Integrating the ICT Profile in a course

Teachers can benefit from different opportunities to help them consider the integration of ICT: the implementation of a new course or pedagogical activity, the evaluation and revision of an existing course, the need to renew their pedagogical approach, etc. Even though ICT are well established in courses, activities are not necessarily planned for the development of ICT Profile skills. The “Why the ICT Profile” section explicitly takes a look at motivations for developing ICT skills.

Interestingly, many teachers already have their students carry out activities linked with either the skills, objectives or tasks of the ICT Profile (Perreault, 2012). You will see stories in the publications that are presented at the bottom of this page, in the “From the Field” section. It can either be to carry out a research (Skill 1; see Nicole Fleurant, 2010), to visually present information with a table or concept map (Objective 2.3; see Joëlle Martin, 2010), to present information (Skill 3) by publishing the results of their research using YouTube (see Sylvain Lefebvre, 2013) or to collaborate using a network during team work (Objective 4.3; see Messier, 2012).

Christine Veilleux, Teahcer at Cégep Limoilou, sharing her experience with the ICT Profile (clip in French).

As the ICT Profile for Students was created in such a way so that all elements are independent, teachers can use its skills and objectives to specify each of the steps (tasks, actions) for carrying out an activity. For example, in many courses, students are asked to prepare a presentation (word processing, slide show, video clip, etc.). In such a case, teachers would benefit from referring students to the elements of skill 3 (presenting information: objectives and tasks linked to the information describe the steps to take and can be used as benchmarks to follow-up on the activity).

The ICT Profile was also created in such a way that objectives linked to different skills can be combined into one learning activity. Let’s look back at the previous example: it may be possible that the presentation must be done a team work (see Jules Massé, 2012). The teacher could then refer to the Network Collaboration (4.3) and Act in an Ethical and Civil Manner (5.4) objectives to specify the steps and tasks that will provide an efficient collaboration and to verify if students comply with intellectual property rights.

Here is another example: the Explorer course in the Tremplin DEC at Cégep Limoilou (see Catherine Rhéaume, Thibault et Veilleux, 2014) also shows how the ICT Profile for Students can be used to promote the success of specific activities. Explorer aims to validate students’ career choices while helping them to develop several skills. The following table highlights the links between activities and skills specific to such course and objectives specific to the ICT Profile for Students. Teachers have, of course, many reasons for using the Profile to specify steps to follow in order to complete an activity successfully. These examples show that it is possible to benefit from ICT skills as much in an activity as in a course. However, the Profile is at its best when integrated into a program-approach or in a concerted and structured approach. For more information, consult the “Integrating the ICT Profile in a Program” section.