UQAR: a lab dedicated to the integration of ICT in education

By the end of fall, theUniversity of Quebec in Rimouski will have completed the development of a laboratory dedicated to the integration of new information technologies in teaching. Future teachers and teachers from the Commission scolaire des Phares will be able to benefit from the facilities to experiment with new writing and reading materials.

The laboratory will be able to accommodate 16 people at a time. Interactive whiteboards, electrified tables, digital tablets, smart phones and recent computers will be brought together there. Cost of the operation: 50,000 $. “To my knowledge, there are no other similar laboratories elsewhere in Quebec,” notes Denis Boisvert, director of the Library Service at UQAR. On the other hand, he discovered one (virtually) at the National Library of France, in Paris, which helped him to set up his project.

The goal is to familiarize teachers with these new technologies which are expected to take up more and more place in education so that they can use them effectively in the classroom. “Social media like Facebook and Twitter make it possible to share information in real time to produce a document. And we use all forms of writing to produce multimedia documents: a PowerPoint presentation, a video or a podcast, ”argues Mr. Boisvert.

Mr. Boisvert has been thinking about this project for two years, inspired by the evolution of content and digital media. The UQAR library already has 35,000 electronic books. "We must highlight the supports and products that allow them to be appropriated beyond the usual computer," he notes. Already, two activities are being set up to be offered in the new laboratory, one for librarians in order to promote the development of information skills and another more techno-pedagogical intended for teachers.

For now, the project is in the start-up phase. But in the medium term, Mr. Boisvert plans to allow people and participate in various activities by videoconference.

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