Let's go for a 4th edition of the REFER and its class projects

by Bertrand Formet

The Rendez-vous des écoles francophones en network (REFER) returns on March 16 and 17, 2017 under the theme “The classroom: a universe of creativity! ".

Our Meeting of Francophone Schools in the Network (REFER) offers the whole of the Francophonie a cycle of 48 hours of conferences, workshops and exchanges for:

• create lasting links in education between Francophone communities;
• encourage and develop innovative practices;
• accompany and support teachers in digital educational uses.

These 48 hours of lectures are preceded by educational projects offered to primary and secondary classes. These projects are presented and highlighted during the two days of the REFER which takes place during the Semaine de la francophonie.

Feedback on the 2016 edition

In 2016, the 3^e edition marked a real turning point in the organization of REFER, mainly for its programming, attendance and distribution:

• A passage of 24 to 48 hours of joint France-Quebec conferences, followed in 10 countries, 800 people present in 12 homes and 2,000 live views, with 20 speakers including in particular Catherine Becchetti-Bizot (Inspector General of National Education, in charge of digital and pedagogy mission); Laurence Bee;
  • Émeline Brylinski (IBE - UNESCO); Ugo cavenaghi (Ste-Anne); Jacques Cool (Box 21); Ollivier Dyens; (McGill University); Jean-Yves Fréchette (Institute of comparative twitterature); Marc-André Girard (Beaubois College); Carole Helpiquet (CLEMI); Thierry karsenti (Canada Research Chair in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Education); Yann Leroux; Ewan MacIntosh (founder and CEO of Notosh); Dad Youga Dieng (IFADEM - OIF).

The retransmission of the conferences is available on the REFER Youtube channel.

• The proposal for class projects upstream of the REFER: 5 long projects proposed (4 months) and 130 French-speaking classes registered.

• 2 contests ("Twitterature" and "Light on science"), which brought together 1400 pupils.

The REFER 2017: “The classroom: a universe of creativity! "

The 2017 edition will take place on March 16 and 17, 2017, during the Semaine de la Francophonie, as in the past three editions.

The theme will be “The classroom: a universe of creativity! ". This edition will combine all school disciplines, will focus on exchange and collaboration between participants and above all will highlight the students and their achievements.

Several educational projects are proposed.

Four main projects:

• School 2025 : project integrating virtual reality headsets (cardboard for example). Starting from today's connected objects and their growing presence (vacuum cleaners, televisions, home automation, cars, toys, watches, telephones, etc.), it will be a question of imagining how these technologies will be integrated into the school in What will these objects of today allow tomorrow? What will they not allow?
• Anime Story : it will be, like an exquisite corpse and on an imposed theme, to write a story collaboratively and to create illustrations that will take the form of an animated film.
• Lgreat leap : the pupils tell us about the fears they had before the “big start” during the important stages of schooling such as the transition to primary school, college, high school or university. This project proposes to create a bridge between the before and the after by putting the pupils in touch.
• Science for all : this project wants to place the students in a context of interdisciplinarity, notably with the sciences and the French It will allow them to understand the importance of the explanation and the vocabulary used in the learning of the sciences by the means of the production of a popular science video capsule.

Satellite projects

Other projects may also be added. They will be presented on the REFER website.

These projects will benefit from support from teachers and classes depending on the possibilities of the organizers until March 2017.

The two competitions

The "Twitterature" contests, based on the words proposed by the " Tell me ten words ", And" Light on the sciences! », Popular science video competition, are also back!

Progress during the year

• In December 2016: classes are part of the proposed projects.
• In January and February 2017, the projects are deployed in the classrooms and the popular science and Twitterature competitions take place.
• Throughout the school year, regular productions are produced and shared by everyone: social networks, blogs, sites ...
• On March 16 and 17, 2017, the 48 hours of conferences, in Quebec and in France (in Besançon) integrating the educational achievements.

Gigabytes of culture : performances where digital technology is at the service of the arts

New this year: Gigabytes of culture. In order to give visibility to innovative projects, the REFER wishes, for this 4^e edition focused on creativity, to stage projects where the digital is found in the service of art. Thus, we invite classes that wish to share the REFER scene by presenting a work or a performance to which digital brings added value. Two plateaus are confirmed: Quebec and Besançon.

How to participate in REFER 2017?

• Register for class projects: go to refer-edu.org, Projects section.
• Attend the event on March 16 and 17 from the main foyer in Quebec City. Registrations are open and a special rate is offered until January 6.
• Create a local hub of activity and connect to major remote conferences.

École branchée Rating:
The École branchée is proud to be a partner again this year! We hope to see you there!