Improve Students’ IT Skills Using Our Video Capsules

In the Profweb column of October 2012 and another in February 2013, I pointed out how important it is that our students master information and technological skills (researching, processing and presenting information on the Internet, communicating and collaborating remotely) not only for university studies and the labour market but for everyday life as well.

I stated that to promote learning these skills, the college system now has the ICT profile for college students, a framework from the IT Representatives’ Network that describes the skills to master. This online repository is now used by about forty colleges that have begun work to integrate these skills into their programs’ curricula.

At an AQPC roundtable conference last June, a French language roundtable dealt with the topic of “Educating Our Students for Tomorrow’s Global Realities: How Can ICT Contribute to Student Success?” The panelists and participants were unanimous in saying that colleges and teachers were challenged to develop information and technology skills for their students.

For that to translate into a concrete reality in colleges, however, teachers must be supported when it comes time to identify appropriate learning activities to integrate into courses and resources to promote the acquisition of these skills.

Collaboration with : REPTIC, ProfilTIC and Cégep à distance.

It is to meet this need that a set of short video clips for students (and teachers as well!) have been designed and put online, accessible to all, to review or improve skills contained in the ICT profile of college students. This project is the result of a fruitful collaboration between Cégep à distance and the IT Representatives’ Network and was funded by the Entente Canada-Quebec and MESRST.

Each capsule is about 4 minutes long and explains step-by-step procedures required to perform the task associated with a skill. Currently, there are 43 French capsules and 43 English capsules online. These videos explain the following skills from the ICT Profile for College Students:

Ability 0 – Master the work environment:

Effectively use a workstation (1 capsule)

Use ICT in an ethical, socially responsible and secure manner (1 capsule)

Ability 1 – Search for information:

Use and transmit information in a legal and ethical manner (2 capsules)

Ability 2 – Process information:

Organize information (6 capsules)

Process qualitative data (1 capsule)

Process quantitative data using a spreadsheet (10 capsules)

Ability 3 – Present information:

Create a document with a word processor (13 capsules)

Present data using a spreadsheet (5 capsules)

Make a computer-assisted presentation (9 capsules)

Some of the topics covered in the capsules of the ICT Profile posted on YouTube.

Other capsules will be added over the coming months. Meanwhile, you are invited to suggest topics for capsules that could be useful in developing learning activities centered on information and technology skills.

And last but not least! The IT Representative of your college is there to support you. They can help you identify strategies to integrate these capsules into teaching and learning activities.

Enjoy!