Translator: Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood; copy editor: Norman Spatz
Within the college network, at least one thousand and one individuals are asking themselves the same number of questions with regard to information and communication technologies (IT). Fortunately, in this domain, college-level research is alive and kicking.
A teacher is examining the usefulness of Connected Science, a learning environment based on Web 2.0 technology.
A team is studying both the possibilities offered by the Dawson Active Learning and Interactive Technology Environment (DALITE) technology, and the ways it can be used to promote the transfer of learning and the development of a robust scientific identity. A second team is currently looking at how teachers are being helped to acquire new teaching skills to promote elearning in virtual classrooms. A third team is creating a digital learning environment for the course entitled ‘Renforcement en français’, to then evaluate various aspects of this new environment. A fourth team is studying the effects of high-fidelity patient simulation (HFPS) to develop practical skills for students in nursing and in inhalation therapy. In addition to these teams, a teacher is trying to find out if, beyond error correction, frequent use of the text correction software Antidote does indeed help students to learn French
Although these topics are incredibly diverse, they do have one thing in common: they are all funded by PAREA (Programme d’aide à la recherche sur l’enseignement et l’apprentissage).
The Québec ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur, de la Recherche, de la Science et de la Technologie (MESRST) is funding 13 projects within PAREA, six of them concerning IT. That is quite something!
- Learners, not Lurkers: Connecting Conceptual and Social Networks in Science Education,
- Using Collective Conceptual Networks in Learning and Teaching: Linking school science to the real world with the aid of new IT tools
- Accompagnement des enseignants selon leur profil et leur posture pédagogique,
- Intégration des TIC et motivation en français,
- SCHF : Préparation clinique et interdisciplinarité
- Mesure et évaluation des apports d’un correcticiel.
Would you like more information about PAREA? Last November 14, the Association pour la recherche au collégial (ARC) held an online information session that can still be viewed off-line. If you want additional support in writing up a presentation of a project that you are developing, you can register for a PAREA workshop. A third and last Internet-accessible session will be held on December 18. Please note that the deadline for submitting a grant proposal for the 2013-2014 year is January 25, 2013! Don’t wait!
Since its creation, the college network has been so active in research on IT that ARC has been able to produce metaresearch on the subject (Barbeau, 2007; Barrette, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2011). Last year, the Association published the
Inventaire des recherches (1985-2012) concernant l’intégration des technologies de l’information et de la communication à l’enseignement collégial. Needless to say, this is now an essential tool for anyone interested in the integration of IT into college teaching! Although more and more is known about the pedagogical, technical and organizational conditions required in order for IT integration to have positive effects on academic success, much is yet to be discovered. Therefore, the PAREA program – which releases teachers from their duties to allow them to research a question in depth – remains highly relevant.
Are there questions you want to ask? Is there a specific topic you would like to examine? Or, would you like to find out the results of recently completed projects? If so, use the space below to let us know…
