Plenty of Options to Explore on AQPC’s New Website!

Last spring, the new web site for the Association québécoise de pédagogie collégiale (AQPC) went live. Here is an overview of some of the options that are now available to you on this interactive website that is teeming with pedagogical resources.

Find Everything

The new search engine sifts through all of the nooks and crannies of the website and allows you to filter results by type of resource: articles from the Pédagogie collégiale journal, documents that were uploaded by speakers from AQPC conferences, books published by the AQPC, speeches honouring APQC award-winners, etc. Everything is now on-line!

To find it all, type a keyword (a person’s name, theme, etc.) in the “Search” field, which appears in the header of every page of the website.

You can also scan through a summary of every edition of the Pédagogie collégiale journal, to get a an overview of what is available.

Interacting

If you have subscribed to the Pédagogie collégiale journal or you have an individual AQPC membership, you now get more! Once you have logged in to the AQPC’s website (“Sign In” button on the home page or the “log in” link in the header of all the pages on the site), you can:

• Read the electronic version of all Pédagogie collégiale articles as soon as the print version comes out;
• Comment on all the articles in the journal;
• Update your bio (ex. change your address, enter your title or upload a photo).

The AQPC’s individual members can also order books that have been published by the Association.

“Virtual Communities of Practice”, You Say?

The AQPC also chose to gradually offer different virtual communities of practice to its members where it will be possible to meet, create links, exchange documents, share information, co-construct competencies, improve practices, find solutions to problems, find inspiration, etc. The goal of these communities is to extend the dynamism of the pedagogical approaches and the spirit of sharing espoused by the annual conference in June throughout the whole year. Why reinvent the wheel at each college when we can get together and help each other out?

At the moment, two on-line communities exist: “Communauté des CP” (in French for Education Advisors) and the “Communauté New Teachers” (in English).

In each community, you’ll find:

• A “Forum” section where you can post questions (anonymously, or not) and post answers to the questions that were posted by other members of the community;
• A “Resources” section where you will find documents developed in various formats by the AQPC, or that were uploaded by members of the community;
• A section entitled “Events” where you can invite members of the community to discuss specific topics (whether virtually or in-person);
• A notification service that e-mails news from the community once a week;
• All this along with the possibility to filter the questions, answers, resources and events by theme so that you can focus on the dossiers that interest you the most!

The “Communauté des CP” in Detail

Those people who are both individual members and Education Advisors (Conseillers pédagogiques in French) have access to the very first community of practice to be launched (in French) by the AQPC! If you are an individual member and an Education Advisor, update your profile today so that you will be granted automatic access to this community that’s just for you! The “Communauté des CP” is a space to exchange pedagogical resources amongst Education Advisors, particularly about Programs of Study (development, evaluation, support, etc.).

The “Communauté New Teachers” in Detail

The New Teachers community is offered in English thanks to a contribution from the Ministère de l’Éducation, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche through the Entente Canada-Quebec.

The teachers that have two years of experience or less at the college level and who are teaching at an English member college affiliated with the Association can register by calling us at 514 328-3805 or by sending us an e-mail.

All of AQPC’S individual members also have access to this community where they can respond to questions from their colleagues and help them get their career started on the right foot. The resources that are available within this community have something in common: they are very short and useful for new teachers starting today. New resources are being designed by the AQPC and will be uploaded soon: It’s just the beginning!

New Communities in the Future!

The AQPC is going to continue this tech rollout and offer more on-line communities. We’re asking you to be patient for just a bit longer, and you’ll definitely have the opportunity to participate in a virtual community of practice! This fall, the AQPC-College Liaison will also have their own virtual community of practice. Then it will be the turn of the individual members of the AQPC, who will be able to gather their own massive community of practice. And we’ll also be offering the equivalent of the “Communauté New Teachers” in French.

For more information on AQPC’s virtual communities of practice, visit the page entitled “How it works”.

Haven’t signed up as an individual member of the AQPC? We’re inviting you to become a member today!

In addition to having access to exclusive content on-line, you will also be both symbolically and concretely supporting this non-profit organization that is working for and with you!

Until next time, whether virtually or in-person!