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April 22, 2013

The Entente Canada-Québec 2013-2014: A Partnership That Gets Results

This text was initially published by Profweb under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence, before Eductive was launched.

In our April 23, 2012 Profweb column we highlighted the increased involvement and collaboration between Francophone and Anglophone colleges. On the eve of the third phase of the Entente Canada-Québec supporting Quebec’s college sector, which will span from 2013 to 2018, not only are the number of partnerships growing, but also the list of colleges benefitting from funding is expanding. Many of the projects feature strategies to stimulate the learning process and target students who need additional support at entry into college in addition to improved French language skills upon graduation.

If you’re a teacher in the college network, chances are you’ve been exposed to ECQ funded products and services without even knowing it. Just reading the English side of Profweb, which receives funding from us, is evidence enough! Other innovations funded by the ECQ, including virtual teaching and active learning, have already been featured in prior columns.

Below are examples of some new initiatives to watch out for which can give you an idea of what kinds of projects have received funding. Maybe the fruits of these efforts can be of use in your college.

A Quebec City Based Resource Adapted to the Anglophone Milieu

Université Laval and Quebec City area colleges have partnered on an initiative targeting the acquisition of research competencies. If you would like to help students improve their research skills, Nicole Haché, library coordinator at Champlain St. Lambert, will be adapting the DIAPASON project to Anglophone colleges. Materials available include online tutorials and videos for students as well as pedagogical scenarios and discussion forums for teachers. You can learn more from the French website at www.mondiapason.ca

Keeping Students Interested and Motivated

John Abbott’s Murray Bronet (who has appeared in a story in Profweb) and Cheryl Jenkins are each developing learning exercises to more actively engage students. Working in collaboration with Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles, Murray Bronet will be introducing problem-based learning (PBL) in the chemical laboratory. Student groups from John Abbott will collaborate online with students in the Gaspé to resolve “real world” problems. Murray’s aim is to recruit other teachers to experiment with PBL or inquiry-based lab experiments and share the material through pedagogical websites such as SALTISE.

Working in collaboration with Vanier, Kiuna and Kativik, Cheryl Jenkins will be developing dynamic interactive modules featuring embedded audio files and videos to help students build their math, reading and analytical skills. Learning at their own pace, students can reflect upon and test their understanding of the material with the incorporation of self-correction assessment tools. The modules will include First Nations content and target emerging learning styles of seeing, hearing and doing. They will be available for print, web, tablet, along with smart phones.

Preparing for Entry Into Francophone Universities

Marianopolis College has prepared an inspiring program to help its students sharpen their French skills for study in Francophone universities. This initiative has two objectives: producing a curriculum vitae in French and preparing for the French language test (TFI) which is required for entry into these institutions.

For Further Information

Last week, the English service of Profweb reported on a virtual classroom project in the English as a Second Language classrooms of Norm Spatz at Cégep du Vieux-Montréal and Rebecca Peter-Higgins at Collège Édouard-Montpetit. This project had support from the ECQ.

Have any of these initiatives got you thinking? To learn more about ECQ funding opportunities and how this government program works, here is the link to the Guide du programme. Do you have any project ideas linked to English teaching or second language instruction that I could help you pursue? Feel free to communicate with me.

Share your thoughts about these projects with your colleagues in the Comments section below.

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