DE at the Secondary Level in Qubec: Growing, growing,

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DE at the Secondary Level in Québec Growing,
growing,

• Robert Saucier
• Présentation à la rencontre
• de la P/TDEA
• Edmonton, Alberta
• 16 octobre 2007

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Last Years Conclusion DE as a continual
construction
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Brief history of DE in Québec

• One unit at the Ministry for 50 years

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Brief history of DE in Québec

• 1995-1996
• End of single unit for DE at the Ministry
• A new system with two subsets
• The school boards (SB)
• La Société de formation à distance des
  commissions scolaires du Québec (SOFAD)

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Brief history of DE in Québec

• 1995, all student services go to the SB

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Brief history of DE in Québec
Continuous growth in course registrations 1996
10 600 2007 34 200
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Brief history of DE in Québec

• 1996, SOFAD (second subset of the DE system) is
  born
• a central body, outside the Ministry,
  administered by the SB
• to develop, produce or coproduce learning
  materials for general education, either in DE or
  in adult ed. centres
• to promote DE 
• to carry out studies and research 
• to foster the use of new technologies 
• to encourage partnerships

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SOFAD Learning materials

• For both French and English speaking communities
• For the adult population (16 years and over)
• Self-paced
• For DE or adult education centres 
• More than 200 courses offered 
• All academic courses Secondary 1-5 (French and
  English)
• Vocational courses in Secretarial Studies and
  Accounting (French)
• A few professional training and popular education
  courses (French)

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SOFAD Learning materialsSales compared to
registrations
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SOFAD Learning materialsDifferent materials

• Paper based materials
• Online materials

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Different learning materials Different
distribution systems

• Paper based materials
• SOFAD
• SOCADIS
• SB
• Students

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Different learning materials Different
distribution systems

• Online materials
• eduSOFAD
• SB
• Students

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SOFAD Human resources

• 27 people
• Projects coordinators
• New technologies consultant
• Institutional research Communication advisor
• Digital rights negotiator
• Technical support
• Web integrator
• Client services
• Support staff

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SOFAD Human resources

• 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
• Linguistic reviewers
• Proofreaders
• Technical reliability testers
• Webmasters

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SOFAD Recent Developments and IssuesDE for the
Youth Sector

• SOFADs opinion
• http//www.sofad.qc.ca/pdf/SOFAD_Avis_FD_jeunes.pd
  f
• A first project
• A partnership with one SB
• Physique 534 (100 hours course)
• An online course
• A prototype has been tested
• A whole section of the course is tested in 4 SB
• Online in 2008

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SOFAD Recent Developments and IssuesMaterial for
the GEDTS

• Tests have been accepted by the MELS since 2004
• A mandate from the Ministry to produce learning
  materials, in French, for the preparation to the
  tests
• Materials will be available, in print and online.

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SOFAD Recent Developments and IssuesPPO

• Projet personnel dorientation
• Teacher training
• New teachers and a new program
• 1 200 new teachers

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SOFAD Recent Developments and IssuesCustomized
Services Private Security Act

• A new legislation from the National Assembly
• Members of the private security industry
• 3 years to conform to the new legislation
• A 10 h course
• Paper and online
• French and English
• A written exam administered by SOFAD
• Compulsory for the 30 000 people in the industry
• 3 to 7 000 people a year afterwards
• Project starting in November

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SOFAD Recent Developments and Issues2007-2008
development plan

• The need for new materials because of the reform
  of the curriculum
• No new online courses development

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Conclusion DE as a continual construction
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Conclusion DE as a moveable feast
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Conclusion DE as a continual construction
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Conclusion DE at the Secondary Level in Québec

• ? or !