Schools at the heart of Quebec's digital strategy

According to Thèrèse Laferrière, there is no doubt that Quebec schools must be placed at the heart of Quebec's next digital strategy. She came to express it during the Digital Rendezvous of the Ministry of the Economy, Science and Innovation (MESI) which was held in Quebec City last week.

This Digital appointments de Québec was a step in the citizen consultation undertaken by the MESI as part of the development of the Quebec's digital strategy, which has stopped and will stop in a few Quebec cities.

The day started with a round table. Well known in the field of the use of technologies at school, in particular with the Remote School in a network, Therese Laferrière, Director of the Center for Research and Intervention on Academic Success at Laval University, participated with Stephane Roche, vice-dean of research at the Faculty of Forestry, Geography and Geomatics of Université Laval and Pierre-Luc Lachance, Director General of Quebec Digital .

From the outset, the participants were unequivocal: it is urgent to act, we have been discussing ways to give Quebec a digital / technological boost for too long. Everyone went there with their suggestions.

According to Ms. Laferrière, a vast awareness campaign to promote the importance of taking action and moving forward with digital technology should be set up. In addition, she is convinced that teachers must be engaged in the movement in order to get them to place their students more and more in digital action.

Among the other suggestions of the panelists: ensure coverage of the entire Quebec territory with high-speed Internet and the implementation of a sort of digital license, with training that people could follow voluntarily (such as the driving license, the training of which is accessible to all who wish, without being compulsory).

The panelists agreed that the true digital switchover will be achieved through citizen engagement, through evangelization that will be done by those who truly believe in it, by bringing together convinced people who will become references. The strength of the network will act.

Ms. Laferrière has also insisted on several occasions on the importance of grouping together and collaborating, particularly in terms of content creation. She even deplored the fact that the co-creation reflex is not yet sufficiently present in the education sector (production of textbooks, online courses, etc.).

The final word goes to Mr. Roche: “We must stop seeing digital technology as something that poses a problem and consider it as something that helps us to develop. It is up to us to put it in place. We could only get there if we put all the forces (education, public, private, citizen) in synergy. Digital technology cannot be a social clutch if we do not make all four things work. We must stop reacting to events ”.

For a more complete summary of the roundtable: A digital strategy for Quebec