Synap.TIC: because two heads are better than one

The results of many studies in education remain under-used by the various stakeholders in the field. To remedy this situation, Frédéric Dufour, a master's student in distance education, designed Synap.TIC, a very promising knowledge transfer project.

Thanks to this project, teachers, directors, researchers, managers, psychoeducators, educational advisers and other stakeholders will have easier access to the knowledge resulting from the research. All they have to do is write their questions after becoming members for free on the wiki (a collaborative site where everyone can participate in writing the content).

“Synap.TIC is therefore intended to be a bridge between researchers and practitioners in the field of education, whose objective is to provide practical solutions that can be applied in everyday life. In the event that a question has not been answered satisfactorily, the CTREQ will act as a knowledge broker and will be responsible for forwarding the questions to specialists who can then give their contributions ”, explains Mr. Dufour on his blog.

“All subjects that directly affect the needs of education stakeholders can be discussed on Synap.TIC. The questions will ideally be classified under one or more themes, ”adds Véronique D'Amours, from the Center de transfert pour la rire educative du Québec (CTREQ). If the project is first and foremost intended for the educational community, its content will nevertheless be accessible to the general public.

Already, the project is attracting attention on the web. “This innovative project draws its strength from a hard core that is the educational community already very active on social networks (ClavEd and EduTwitters). Moreover, Synap.TIC was the subject of ClavEd yesterday, a weekly international meeting on Twitter, ”notes Ms. D'Amours.

A dozen participants from different backgrounds will experiment with the prototype from September 19 for a period of four weeks. It will be launched for a wider audience in the coming months. “At the moment, we are not able to give a launch date for the project. This depends on several factors beyond our control. One thing is certain, anyone interested in contributing to Synap.TIC will be able to do so later this fall, ”explains Ms. D'Amours.

In December, a preliminary report of the experiment will be published on the Information Network for Educational Success (RIRE). Subsequently, CTREQ will use it on a larger scale as part of its monitoring and transfer activities.