Getting Ready for the Return: Some Articles to Review

Whether you are still on vacation or back to work, you probably weren’t saved from the numerous advertisements announcing the imminent return to the classroom which began cropping up in mid-July. I think that it is better to get back in the beat slowly, which is why I thought you might want to take a look at some of our publications from June 2016 that featured our favourite articles and end of year events. Sometimes forgotten due to the frenetic pace of vacation (I won’t hold it against you!), these articles surely deserve a second chance.

To ease on in, I invite you to discover the Profweb Editorial Committee’s favourite articles. This committee is comprised of teachers and educational advisors from both Francophone and Anglophone colleges, 2 Profweb Editors as well as Profweb’s Coordinator. In this article, each committee member shares their favourite publications from the winter 2016 semester. Get ready to press the bookmark button!

Are distance education, sharing innovative practices and digital citizenship subjects that interest you? You will find ample fuel to feed your curiosity in the following end-of-year meeting and symposium summaries:

• On May 26th and 27th, I had the opportunity to attend the REFAD (Réseau d’enseignement francophone à distance du Canada) symposium over the Internet. The theme of the event was “The future issues of support and supervision in distance education’’ (Les enjeux futurs de l’encadrement en formation à distance). I provided a summary of the event in an article published in June 2016. What an excellent opportunity to access 2 days worth of rich exchanges, all in the time that it takes to read one article. Find it here: Retour sur le colloque du REFAD 2016 : pour une formation à distance à dimension humaine.

• Catherine Rhéaume, an Editor at Profweb, attended a thematic day organized on June 1st, 2016 by Quebec’s association of private colleges, the ACPQ (Association des collèges privés du Québec). The scheduled activities and presentations revolved around the theme of innovative practices in the evaluation of learning. Catherine wrote a summary of the 2 forums that she attended:

  • Accélérer la correction et suivre la progression des étudiants au moyen des TIC (Speed up your marking and follow the progress of your students using ICTs)
  • Stratégies pour contrer le plagiat (Strategies for fighting plagiarism)

  I invite you to learn more about the practices and stories of the teachers that attended these activities.

• My final entry in this article is both pragmatic and fun at the same time! Just before the it was held, I shared a listing of Profweb publications to prepare for the AQPC Symposium. It’s not too late to check it out if you missed out on the Symposium. This list gathers stories from experiences and articles published on Profweb related to some of the presentations that occurred during the Association québécoise de pédagogie collégiale’s annual symposium, which was held from June 8th to 10th, 2016. It was a wonderful opportunity to discover educational resources and projects that were developed by the college network!

  

The Profweb team also ran a booth in the Exhibitors Hall (Salon des exposants) during the AQPC Symposium, where our candy buffet was all the rage! Each candy jar contained a treat representing one of our 11 college network partners,  accompanied by a humorous description – a playful nod from our team. The Profweb team had a great time coming up with the “flavour” of each organization based on the products and services that they offer to the college network. To (re-)read the humorous text (along with the official description of each of our partners), click on this link.

Our booth was also adorned with a wanted poster with our 3 trainees who are enrolled in a certificate program in the area of college teaching. Keep your eyes peeled: Perhaps you will cross paths with one of them in your educational establishment this fall?

Don’t be shy about visiting one or more of their articles that appeared at the end of the winter 2016 semester to learn a bit more about them:

• Clin d’oeil sur la recherche! Futurs enseignants et classe inversée
• Les compétences numériques chez les formateurs de futurs enseignants et leurs étudiants
• Des outils pour mesurer les effets de l’accompagnement technopédagogique des enseignants

It goes without saying that these end of year activities provided a great opportunity for more than one inspiring encounter between Profweb and several actors from the college network. Incidentally, the team is currently busy preparing some publications stemming from these exchanges which will appear throughout the fall 2016 semester. Please also ensure that you have signed up for our newsletter or follow us on either Facebook or Twitter so that you don’t miss a thing!

To all the teachers, educational advisors and educational actors in the college network, welcome back and I wish you an excellent 2016-2017 academic year!