The Network Resources of Your School’s IT Representative
Most of you already know that in every college there is an academic advisor whose mandate is to assist teachers in integrating technology into an educational context.
What you do not know perhaps is that the IT Reps (as they are often called) have created a community of practice, the IT Representatives’ Network (Le Réseau REPTIC). With a collaborative approach promoting the sharing of knowledge, network member reps have developed various tools and resources for you, the teachers in their colleges. For example, the Reps have developed a profile that describes the information and technology skills that students should master at the end of their training, the ICT profile of college students.They have also developed a guide to assist you in integrating the profile into your school’s programs and courses. The IT Reps also share various strategies and resources on subjects as diverse as electronic plagiarism, monitoring students in remote locations for work/study programs, and creating short videos as guides for platforms like DECclic and LEA!
The IT Reps during their regular meetings.
Each year, members of the Network Reps define objectives that are produced as a team. Here is a brief overview of some of them for the year 2010-2011.
College Students’ ICT Profile
We believe that the ICT profile of college students is “the gateway to IT” in the curriculum. There are courses that students must take to master skills related to research and the processing and presentation of information in a context of collaboration and communication. It is important to know what the profile is and be familiar with its resources in order to integrate it effectively into a program or course. With this in mind this year, the IT Rep Network will develop :
ICT Profile logo
- Video clips that show what the student IT profile is and how to integrate it into college teaching.
InukTIC
To facilitate the integration of the IT student profile, the college network has created InukTIC, a free, dynamic and interactive bilingual space for online training which features thousands of resources closely linked to the skills required in our disciplines. The IT Reps are looking to produce:
InukTIC logo
- Capsules explaining the operation and function of InukTIC dealing with subjects such as one-time resource research and editing a custom profile based on a program or course.
SavoirFaire TIC
SavoirFaire TIC is a web site whose English version is in preparation. Currently the French site allows teachers to take stock of their skills and technological knowledge to access a personalized training plan. Specifically, SavoirFaire TIC offers many resources and strategies for the integration of IT into a pedagogical context.
Savoir faire TIC logo
- Together with Profweb, we will design a slide show that explains what SavoirFaireTIC is, how to create an account, and how to use file tracking as well as other onsite features.
Conditions for Successful IT Integration
To assist you in setting up an educational activity using IT, there is now a grid that can be completed online which allows, among other things, teachers to improve their efficiency. This grid is the result of work done by Christian Barrette of ARC (Association pour la recherche au collégial)
- In conjunction with ARC, the IT Network Reps will collect and disseminate strategies for using the grid in various educational situations.
Many other achievements are on the IT Network Reps drawing board, but we wanted to highlight those which may have a direct impact on your teaching and learning. For more information, consult the IT Reps.
Your mission after reading this column is to use the “comments” feature at the bottom of the text (really!) to comment about our projects. Is there a particular project which interests you or mirrors your concerns? As a teacher, do you have any suggestions? We are eagerly awaiting your feedback!
