Calling everyone: Do new learning tools really encourage student performance and success?

The Francophone Distance Education Network of Canada (REFAD www.refad.ca) will publish a thesis in spring 2011 which will attempt to indicate some possible answers to the question "Do new learning tools really encourage student performance and success".

After presenting a critical review of the main research relating to the influence of ICT on learning and the acquisition of skills and subsequent performance, we will revisit the concepts of “success” and “performance” in an educational context, particularly with regard to NOA (new learning tools) and FAD (distance learning).

Among other things, we will explore the main factors of success both academically (motivation, understanding, memorization, competence) and personally (organization, autonomy, sociability, adaptability, creativity, development). The parameters of these concepts thus identified will structure the analysis of various experiences in FAD or virtual classes, supported by the NOA.

We will focus, among other things, on experiences implementing interaction and collaboration devices and new devices for individualizing teaching-learning.

This thesis will attempt to provide a general portrait of the use of NOA within the framework of training at the primary, secondary and post-secondary levels. While mentioning certain remarkable experiences at the international level, we will privilege Canadian experiences and data. It is in this sense that we wish to establish contacts with Canadian practitioners and institutional officials responsible for the implementation of NOAs so that this brief reflects Canadian reality.

If you have developed a virtual classroom course or collaborated with FADs using NOA and / or have developed some personal thoughts on these experiences, and you want to share them with us, let us know before November 26, 2010. Our research agent, Mr. Jean Loisier, will then get in touch with you.

For further information:
refad@sympatico.ca / jeanloisier@gmail.com
(514) 284-9109

This project is possible thanks to funding from the Department of Canadian Heritage