Recent Development and IssuesOnline Learning The challenge of development as a triangle $ A balanced triangle Time frame Quality
Major Recent Development and IssuesOnline Learning The challenge of educational communication as a triangle SOFAD A balanced triangle School Boards Students
Major Recent Development and IssuesVarious 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!
Contact Robert Saucier (514) 529-2175 saucierr@sofad.qc.ca www.sofad.qc.ca www.edusofad.com