Distance Education at the Distance Education at the Secondary Level in QuébecSecondary Level in Québec

Présentation à la réunion annuelle de la P/TDEAOttawa, Ontario

Pierre GiguèreRobert Saucier13 octobre 2005

Content

• SOFAD description

• Brief history of DE at the secondary level

• SOFAD : a detailed description

• Major recent developments and issues

• Conclusion

SOFAD description

• Adults

• Self-paced

• Materials

• In DE or in adult education centres

• Online and in print

• French and English

Brief history of DE at the secondary level

One administrative unit at the Ministry for 50 years

• 1946• Lack of materials for vocational education• Lack of technical schools• Correspondance school

• 1972• General education• Télé-Université

• 80’s• Popular education and cegep level courses• Business minded organisation• Registrations peaked

Brief history of DE at the secondary level

• Early 90’s• DE institution created for the cegep level

• First courses offered in English

• «Planned» decline of DE at the secondary level takes place

• 1994 Liaison committee is created: CLIFADwith SOFAD, CCFD and Télé-université

• 1995-96 End of the single unit for DE at the Ministry

Brief history of DE at the secondary level

A new system with two subsets

• 1995, all services to the students go to the school boards

• 1996, SOFAD– a central body, outside the Ministry, administered

by the school boards– to develop, produce or coproduce learning

materials for general education, either in DE or in adult education centres

– to promote DE – to carry out studies and research  – to foster the use of new technologies – to encourage partnerships

SOFADDetailed description

• For both French and English speaking communities

• For the adult population, 16 years and over

• More than 200 courses offered:• All academic courses Secondary 1 to 5 (French and

English)• Vocational courses in Secretarial Studies and

Accounting (French)• A few professional training and popular education

courses (French)

SOFADDetailed description

Specialized in • Technological and instructional design

• Project management

• Quality control

26 people

– Projects coordinators

– New technologies consultant

– Research & Development advisor

– Institutional research & Communication advisor

– Digital rights negotiator

– Technical support

– Web integrator

– Client services

– Support staff

SOFADDetailed description

Outsourcing for 2/3 of production costs

– Subject matter specialists

– Researchers

– Authors

– System analysts and programmers

– Illustrators, recording studios, actors

– Graphic designers

– Interface designers

– Content reviewers

– Llinguistic reviewers

– Proofreaders

– Technical reliability testers

– Webmasters

Major Recent Developments and Issues

Course Registrations

• Continuous growth in DE1995-1996 • 10 600 course registrations

2004-2005 • 28 000 + course registrations

• Unequal growth of the registrations in DE over the territory

Major Recent Developments and Issues

An Agreement

Agreement about DE and e-learning in Québec School boards signed in december 2003 by four parties:

• The Ministry of Education

• La Fédération des commissions scolaires du

Québec

• The Québec English School Boards Association

• SOFAD

Major Recent Developments and Issues

An Agreement

• SOFAD’s mandate confirmed and expanded

• SOFAD identified as the privileged partner

• Changes considered about the organisation of DE

– Consortia

– Harmonization

– Out of Québec students

– Financing

– Youth sector

Major Recent Developments and Issues

An Agreement

SOFAD’s mandate

• Learning materials

• Promotion

• Research

• Teacher’s continuing education

• Online preparation to the GED

Major Recent Developments and Issues

Online Learning

Some operational principles

• All credit courses developed online and in print

• Online and printed versions available at about the same price for the student

• Courses designed for DE as well as in-class students

• Courses also available to independant students

Major Recent Developments and Issues Online Learning

Courses are

• complete elearning environments providing – all learners need to learn– all teachers/tutors need to support learning in an

integrated fashion

• self paced and, when appropriate, collaborative learning

• within present school boards/SOFAD structure

Major Recent Developments and Issues Online Learning

Major Recent Developments and Issues Online Learning

eduSOFAD.com

3 sections

• Students

• Teachers

• Administrators

Major Recent Developments and Issues Online Learning

Now online: 5 courses and 5 services

– Test de classement en mathématiques– Test de classement en anglais langue seconde

– Biologie de la reproduction et périnatalité– Réunions d’affaires – Communication bilingue – Industrialisation et urbanisation– Démocratie et culture

– Initiation aux ressources informatiques– Éveil à la lecture et à l’écriture– Du français sans fautes

Major Recent Developments and Issues Online Learning

By the end of 2005: 8 more courses or services

– Test de classement en français langue d’enseignement

– Biologie du système respiratoire– Géométrie III– Trigonométrie I– Méthode de doigté– Recherche d’information – À la recherche d’un emploi– Bilan et choix professionnel

Major Recent Developments and Issues Online Learning

By the end of 2005: English portal, 4 courses or services

– Placement test in Mathematics

– Geometry III– Trigonometry I– The Human Reproductive System and Perinatal

Major Recent Developments and Issues

Customized Services• New sector: 5 people

• One big project with the Environment Ministry which makes SOFAD:• producer of distance courses and • organization responsible for training more than

25 000 workers using or selling pesticides in Québec

• Main recent issue: make this new sector a profitable initiative

• Main recent challenge wished for: a contract to produce and deliver some online customized services

Major Recent Developments and Issues

Various projects up and coming

• The need for new materials because of the reform of the curriculum

• DE for the youth sector• SOFAD’s opinion• A go-ahead from the board of directors to distribute the

document and to actually do some things

• A research project about student support in DE

• E-portfolio for life-long learning (an international conference in Quebec City in the spring of 2006)

Conclusion

Ten years old in a few months

Still looking for a coming-of-age experience

Contact

Pierre Giguère

(514) 529-2171

pierreg@sofad.qc.ca

Robert Saucier

(514) 529-2175

saucierr@sofad.qc.ca

www.sofad.qc.ca www.edusofad.com