SOMECE was an ideal springboard for the Vanier-UNAM project, because it brings together teachers and experts from around the world to discuss the use and integration of technology in the classroom at all levels of education, from elementary school to graduate studies. 

Lto R: Sophie Jacmin, Marielle Beauchemin, Philippe Gagné

 Several recent Vanier pilot-projects added a unique perspective to the symposium’s program.  Marielle Beauchemin (Micropublishing and Hypermedia) presented her research on hybrid online courses offered at Vanier.  Philippe Gagné from the French Department described using a problem-solving approach to virtual teaching within a hybrid course comprising of synchronous and asynchronous work periods.  And finally, Humanities teacher, Sophie Jacmin, presented her virtual team-teaching experience with Cégep de Sept-Iles, a pilot-project in existence since 2006.

 “This trip allowed us to meet people who work in a totally different context from ours and one where access to higher education is a privilege based on merit,” says Philippe Gagné. “While that is true here as well, it is even more so in Mexico where the applications for university far outstrip the number of places available. In this context, e-learning can play a significant role to allow more people to have access to higher education. Even so, I was surprised that UNAM offers online courses to 20,000 students and has 500,000 students registered with the university overall.”

 The meetings were so useful that Gagné goes on to say that “We are going to try to set up a community of practice on line with teachers we met there.  Like us, they are concerned with integrating forms of teaching that involve students in active learning exchanges and projects.”

 “The Vanier College-UNAM project is unique in that participating teachers communicate in Spanish, English and French, and new teaching materials will be produced in all three languages,” indicates Judy Macdonald, responsible for teacher mobility projects at Vanier.  “The project is also innovative because both institutions work in a multicultural environment with students and faculty representing many countries and ethnicities. The exchanges will therefore represent a great number of perspectives, not only national and discipline-related, but also truly global.”

Press release Mexico IT Symposium 2009

Press release Mexico IT Symposium 2009 FRENCH

“The difficulty for many students is passing the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) French proficiency exam,” says project coordinator Yung Truong of the Vanier French Department.  “Only students who did not obtain their high school leaving certificate in Québec must write the exam but it’s a difficult exam, and many fail.”

Yung Truong has been working with the Nursing program to produce French courses specially tailored for Nursing students.  These are French courses that are part of their regular DEC program but with terms and vocabulary useful to students in health care programs such as Nursing and Respiratory and Anaesthesia Technology.

In addition to Vanier’s Yung Truong who is the Coordinator, the project’s Inter Cegep committee consists of Catherine Duranleau, Christian Paré and Suzanne Tremblay who are French teachers from Vanier College, Dawson College and John Abbott College, as well as Veronica Gill from the CCDMD.

“We have experience in adjusting French courses to address the specific needs of weak students.   We have a framework for redesigning courses.  We have recently opened four new sections of a course that give students an extra sixty hours of French classes to upgrade their skills,” indicates Eric Lozowy, Coordinator of the Vanier French Department.

As well, Yung Truong and other teachers involved in the project have already started to research what resources currently exist to help professionals improve their French. “Many resources exist,” says Yung Truong, “but are not known or have not been centralized.  For example, the Québec Ministry of Immigration and Cultural Communities already has helpful teaching materials, and McGill University has developed material for advanced and intermediate students, but there is still a lack of material for weaker students.”

The first step in the new CCDMD project is to develop a plan of action.  The committee should be able to start creating new teaching materials as early as next semester.

“The ultimate goal of the project is to help students gain the necessary French skills to pass the OQLF exam, find a job within their area of expertise, work well, and function fully within Québec society,” says Eric Lozowy.  “English Cegeps are an essential part of Québec society and this kind of project increases the unity between the different communities we live in and with – Francophone, Anglophone, and Allophone.”

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