Collège Sainte-Anne: Cultivating commitment despite distance education

Meeting with Isabelle Senécal and Jasmine St-Laurent from Collège Sainte-Anne, who talk to us about the resources and tools put in place to support teachers and cultivate student engagement in distance learning situations. 

École branchée (EB): What has been the main impact of the pandemic on your organization?

Sainte-Anne College (CSA): We were already working on the implementation of a hybrid teaching model with the project Tomorrow's lessons. We also had distance learning days "Carbon neutral" to develop environmental awareness and interest students in their ecological footprint.

The pandemic situation has created a sense of urgency to institute sustainable tools that promote learning in multiple contexts. We knew we weren't going to come back to school, so we referred to experiential research data to build a technological tools repository, among others. 

The distance teaching and learning context has three main advantages for students: 

• on the psychological level: maintain a routine and a safe environment;
• on the socio-emotional level: ensure a link with classmates and teachers;
• in terms of learning: ensure a reactivation of learning and continue with new content, knowledge and skills.

EB: How was this adaptation experienced by your teachers?

THAT'S IT : There is no one who has experienced this before, it must be remembered. So we wanted to reduce the stress and anxiety of performing by talking about a culture of trial and error. If you're trying to make a perfect video clip, you'll have to start over and over again. You have to be willing to stumble over words or repeat a sentence and focus on the end result. Also, the teachers understood that it was impossible to maintain the socio-emotional bond just by sending didactic material to the pupils. Video conferencing should be used to promote engagement and motivation. 

EB: Do you think these new ways of teaching will last for the start of the 2020 school year?

THAT'S IT : It is hoped that the situation will have led schools and teachers to rethink explicit and formal teaching. In our opinion, resuming planning from last year is impossible, knowing that there may be a second wave of containment. The pandemic has given us the gift of progressively evaluating in particular, it would be a shame to go back to the old ways of doing things. Education will have the challenge of placing itself in a posture of active and creative pedagogy from now on. 

Jasmine and Isabelle invite you to consult the toolbox designed for teachers and parents, including the following links: 

• Guide to good practices in distance learning  Succeed in your teaching video  
• Succeed in your video class 
• 6 tips on remote assessment 

In connection with distance education, Carrefour education offers you relevant and always free resources:

• Accessible tools for distance learning
• Distance education: the gateway to the integration of digital in the classroom
• Motivating our students from a distance: a few tips
• 5 things to consider before embarking on distance education