The announcement of the 30th symposium of the AQPC, hosted by Cégep de Sherbrooke and being held June 2-4, 2010, once again heralds the most significant assembly of the college network. The AQPC is Quebec’s showcase for academic vigour and diversity in college instruction.
As the Call for Presentations comes to a close, the organizing committee is pleased to acknowledge 180 proposals. After just an initial evaluation, committee members note that educational technology will occupy an important place in the proceedings. The program will include presentations on online continuing education for instructors, IT skills, digital portfolios, IT exit profiles for ‘sciences humaines’, using DECclic as an online help centre and the creation of a techno-pedagogical hub within a college.
Other interesting topics have been interactions between secondary and college levels, environmental education, international programs, project-based instruction and pedagogical strategies to sharpen reading and writing skills.
The organizing committee received proposals from nearly all cegeps and was particularly pleased to note that Anglophone cegeps were more involved than ever before in submitting presentations. In fact, the large number of proposals from Anglophone colleges has ensured that the AQPC will be able to offer at least two presentations in English for each slot in the conference schedule.
The symposium is also becoming a meeting place for our university level colleagues. The selection committee received proposals from seven Quebec universities as well as proposals from elsewhere in Canada and from European and African sources.
Guy Le Boterf
The opening address will be given by Guy Le Boterf. He is the author of Construire les compétences individuelles et collectives (Building Individual and Collective Skills) and Repenser la competence (Rethinking Competence). He will discuss his thoughts on what makes a professional competent as an instructor and what are our own skills as educators.
Ken Bain
On Wednesday afternoon, Professor Ken Bain will be giving a presentation in English with simultaneous translation. A history professor at Montclair State University, he established four university centres for teaching excellence and has received numerous prizes for the excellence of his teaching. The Winter 2010 number of the AQPC magazine Pédagogie collégiale is carrying an abbreviated version of his work What the Best College Teachers Do.
Furthermore, the organizing committee has confirmed presentations by Nicole Boutin, president of the Conseil supérieur de l’Éducation, Lise St-Pierre, professor at l’Université de Sherbrooke and Henri Boudreault, professor at UQAM. Other participant announcements are imminent.
Nicole Boutin
Lise St-Pierre
Henri Boudreault
Follow Developments as They are Announced on the AQPC Website
The symposium’s program will be officially announced during the month of March 2010. Printed copies of the document will be available in the colleges around early April.
The AQPC invites all to make regular visits to its site for up-to-date information and lodging suggestions. The principal hotel for the event is already fully booked, but other interesting options nearby are still available
As is our tradition, the AQPC will be holding its annual banquet where the Gérald Sigouin Prizes and honourable mentions will be given to teachers deemed worthy of these honours by their colleagues. Organized by volunteers from the host, Collège de Sherbrooke, tourism and leisure activities are also on the program including an excursion on the fabled train, The Orford Express.
Last, but surely not least, the symposium will be the venue for celebrating Profweb’s fifth birthday, the CDC’s (Centre de documentation collégiale) twentieth milestone and the AQPC’s own thirty years. Visit our web site for more information and tell us how you think we could best mark these important events!
